The Ukraine factor: historian Yaroslav Hrytsak at the British Parliament

The event was chaired by The Rt Hon Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP and moderated by Dr Olenka Pevny, Associate Professor of Ukrainian and Slavonic Studies at the University of Cambridge.

The panel included distinguished speakers such as:

• Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Al Carns;
• Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, General Kyrylo Budanov;
• HE Ambassador General Valerii Zaluzhnyi;
• British military historian Sir Antony Beevor;
• Professor Yaroslav Hrytsak, Doctor of Historical Sciences and Professor at the Ukrainian Catholic University, and Director of the Institute for Historical Studies at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv;
• Professor Ola Hnatiuk, Professor at Kyiv Mohyla Academy and Professor Emeritus at the University of Warsaw;
• Professor Andrew Wilson, Professor of Ukrainian Studies at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, UCL.

With reference to events following World War II, the panel noted that Soviet Russia systematically suppressed and distorted the history of Ukraine’s role in the war — a distortion that Putin continues to exploit. The speakers addressed lingering misconceptions in contemporary Western as well as Russian narratives that obscure Ukraine’s role in World War II, including the claim that it was exclusively Russia that defeated the Nazis. They highlighted that Putin exploits this narrative in order to persuade the West (including President Trump) that Ukraine cannot win. The panelists argued that Ukrainian manpower and industry were core components of the Soviet Union’s war effort. Ukrainians formed one of the largest and most active national contingents within the Red Army. This legacy was discussed as one that has largely been erased in contemporary history, which tends to equate the Soviet Union’s achievements with those of Russia, thereby eliminating Ukraine’s contribution and distorting the historical context within which today’s war is viewed. Understanding Ukraine’s role in the Soviet victory helps to explain why the Ukrainian army today, drawing on its deep martial roots and traditions, has been so successful in withstanding and countering an army that still claims exclusive credit for the Soviet victory in World War II.

The panelists addressed a range of key questions. Among those discussed were “WHY?”, “WHAT?”, and “HOW?”—questions that helped align the topic of the event with the main purposes of the panel and address the shift between historical gaps and the modern paramount agenda of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Lecture Yaroslav Hrytsak

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