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/ Full episodes playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 Clips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeciFP3CBCIEElOJeitOr41 OUTLINE: 0:00 - Introduction 1:18 - Collapse of the Soviet Union 17:27 - Origins of Russia and Ukraine 30:30 - Ukrainian nationalism 38:13 - Stepan Bandera 1:07:13 - KGB 1:22:11 - War in Ukraine 1:58:27 - NATO and Russia 2:09:30 - Peace talks 2:23:17 - Ukrainian Army head Valerii Zaluzhnyi 2:29:54 - Power and War 2:40:45 - Holodomor 2:47:17 - Chernobyl 2:57:51 - Nuclear power 3:07:28 - Future of the world SOCIAL: - Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman - Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman - Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/lexfridman - Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman