War is not a good. It destroys lives, displaces families, and tears cities and histories apart. And yet, war is also a catalyst. It accelerates transformations that, in peacetime, would have dragged on for decades — from reforming institutions to rethinking national purpose. Ukraine did not choose this brutal catalyst. But once thrown into the fire, it began to forge something new — and perhaps truer — from its pain: the rediscovery of its historic role as a frontier nation.
