Ukrainian historian Yaroslav Hrytsak.
Sent to Kyiv
A thousand days of war. Today is the moment of painful assessment, of memory, but also of reflection on the future, for Ukraine under the incessant attacks and the massive advance of Moscow’s forces. “A thousand days of war were a terrible challenge for Ukraine,” President Zelensky declared in a video link with the plenary assembly of the European Parliament in Brussels on the occasion of the thousandth day of war. With Western partners, “we managed not only to prevent Putin from taking over Ukraine, but also to defend the freedom of all European nations.” Zelensky continued: «We must push Russia towards a just peace»recalling the need to continue with sanctions against Moscow “as long as Putin continues to kill”. A speech followed by a standing ovation. The EU Parliament, through the voice of President Roberta Metsola, has forcefully reiterated, once again, that the Union will stand by Kyiv “until there is freedom and peace”.
Meanwhile, Moscow’s response to Joe Biden’s green light for the use of long-range US missiles (Atacms) on Russian territory by the Ukrainians was not long in coming: according to the news released by the Russian agency Tass, Putin approved the decree updating Russia’s nuclear doctrine. According to the new version, Moscow will be able to use nuclear weapons as a “last resort to protect the country’s sovereignty” if it is threatened by a nuclear or even non-nuclear attack with missiles supplied to Ukraine by Western countries. An update aimed at strong deterrence. A warning to the West and in particular to the United States, after the Ukrainian Defense Forces first hit Russian territory with US Atacms ballistic missiles. Moscow announces that the so-called “special operation” will not stop until the objectives are achieved.
But what does Russia really want? The goal is thold the occupied territories in the east? «Leave Donbas alone. Putin wants all of Ukraine, not just the eastern region”.The answer is Yaroslav Hrytsakone of the greatest Ukrainian historians. Professor at the Catholic University of Lviv, scholar of the history of Ukraine and Eastern Europe, in his books Hrytsak analyzes and tells how the modern Ukrainian identity was forged. Its volume History of Ukraine. From the Middle Ages to today was published in Italy in 2023.
«Putin does not fight against Ukraine, he fights against the West in Ukraine», the historian continues. «For him the West is a threat. His aim is to restore Russia as a superpower, but to do so he needs Ukraine, this is his condition. To be a superpower that, in the Russian vision, must rule the world it means having control of Eastern Europe, from the Baltics to the Black Sea. Ukraine is in the center and is crucial. Forget about Donbas, that’s not the point». He adds: «Now Putin is playing for everything because he knows well that time is not on his side: a new generation has emerged in Ukraine that has no memory of the Soviet Union or even the Russian Empire, it wants to live like the youth of European countries and Ukraine is increasingly closer to the European Union. Over the last thirty years the idea of the European Union, initially promoted only by intellectuals, has become a national idea: today I would say that around 80-90 percent of Ukrainians want to join the EU. And the majority of Ukrainians today are still convinced of the possibility of victory for Ukraine, because there is no other choice. So, for Putin, it’s now or never. This is the final stage. Ukraine must be brought back, taken away from the West.”
And he adds: «All this does not mean that a European country such as Italy risks being threatened by Russian missiles. But the price you and other European countries will have to pay in the future will be much higher than what you are paying now. I see no possibility of resolving the issue of European security without resolving the Ukrainian issue.”
(Reuters photo above: Rescuers and volunteers remove the rubble of a residential building hit by a Russian attack in the Sumy region)
