The full article titled "What Has the World Forgotten about Ukraine’s History?" (LINK) was published online in the Toronto-based international intelligence publication Geopolitical Monitor on the 15th of May 2024 . It is s based on the presentation Ukrainian Perspective: Historical Heritage for the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs expert panel on Ukraine, held on the 14th of November 2023 in Auckland.
Abstract
People outside of Eastern Europe speaking about Ukraine and the Russian invasion often misunderstand the motives of both invaders and defenders. It is happening because of a natural lack of adequate knowledge of Ukrainian or at least regional history and first-hand experience of cultural and civic reality in Ukraine. This article attempted to explain history, which modern Ukrainians inherited – of its statehood and struggles with neighbours, primarily Muscovites. It starts with drawing parallels between Ukrainian defenders today and Ukrainian Cossacks of Early Modern Europe, explaining an issue of co-governance Ukrainians experienced in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the formation of the Ukrainian state and its partition over the 15th-17th centuries. The narrative then delves into the earlier Medieval Europe revealing Kyivan state’s legal, linguistic, and toponymic heritage from the 9th-15th centuries. The final section demonstrates the unmatchable resilience of Ukrainians, who survived imperial oppression, russification, deportations, appropriation, Holodomor, terror, erosion of identity, and open genocide of the 18th-20th centuries, rebuilt their independent state, only to face the same archenemy from the East yet again in an existential war.
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The painting and the photograph on the Image below demonstrate the continuity of the adamantine spirit of Ukrainian warriors as the defenders of their lands and people’s freedoms.
In the painting, Ukrainian Cossacks of the 17th century are depicted writing an ridiculing response to the Turkish Sultan, who arrogantly demanded Cossacks submit to his rule despite just losing a battle.
The photo is the 2023 recreation by the French artist featuring actual Ukrainian defenders, who are writing down the famous response to Moscow (to the missile cruiser Moskva on the 24th of February 2022) at its demands to surrender.
Image: Continuation of the 17th century's Cossacks are writing a letter to the Turkish Sultan, famously painted by Illia Riepin in 1880-91 (on the left) in the 2023' Ukrainian defenders From far away, I hear the Cossacks, photographed by Emeric Lhuisset (on the right)
