An Elon Musk-Supported Apology of Russia’s War on Ukraine
A collective warning to readers of The Russia-Ukraine War and its Origins: From the Maidan to the Ukraine War (Palgrave Macmillan/Springer Nature, 2026).
This open-access book has been written by Ivan Katchanovski, who is – according to the University of Ottawa's website – a "Part Time Professor" in Canada's capital. Discussions of volumes like The Russia-Ukraine War and its Origins usually happen within single-authored book reviews in specialized journals. Yet the exceptional circumstances of the appearance and circulation of Katchanovski's monograph described below motivate us – over one hundred scholars in the field of East European studies – to respond to this publication with a joint word of caution. Our statement is related not so much to the exact content of Katchanovski's book as to the volume's central message and its seemingly very wide reception, which is atypical for a non-fiction book under the imprint of an academic publisher.
As Katchanovski informs his followers on X (formerly Twitter), the GoFundMe campaign to raise the publisher's fee for making his book accessible online was supported by the US multi-billionaire Elon Musk. Another US billionaire and acquaintance of Musk, David Sacks, openly lists himself on Katchanovski's GoFundMe site as having donated US$5000 to make The Russia-Ukraine War and its Origins open-access. In 2025, Musk was for a few months "Commissioner of the Department of Government Efficiency" in Donald Trump's second presidential administration. Since December 2024, Sacks has been the White House's "Special Advisor for AI and Crypto."
Whether as a result of Musk's support or not, the mentions of Katchanovski's book – officially published in 2026 but circulated since 2025 – on Musk's social network X (formerly Twitter) have been exceptionally dynamic. For instance, by 2nd January 2026, the scientometric tool Altmetric had already "seen 2341 X posts [referring to The Russia-Ukraine War and its Origins] from 1443 X users, with an upper bound of 5,165,388 followers." Three months later, on 1st April 2026, Altmetric had seen "3174 X posts from 1799 X users, with an upper bound of 6,626,013 followers." For the – admittedly, much smaller – network BlueSky, not owned by Musk, Altmetric had until 1st April 2026 seen only five users referring to The Russia-Ukraine War and its Origins. The latter number is a typical dissemination success of specialized non-fiction books published by academic publishers.
Whether as a result of support from Musk, Sacks, or others, the electronic version of Katchanovski's open-access book is apparently being downloaded by the thousands from the publisher's website. On 31 December 2025, PalgraveMacmillan/Springer reported that the volume had already then, i.e. before its official publication month of January 2026, received "159k Accesses." Three months later, on 31 March 2026, Springer's website listed, for The Russia-Ukraine War and its Origins, "248k Accesses" – whatever an "access" exactly entails. This indicates an unusually high public interest for a dry non-fiction book offered by an academic publisher.
In response to the extraordinary amount of tweets, retweets and "accesses" of Katchanovski's book, we take here, as academic researchers of East European affairs, the uncommon step to warn collectively against The Russia-Ukraine War and its Origins: Katchanovski's book is a fundamentally flawed study of its subject – the causes of Russia's attacks on Ukraine in 2014 and 2022. The volume's apparent popularity on X and high "access" numbers on the publisher's website have seemingly much to do with its support from Musk, Sacks and/or other promoters, rather than with the quality of its argument.
Affluent supporters of scholarly projects do not usually act in the way in which Musk and Sacks have supported Katchanovski's book, i.e. in a personal manner. Instead, private donors typically channel their philanthropy through foundations with advisory boards and assessment committees composed of experts in the field of their donation. Non-academic supporters of area studies often have a biographical connection to the region whose scholarly investigation they promote.
Having both been born in South Africa, Musk and Sacks could have found many projects in the field of African studies that would have been far more worthy of their support than Katchanovski's book. We suspect that Musk's, Sacks's and some other co-funders' interest in Katchanovski's book has to do neither with an exceptional empathy with Canadian part-time professors nor with any deeper feelings for Eastern Europe. Instead, Musk's and Sacks's backing of Katchanovski seems to have been driven by their political preferences.
