Fate of Ukraine subject of annual Mohyla Lecture

A renowned expert on Ukraine visited St. Thomas More College on Thursday, Feb. 13 to share his perspective on how political and social unrest turned into a deadly war in the Donbas region in Eastern Ukraine.

Dr. Dominique Arel, Chair of Ukrainian Studies, University of Ottawa, was the guest speaker for the 23^rd annual Mohyla Lecture, hosted by the Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage (PCUH), in conjunction with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Saskatchewan Provincial Council and St. Thomas More College, with funding provided by SaskCulture.

Titled The Origins and Consequences of the Donbas War, the lecture chronicled the region’s slide into violence since 2013 as protests against corruption turned to the ouster of a government, and the military intervention of Russia, which has an interest in interfering with the country’s move toward closer ties with the European Union and NATO.

Arel said since the Euromaidan protests, the war in Donbas and the crisis over the annexation of Crimea, the former political powerhouse, the Party of Regions, with its pro-Russian bent, has ceased to wield influence.

“Ukraine has changed tremendously in the last six years. Ukraine has never been so Ukrainian and so pro-European,” said Arel.

What remains unknown is which of four most likely scenarios will play out in the country, with a peaceful political resolution only the most favourable, not most likely.

PCUH recorded Dr. Arel’s lecture to stream online. If you would like to listen to it, and the Question & Answer session afterward, please click HERE.