The 2022 photo-documentary exhibition by the Holodomor Museum (Ukraine) asks why on 24 February 2022 Russia launched a full-scale war in Ukraine. The reasoned, research-based answers substantiate Ukraine’s tradition of statehood going back to the Middle Ages, which led to the establishment of a sovereign, democratically governed state with a strong focus on Western European values. Russia has never recognised Ukraine’s sovereignty, and for many years it has purposefully sought to occupy this territory and destroy Ukraine’s historical and cultural heritage. The Ukrainian people, who resisted their aggressive neighbour, endured forms of repression that are beyond reasonable comprehension – starvation (Holodomor), exile, imprisonment in prisons and forced labour camps, constant terror, and violence. Despite everything, Ukrainians managed to recover and preserve their country. Meanwhile, Russia, having tried every possible form of terrorising a sovereign state, chose to wage war.