On 1 June, the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine hosted a public discussion entitled ‘Ukrainian History as a Factor in War: The Figure of Ivan Lysiak-Rudnytskyi’, organised by the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine in collaboration with the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies.

The event was attended by Yaroslav Hrytsak – historian and professor at the Ukrainian Catholic University, Ihor Ostash – Director of the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine, Natalia Hanenko-Friesen, Director of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Alberta; Frank Sysyn, Director of the Petro Yatsyk Centre for Ukrainian Studies at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (via video message); and Oleksandr Krasovytskyi, Director of the Folio publishing house.

In his opening remarks, Ihor Ostash, Director of the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine, emphasised the particular relevance of the figure of Ivan Lysyak-Rudnytskyi in the context of the current Russian-Ukrainian war. According to him, Russia’s full-scale invasion was preceded by a long struggle over history and Ukraine’s right to its own past.

Ihor Ostash also emphasised that Lysiak-Rudnytskyi’s legacy remains an important intellectual tool in the fight against Russian historical manipulation and attempts to appropriate Ukraine’s past.

The main speaker at the event, Yaroslav Hrytsak, devoted his speech to the role of Ivan Lysiak-Rudnytskyi in shaping the modern understanding of Ukrainian history and its return to the European intellectual sphere. The historian emphasised that Lysiak-Rudnytskyi’s works helped to overcome colonial approaches to interpreting Ukraine’s past and to demonstrate that Ukrainians are a historical political nation with their own tradition of state-building.

Professor Hrytsak paid particular attention to the significance of history in wartime, describing it as a vital tool for countering Russian propaganda and imperial narratives.

In his video address, Frank Sysin highlighted Ivan Lysiak-Rudnytskyi’s outstanding contribution to the development of Ukrainian historical scholarship in the West. He described him as a brilliant intellectual, educator and one of the founders of modern Ukrainian historiography, whose works remain relevant to this day for researchers and a wide readership.

Frank Sysyn paid particular attention to the published diaries of Ivan Lysiak-Rudnytskyi, which open up new possibilities for understanding the Ukrainian experience of the 20th century and the development of the Ukrainian intellectual tradition.

Natalia Hanenko-Friesen, Director of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, spoke about the role of the Ukrainian diaspora in the preservation and development of Ukrainian humanities, as well as Ivan Lysiak-Rudnytskyi’s contribution to the establishment of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies as one of the world’s leading centres for Ukrainian studies.

During her speech, she also announced an important gift for the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine — an English-language collection of the works of Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, compiled by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies. This multi-volume academic publication will be a highlight of the Academy’s library collection and will be available to researchers, diplomats and students. It is particularly symbolic that this same English-language edition of Mykhailo Hrushevskyi’s works is also featured on the bookshelves of the project of Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska.

Oleksandr Krasovytskyi, Director of the Folio publishing house, spoke about the large-scale project to return the intellectual heritage of the Ukrainian diaspora to Ukraine. He emphasised the importance of publishing the works of Ivan Lysiak-Rudnytskyi for the modern Ukrainian reader and stressed the need to popularise Ukrainian historical thought among a wider audience.

During the event, a four-volume edition of Ivan Lysiak-Rudnytskyi’s works was presented. The collection includes academic works, journalistic pieces, political essays and diaries by the eminent Ukrainian historian and political thinker.

The event concluded with a lively ‘question-and-answer’ discussion. During the conversation, participants covered a range of topical issues – from Ukrainian identity and historical memory to the challenges of teaching history, coming to terms with the complex chapters of the past, and Ukraine’s place in the contemporary European intellectual landscape. 

We would like to thank the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, the Petro Yatsyk Centre for Ukrainian History, and Folio Publishing for their collaboration in bringing this important intellectual project to life.

The four-volume edition of Ivan Lysiak-Rudnytskyi’s works, as well as the English-language collection of Mykhailo Hrushevskyi’s works donated by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, will soon be available for consultation in the library collection of the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine.