Almost two months have passed since the beginning of Russia′s treacherous invasion of Ukraine and the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war. 

This war is just one of Russia′s aggressive actions against Ukraine. There have been hundreds of them in history, but even in this series it occupies a special place. Russia has never had such a full-scale aggression against Ukraine. 

Parallels can be drawn with the events of 1917-1920, but then in addition to the fact that Russia was at war with Ukraine, there was internal civil confrontation in Russia - to a greater extent and in Ukraine. 

The War of 2022 is the first war in which monolithic and lead Russia is at war with a free and united Ukraine. The problem of the causes of war is multifaceted. There may be information deficiencies that are difficult to disagree with and more. But the causes of the war cannot be reduced to the information component alone. 

I would name a few reasons. And at their core - from century to century - the original chauvinism of the Russian nation, multiplied by the awareness of the losses suffered by Russia as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union. 

In fact, the Soviet Union was post-tsarist Russia. That is why the collapse of the Soviet Union was perceived as the collapse of Russia. In the first years, on the wave of democratic transformations, democratic sentiments, this was not realized, at least to such an extent. With the arrival of a new president, Putin, and changes in society, this realization has taken place, and this is natural, given the events of world history. Compare: Hitler after the Weimar Republic was able to play on these sentiments in Germany; Putin did so after the collapse of the Soviet Union. And racism emerged - a combination of great-power chauvinism and Russian Nazism. 

Among the reasons I would include the denial of national and state subjectivity to Ukrainians. On the very existence of the Ukrainian nation. Note that according to their leader, in particular this isPutin’s article of 2021 and his speech on February 24, 2022, it is said that there are no such (Ukrainians) and there can be none. And now that the Russian Foreign Ministry is coming up with a new reason for the attack every day, the same idea is underlying - there are no Ukrainians and there should not be. 

Among the reasons, of course, is the traditional rejection by Russian society of European values ​​of freedom, respect for man, humanism and, if you will, human-centeredness.

Of course, the figure of Putin also played a role in the beginning of the war and its conduct. A powerful propaganda machine ensured the formation of appropriate public opinion and support for the actions of the Russian leadership by the majority of Russians. 

Let′s say self-critically that the toothless, and in fact capitulatory, position of the Ukrainian government on protection of the Crimea and Donbass in 2014 was shown also. This whetted the appetites of the Russian Federation and gave the impression of the ease of the current campaign, which was supported by the signals of the fifth column from Ukraine.

Today we are witnessing a strong resistance and national unity of the Ukrainian people, which gives confidence in the victorious end of the war for Ukraine. 

Of course, Ukraine will change as a result of the war. And not only Ukraine will change, the world will also change. There will be no automatic return to the past life. A person will change - his life will be based more on values. And the values ​​of the highest human class - dignity, honesty, decency. And all spheres are undergoing appropriate changes. It is time for an honest conversation and an honest responsible policy towards everyone and everything - and in relation to education, and science, and everything else. 

Of course, changes will take place in the world. It will be clarified what is good and what is evil. And, perhaps, the countries will evaluate the positions of the states in relation to the Russian-Ukrainian war for a long time - whether it is sincere support, or cunning, or attempts to earn, etc. Undoubtedly, Russia as a state will lose its authority in the world for many decades, and vice versa - Ukraine′s authority will grow. We are already witnessing this: Ukraine has declared its own subjectivity in full voice and continues to assert its authority. 

I hope that Ukraine will become a member of the European Union. And this will be only a small compensation to Europe for the enormous and heroic efforts and heavy losses of our people not only for their own self-defense, but also to protect Europe and the world from rashism on the border with Ukraine, not in Poland or Germany. 

I have mentioned only some aspects that, in my opinion, deserve to be taken into account in our reality. Each of us must analyse the events of the war of 2022 - through the prism of the sphere of professional activity, our institutions, the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine and not only the Academy. In general, the time has come for truly independent sociological, socio-psychological, political science research on the history of Russian-Ukrainian and Ukrainian-Russian relations, as well as the future of Ukraine.