Musk's and Sacks's interest in Katchanovski appears to be connected to his book's untenable claim that the primary drivers of Russia's policies of expansion and annihilation in Ukraine since 2014 lie in Ukraine itself, as well as in the behavior of Kyiv's foreign partners. According to Katchanovski, "Russian imperialism was a significant but a secondary factor in the Russian invasion of Ukraine." (p. 315) Accordingly, The Russia-Ukraine War and its Origins is mostly concerned with Ukrainian internal and external affairs, as well as with events to the west - and less so to the east - of Ukraine. Occasionally, the book delves into Moscow's rhetoric and actions. In Katchanovski's interpretation, they appear often, however, as mere responses to putative missteps in or by Kyiv, Washington, London, Brussels, etc.
For instance, Russia's annexation of Crimea in February-March 2014 was, according to Katchanovski, "mainly a disproportionate escalation of the conflict as a reaction to the Western-backed violent overthrow of the pro-Russian government in Ukraine during Euromaidan." (p. 201) Yet followers of these fateful events will remember that the pro-Russian politician Viktor Yanukovych was deposed from his position as Ukraine's President not during but after the Euromaidan protests. Moreover, the replacement of Yanukovych with an interim president, as well as the announcement of new presidential elections, was enacted by the same Ukrainian parliament that had, until January 2014, been largely pro-Yanukovych.
Eventually such discussion about Ukrainian domestic developments is, in any way, off topic. Russia had, has and, for the foreseeable future, will have its own ideas about Crimea and Ukraine as a whole, independently of what happens in Kyiv or elsewhere. Russia's planning of Crimea's swift occupation in late February 2014 had begun when Yanukovych was still in office and still presiding in Kyiv. The ouster of Yanukovych, shortly after the start of Moscow's first military and political moves on Crimea, was not yet certain when Russia was already preparing its territorial expansion by force into the Black Sea.
As academic researchers of Eastern Europe, we wish to inform readers of Part-Time Professor Katchanovski: This book is a strange exercise of blaming Kyiv and its Western friends for Russia's annexations and genocide in Ukraine. The Russia-Ukraine War and its Origins lists hundreds of putative flaws, fissures and faults in recent Ukrainian history and Western policies towards Eastern Europe, in order to explain Moscow's assault of 2014 and the Russian full-scale invasion eight years later.
Yet Russia's attack on Ukraine is not a reaction to real or imagined missteps in Kyiv, Washington, London, Brussels etc. Instead, it constitutes merely the latest permutation of Russian centuries-old expansionism, pan-nationalism, imperialism, and colonialism. The Kremlin's war and tens of thousands of war crimes in Ukraine since 2014 repeat earlier patterns of Moscow's behavior vis-à-vis the Ukrainian people, as well as other nations, in the north-eastern parts of the Eurasian landmass.
To be sure, Russian imperialism has justified in the past and justifies today its invasions, occupations, annexations and annihilations with events outside Russia. Yet, the Russian leadership does not need external impulses for its expansionist and genocidal inclinations and actions towards Ukraine. In so far as Moscow has indeed reacted to the internal affairs of Ukraine, this was not related to real or imagined deficiencies of Ukrainian politics, as Katchanovski portrays it. On the contrary, the Kremlin has been triggered by, among others, the achievements of Ukrainian democratization, which have been putting Putin's increasingly autocratic rule since 1999 under question.
Katchanovski is himself Ukrainian and grasps Ukrainian domestic affairs better than most other qualifiers of the Russia government's responsibility for its ruthless war of aggression and intentional mass crimes in Ukraine. Most admirers of Katchanovski's victim-blaming, on networks such as X, know little about East European history and politics. Pro-Putinist politicians and publicists around the world will be grateful for the various Ukrainian details, quotes, and sources that Katchanovski provides in his book – many of which may have otherwise escaped them.
Yet, Katchanovski fundamentally misleads his readers when he explains Russia's attack as the result of alleged Ukrainian transgressions against political pluralism. Not only has the Ukrainian polity been, since 1991, more open than the political systems of most other former Soviet republics which had been part of the original USSR in 1922. Whoever wants to understand the sources of the Russo-Ukrainian War should read less about Ukrainian domestic politics and international relations – the primary foci of Katchanovski's book. Instead, Russia's war was caused and is driven by Russian political traditions, ideas and interests.
