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Giana Pirolli is a second-year M.A. Security Studies candidate at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. She is a columnist for the Georgetown Security Studies Review, where she writes on topics related to defense as well as Europe and Central Asia. Giana received her B.A. in Political Science from Baylor University. Giana previously held internships with the U.S. Department of State in the Office of the Chief of Protocol and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. As a Title VIII Black Sea Research Fellow, Giana’s research focuses on the public perception of Ukrainian youth when it comes to the U.S., NATO, and Russia. Giana has professional working proficiency in Spanish and elementary proficiency in Japanese.
Young Ukrainians’ evolving war-time attitudes toward Russia and the West
Listening to students and young professionals is instrumental in understanding the Ukrainian perspective. A series of interviews, conducted in summer 2022, centered around their identity as Ukrainians, how the war is impacting their lives, and how they viewed Russia and the West before and after Feb. 24, 2022. The participants in these interviews have only known an independent Ukraine, and their negative feelings toward Russia will not improve anytime soon.
