In December 1994, Ukraine gave up the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world and signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, having received assurances that its sovereignty would be respected and secured by Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

In this book, the Canadian-born scholar Mychailo Wynnyckyj interprets the fate of the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity as a turning point, not only in the modern history of Ukraine, but, in fact, in the history of Western civilization. It is a very positive development that the book’s unique analysis, once only available to English readers, is now accessible to a Ukrainian audience.

Translated from the second edition of the original work published in 2012 by the University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy Publishing House, the 2020 translation attempts to provide a broader historical context to a wider Polish-Ukrainian civil war that was not rooted in one event, namely 1943 Volhynia, but rather began in 1942 and ended in 1947.

The story of Senior Lieutenant Illya Titko’s service in one of Ukraine’s motorized infantry brigades, conveys what it’s like to go to war, and how to find the strength to live with the emotions and memories that haunt you. The book’s value lies in its mission to help all of us to understand the experiences of the people, the country, and the individuals who, like Illya Titko, followed the path of defending their country.