Katchanovski's narrative about the causes and escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War is often congruent to the Kremlin's propaganda: crimes in Kyiv, machinations by Washington, interventions from London, failures of Brussels, etc. As many times before in Russian history, so the story goes, evil foreigners have again provoked the Kremlin to expand Russia's territory by force, mass terrorize its neighbors, and kill, torture, deport etc. thousands of their civilians. No wonder that the RT columnist Tarik Cyril Amar and RIA correspondent Lenka White publicly congratulated Katchanovski on his book. RT, formerly "Russia Today," and RIA, the Russian Information Agency, are media outlets owned by the Russian state and directed by the Russian government.
The already high and further growing circulation of Katchanovski's scholarly deficient book, as an apparent result of promotion by Musk, Sacks and other sympathizers, should not have the public effect of making Putin's assertion to fight a defensive or otherwise justifiable war in Ukraine look plausible. It would be regrettable if Katchanovski's and similar publications, rejected by the overwhelming majority of academic researchers of Eastern Europe but supported by undiscerning plutocrats, gain a wide readership among those not familiar with the past and present of Russian imperial nationalism. It would be even more sad if a political utilization of such publications by populist forces will lead to a reduction of Western help for Ukraine in its fight for survival and thereby facilitate Russia's undisguised attempt to destroy the Ukrainian nation.
Signatories (in alphabetical order):
Kaarina Aitamurto, Ph. D. (Helsinki), Research Fellow in Russian Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland
Richard Arnold, Ph. D. (Ohio State), Professor of Political Science, Muskingum University, United States
Omar Oscar Ashour, Ph. D. (McGill), Professor of Security and Military Studies, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar
Anders Åslund, D. Phil. (Oxford), Senior Non-Resident Fellow in Economics, Stockholm Free World Forum, United States
Fabian Baumann, Dr. Phil. (Basel), Research Fellow in East European History, Heidelberg University, Germany
Torbjörn Becker, Ph. D. (SSE Stockholm), Director of the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics, Sweden
Jan Claas Behrends, Dr. Phil. (Potsdam), Professor of Democracy and Dictatorship, European University Viadrina, Germany
Li Bennich-Björkman, Ph. D. (Uppsala), Professor of Eloquence and Politics, Uppsala University, Sweden
Olga Bertelsen, Ph. D. (Nottingham), Associate Professor of Global Security and Intelligence, Tiffin University, United States
Lesia Bidochko, Ph. D. (NaUKMA), Senior Lecturer in Political Science, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Mykola Borovyk, Cand. Sc. (KNU Kyiv), Research Fellow in Memory Studies, Sachsenburg Concentration Camp Memorial Project, Germany
Giovanna Brogi, Ph. D. (Florence), Emerita Professor of Slavic Studies, University of Milan, Italy
Mariana Budjeryn, Ph. D. (CEU Budapest), Senior Researcher with the Center for Nuclear Security Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States
Yevhen Bystrytsky, Dr. Sc. (NASU Kyiv), Leading Research Fellow in the Philosophy of Culture, Ethics and Aesthetics, Institute of Philosophy, Ukraine
Margaryta Chabanna, Dr. Sc. (NASU Kyiv), Associate Professor of Political Science, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Simon Cosgrove, Ph. D. (UCL), Chair of Trustees, Charity "Rights in Russia," United Kingdom
Franziska Davies, Dr. Phil. (LMU München), Research Fellow in Ukrainian Studies, Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History, Germany
Andrii Demartino, Dr. Sc. (NASU Kyiv), Research Fellow in Russian Studies, National Institute for Strategic Studies, Ukraine
Michael Dobbins, Dr. Rer. Soc. (Konstanz), Interim Professor of Policy Analysis and Public Administration, University of Hannover, Germany
Diana Dutsyk, Cand. Sc. (KNU Kyiv), Senior Lecturer in Journalism, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Marta Dyczok, D. Phil. (Oxford), Associate Professor of History and Political Science, Western University, Canada
Alexander Etkind, Ph. D. (Helsinki), Professor of International Relation, Central European University, Vienna
