The war in Ukraine is not just a fight for national sovereignty — it’s a battle at the crossroads of a collapsing global order. While Ukrainians heroically resist Russia’s brutal invasion, the war has exposed the fractures of an economic system that has, for decades, concentrated wealth, power, and decision-making into the hands of a few.
It is a test — not only for Ukraine but for the entire world: Will this war be remembered as the moment democracy fought back against authoritarianism, or will it serve as yet another chapter in the story of oligarchs and corporate elites profiting from conflict while ordinary people suffer?
For decades, the world has been sliding toward an era of oligarchical capitalism — a system where political and economic power is no longer in the hands of democratic institutions but controlled by corporate monopolies, financial empires, and political elites. This war has accelerated that transformation, reshaping global energy markets, financial systems, and military-industrial economies in ways that will be felt for decades.
While the world rightly focuses on Ukraine’s survival, the war is also a struggle over who will control the global economy of the future. Russia’s invasion wasn’t just an act of territorial aggression — it was a calculated gamble that Western economic dependence on Russian energy would prevent a unified response. It failed. But in the wake of sanctions and military realignments, the war has triggered an economic upheaval that is redrawing global supply chains and financial alliances.
Ukraine is at the heart of this transformation. Its vast agricultural exports, industrial base, and newly discovered lithium reserves — critical for the future of battery technology — make it an economic battleground as much as a military one. The reconstruction of Ukraine will not only require billions in aid but will likely be shaped by the very corporate and financial interests that have long profited from global crises.
At the same time, Western oligarchs and corporations are not passive actors in this conflict. While Russian elites seek to maintain their grip on power, Western defense contractors, energy giants, and private financial interests stand to gain massively from this war. The war economy is booming. European nations are re-militarizing at an unprecedented pace. The fossil fuel industry — once thought to be in decline — is experiencing a resurgence as nations scramble to secure energy independence.
"Ukraine is proving to the world that authoritarian aggression can be resisted."
The war has also become a proving ground for new forms of digital warfare, surveillance capitalism, and AI-driven propaganda. The world is witnessing, in real time, how information can be weaponized, how financial systems can be leveraged as geopolitical tools, and how war accelerates the use of technologies that may outlast the battlefield.
Governments across the world are expanding surveillance measures, restricting dissent, and consolidating state power in response to the war. While some of these measures are necessary for security, history warns us that emergency powers granted in times of crisis rarely disappear when the crisis ends. The normalization of war economies and mass surveillance risks creating a permanent state of conflict-driven capitalism, where war is not an exception but an ongoing condition of economic and political life.
Ukraine is proving to the world that authoritarian aggression can be resisted. But it is also exposing a deeper question: What kind of world will emerge from this war? If the global economic order continues to be dictated by the interests of oligarchs — whether Russian, Western, or otherwise—then the ideals Ukraine is fighting for will be at risk of being co-opted by the same elite interests that have manipulated wars and crises for centuries.
This war must not become another chapter in the long history of wealth consolidation through conflict. Ukraine’s fight for sovereignty must be met with an equally urgent fight for economic justice, democratic renewal, and the dismantling of the systems that have allowed oligarchical capitalism to thrive unchecked.
If Ukraine’s resistance is to mean something beyond its borders, the world must ensure that this is not just a war for survival but a moment that reshapes global power in the interests of people — not just corporations, war profiteers, and financial elites.
Ukraine’s struggle is more than its own. It is a warning to the world — and an opportunity to create a different future. The question is whether we will seize it.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent.
Anatoliy Khomenko
