2026 Annual Shevchenko Lecture
The Russo-Ukrainian War through a Historian’s Eyes
With Serhii Plokhy
Friday 6 March 2026
6:30 p.m. MST
Tory Lecture Hall, LB-001
11207 Saskatchewan Dr NW, Edmonton, AB
University of Alberta, Edmonton
𝘖𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 | 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥
The Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies is proud to announce the 60th Annual Shevchenko Lecture, to be held on Friday 6 March 2026 at the University of Alberta. Serving since 1966 as a forum for important intellectual discussions concerning Ukrainian history, nation building, language, literature, culture, and identity, the Annual Shevchenko Lecture has presented eminent speakers such as Myrna Kostash, James Mace, Chrystia Freeland, James Sherr, and Alexander Vindman.
2026 marks 60 years since the first Shevchenko Lecture in Edmonton, initiated by the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Association, and 49 years since it has been sponsored by CIUS. As the institute’s oldest and most distinguished invited lecture, it attests to our commitment to build and disseminate knowledge about Ukraine and Ukrainians in the world.
This year, we welcome the well-known historian and author Serhii Plokhy from Harvard University, who will deliver the 60th Shevchenko Lecture.
“The Russo-Ukrainian War through a Historian’s Eyes”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine constitutes the largest war in Europe since 1945. It is also the first war to employ drones on a massive scale, both in the air and at sea, and the first major conflict that is widely characterized as hybrid warfare—combining conventional military operations, cyberattacks, and the active use of disinformation. The latter is a key element of the Kremlin’s war propaganda, aimed not least at its own population as well as Ukraine and the outside world. How important have misuse and abuse of history been in the perpetration and justification of this war, and what are the actual historical causes of the conflict? Why did Putin start the war―and why has it unfolded in previously unimaginable ways? Ukrainians have valiantly resisted a superior military; meanwhile, the West has been vacillating as Russia colludes with allies in the international arena. The lecture will provide answers to these and related questions by tracing the origins of the Russo-Ukrainian war and explaining the reasons for the return of armed conflict in Europe, the very same part of the world where the Cold War had ended thirty years earlier.
Register here: https://www.ualberta.ca/en/canadian-institute-of-ukrainian-studies/news-and-events/annual-lectures/shevchenko-lecture/2026-shevchenko-lecture.html