The Latest Breaking News from Serhii Plokhy

Chernobyl at 40: the lies, the loss and why we can’t let go

Some historical events are so catastrophic they resist comprehension. And yet they compel us to try to understand them, again and again.

The Conversation · Apr 22

Inside the Russian Occupation of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

Harvard historian Serhii Plokhy's book tells the stories of soldiers, stalkers, and squatters in Chernobyl during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Reason · Feb 25, 2025

Chernobyl expert warns nuclear disaster in Ukraine ‘only matter of time’ due to Russian recklessness

Without a stronger stance against Russian aggression near Ukrainian nuclear power plants, disaster is looming ‘closer and closer’, says historian Serhii Plokhy

The Independent UK · Feb 21, 2025

Ukrainian historian Serhii Plokhy: ‘This may not be the last chapter of the Russian empire, but it’s an important one’

The Harvard academic on writing while grieving – and where his country goes from here

The Guardian - UK · May 12, 2023

The Russo-Ukrainian War by Serhii Plokhy review – deeply personal study of ‘an old-fashioned imperial war’

The great chronicler of Ukraine breaks new ground in his rigorous and elegant analysis of Europe’s biggest conflict since 1945 – and its impact on friends and family

The Guardian - UK · Apr 30, 2023

Russian invasion of Ukraine is an attempt to restore pre-communist empire, researcher claims

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is part of Moscow's attempt to restore the empire that existed before the emergence of the Soviet Union. RFI's Jan van der Made talked to Professor Serhii Plokhy, director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University on how the West failed to read Russian President…

Radio France Internationale · Feb 24, 2023

After a year of war in Ukraine, all signs point to more misery with no end in sight

The first anniversary of the war arrives this week with few, if any, signs of a way out of the conflict. For the civilians caught in the crossfire, that means no discernible end to the suffering.

WEKU · Feb 19, 2023

60 years after the Cuban missile crisis, Russia's threats reignite Cold War fears

Over 13 days beginning on Oct. 16, 1962, the U.S. and Soviet Union were at the brink of a nuclear conflict. But since the Cold War ended, some historical assumptions about the crisis have changed.

WEKU · Oct 16, 2022

Atoms and Ashes by Serhii Plokhy review – why another nuclear disaster is almost inevitable

A grim account of the downhill slide of atomic power since its heyday in the 1950s illustrates why it can never be the solution to global heating

The Guardian - UK · May 30, 2022

Leonid Kravchuk: First president of independent Ukraine

The politician played a key role in the dissolution of the USSR and helped usher in a new era for the eastern European country

The Independent UK · May 14, 2022