The Scientific and Technical Library, Lviv Polytechnic, host an open lecture «Our Hundred Years’ War. The Russian-Ukrainian war from the perspective of history» by Volodymyr Viatrovych, a well-known historian, public activist and deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. At the event, the participants pondered the question «When did the Russian-Ukrainian war begin?», analyzed the historical periods that our state went through on the way to its independence, and drew parallels between the events of the present and a hundred years ago.
Volodymyr Viatrovych opened the event by noting that history often forces us to repeat the lessons learned, and in fact, many things will become clearer if we look at them through the lens of the past.
«Everyone knows the phrase that history is the teacher of life. I will add my continuation to this statement: it is a very strict teacher and often makes us repeat the lessons. In fact, it is difficult for historians to live in societies that do not want to know their past. After all, many things that are happening today must be explained through the prism of the past, and then they will become clearer for many.
When I ask about the beginning of the war, I hear different answers. But most often people remember exactly February 24, because this day fits most into our concept of war. However, we must not forget that for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, the war began eight years ago, when a part of our territory was occupied and Ukrainians with weapons in their hands began to hold back this offensive. Although it seems to me that even this answer, which is deeper and closer to the truth, still cannot fully explain what is happening today. Because for this you need to delve deeper into history. For example, I believe that we can talk about a hundred years war, which began back in the 20th century, with the first attempt of Ukrainians to restore our independence. It was in 1917 that the Third Universal of the Ukrainian Central Rada was proclaimed, and, in fact, immediately after that they started a war against us. So, let’s try to focus on this interval in order to better understand what our hundred years war is like», said Volodymyr Viatrovych.
During the event, the lecturer analyzed various historical milestones that Ukraine passed through in its formation. The war, the Holodomor, the dissident movement, the Helsinki Union – all this was attentively listened to by the participants. They also discussed the causes of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the place of Ukraine in these processes.
«The dissidents rejected the violence as a matter of principle, but when they got to the concentration camps, they met there long-term prisoners: Banderites, Ukrainian Nationalists, Ukrainian Insurgent soldiers who had been in prison for decades. From them, they gained more radicalism, therefore, as a result of this symbiosis, another stage of the national movement arose, which set as its goal the independence of Ukraine. It was the national-democratic movement that led to the fact that Ukraine gained independence in 1991, and in general, this became the point of no return for the existence of the entire Soviet government. After gaining independence, our hundred years war changed into a new format – the main efforts were focused on the information campaign against Ukraine: music, films, TV series, news – all this had to be Russian. This system has occupied our information field since the 1990s. In addition, a major role was played by pro-Russian political parties, which were always present in our political system and prevented Ukraine from escaping from Russian captivity», emphasized the historian.
The events of 2014 could not have been ignored. Volodymyr Viatrovych noted that the things Russia did in 2014 little differed from what happened in 1917. Deportation, war crimes, and hunger have always been methods of Russian struggle. People simply did not know or forgot about it, so they did not expect that the occupation could turn into such horrors.
«Why did Russia manage to repeat the same techniques in 2014 as in 1917? Because we looked at our history through the prism of Russian glasses and could not see it normally. Ignorance of history leads to the fact that we do not understand who we are dealing with. When the full-scale invasion began, it came as a shock to many people. No one believed that Russia could do such a thing. And all because this state prepared the ground for starting a war. Many Ukrainians were morally unprepared for it, they still believed in some fraternal relations. But if we open the history textbooks, we will see that Russian-Ukrainian relations are always about confrontation, not brotherhood.
I live in the town of Vorzel, which is next to Bucha and Irpin – cities that suffered a lot during the occupation. And I can say that many people who initially had the opportunity to be evacuated did not do it, because they were convinced that the Russian occupation was not scary. They simply did not know the history, they had not heard about the terrible war crimes. For example, few people knew about deportation – the method that Russia always uses. It took place back in the 30s, 40s, and 50s of the last century, and today we see it again in Mariupol, Melitopol, and in all other occupied territories where the Russian authorities operate. People didn’t expect it, because they didn’t know about it».
At the lecture, Volodymyr Viatrovych also talked about the methods of conducting the war by Russia, which have not changed for decades. For example, such a method of pressure as hunger was used as early as 1932–1933. Today, the Russian Federation is using it again.
«The world is shocked by the fact that Russia is ready to use such a method of pressure as hunger. But if we go back to our history again, we will see that it used hunger as a weapon back in 1932–1933 to destroy any opportunities for development of the Ukrainian population. And now remember what had been done for several months in Mariupol, people were also suffering from hunger. Or another example: the Russians forcefully mobilize tens of thousands of Ukrainians from the occupied territories and send them to the front. This is the same «Black Infantry» tactic that was used back in World War II. Then their task was to take on enemy fire and thus reduce the number of hits in the army that followed. Now Russia is again using World War II tactics. History gives us an opportunity to understand what kind of war is being waged against us, and it cannot be called by any other word than genocide. Famine, killings of the civilian population, deportation, including small children, are all clearly provided for in the 1948 UN Resolution on Genocide Convention».
The participants carefully listened to the words of the speaker, and supported some parts of his speech with loud applause. At the end, the head of the Ukrainian Photographic Society, Roman Metelskyi, presented Volodymyr Viatrovych with a certificate of appreciation for the lecture, and the director of the Scientific and Technical Library, Andrii Andrukhiv – a book to remember the interesting meeting. There also couldn’t be done without aromatic coffee, which was presented to our guest by Old Lviv Coffee.
At the end, Volodymyr Viatrovych addressed all those present with words that should remain in our hearts and minds for a long time.
«We are involved in a war that has been going on for more than 100 years, but we differ from our predecessors as our generation has been given the great honour and responsibility to end this war. And we can end it with a victory, because we have what neither Petliura, Bandera, Stus, nor anyone else had. We have an incredible nationwide mobilization and the support of the whole world. Therefore, we must end the war, because if we do not succeed, then, unfortunately, we will transfer it to the shoulders of our children. So, let’s do everything so that our children never have to fight again».
