Serhii Plokhy’s knowledge of Ukraine’s history is evident in this account of the current conflict, but lacks engagement with Western foreign policy stances on the war.

Putin’s so-called de-Nazification has nothing to do with combating Nazis in Ukraine and everything to do with the xenophobic Stalinist and racist climate in Putin’s Russia.

The Kremlin never expected pushback from Southern-Eastern Ukraine’s Russian speakers and Jewish community because it never understood the internal dynamics of Ukraine.

Since 2014, Russia has become more nationalistic and chauvinistic, while nationalism in Ukraine has become more civic – and yet some western writing gives the opposite impression.

The roots of academic orientalism lie in Western histories of Russia and Crimea – political scientists who work on Russia acting as gatekeepers to Russian and Eurasian studies in the West.