Serhii Plokhii — The Russo-Ukrainian War through the Eyes of a Historian
Schedule
Wed Apr 08 2026 at 05:30 pm to 07:00 pm
UTC-04:00Location
1730 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02138-4453, United States | Cambridge, MA
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📍 IN-PERSON AND ONLINE | CGIS-South Building Belfer | Case Study Room (S020)📣 2026 Petryshyn Memorial Lecture by Serhii Plokhii, Mykhailo Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History, Harvard University
🔗 LEARN MORE: https://www.huri.harvard.edu/event/serhii-plokhii-russo-ukrainian-war-through-eyes-historian
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine constitutes the largest war in Europe since 1945. It is also the first war to employ drones on a massive scale, both in the air and at sea, and the first major conflict that is widely characterized as hybrid warfare—combining conventional military operations, cyberattacks, and the active use of disinformation. The latter is a key element of the Kremlin’s war propaganda, aimed not least at its own population as well as Ukraine and the outside world.
How important have misuse and abuse of history been in the perpetration and justification of this war, and what are the actual historical causes of the conflict? Why did Putin start the war―and why has it unfolded in previously unimaginable ways? Ukrainians have valiantly resisted a superior military; meanwhile, the West has been vacillating as Russia colludes with allies in the international arena. The lecture will provide answers to these and related questions by tracing the origins of the Russo-Ukrainian war and explaining the reasons for the return of armed conflict in Europe, the very same part of the world where the Cold War had ended thirty years earlier.
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1730 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02138-4453, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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