CHERNOBYL ROULETTE: The Russo-Ukrainian War and the Nuclear Threats

Public Lecture by Professor Serhii Plokhii, Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard University
About this Event

On February 24, 2022, the first day of Russia’s all-out attack on Ukraine, armoured vehicles approached the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine. Russian occupation of the plant, which would last thirty-five days, had begun. Only the dedication and resolve of Ukrainian personnel, who were held hostage and worked shifts for weeks instead of days, spared the world a new Chernobyl accident. Meanwhile, a much more dangerous situation developed at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, the largest such facility in Europe. Following an attack there in March 2022, the Russian military remains in control. In this lecture Serhii Plokhii discusses the challenges that the Russian takeover of the nuclear sites presents to the world.

Serhii Plokhii (Plokhy) is the Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History 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 have 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). His latest book, The Nuclear Age: An Epic Race for Arms, Power and Survival was released by W.W. Norton in US and Penguin in UK in November 2025. He will be awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Aberdeen on 29 June 2026.