The Russo-Ukrainian War

Plokhy is a renowned Ukrainian-American historian who makes no secret of where his sympathies lie. His partisan, pro-Ukraine narrative of the war and its origins is vigorous and informative.

Of particular value is his highly illuminating account of the triangular relationship between Russia, Ukraine, and the United States in the run-up to the war.

Historians have an acute sense for historical patterns. For Serhii Plokhy, the great Ukrainian-American historian, few things could have been more painful than Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022.

Russia’s age-old pattern of aggression, political cowardice, and reflexive use soldiers as cannon fodder was being reenacted before his very eyes. He could not find words to comfort his relatives and friends who lost loved ones in the combat. But he could find words to help us understand the complex context of war.

In the process, he transformed “the shock, pain, frustration, and anger” he felt into a brilliant history.… show more.

To truly grasp the world we inhabit, you simply must delve into this masterful work by Serhii Plokhy, centered on the Russo-Ukrainian War. As a Ukrainian historian hailing from Harvard University, Plokhy delivers a poignant and contemplative account of the conflict that gripped his homeland, all while weaving it together with astute and insightful analysis.

Within the pages of this riveting narrative, Plokhy embarks on a journey into the annals of history, unlocking the elements of Russian and Ukrainian pasts that illuminate the reasons behind Russia's descent into dictatorship and Ukraine's emergence as a vibrant yet tumultuous democracy.

Featuring a… show more.

As a historian, I often have to remind myself that history is made every day and does not just exist in the past. And nowhere is that statement truer today than in Ukraine, currently fighting Russian forces who invaded their country in February 2022.

Serhii Plokhy is the leading historian of Ukraine and here explores the origins and evolution of this conflict after both countries emerged as independent states after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The war is the largest conflict in Europe since World War II, and its importance cannot be overstated, but Plokhy is a… show more.

Native of Ukraine, Professor of History at Harvard University and the greatest living historian of Ukraine, Serhii Plokhy provides an indispensable guide to the historical background of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Plokhy demonstrates that Putin’s war is not an aberration, but is part of a long-term refusal of the Russian state and Russian elites to accept Ukraine as a sovereign, independent state and the Ukrainians as a separate people from the Russians. Putin’s war is a particularly brutal expression of this refusal. 

As Plokhy makes clear there will be no stable peace in Ukraine or Europe until the Russian elites… show more.