Julie Fedor, Ph. D. (Cambridge), Associate Professor of History, University of Melbourne, Australia
Pavlo Fedorchenko-Kutuyev, Dr. Sc. (KNU Kyiv), Leading Research Fellow in the History and Theory of Sociology, Institute of Sociology, Ukraine
M. Steven Fish, Ph. D. (Stanford), Professor of Political Science, University of California at Berkeley, United States
Rory Finnin, Ph. D. (Columbia), Professor of Ukrainian Studies, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Darius Furmonavicius, Ph. D. (Bradford), Director of the Lithuanian Studies Centre, Nottingham, United Kingdom
Michael Gentile, Ph. D. (Uppsala), Professor of Human Geography, University of Oslo, Norway
Mridula Ghosh, Ph. D. (KNU Kyiv), Associate Professor of International Relations, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Armand Goșu, Cand. Sc. (Moscow State), Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Bucharest, Romania
George G. Grabowicz, Ph. D. (Harvard), Emeritus Professor of Ukrainian Literature, Harvard University, United States
Andrea Graziosi, H. D. R. (CNU Paris), Emeritus Professor of History, University of Naples Federico II, Italy
Oleksiy Haran, Dr. Sc. (NASU Kyiv), Professor of Comparative Politics, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Christopher A. Hartwell, Ph. D. (SGH Warsaw), Professor of International Business Policy, ZHAW School of Management and Law, Switzerland
Jakob Hauter, Ph. D. (UCL), Research Fellow in Politics and International Relations, University of Reading, United Kingdom
Ulrich Hofmeister, Dr. Phil. (Vienna), Research Fellow in East European History, Ludwig Maximilians University of München, Germany.
Robert Horvath, Ph. D. (Melbourne), Senior Lecturer in Politics, La Trobe University, Australia
Sanshiro Hosaka, Ph. D. (Tartu), Research Fellow in Foreign Policy, International Centre for Defence and Security, Estonia
Alexandra Hrycak, Ph. D. (Chicago), Professor of Sociology, Reed College, United States
Yaroslav Hrytsak, Dr. Sc. (NASU Kyiv), Professor of History, Ukrainian Catholic University, Ukraine
Alyona Hurkivska, Ph. D. (NASU Kyiv), Research Fellow in Political Culture and Ideology, Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, Ukraine
Oksana Huss, Dr. Rer. Pol. (Duisburg-Essen), Policy Analyst, Research Center "Trustworthy Data Science and Security," Germany
Oleh S. Ilnytzkyj, Ph. D. (Harvard), Emeritus Professor of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, University of Alberta
Andreas Kappeler, Dr. Habil. (UZH Zurich), Emeritus Professor of East European History, University of Vienna, Austria
Oleksandra Keudel, Ph. D. (FU Berlin), Associate Professor of Social Science, Kyiv School of Economics, Ukraine
Oksana Kis, Dr. Sc. (NASU Lviv), Head of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine, Ukraine
Bohdan Klid, Ph. D. (Alberta), Research Director of the Holodomor Research and Education Consortium, University of Alberta, Canada
Sergiy Korsunsky, Dr. Sc. (KNU Kyiv), Distinguished Global Scholar in International Relations, Temple University, Japan
Oleh Kotsyuba, Ph. D. (Harvard), Director of Print and Digital Publications at the Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University, United States
Volodymyr Kravchenko, Dr. Sc. (NASU Kyiv), Professor of History, University of Alberta, Canada
Bohdan Krawchenko, D. Phil. (Oxford), Honorary Professor of State Building, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Tamara Krawchenko, Ph. D. (Carleton), Associate Professor of Public Administration, University of Victoria, Canada
Oleksiy Kresin, Dr. Sc. (NLU Kharkiv), Leading Research Fellow in Comparative Jurisprudence, Koretsky Institute of State and Law, Ukraine
Volodymyr Kulyk, Dr. Sc. (NASU Kyiv), Professor of Political Science, Kyiv School of Economics, Ukraine
Hiroaki Kuromiya, Ph. D. (Princeton), Emeritus Professor of History, Indiana University Bloomington, United States
Taras Kuzio, Ph. D. (Birmingham), Professor of Political Science, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Petro Kuzyk, Cand. Sc. (LNU Lviv), Assistant Professor of International Relations, Ivan Franko National University, Ukraine
Sergiy Kyselov, Cand. Sc. (NASU Kyiv), Associate Professor of Political Science, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Michael Launer, Ph. D. (Princeton), Emeritus Professor of Russian Studies, Florida State University, United States.
