Ukrainians within the capital Kyiv participate within the 2004 “Orange Revolution.” The demonstrators protested towards what they mentioned have been Russian makes an attempt to rig the nation’s presidential election. Ukrainians say Russia’s invasion this yr is the newest try by Moscow over the previous century to keep up management and affect over Ukraine.

Ivan Sekretarev /AP

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Ivan Sekretarev /AP

Ukrainians within the capital Kyiv participate within the 2004 “Orange Revolution.” The demonstrators protested towards what they mentioned have been Russian makes an attempt to rig the nation’s presidential election. Ukrainians say Russia’s invasion this yr is the newest try by Moscow over the previous century to keep up management and affect over Ukraine.

Ivan Sekretarev /AP

The previous century in Ukraine has been filled with monumental occasions — wars, famines, political upheavals. Yet there is a recurring theme that may be boiled right down to a single sentence: Ukraine tries to interrupt free from Russia, and Russia refuses to let it go.

“The Russian empire started to expand with Ukraine. In the mind of many Russians, their empire cannot exist without Ukraine. That’s why they keep coming back,” mentioned Volodymyr Viatrovych, a member of Ukraine’s parliament and a outstanding historian.

He lives close to the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, which the Russians pulverized within the first days of the battle. When the Russians invaded Ukraine earlier than daybreak on Feb. 24, Viatrovych says he instantly despatched his spouse and 6-year-old son to western Ukraine for his or her security.

He then drove to Kyiv for an emergency session of parliament, which declared martial regulation. By 2 p.m. that day, he obtained a rifle so he may be part of the safety forces defending the capital.

It was a day of excessive drama in a battle that is nonetheless enjoying out. But as an historian, Viatrovych additionally sees the actions of President Vladimir Putin as a part of a sample of conduct by Russian leaders.

“Putin’s many statements in recent years made clear he wanted to renew the Russian empire. This was a warning to me that this war was going to happen,” he mentioned.

The boundary between Ukraine and Crimea, in a photograph from early February of this yr. Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. On Feb. 24 of this yr, Russian forces in Crimea pushed deeper into southern Ukraine and have seized extra territory within the area.

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The boundary between Ukraine and Crimea, in a photograph from early February of this yr. Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. On Feb. 24 of this yr, Russian forces in Crimea pushed deeper into southern Ukraine and have seized extra territory within the area.

Claire Harbage/NPR

A declaration of independence

Ukraine first declared independence from Russia in 1918, doing so in a chic, whitewashed constructing within the heart of Kyiv that also stands and now serves because the workplaces for the Kyiv House of Teachers.

At that point, Ukrainians have been searching for to benefit from the chaos in Russia following the collapse of the Russian monarchy a yr earlier. But Vladimir Lenin and the Communists, the successors to the Russian monarchy, despatched troops to Ukraine and defeated that short-lived independence.

With no actual various, Ukraine formally turned a part of the Soviet Union on Dec. 30, 1922 — a century in the past this month.

A reminder of that historical past got here simply two months in the past, on Oct. 10. That’s when a Russian missile slammed into the road outdoors the Kyiv House of Teachers.

The blast blew out the home windows, in addition to elements of the glass ceiling within the corridor the place independence was declared in 1918. The home windows are boarded up. Shards of glass nonetheless cowl the ground.

“There are, of course, parallels to a century ago,” mentioned Steshuk Oleh, the director of the House of Teachers. “This building was also damaged in the fighting back then. And now it’s damaged again. But don’t worry. We will rebuild everything.”

Andrew Weiss, with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, notes that in the course of the Soviet period, Kremlin leaders repeatedly crushed Ukrainian protests and rebellions — which helps clarify why Ukrainians are preventing so fiercely at this time.

“If you look at all the hardships that Ukraine experienced in the 20th century, and they’re vast, this is the moment where all the wrongs of the last hundred plus years need to be redressed,” he mentioned.

A Ukrainian man stands in protest in entrance of gunmen in unmarked uniforms in Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula in 2014. The forces have been a part of Russia’s army, which stays in Crimea to today.

