On 24 February 2022 Russia stunned the world by launching an invasion of Ukraine. In the midst
of checking on the family and friends who were now on the front lines of Europe's largest
conflict since the outbreak of the Second World War acclaimed Ukrainian-American historian
Serhii Plokhy inevitably found himself attempting to understand the deeper causes of the
invasion analysing its course and contemplating the wider outcomes. The Russo-Ukrainian War is
the comprehensive history of a conflict that has burned since 2014 and that with Russia's
attempt to seize Kyiv exploded a geo-political order that had been cemented since the end of
the Cold War. With an eye for the gripping detail on the ground both in the halls of power and
down in the trenches as well as a keen sense of the grander sweep of history Plokhy traces
the origins and the evolution of the conflict from the collapse of the Russian empire to the
rise and fall of the USSR and on to the development in Ukraine of a democratic politics. Based
on decades of research and his unique insight into the region he argues that Ukraine's
defiance of Russia and the West's demonstration of unity and strength has presented a
profound challenge to Putin's Great Power ambition and further polarized the world along a new
axis. A riveting enlightening account this is present-minded history at its best.
