The Irreparable Slavic Fabric
Telegram #46: The future generational enmity between Russia and Ukraine
Modern wars are a tragically troublesome affair. Soldiers become cannon fodder, flesh to be thrown at enemy gunfire. Civilians are targeted and turn into victims of a bloody demonstration of what the enemy is willing to do. People are reduced to an “other” and then an enemy.
What has bothered me as I observe Russia’s war with Ukraine, as it nears its anniversary of destruction, is what will come after the guns fall silent, long after any kind of peace - whether a ceasefire or final settlement - and long after we are gone. The future generations of Russians and Ukrainians will look back at this unforgettable moment in their histories. What will they feel? Guilt? Triumph? Anger? Honor?
Certainly, this will all depend on how the war shapes, but what is undeniable is that hatred will seethe in the hearts of many Russians and Ukrainians towards one another for what their fathers had done to each other.
The war has undeniably strengthened Ukraine’s statehood and redefined its national identity. Historically, wars have both made and destroyed states. In our case, one is being remade, and another is withering away. But Ukraine has always been a historical fact. Beyond the Kievan Rus’ (882-1240), the establishment of the Cossack Hetmanate after the Khmelnytsky Uprising against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1648 demonstrated that the Ukrainian people always had their own agency.
The Hetmanate sought Russia’s protection against the Polish-Lithuanians and by 1654 the Treaty of Pereyaslav was signed turning the Hetmanate into a Russian vassal. Today, Ukraine now seeks the aid of the West to protect itself against an Eastern threat.
Just this one episode of Ukraine’s epic history demonstrates that it is a country constantly caught in the middle. Yet, despite the pressures of its neighbors, it has been able to assert its agency. This pursuit of self-determination is under threat and now visibly vilified by Kremlin propagandists who claim that Ukrainians are “neo-Nazis” and that Kyiv is a “puppet” of the so-called “collective West”. The war has exacerbated the process of mutual “othering” between Russians and Ukrainians.
The use of social media has turned every civilian in the midst of conflict into a war journalist, giving them the chance to document all the tragedies and heinous crimes committed by combatants. As the Russian-Ukrainian war becomes the most well-documented war in history, it will be increasingly difficult to forget the atrocities that have emerged from the carnage.
Even if, at least, some cessation of hostilities occurs, the memories of the war will haunt Russians and Ukrainians forever. The view - even an inkling of it in the hearts and minds of Russians - that there are neo-Nazis in Ukraine will be enough to justify future confrontation. Ukrainians will never look to Russia and Russians the same way ever again - I do not know a single Ukrainian who does not carry with them an anger none of us will ever comprehend.
What I think most commentators and analysts do not realize, or perhaps have chosen to put aside, is that there is a civil war raging in the Slavic world. Certainly, this does not mean that Russians and Ukrainians are “one people”, as Putin claims, but that peoples of an unavoidably shared history and culture have now reached a point of divergence. This rift will never be repaired.
Even if this fabric is sewn back together, a noticeable scar will run through it. Generations of Russians and Ukrainians will debate, argue, and maybe even fight once more over who was its cause.