Current Topics in the Comparative History of Ukraine: Geopolitics and Independence

A lecture by Serhiy Lepyavko, Professor of History at Nizhyn Gogol State University (Ukraine), Director of the NGO The Siverian Institute of Regional Studies in Chernihiv, Research Fellow at the Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University (February–July 2025).

Moderated by Megan K Duncan Smith, Programs Coordinator at the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University.

IN-PERSON 

Casual lunch will be provided.

About the Lecture

The ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war is a war for Ukraine’s independence—one that has been delayed since 1991. Since the mid-17th century, Ukrainians have made several major attempts to gain independence, establish their own state, and defend its sovereignty. Among the most significant were the war against Poland (the National Revolution) led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky in the mid-17th century, and the liberation struggle of 1917–1921 (the Ukrainian Revolution).

In both cases, the protracted fight yielded only partial and short-lived success. On the battlefield, Ukraine showed it could secure victories or at least parity with its enemies. However, it consistently lacked strong, reliable allies on the international stage. The historical opportunities for independence in the mid-17th and early 20th centuries were lost—mainly due to unfavorable geopolitical circumstances. This becomes clear when these events are examined through the lens of comparative history.
 

About the Speaker

Serhiy Lepyavko is a Professor of History at Nizhyn Gogol State University in Ukraine. He completed his PhD [kandidat nauk] in Ukrainian History in 1992 and his doktor nauk in 2000, both from the Institute of History of Ukraine at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. He began his career studying the history of Ukrainian Cossacks in the 16th century and working in archives across Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, and Russia. Later, he expanded his research interests to cover the period of the 15th through 18th centuries. His research themes include the political, military, social history of Ukraine, and international relations between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Muscovy, the Ottoman Empire, and the Crimean Khanate. Serhiy Lepyavko has published the monographs, Cossack Wars of the Late 16th Century in Ukraine (1996 and 2022) and The Ukrainian Cossacks Within the Context of International Relations, 1561-1591 (1999). He has also studied the history of Ukrainian Cossacks as a military corporation within the context of the Great Frontier theory and has conducted comparative studies of borders between different civilizations. In 2003-2004, he was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Colorado at Boulder and has also lectured at Columbia University and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Serhiy Lepyavko held fellowships from the Polish Foundation “Kasa im. Józefa Mianowskiego”, the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, and the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. Over the last 15 years, he has studied the history of Chernihiv, one of the oldest cities in Ukraine, and has published eight books on this topic. His current project is a continuation and completion of his research from the previous decades.

Serhiy Lepyavko is a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war. In 2022, he joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine and took part in the defense of Chernihiv.

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This event is organized by Harvard's Ukrainian Research Institute (HURI) as part of the Ukraine Study Group event series.

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