What do you really know about Ukraine? Until Russia started its bloody war to invade the country probably little more than the exploits of the Cossacks and Britain’s role in the siege of Sebastopol during the Crimean War in 1854.

This week I was invited to the British Museum for a press conference to launch a remarkable international project to thoroughly research the history of this little known large country .

History is important to us all. That’s why students in the UK learn about the Romans, the Norman Conquest, Henry VIII, Cromwell, the British Empire, the first and second world wars, and the creation of the National Health Service to name but a few. These pivotal events shape our past and give us a sense of belonging and the interpretation of our past can be a catalyst for changes in the future.

This project – the Ukrainian History Global Initiative – was launched here because it will be based here. It is being financed by a wealthy Ukrainian oligarch, Victor Pinchuk, who owns Interpipe, which makes pipes and railway wheels, six TV stations and Grand Buildings, a London landmark in Trafalgar Square. He is one of the trustees – the others include Carl Bildt who is chair of the trustees and former prime minister of Swedenm and the historian Anne Applebaum, lawyer Philippe Sands, and Ukraine’s most celebrated poet, Serhiy Zhadan. Two generations of Ukrainian historians are contributing tto the project.

The project is enormous and will take three years to complete with no fewer than 90 academic researchers working on the history of Ukraine from across the world going back to its ancient past as well as more recent events leading up to the current war.

Ukraine is not on the periphery of Europe and Asia

What emerges is that Ukraine far from being on the periphery of Europe and Asia played a central role. It had strong links with ancient Greece Its wealthy assets as a bread basket for the world has meant it was invaded by the Nazis in the second world as Hitler wanted the land to feed his country. Russia seems to have its eyes on its land for similar reasons plus its mineral wealth. The Mongols dominated Ukraine for a period and there are strong connections between Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine. Jews, Muslims and Christians also play prominent roles in its development.

This rich background will provide historians with a feast to investigate.

Timothy Snyder, Professor of History at Yale University, who developed the academic concept of the project over the past three years, and is Chair of the International Academic Advisory Council and Member of the Board of Trustees of the Ukrainian History Global Initiative, said: “This Initiative will involve scholars from around the world in several disciplines, using traditional methods as well as new technology that helps us to handle the deep past. ‘Ukraine’ here is to be understood very broadly, as the lands and peoples, from the very beginning. There is much interesting to be said about the origins of our language, about the bronze age, about the Middle Ages, about modernity — from Amazons to Vikings, Ukraine is a territory where our standard view of history can be revised and made more vibrant.”

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