Remember: When Hitler and Stalin in 1939 invade Poland from both sides, Poland ceases to exist for the second time in history, while Galicia for the first time falls under Russian rule. I guess what I try to say that her writing is better litterature than travel advice (read, to see what I mean). This was evident in the treatment of the prisoners of war through the Germans who were either killed or beaten and starved and the introduction of forced labour for civilians.

she] is remarkably clear-headed about the many competing versions of Ukraine's history and its mostly invented heroes.She mentions that there is no political party (in the mid 1990s) who uses anti-semitic rhetoric (apart from the insignificant UNA). At the beginning of the chapter Anna Reid speaks about a meeting with Ukrainian friends in London and her bewilderment how they spoke about funding the Ukrainian army through private donations. There is also a huge surge of foreigners who have decided to learn Ukrainian since the beginning of the war.

It’s true that the book is pro-Ukrainian, but for me that is makes these parts of the book harder to accept. Also in 2015 countries of the European Union provided Ukraine with money to help the economy, but they did not deliver weapons and Poroshenko, even so grateful for the humanitarian aid, mentioned that Ukraine could not “win the war with blankets”. After Chernobyl exploded on Friday 26 April 1986, the officials decided to keep what happened quiet and no one was informed about the risk for life because of this event.

One remarkable example is the crowdfunding which was initiated by the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation at the end of June. Amazingly, the protesters continued to press forward, relying on sheer force of numbers to overwhelm the better armed opposition. Well, Romania had a ban on communist parties because we know how wonderful is to live under communism. million Ukrainian refugees are in neighbouring countries (as of 1 May) and Poland has accepted more than 3 million Ukrainian refugees and also strongly supports Ukraine on the military side. Russia responded by invading, first seizing Crimea and the eastern Donbass, and then in February 2022 marching on Kyiv.

And only during the times of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, the term Ukraine started to be used referring to Ukraine. Finally she speaks about the choices and decisions the Ukrainians have to take and describes different possible scenarios and also gives details where she sees as positive developments in Ukraine. In 2014 they had an election for the European Parliament and 24% went to Marine Le Pen’s far-right party (getting over 40% last year in the France’s general election).

I do realise that this is a book with a vividly highlighted political premise, which had a task to demonstrate that all the participants in this free-for-all did all right for Ukraine, except Russia. She highlights the dependence of the European Union from Russian gas and the reliance on trade and investment from Russia. Large numbers of Jews arrived from 1569 onwards when the Union of Lublin allowed Poles and Jews to migrate into Ukraine, which was part of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy.