I’m auditing a Yale course on “The Making of Modern Ukraine.” The class was taught last Fall of ’22 by Timothy Snyder, author and historian of Eastern European history. As he aptly teaches, “history is about encounters, origins… everything is connected.” The class covers Ukraine going back 2,000 years, to ancient Greek/Roman times.
I’ve gleaned alot of info from various Ukrainian resources in writing this, and follow official news in Ukraine daily. After almost 2 years I have some insight on Ukrainian identity and statehood. Ukraine has some similarities to the United States, but is much older and unique being they have a tumultuous history living next to Russia.
- Ukrainian Sovereignty – Ukrainians are a mix of people groups that have existed mostly around Kyiv, Ukraine for well over a millennium. They were under Polish/Lithuanian authority for several hundred years before Muscovy control. Ukrainians have shown extreme determination in their independence struggle in the last 30 years. They’ve fought against corrupt elections and protested at the Maidan and Orange protests. Ukrainians have focused on becoming a capitalist, democratic society for 3 decades. They welcomed U.S. & E.U. advisors who steered them in the process of setting up an independent nation. The previous oligarchical system we’ve heard about is a holdover from the Russian way of doing things, there will be less use for them in the future.
- Strong leader – When Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2022, it had a pro-Ukrainian President instead of a pro-Russian one. President Zelenskyy refused to flee like the Afghan President did 2 years ago with stacks of money. Zelenskyy and his cabinet risk their lives daily by staying in Ukraine and dealing with the missile strikes against Kyiv and many parts of the country. He hasn’t sat on the fence wondering where his patriotic duties lie. One of his movies was about a character who is disgusted with a corrupt government. While he’s new at the leadership helm, his countrymen overwhelmingly look to him for strength and support, as he faces the Russian enemy with bravery, strength and grace unlike most modern leaders.
- Self-sustaining – Ukraine has almost all it needs to be a self sufficient nation. It has a tech industry, steel & coal industry. It has plenty nuclear and water power sources. A major European river, the Dnipro, runs thru it all the way from Europe to the Black Sea. The shining star is perhaps it’s agricultural output; Ukraine is long known for being the bread basket of the region and beyond. Cooking oil, fruits, nuts, sunflower seeds & dairy are plenteous. Ukraine has ports and railway to export their products around the world.
- Military – The Ukrainian military isn’t corrupt like the Russian military. In contrast, U.S. Generals in Germany, when working with various other militaries, invited their Russian counterparts to train. Repeatedly Russian Generals passed off training or acknowledged their troops preferred to get drunk, and were undisciplined. Ukrainian military on the other hand has always worked with the West to upgrade their weapons and military expertise. They are now called the 2nd best military in the world because of their bravery, discipline and ingenuity against Russian military might. Their dedicatin has kept war casualties at a real low.
- Peace loving – Historically, Ukraine as a nation has not shown a desire to stir up problems with or attack it’s neighbors like Russia has a history of doing. Ukraine’s nuclear capability was taken out of it’s hands in the ’90’s through the Budapest Memorandum, so Russia had no cause to start the war with Ukraine based on any nuclear threat. Ukraine is a mix of modern and village folk, very family oriented. The capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, is the 7th largest city in Europe, a city of almost 3 million, and is known for being friendly, attractive and freedom loving. Ukrainians remain on good terms with the countries on it’s borders and beyond, it’s not involved in mass propaganda like Russia conducts across Europe and the U.S.
*RESOURCES: Several among many…
Timothy Snyder, Yale Professor of Ukrainian/Eastern European studies
Michael McFaul, U.S. Ambassador to Russia, ’90’s
Hoover Institute, Stanford, CA
Anders Auslund, Author and Economist, one of many economic advisors to Ukraine during their independence struggle.