An insider account of Ukraine’s fight to survive Russia’s full-scale invasion—and the hidden corruption inside the Ukrainian government that threatened everything they were fighting for.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Oleksandr Kubrakov’s civil service position as Ukraine’s minister of infrastructure quickly became entrenched in war. He oversaw arms and delivery negotiations, the evacuation of millions of refugees, and efforts to keep the economy afloat despite daily bombardments. And with a front-row seat to the high-stakes, closed-door conversations during the decisive early days of conflict, Kubrakov witnessed how Ukraine’s many factions quickly united against the threat of Russia to become focused, decentralized, and surprisingly resilient.

But by 2023, cracks appeared. The conversations around the values they were defending began to shift. Infighting between President Zelensky and the commander of Ukraine’s armed forces, General Zaluzhny, stalled battlefield momentum. Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, concentrated power in the presidency, increasing surveillance and stifling both media and political opposition. Corruption cast a shadow over Ukraine’s global image, and trust in the government steadily faded. As confidence from both Ukrainians and Western allies began to waver, Kubrakov ultimately became the whistleblower behind the largest corruption scandal in modern Ukrainian history.

A clear-eyed reckoning with power during wartime, A War on Two Fronts recounts Ukraine’s struggle to defend and define itself at the global crossroads between freedom and fear—as well as a reminder of the democratic values at stake.