22nd February 2025 will mark the third anniversary of the large-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, ten years after Russian troops entered Crimea and illegally annexed the region. Though it is impossible today to anticipate the turn events will take, given, in particular, the changed context produced by Donald Trump’s return to the US presidency on 20th January 2025, we have necessarily to note the extraordinary resistance the Ukrainian people have mounted against the invader.
While Ukraine and Russia’s societies once had much in common, how are we to explain the opposite courses they have taken over the last 30 years and the factors contributing to Ukraine’s identity and strength today? That is the aim of this interview, granted to Hugues de Jouvenel by Anna Colin Lebedev, in which she lays out how Ukraine differs from its neighbour, how it has managed to assert its own identity and, thanks to a remarkable collective mobilization, free itself from Russia and draw closer to the West. Rising determinedly above the ongoing fray, this interview examines the sources of Ukraine’s identity: the values, attitudes and behaviour that characterize its population, lend it the strength to resist the aggressor and defend its own vision of the future. It is a succinct social portrait of Ukraine that Anna Colin Lebedev offers us here.
The article is downloadable only in French. It is not available in English.