Halyna Leontiy, Dr. Rer. Soc. (Konstanz), Substitute Professor of the Foundations of Social Sciences, University of Göttingen, Germany
Andrey Makarychev, Dr. Sc. (Nizhny Novgorod), Professor of Regional Political Studies, University of Tartu, Estonia
Tamara Martsenyuk, Ph. D. (NaUKMA), Associate Professor of Sociology, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Yuriy Matsiyevsky, Dr. Sc. (NASU Kyiv), Professor of Political Science, National University of Ostroh Academy, Ukraine
Marie Mendras, Ph. D. (Sciences Po), Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Paris School of International Affairs, France
Nona Mikhelidze, Ph. D. (SNS Pisa), Senior Fellow in EU Politics and Institutions, Institute of International Affairs, Italy
Michael Moser, Dr. Habil. (Vienna), Professor of Slavic Studies, University of Vienna, Austria
Alexander Motyl, Ph. D. (Columbia), Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University-Newark, United States
Wolfgang Mueller, Dr. Habil. (Vienna), Professor of East European History, University of Vienna, Austria
Vlad Mykhnenko, Ph. D. (Cambridge), Professor of Geography and Political Economy, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Tymofiy Mylovanov, Ph. D. (Wisconsin-Madison), Associate Professor of Economics, University of Pittsburgh, United States
Olga Onuch, D. Phil. (Oxford), Professor of Comparative and Ukrainian Politics, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
Oxana Pachlovska, Dr. Sc. (NASU Kyiv), Professor of Ukrainian and Intercultural Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Volodymyr Paniotto, Dr. Sc. (NASU Kyiv), Professor of Sociology, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Oleksiy Panych, Dr. Sc. (NASU Kyiv), Professor of Philosophy, Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary, Ukraine
Roman Petrov, Ph. D. (QMU London), Professor of European Union Law, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern, Ph. D. (Brandeis), Professor of History and Jewish Studies, Northwestern University, United States
Olena Podolian, Ph. D. (Stockholm), Research Fellow in Political Science, Södertörn University, Sweden
Maria Popova, Ph. D. (Harvard), Associate Professor of Political Science, McGill University, Canada
Yana Prymachenko, Cand. Sc. (NASU Kyiv), Senior Researcher in History, Institute of History of Ukraine, Ukraine
Natalia Pylypiuk, Ph. D. (Harvard), Emerita Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Alberta, Canada
Mykola Riabchuk, Cand. Sc. (NASU Kyiv), Principal Research Fellow in Political Culture and Ideology, Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, Ukraine
Iulian Romanyshyn, Ph. D. (IMT Lucca), Senior Fellow in Political Science, University of Bonn, Germany
Gwendolyn Sasse, Ph. D. (LSE), Professor of the Comparative Study of Democracy and Authoritarianism, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany
Simon Schlegel, Dr. Phil. (Halle-Wittenberg), Director of the Ukraine Program, LibMod – Center for Liberal Modernity, Berlin
Steven Seegel, Ph. D. (Brown), Professor of Slavic and Eurasian Studies, University of Texas at Austin, United States
Anton Shekhovtsov, Ph. D. (UCL), Visiting Professor of International Relations, Central European University, Austria
Roman Sheremeta, Ph. D. (Purdue), Associate Professor of Economics, Case Western Reserve University, United States
Oxana Shevel, Ph. D. (Harvard), Associate Professor of Political Science, Tufts University, United States
Myroslav Shkandrij, Ph. D. (Toronto), Emeritus Professor of Slavic Studies, University of Manitoba, Canada
Pavlo Shopin, Ph. D. (Cambridge), Associate Professor of German, Mykhaylo Dragomanov Ukrainian State University of Kyiv, Ukraine
