Hi! It’s konkaz (@konkazuk).
The book I’m introducing today, which I would directly translate into English as “Understanding Ukraine: A Topic to Explore from Around Secondary School Age“, was published in 2022 by Mishimasha.
Both authors are historians, but Ukraine is not their field of expertise. As a result, much of the book explains Ukraine from an outsider’s perspective, making their lectures feel approachable and easy to relate to for readers.
I believe the purpose of this book is to help our generation reconnect with the feelings of people in the past who, even if they were far from the battlefield, never saw war as someone else’s concern.
It is not easy to continuously empathise with the anger and sorrow of people affected by events in other countries. However, in the 21st century, as globalisation advances, the idea that ‘as long as my surroundings are peaceful, everything is fine’ will not hold forever, and its impact will inevitably reach us.
Let’s read and keep learning.
The History of Ukraine
It has been more than 30 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the image of Eastern European countries has become so well established that it is easy to mistakenly assume they have always existed. But in reality, Ukraine only declared its independence in 1991.
Through this book, we come to understand that Ukraine has had a particularly complex history.
The word ‘Ukraine’ originates from the time of the Kievan Rus and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where it initially referred to ‘borderland‘ or ‘frontier‘.
It also has the meaning of ‘region‘ or ‘country‘, which holds more significance for Ukrainians.
However, Poland and Russia continue to regard Ukraine as a ‘borderland’ in their perception.
Consequently, this area has traditionally been a place of clashes between various groups and powers, and it’s important to keep this in mind, as emphasised by Satoshi Koyama, who specialises in Polish history.
Geographically, the region is a vast plain, and since the 13th century, when the Mongol army arrived and destroyed the Kievan Rus, the area around the Dnipro River has been a site of clashes between major powers from the west, east, and south. It was during this time that a group called the Cossacks emerged, and the independent spirit of the Ukrainian people began to grow.
The area would continue to experience power struggles and was even dragged into the two World Wars, and after the Soviet Union collapsed, it seemed like peace had been restored — only to find itself once again trapped between Russia and Western forces.
Ultimately, Ukraine’s location appears to be a key factor that has led to its tumultuous historical fate.
The Path to Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion
In 2014, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in southern Ukraine. Shortly afterwards, pro-Russian armed groups in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine rose up, leading to clashes with the Ukrainian government forces.
Putin takes advantage of historical events to justify the invasion.
For example, he claims that ‘Ukraine has always been part of Russia,’ pointing to the time when the Cossack state sought Moscow’s help in its struggle for independence from Poland. He also refers to Ukraine’s cooperation with Nazi Germany during World War II to escape Polish control, arguing that Russia’s military actions are aimed at the ‘de-Nazification’ of Ukraine.
Following the 2014 Euromaidan Revolution, Ukraine moved to deepen its ties with the EU and NATO. Russia regarded this as ‘Western interference’ and began gathering military forces near the Ukrainian border in 2021. Ultimately, on February 24, 2022, Russia initiated a full-scale invasion.
Since then, the war has dragged on, resulting in many casualties within Ukraine, while support for the country has grown worldwide.
The Russia-Ukraine War Through the Lens of Food
The other author, Tatsushi Fujihara, approaches the Russia-Ukraine conflict through the lens of “food” and offers his insights on this matter.
Ukraine is home to one of the world’s most fertile “black soil regions” (chernozem), producing so much wheat and corn that it is often called “the breadbasket of Europe”.
However, the war has devastated farmland, blocked ports, and suspended exports, triggering a severe food crisis, especially in the Middle East and Africa.
Moreover, Russia has been obstructing Ukraine’s grain exports while leveraging its own wheat as a geopolitical tool, restricting exports to influence global markets.
In this way, this war is not just a military conflict but can also be seen as an invasion by Russia, a major agricultural power, into another agricultural powerhouse, Ukraine.
“Someone Else’s Problem”?
I think I read this book sometime last summer. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, it is terrifying to realise that, as I write this, three years have already passed since the war began.
As I was writing this article, I quickly went through the book again and was surprised to find that, even though it’s been less than half a year since I read it, the impact it had on me has already faded.
What the authors point out in the book—how people perceive war as something distant and unrelated—turned out to be true for me as well.
Towards the end of the book, there is a discussion section between the two authors in which they analyse the frequently used phrase on television, ‘This is not just someone else’s problem,’ exploring in what way this issue is truly relevant to us.
The authors stress that we should not simply see this war as a geopolitical struggle between NATO and Russia, but rather approach it from a more everyday perspective—one that recognises, on a basic human level, that such actions are morally unacceptable. In this sense, it is not just someone else’s problem.
When individuals begin to experience a certain level of comfort in their lives, the need to rely on others diminishes, and relationships with those around them tend to fade. As a result, they can go through their daily lives without much thought for the broader workings of society.
However, when we become indifferent to “distant events”, we may not notice how things unfold, and what was once someone else’s issue may one day strike our own peaceful lives.
As globalisation has advanced in the 21st century, it seems that everything happening between people around the world is no longer something we can consider “someone else’s issue”.
Until next time,
konkaz
*You can read this blog post in Japanese from the link below.
👉 「中学生から知りたいウクライナのこと」：初心者にもわかるウクライナ情勢