Ukraine’s future lies in the West, historian says: Russia’s war is last attempt to control Kyiv

Russia’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine is the final effort to subjugate Ukraine and keep Kyiv within its sphere of influence, according to Yaroslav Hrytsak, a leading historian and lecturer at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. 

“Because it will no longer succeed. Russia is weakened. If Russia were as strong as it imagines itself to be, Ukraine wouldn’t stand a chance,” Hrytsak told Ukrainska Pravda.

He stressed that Ukraine must decisively break away from the so-called Russian world, but cannot do so in isolation.

“We cannot leave and exist outside the ‘Russian world’ by ourselves. This predator is too dangerous. We have examples in Poland, the Czech Republic, and the Baltic countries, which joined the European Union or NATO,” Hrytsak said.

The path to victory, according to the historian, is not defined solely by the restoration of its territory, but by a fundamental shift in civilizational alignment. 

“It is crucial not to recognize this occupation legally. We believe these territories will eventually be restored. We believe Russia will become even weaker and different in the future. Ukraine must prepare for that, and the people in the occupied territories must be ready too,” he said.

The key, he concluded, lies deeper in the Western world, a process that in his view would finally secure the country’s independence from Russia’s grasp.