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Andrew Lubimov/AP

A Ukrainian man stands in protest in entrance of gunmen in unmarked uniforms in Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula in 2014. The forces have been a part of Russia’s army, which stays in Crimea to today.

Andrew Lubimov/AP

A transparent want to interrupt from Moscow

Ukrainians thought this matter was lastly resolved in December 1991, after they held a referendum on independence. Ninety-two % voted in favor of going their very own method. The Soviet Union collapsed later that month.

But when Vladimir Putin got here to energy in Russia in 1999, he had different plans. The Russian chief says he would not settle for Ukraine’s independence, and that it is a part of Russia. He claims that solely Russia can defend Ukraine from overseas invaders.

“I have said it before, but I want to say it again: Russia can be the only real guarantor of Ukraine’s territorial integrity,” Putin mentioned earlier this month.

Putin has labored to put in pleasant, pro-Russian leaders in Ukraine. Ukrainians pushed again with large road protests in 2004. And then once more a decade later, main Ukraine’s president to flee to Russia in 2014.

Just days after that episode, Putin invaded Ukraine. Then got here his full-scale invasion this February.

He by no means anticipated such a troublesome struggle.

Weiss mentioned Ukraine is now “mobilizing all of its citizens to make good on the things that people 100 years ago could only aspire to. That’s a country that will have an identity that’s largely founded in opposition to Russia, and in a national narrative of survival and overcoming.”

Ukraine final month marked the ninetieth anniversary of a 1932-33 famine that the nation blames on Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. In this photograph, guests to the National Museum of the Holodomor Genocide in Kyiv look although a e-book with a few of the names of the 4 million or extra Ukrainians who died within the famine. In the background is a photograph of one of many victims of that interval.

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Ievgen Afanasiev/NPR

What the battle means for Ukraine and Russia

For Ukraine, the stakes on this battle are enormous. The similar can be true of Russia.

Russian Garry Kasparov, a former world chess champion and a staunch critic of Putin, mentioned the Russian chief is aware of he cannot lose this battle.

Because “if he’s losing a war, especially a war of his own making, he doesn’t survive,” he mentioned. “The outcome may signal the end, not just of Putin’s era, but the era of the empire. It’s 21st century. It’s time for empires to go.”

Kasparov was nonetheless residing in Russia 15 years in the past when he entered politics and challenged Putin’s maintain on energy. When it turned clear his security was in danger, he left Russia, and now lives in New York.

This yr, his group, the Renew Democracy Initiative, is elevating cash for Ukraine.

“We see it not just as a moral duty to help Ukraine to survive and win the war,” he mentioned. “But also as an opportunity to revitalize the discussion about democracy and the values of freedom. Ukrainians keep demonstrating to us that these values are worth fighting and dying for.”

Many army analysts warn the battle is unlikely to supply a transparent decision on the battlefield. They say it is more likely to require negotiations and compromises.

That’s not a preferred opinion in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and many voters say they need all Russian troops pushed in another country.

Zelenskyy not too long ago informed Time magazine, “We are dealing with a powerful state that is pathologically unwilling to let Ukraine go.”

Valeriy Chaly, Ukraine’s former ambassador to the United States, mentioned the area could be extra steady if Ukraine wins the battle and joins NATO. This is what Ukraine’s authorities desires, although becoming a member of the alliance is extremely unlikely within the close to time period.

“Being a buffer zone or gray zone is not good from a geopolitical point of view,” he mentioned. “If you are a gray zone between two security blocs, two military blocs, everybody wants to make a step. This has happened with Ukraine.”

Construction employees are already rebuilding in Bucha, reroofing properties within the snow and dirt of a freezing December day.

Viatrovych says Ukrainians consider this time the confrontation with Moscow will finish otherwise.

“I believe our generation has an opportunity to put an end to this. Ukrainians are more united, more mobilized, more ready to fight than in 1918,” he mentioned.

Greg Myre is an NPR nationwide safety correspondent. Follow him @gregmyre1.