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: – Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/lex to get special savings – Shopify: https://shopify.com/lex to get $1 per month trial – NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/lex to get free product tour – AG1: https://drinkag1.com/lex to get 1 month supply of fish oil 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 PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: – Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast – Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman – Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman – Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman 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