Konwersatorium/Colloquium: Understand Russian-Ukrainian war

On Monday, January 09, at 11.00 am, Jerzy Pniewski and Leopold Infeld Colloquium of the Faculty of Physics WU will be held in room 0.06. Our guest will be Professor Leszek Zasztowt from the Faculty of Oriental Studies of the University of Warsaw. He will give a lecture entitled:

Ukraine – between Poland and Russia. A Russian narrative.

In his lecture, Prof. Zasztowt will put into historical context and explain the conditions behind the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022.

The abstract of the lecture can be found below this message.

Before the Colloquium, at 10.30 a.m., we invite you to informal discussions over coffee and cookies in the hall in front of room 0.06.

Summary:
In a situation where the eyes of the world are focused on the heroic defence of Ukraine against aggression of Russia, I will try to answer the question why the Kremlin does not recognize Ukraine as state, and Ukrainians as a nation. I will discuss and outline the history of this country from ancient times to the present: the beginnings of Christianity, the times of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the enslavement and denial of Ukrainian identity under the sceptre of imperial Russia, the extermination of the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian intelligentsia during the Soviet era. Main question remains: why the Kremlin decided to kill Ukrainian nation?

About lecturer:
Leszek Zasztowt works at the Center for East European Studies at the University of Warsaw, and is a professor emeritus in the L.& A. Birkenmajer Institute for the History of Science, Polish Academy of Sciences. He specializes in the history of Central and Eastern Europe and Russia. Author of numerous books on the history of Europe and Russia and concerning the history of Polish and European science and letters in the 19th and 20th centuries.