Yaroslav Hrytsak, age 66, is a professor at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. He is the most renowned living historian in Ukraine and the author of a seminal book on the country’s history, Ukraine: The Forging of a Nation.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine began four years ago, on February 24, 2022. What is your assessment of these years of war?

Resilience. Ukraine still stands, against all odds. It’s a miracle. There is no rational explanation. As a historian, I used to compare this war with the First World War, with a stalemate on the front line, with a war of attrition, which ends in the collapse of one of the sides. I was afraid from the very beginning Ukraine may collapse, because basically it boils down to resources since Ukraine could not be compared to Russia. My fears have not been confirmed. People feel the situation is not getting better but not getting worse. There is a kind of restricted optimism, which is a sign of resilience.

Ukraine was saved in 2022 by its incredible resistance against the columns of Russian tanks. Is that spirit of resistance still as strong?

No, and this is a paradox. The resilience is very strong, but not that many people are now willing to fight. One factor is that the front is rather stabilized. Another one is that, in 2022, there was a very strong solidarity and the idea that we share the responsibility and the burden. Today, people don’t believe that it makes much sense to go to the front and, since the “Mindichgate” [the corruption scandal that shook the Ukrainian government in 2025], they feel there is a kind of injustice. Ukrainians now see those who are fighting as gladiators. People sympathize with them, but let them fight. Ukraine needs a second breath.

The war affects every individual, every family. How has the conflict changed your life?

I lost my godson last month. He was killed near Pokrovsk. Young, smart, very creative. He saved cats from Pokrovsk. One cat is living here. A cat with three legs, probably wounded during the war. So the cats are saved, but he is not. And there was a burial here, on the new graveyard, because the old graveyard is already filled. And one of my students has been killed as well, fighting. So this is how you feel about the war.

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