Taras Kuzio - Putins War Against Ukraine: Revolution, Nationalism, and Crime

PUBLISHED IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE CHAIR OF UKRAINIAN STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

Copyright 2017 by Taras Kuzio

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

The photograph of a Ukrainian soldier in combat on the front cover is reproduced courtesy of Noah Brooks who is a documentary photographer from Point Pleasant, New Jersey, USA.Noah began his photography taking photos of the ocean along the New Jersey Shore, then moved on to photograph protests around the United States. After the war broke out in Ukraine, Noah felt compelled to document the story of Euromaidan Revolution protesters leaving the barricades in Kyiv to fight in combat on the front line in Donbas. He can be reached at noahbrooks99@gmail.com.

The remaining photographs were taken by Taras Kuzio and Natali Prylutska (Dziuba). After her brother-in law Dmytro Kuzmin was killed in combat in July 2014, Natali decided to become a civil society volunteer and since then has been delivering food, uniforms, boots, medicines, night vision, and sleeping bags 2-3 times each month to Ukrainian soldiers on the front line. When the photograph was taken is given in brackets.

Published in association with the Chair of Ukrainian Studies, University of Toronto

www.betweeneuropeandrussia.com

There is no doubt as to the Austro-German origin of the legend of the existence of a separate Ukrainian nation.

Prince Alexandre Wolkonsky, The Ukraine Question (1920)

Modern Ukraines borders also do not correspond to historic ethnographic limits. Seven million Russians and, probably, no less Russianised Ukrainians live in Ukraine, and it would be more appropriate to transfer several Ukrainian oblasts to Russia. We are not even talking about the flagrant injustice of giving Crimea to UkraineIf a question about the independence of Ukraine really arose, its boundaries should be revised. In such a case, Ukraine should cede the following territories to Russia: (a) Crimea, (b) Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhya oblasts (where the Russian population dominates), and (c) Odesa, Mykolayiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk (Dnipro), and Sumy oblasts (where the population is Russified enough and which were historically developed by the Russian state).

Russian Patriots, A NationSpeaks (1970)

Maybe it will be necessary to have a referendum in each region and then ensure preferential and delicate treatment of those who would want to leave. Not the whole of Ukraine in its current formal Soviet borders is indeed Ukraine. Some regions on the left bank (of the river Dnipro) clearly lean more towards Russia. As for the Crimea, Khrushchevs decision to hand it over to Ukraine was totally arbitrary.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Rebuilding Russia (1990)

The outcome of the referendum should be calculated separately in each region and each region must decide for itself where it stands.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Appeal on the Ukrainian Referendum on Independence (1991)

Our concerns are understandable because we are not simply close neighbours but, as I have said many times already, we are one people. Kyiv is the mother of Russian cities. Ancient Rus is our common source and we cannot live without each other.

President Vladimir Putin (2014)