A century and counting: Ukraine's ongoing fight to free itself from Russia
This month marks 100 years since Ukraine joined the Soviet Union. It did so after Ukraine lost in a bid for independence. Ukraine once again finds itself in another life-and-death battle with Moscow.
The past century in Ukraine has been packed with monumental events — wars, famines, political upheavals. Yet there's a recurring theme that can be boiled down to a single sentence: Ukraine tries to break 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," said Volodymyr Viatrovych, a member of Ukraine's parliament and a prominent historian.
He lives near the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, which the Russians pulverized in the first days of the war. When the Russians invaded Ukraine before dawn on Feb. 24,
