“Without Ukraine, Russia is not a great power”

Berlin These lines are a quarter of a century old, but they read like they are from today. “Ukraine’s independence deprived Russia of its dominant position on the Black Sea, where Odessa was the irreplaceable gateway for trade with the Mediterranean and the world beyond.” – “Without Ukraine, Russia is no longer a Eurasian empire.” – “Under geopolitical From this perspective, Ukraine’s secession represented a key loss, drastically curtailing Russia’s geostrategic options.”

The sentences were written by Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security adviser to US President Jimmy Carter. Brzezinski’s family, belonging to the Polish nobility, comes from what is now Ukraine, the city of Brzezany, hence the name.