The Russo-Ukrainian War

Abstract

There are sources for the Ukraine War that are currently inaccessible. In their absence, the discussion of this important war tends to be a matter of re-treads. In part, this is inevitable because so much has been written. Serhii Plokhy, a major scholar in Ukrainian studies, does not have much new to say, but he provides a reliable deep history in terms of Russian ambitions as well as a perceptive and thoughtful account of the conflict so far. He also shows a forward-looking focus by explaining that the conflict will not essentially alter the move from a US versus Soviet world system to a US versus China one. The book focuses less on military developments and more on strategic, political, geopolitical and historiographical aspects. It is similarly not a tactical or operational analysis, and the points made in these spheres, for example of poor Russian tactics in the 2022 advance, are scarcely novel. Technology is handled briefly, for example drones, but there is no systematic discussion or contextualisation.