How can the development of socio-economic conditions in Ukraine since the 1990s be explained? What was the role of the labour movement? In what ways have labour struggles been waged, what were their goals and what did they achieve? What kind of changes are occurring as a result of the war? A few months ago the Karmína collective has published an in-depth analysis on these questions and issues (www.karmina.red/posts/tragedy-of-ukrainian-working-class/). The interview summarizes important results of this research, but also provides a discussion on working-class perspectives in Ukraine and Eastern Europe, one year on from the start of the Russian war of aggression. The interview has been conducted in December 2022 and constitutes the first of three planned texts about perspectives on the current war in Europe “from below”.