The future of democracy worldwide depends in part on whether the Ukrainian army can break the current stalemate and achieve complete victory. In a new cover story reported from frontline Kherson, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, and other cities and military bases across Ukraine, The Atlantic’s staff writer Anne Applebaum and editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, write that now is the moment for the United States and the Western world to help Ukraine launch its counteroffensive, take back Crimea, and win the war.
The Atlantic’s June cover is illustrated by U2’s lead singer, Bono, who sketches Zelensky and includes a quote from the Ukrainian president: “The choice is between freedom and fear.” In an editor’s note, also published today, Goldberg writes that, after learning Bono has a hobby of redesigning and reimagining Atlantic covers, he invited the singer and writer to create an original. “Zelensky, a man we both admire, was a natural subject for his first go. Like Anne, Bono is preoccupied with issues of freedom and dignity, and, working with Oliver Munday, our associate creative director, he made a stunning cover that captures the resolve of Ukraine’s wartime president.”