Karina Shyrokykh, Ph. D. (LMU München), Associate Professor in International Relations, Stockholm University, Sweden
Constantin Sigov, Dr. Sc. (NASU Kyiv), Director of the European Humanities Research Center, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Gerhard Simon, Dr. Phil. (Hamburg), Professor Emeritus of East European History, University of Cologne, Germany
Nataliia Steblyna, Dr. Sc. (DNU Vynnytsa), Professor of Journalism and Social Communication, Vasyl Stus National University of Donetsk, Ukraine
Kai Struve, Dr. Habil. (Halle-Wittenberg), Head of the Research Group on Ukrainian History, Ludwig Maximilians University of München, Germany
Philipp Ther, Dr. Habil. (FU Berlin), Professor of East Central EuropeanHistory, University of Vienna, Austria
Frank Umbach, Dr. Phil. (Bonn), Head of Research at the European Cluster for Climate, Energy and Resource Security, University of Bonn, Germany
Andreas Umland, Ph. D. (Cambridge), Associate Professor of Political Science, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Victoria Vdovychenko, Ph. D. (DAU Kyiv), Joint Program Leader at the Center for Geopolitics, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Stephen Velychenko, Ph. D. (London), Senior Research Fellow in Ukrainian Studies, University of Toronto, Canada
John Vsetecka, Ph. D. (Michigan State), Assistant Professor of History, Nova Southeastern University, United States
Ricarda Vulpius, Dr. Habil. (LMU München), Professor of East European History, University of Münster, Germany
Michał Wawrzonek, Dr. Habil. (UJ Kraków), Professor of Political Science, Ignatianum University, Poland
Lucan Ahmad Way, Ph. D. (Berkeley), Distinguished Professor of Democracy, University of Toronto, Canada
Annette Werberger, Dr. Habil. (Tübingen), Professor of East European Literature, European University Viadrina, Germany
Sarah Whitmore, Ph. D. (Birmingham), Associate Professor of Politics, Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom
Natasha Wilson, Ph. D. (UCL), Lecturer in History, University of Melbourne, Australia
Martina Winkler, Dr. Phil. (Leipzig), Professor of Russian and East European History, Kiel University, Germany
Kataryna Wolczuk, Ph. D. (Birmingham), Professor of East European Politics, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
Susann Worschech, Dr. Phil. (Frankfurt/Oder), Senior Researcher in Social Science, European University Viadrina, Germany
Mychailo Wynnyckyj, Ph. D. (Cambridge), Associate Professor of Sociology, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
Serhy Yekelchyk, Ph. D. (Alberta), Professor of Slavic Studies and History, University of Victoria, Canada
Yuliya Yurchenko, D. Phil. (Sussex), Senior Lecturer in Political Economy, University of Greenwich, United Kingdom
Yuliya Yurchuk, Ph. D. (Stockholm), Associate Professor of the History of Ideas, Södertörn University, Sweden
Oleksandr Zabirko, Dr. Phil. (Münster), Assistant Professor of Slavic Studies, University of Regensburg, Germany
Oleksandr Zaitsev, Dr. Sc. (NASU Kyiv), Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, Ukrainian Catholic University, Ukraine
Galyna Zelenko, Dr. Sc. (NASU Kyiv), Head of the Political Institutions and Processes Department, Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, Ukraine
Sergei Zhuk, Ph. D. (Johns Hopkins), Professor of East European and Russian History, Ball State University, United States
Alina Zubkovych, Ph. D. (SASS Slovenia), Head of the Nordic Ukraine Forum, Sweden
Scholars in the field of East European studies and other regional or political experts who also wish to sign this public statement may send their signature – following the above structure (degree with institution at which obtained, position with discipline, main institution, country) – until 31 May 2026 to signaturescollection71@gmail.com.