Ukraine’s True History: How Russia has been trying to conquer Ukraine for centuries

When did Russia’s war against Ukraine start? Spoiler: not in 2022. In fact, not even in 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula and invaded Ukraine’s east. Moscow has been trying (often successfully) to subjugate the territories that make up modern Ukraine for nearly 400 years. But some historians say that the seeds of Russian desire to dominate Ukraine were planted even earlier. In the second episode of the “Ukraine’s True History“ series, we explain why Ukraine and Russia are far from being “brotherly nations,“ as Russian propaganda claims. Read more here: Timecodes: 00:00 - Intro. When did Russia first invade Ukraine? 01:15 - Kyivan Rus. First seeds 01:53 - Moscow “protectorate.“ Times of Bohdan Khmelnytsky 03:26 - Times of Ivan Mazepa 04:20 - End of Cossack state 05:00 - Fall of the Empire, rise of the Soviets 06:22 - 21st century This material is funded by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting within the program “Ukraine Forward: Amplifying Analysis.” The program is financed by the MATRA Programme of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Ukraine. Producer and scriptwriter: Anna Yakutenko Narrator: Anthony Bartaway Story editors: Oleksiy Sorokin, Olga Rudenko, Toma Istomina Illustration by Alina Radomska. Motion design by Anastasia Nevmerzhytska. Project coordinator: Anna Yakutenko Photos and videos used in story: LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP via Getty Images SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images Vincent Mundy/Bloomberg via Getty Images GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images VASILY MAXIMOV/AFP via Getty Images YAROSLAV DEBELYI/AFP via Getty Images Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Viktor Yushchenko/Facebook Our Ukraine/Facebook Vitali Klitschko/YouTube