In early May, Timothy Garton Ash won Canada’s prestigious 2024 Lionel Gelber Prize for his book “Homelands: A Personal History of Europe.” The renowned British historian and Professor of European Studies at the University of Oxford donated the prize money of 50,000 Canadian dollars (about $36,600 US) to the Ukrainian military.

Ash came to Ukraine to hand over – together, with the “Come Back Alive” Foundation – equipment worth a total of about $70,000 to the fighters of the 409th Separate Rifle Battalion of the 22nd Mechanized Brigade.

The military unit received: four DJI Mavic 3T quadcopters, 10 thermal imaging monoculars, 10 night vision monoculars, as well as four Minox monoculars.

“I can think of no better use for a prize received for a book about recent European history than to donate it towards equipping the Ukrainian Armed Forces for victory. Because nothing less than the future of Europe is at stake in this war,” Ash said.

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Professor Ash came to Ukraine to present the Ukrainian edition of “Homelands,” published by Vivat in Kharkiv.

In it, the author reveals the historical path of the European continent from the end of the Second World War to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the present day. He writes about the preconditions, consequences of the war for Europe, and points out Vladimir Putin’s longstanding plans to revive the empire.

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For this work, Ash took home the 2024 Lionel Gelber Prize, a literary award for the best non-fiction book in the world in English on foreign affairs.

This is not the first time Timothy Garton Ash is visiting Ukraine. In December 2022 and last February, he lectured at the Ukrainian Catholic University and Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

Timothy Garton Ash is the author of ten other books about contemporary European history and of many articles about contemporary Ukraine.

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