(Quebec) “Ukraine is gambling on its survival, which explains why Ukrainians are so determined,” said one of the specialists on the Ukrainian question in the country, Dominique Arel, on the eve of an international forum in Ottawa on this country at war.
Posted at 9:14 a.m.
The Danyliv Research Seminar officially opens Thursday evening and will welcome a dozen Ukrainian researchers who have either been able to flee their country or who have recently been able to travel to Ottawa, despite the heavy bombardments of the last few days in Ukrainian cities. .
This seminar is the “first major academic event” on Ukraine to bring together researchers in person since the start of the Russian offensive on February 24, 2022, said Mr. Arel, in an interview with The Canadian Press on Wednesday.
He has been studying Ukraine for about thirty years, even before the fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), when it was still a federated republic, at the time of Mikhail Gorbachev.
It is “indisputable” that there is a renewed interest in Ukrainian studies, given the impacts that this war has on daily life around the world, whether due to the energy crisis, the problems food supply,” explained Mr. Arel.
“It ultimately shakes the structures of the whole world,” he said in a telephone interview.
“The Ukrainians even reveal themselves, they reveal themselves militarily, they reveal themselves as a united nation. It would be difficult now to meet someone who had never heard of Ukrainians at least just on the news. »
Since the start of the Russian aggression, Ukraine has suffered major setbacks, lost territory and suffered considerable damage to its infrastructure, but it is holding its own and has even managed to regain ground in recent weeks.
The University of Ottawa expert says he receives messages of hope from his interlocutors, all his contacts he has made in Ukraine over these many years.
“Beyond the horror is the incredible determination of the Ukrainians. This is still the message we receive even after Monday’s disaster (the bombings). It has absolutely not shaken their confidence that they will win the war and that this war will end even to their advantage. »
Thus, the specialist draws different conclusions from those who delay or plead for negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin to conclude the war.
“It’s pretty explicit that Russia under Putin seeks to destroy Ukraine as a state and even go after Ukrainians as an ethno-cultural community, repeating that they don’t exist. […] The real existential war is in Ukraine, it is Ukraine that is attacked in a war the likes of which have not been seen since the Second World War. »
Many topics will be discussed during the seminar workshops, including the issue of displaced populations, war crimes, economic consequences, the role of artists, etc.
“I don’t know yet what I will learn, but I am sure I will learn a ton of things, but it is also a way of giving a very important platform to Ukrainians,” concluded Mr. Arel.
There are 1.4 million people of Ukrainian origin in Canada, including 42,500 in Quebec.