Critics who dismiss the bulk of the book as “just a competent assemblage of press cuttings” completely miss how crucial such work is. Without a chronological narrative of this war, more analytical work is impossible. Serhii Plokhy has been an essential part of my personal education on the long proud history of a brave and undaunted nation. But there were domestic forces too. They encouraged Ukraine’s recurrent democratic corrections, whenever one strongman or another tried to move the country towards autocracy. Here, Plokhy turns perceived wisdom on its head. In the eyes of the Russian public and a good part of the elite the fall of the USSR as a superpower and empire was a loss for Russia, the Ukrainian elite and much of the public considered it a gain for their country.

Den andra halvan beskriver bara övergripande hur kriget har utkämpats fram till manusslutet i februari. Hans fokus är här fortfarande den politiska och ekonomiska sidan snarare än den militära. Även här är det välskrivet och informativt. Om det är något som saknas är det möjligen att han inte förklarar den enorma påverkan som de ortodoxa kyrkorna och deras strider haft som bidragit på olika sätt till konflikten. Fazit: Serhii Plokhys „Der Angriff“ zeichnet sich durch Allgemeinverständlichkeit aus, Zahlen und Fakten sind unvermeidlich, vor allem, wenn der Autor auf einzelne Militäraktionen kommt, aber er erklärt auch vieles, so, dass man den skrupellosen Angriff auch dann versteht, wenn man kein Historiker ist. In Bucharest, NATO considered Ukraine’s and Georgia’s applications for a membership action plan, a roadmap to full membership. Although supported by the US and Eastern European member states, they were turned down after pressure from Russia, which made its unhappiness known publicly. P.S. Vă las și un citat despre o vizită la Kiev. Sunt curioasă dacă observați ce personaj este pierdut din poveste. Și nu cred că din răutate:( There were further errors. They included Germany’s addiction to Russian gas, and Angela Merkel’s axiom that trade might be pursued and growing repression inside Russia ignored. In London, the Conservatives accepted millions from Moscow-linked donors. Johnson made Evgeny Lebedev a peer. And Emmanuel Macron tried to play peacemaker with Putin – an impossible and naive mission.Plokhy besteedt in aparte hoofdstukken verder aandacht aan de totstandkoming van de onverwachte eenheid in het Westen tegenover de Russische agressie en aan de ambigue rollen van China en Turkije. Historians, used to slow-burning research projects, have so far been absent from this developing historiography of the war. This is beginning to change, and it is only appropriate that the lead is taken by one of the most accomplished English-language historians of Ukraine, Harvard University’s Serhii Plokhy.

Plokhy maakt in opeenvolgende hoofdstukken duidelijk hoe vanaf 1991 de politieke ontwikkeling van Rusland en Oekraïne steeds verder uiteenliep, een divergente ontwikkeling die de dynamiek tussen Moskou en Kiev diepgaand zou gaan beïnvloeden. Terwijl het democratische experiment in Rusland een kort leven was beschoren, schoot deze in Oekraïne geleidelijk aan wortel (in weerwil van de wijdverbreide corruptie en van Russische beïnvloeding). In Chapter One, Plokhylays out his central contention: that the “myth of Russia’s Kyivan origins had already embedded itself in the consciousness of the Russian elites by the late fifteenth century.” The centrality of Ukraine to Russia’s idea of itself, he writes, contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union: “The role of Ukraine in bringing about the Soviet collapse can hardly be exaggerated. Not only was it a key political actor pushing for Imperial Collapse the dissolution of the USSR, but it also helped to ensure a peaceful disintegration.” Luke Harding’s Invasion: Russia’s Bloody War and Ukraine’s Fight for Survival is published by Guardian Faber I wonder whether he can foresee the disintegration of the Russian Federation as it is currently constituted – especially in a context where Russia is seemingly recruiting its military disproportionately from its Muslim peoples and peripheral autonomous republics. “The process of disintegration has already started,” he replies. “Already Russia doesn’t control its constitutional territory” – by which he means that some parts of Ukraine that were formally adopted as part of the Russian Federation last autumn in the wake of the full-scale invasion, such as Kherson, have already been liberated and restored to Ukrainian hands. But yes, he says, republics on the edges of the federation – such as Tuva, Buryatia and Sakha, not to mention Chechnya, are vulnerable. “The longer the war goes on, the stronger the narrative that Russia is using them as cannon fodder.”Serhii Plokhy oferă o privire cuprinzătoare asupra contextului istoric și a primelor luni ale războiului în curs de desfășurare din Ucraina. Urmărind secole de relații turbulente între Rusia și Ucraina, Plokhy susține că acest conflict a fost pregătit de zeci de ani, alimentat de ambițiile imperiale ale lui Putin și de lunga luptă a Ucrainei pentru suveranitate (și păstrarea identității sale). Do you know what is at stake in Ukraine? Urgent, compelling reading from the author of Chernobyl on the defining conflict of our times Decolonisation looks different if you are part of the metropole (Russia) or one of the colonies (Ukraine). In the first case, nostalgia for past greatness easily inspires revanchism – seeking to aggressively recover lost territory. In the second case, the fall of empire opens up the vision for a better future. At the time of writing this review, we still await the big Ukrainian counter-offensive. On its success or failure will depend the future course of the war. In February, when the detailed planning for the Big Push was already starting, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told me how nervous he was about it. Such frankness is typical of him. A charming, natural-seeming former actor, he has brought his professional abilities to the job of representing Ukraine at the highest level: providing the roar, he says, channelling Winston Churchill. The book focuses on Russian and Ukrainian developments following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It highlights Russian persistance in weakening Ukraine whilst recognising it as the most important element of any imperial revival, be it the Tsarist Empire or Soviet Empires (whose flags have been raised in St Petersberg last month), or as a commonwealth, as envisioned by Yeltsin.