The Fall of the Pan-Russian Utopia: Serhii Plokhy delivered an opening lecture for the freshman class of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy!
Kyiv-Mohyla Academy welcomed more than 1000 new students. This year, new educational programs were established, and even more students entered the Academy than in the previous one.
Every academic year at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy begins with a ceremonious opening lecture. This year's speaker was the eminent historian Dr. Serhiy Plokhy, Director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, author of best-selling books such as “The Gates of Europe, “The Last Empire”, “The Russo Ukrainian War”, and others. Dr. Plokhy was named Honorary Professor by Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in April 2023. The topic of his lecture was "The Fall of the Pan-Russian Utopia”. It covered the fall of the russian utopic idea of russification and destruction of the Ukrainian people, - a russian idea that led to the invasion of Ukraine, causing the current war, which the Ukrainian people rejected and continue to fight against to secure Ukraine’s victory.
“By claiming that russians and Ukrainians were one and the same people, putin left his soldiers unprepared for a war in which the entire population would oppose the invading army and support its own armed forces. In Ukraine, the russian invasion destroyed the last vestiges of the belief that Ukrainians and russians were fraternal peoples, to say nothing about their being one and the same people”, Serhii stated.
At the end of the lecture, Professor Plokhy left a message for the new students:
"You can set the most ambitious goals for yourselves. Remember Professor Bryukhovetsky, who revived this Academy. Remember about those, who set tasks for themselves, which seemed to be impossible. Remember about your friends and parents who are currently struggling on the frontlines against the army that everyone had knelt before for decades. They are the ones achieving the impossible. I wish for you success and to turn the impossible into possible."
You can watch the recording of this lecture on Kyiv-Mohyla Academy's YouTube channel or read the full text of the lecture in English