Kateryna Stepanenko

Areas of Expertise

Russia & Ukraine

Focus Areas

Product Line

Map Series

Kateryna Stepanenko is the Russia Team Lead and Deputy Director of the Cognitive Warfare Project at the Institute for the Study of War. Kateryna is a senior member of the team that has managed and produced the daily Russian Offensive Campaign Assessments since February 2022 and previously covered Russia’s preparations for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. She also assisted in the daily production of ISW’s maps of assessed control of terrain in Ukraine. Kateryna’s work and interviews regularly appear in media outlets such as  CNN, Associated Press, Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Hill, BBC, and others. Kateryna’s work has been published in academic journals such as Zeitschrift für Strategische Analysen and government agencies like the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).

Kateryna is a Kyiv native and integrates her research on the Russian information space and the Kremlin into ISW’s daily coverage of the war. Kateryna also focuses on Russian force generation and force centralization efforts, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision-making patterns, campaign design, and pro-war nationalist Telegram communities. Kateryna speaks Ukrainian, Russian, and English. Kateryna’s past publications include Weakness is Lethal: Why Putin Invaded Ukraine and How the War Must End; The Kremlin’s Pyrrhic Victory in Bakhmut: A Retrospective on the Battle for Bakhmut; Ukraine’s Long-Term Path to Success: Jumpstarting a Self-Sufficient Defense Industrial Base with US and EU Support; and Explainer on Russian Conscription, Reserve, and Mobilization.

Kateryna received a B.A. in International Affairs from George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, where she concentrated in Europe and Eurasian affairs.