Timothy SnyderVerified account

1/10. Ukraine matters today as it has mattered for a century: as a signal of coming political trends. A century ago, it was the center of the wars after the First World War that ended in the creation of the Soviet Union. #SerhiiPlokhii #GatesofEurope

2/10. For Stalin, Ukraine was a breadbasket to be exploited to modernize the USSR. His policies led to the starvation of millions of inhabitants of Ukraine. @anneapplebaum #RedFamine

3/10. For Hitler, Ukraine was a breadbasket to be exploited to create a German empire. His desire to take Ukraine from the USSR brought about the Second World War. #Bloodlands

4/10. In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed because Ukrainians (in every part of the country by majority) voted for independence. If Ukraine is independent, Russia has a chance not to be an empire. #ReconstructionofNations

5/10. Ukraine is a democracy. If it can remain so, Russians might believe that Russia, too, could be a democracy. A democratic Ukraine opens futures for Russia that Mr. Putin fears. #FionaHill #CliffordGaddy #MrPutin

6/10. In the twenty-first century, Ukraine is at the center of two major challenges of contemporary politics: oligarchy and digitalization. These are the underlying issues in the trial of Mr. Trump, an aspiring oligarch who benefits from internet campaigns. #KathleenHallJamieson

7/10. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, its major successes were in internet propaganda. When Russia intervened in the US election of 2016 in support of Mr. Trump, it used the same institutions, personnel, and tactics as it had in Ukraine. #RoadtoUnfreedom