Kateryna Stepanenko is a Russia Research Fellow 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 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, technological adaptations, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision-making patterns, campaign design, and pro-war nationalist Telegram communities. Kateryna speaks Ukrainian, Russian, and English.

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.