The Russo-Ukrainian War through the Eyes of a Historian

Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the start of the largest European conflict since the end of World War II came as a shock to the world at large. Ukrainians have resisted a superior military; the West has united, while Russia managed to overcome international isolation and continues the war that undermines foundations of international order. Why did Putin start the war―and why has it unfolded in previously unimaginable ways including the occupation of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant?

The lecture will provide answers to these and other related questions by tracing the origins of the newest European war and explaining the reasons for the return of the Cold War to the very same part of the world where it ended thirty years earlier. The presentation will be based on Plokhy’s new book, The Russo-Ukrainian-War: A Return of History, released in the US in May 2023.

Biography

Serhii Plokhii (Plokhy) is the Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History and the director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University. A leading authority on Ukraine, Russia, and Eastern Europe, he has published extensively on the international history of World War II and the Cold War.

His books won numerous awards, including the Lionel Gelber Prize for the best English-language book on international relations and the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction (UK).