#415 – Serhii Plokhy: History of Ukraine, Russia, Soviet Union, KGB, Nazis & War

Serhii Plokhy is a Ukrainian historian at Harvard University, director of the Ukrainian Research Institute, and an author of many books on history of Eastern Europe, including his latest book The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:

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Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/serhii-plokhy-transcript

EPISODE LINKS:

Serhii's X: https://x.com/splokhy

Serhii's Website: https://history.fas.harvard.edu/people/serhii-plokhii

Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute: https://huri.harvard.edu/

Serhii's Books: https://amzn.to/3OS2EqK

2006 - The Origins of the Slavic Nations

2010 - Yalta: The Price of Peace

2012 - The Cossack Myth: History and Nationhood in the Age of Empires

2014 - The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union

2015 - The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine

2016 - The Man with the Poison Gun: A Cold War Spy Story

2017 - Lost Kingdom: The Quest for Empire and the Making of the Russian Nation

2018 - Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy

2021 - Nuclear Folly: A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis

2021 - The Frontline: Essays on Ukraine's Past and Present

2022 - Atoms and Ashes: A Global History of Nuclear Disaster

2023 - The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History

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OUTLINE:

Here's the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.

(00:00) - Introduction

(09:10) - Collapse of the Soviet Union

(25:19) - Origins of Russia and Ukraine

(38:22) - Ukrainian nationalism

(46:04) - Stepan Bandera

(1:15:05) - KGB

(1:30:03) - War in Ukraine

(2:06:19) - NATO and Russia

(2:17:22) - Peace talks

(2:31:09) - Ukrainian Army head Valerii Zaluzhnyi

(2:37:46) - Power and War

(2:48:37) - Holodomor

(2:55:09) - Chernobyl

(3:05:43) - Nuclear power

(3:15:20) - Future of the world