Hybrid Warriors, Proxies, Freelancers and Moscow's Struggle for Ukraine; Ukraine's Revolt. Russia's Revenge: Anna Arutunyan, London: Hurst & Co., 2022, xvii + 306pp., £20.00 h/b.: Christopher M. Smith, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2022, xxii + 410pp., £32.50/$39.99 h/b

Russian disinformation described the Euromaidan as a Western plot and a conspiracy against Russia aimed at regime change in Ukraine, the consequences of which would be Ukraine's disintegration. Smith and Arutunyan show how Russia's occupation of Crimea led the Kremlin to (wrongly) believe Ukraine would not resist Russian-backed hybrid warfare in southeast Ukraine. Anna Arutunyan's and Christopher M. Smith's books were published in the year Russia invaded Ukraine. [Extracted from the article]