Prolonged conflict

Wars become chronic, turning into prolonged mechanisms of control, destabilisation and fragmentation. When conflicts drag on, the boundaries between the military and the civilian blur, and their effects become embedded in a country’s social and economic structure. The toll is measured not only in fronts won or lost, but in the constant erosion of the human fabric and the silent transformation of everyday life.

In Ukraine, more than three years after the start of the Russian invasion, the prolongation of the war has created a scenario in which emergency becomes routine. The population lives under a relentless pulse of threats, restrictions and forced adaptations, where the unpredictable becomes the norm.

The war is no longer felt only at the front; it seeps into every aspect of civilian life, disrupting routines, conditioning security and transforming the spaces where people live, work and meet. Prolonged conflicts of this kind multiply the fronts of vulnerability: from pressure on critical infrastructure and supply networks to the degradation of essential productive sectors.

The population, displaced or forced to hold out in ever more hostile environments, faces not only the uncertainty of an unknown ending, but also the accumulated social, economic and psychological after-effects. Becoming chronic turns war into a long-term mechanism of control, able to reshape territories, economies and communities.