One year ago, I finished my PhD, was unemployed, and had a lot of time, so I decided to do something useful for myself and others by creating a newsletter with news on military transfers to Ukraine.
This was something I had done during my internship at the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs in New York in 2023, and I quickly realized there was an audience for this type of content. So, why not fill this niche?
Over time, the focus of the Monitor has broadened significantly, and it now includes news on military developments related to Russia and its allies, defense production in Ukraine, which grew into a larger section than the one on military transfers, and internal affairs of Ukraine, such as reforms and regulatory policy changes related to investments and joint production projects with partners. While my primary target audience was the arms control community, it has since grown much larger, now encompassing military production sectors seeking to work with Ukrainians, as well as government officials, diplomats, researchers, and students.
Personally, I wanted to stay sharp and well-informed, and I realized that if my work didn’t involve news monitoring, it would be difficult for me to stay motivated and keep up with the news regularly. My other goal was to build traction within my professional network and draw attention to my work, hoping it would help me secure a new job faster.
As a very disciplined person, I have been publishing my newsletter EVERY WEEK for a year, and here are some of the conclusions and reflections I’d like to share with you today.
This newsletter helped me grow my professional network on LinkedIn. Unfortunately, I don't have the exact number of followers I had at the beginning of the year, but I believe it was around 600-800. Now, I have over 2,500 followers.
Throughout this year, I authored several articles published in The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction, The Kyiv Independent, the websites of the Forum on the Arms Trade, the NATO Association of Canada, and the Canadian Forum for Ukrainian Studies. I shared these articles with my LinkedIn network, and they received a lot of attention.
My Monitor has attracted the attention of some important and well-known organizations in arms control, including the Small Arms Survey, based in Switzerland. I’ve joined their Advisory Committee for the project Supporting Ukraine in Addressing the Risks of Small Arms and Light Weapons Proliferation from the Russian War of Aggression. This is an example of a project where I am still open to volunteer collaboration, due to the organization’s reputation, the value of their work, and the relatively small amount of time required for the project.
Additionally, I am in my second year as an Emerging Expert with the Washington-based NGO Forum on the Arms Trade, a wonderful platform for international civil society experts in arms control. I regularly update their website, particularly the section on Arms Transfers to Ukraine, so be sure to check it out—it has been live since the first days of the war.
Last year, I also volunteered for the UK-based Action on Armed Violence and their project on documenting mass shooting incidents around the world. As a “lucky” speaker of the Russian language, I was (of course) assigned to Russia. It took me three months to document mass shooting cases from 2000 to 2023, over 70 in total. It was a strange experience, as many of those cases, especially from the 1990s and 2000s, were related to criminal conflicts or committed by drunk shooters. Over time, this trend gradually shifted towards school shootings.
Interestingly, I was reminded of some of the most famous cases from my childhood and teenage years, like the Beslan school hostage crisis, and how everyone in Ukraine was deeply worried and sympathetic towards the Russians who suffered in that attack. Now, as Russia has brought death and destruction to our homes, it’s incredibly difficult to feel that same sympathy. War is dehumanizing.
The most important outcome of my monitoring efforts is that it has allowed me to stay updated on developments, recognize patterns and trends, and provide analysis and (modest) predictions for the future. When you focus on something for a long time, certain issues become clearer, and everything starts to fall into place. This helped me produce an interesting piece for the Forum on the Arms Trade about upcoming trends in military technologies and military alliances in the context of the Russian war in Ukraine. I was also a guest speaker on the Space, Defence, & Security podcast, where I discussed arms control efforts in the context of the Russian invasion.
In 2024, I moved to Canada and realized that my area of expertise wasn't as relevant here. The war in Ukraine seems like a distant conflict, and locals don't appear to be very interested in what's happening (please correct me if I'm wrong). While I’m trying to figure out how to fit my interests and the work I do in this new political environment, I began collaborating with the NATO Association of Canada, which is an NGO, not an official part of NATO. I help organize online interviews with foreign ambassadors and also have the opportunity to write and publish articles on their website, which provides good exposure in Canada.
After a brief conversation with one of my Substack subscribers, I realized that it could be my area of growth in the new year: researching how to tailor my content and messaging to a Canadian audience, and perhaps making the war in Ukraine more relevant to Canada's context (hopefully not the 'invasion' angle).
And finally, why did I decide to move my Monitor from LinkedIn to Substack? Simply put, I'm looking for potential opportunities for the growth of my product. For now, I’ve decided to publish all my posts on Substack for free, and they will remain accessible for one week after publication. The paid subscription is available for followers who, out of goodwill, would like to support me and the regular work I do, as well as for those who want access to the full archive of my posts. I don't expect much income from Substack at this stage, since I’m new here with a small audience. But let’s see… At the moment, I’m really excited to develop my blog and publish my Monitor here.
If you've made it this far, it means something I do has caught your interest. Please feel free to share in the comments or via a private message what topics you'd like to see covered on Ukraine’s Arms Monitor. And if you use it for professional purposes, let me know—I’ll do my best to make it more useful for a wider audience.
P.S. And the photo was taken by me. It took me forever to catch the perfect spot in one of the most beautiful Portuguese cafés in my neighborhood in Toronto, and I even planned to wake up early to be the first (and only) customer. Luckily, there was no need to sacrifice my sleep.
Congratulations on these major achievements! I enjoy your posts a lot and have learned plenty. Keep it up!