Head of Lavra reserve explains why Mazepa betrayed Moscow

Bust of Mazepa in the Lavra. Photo: Lavra Reserve

Maksym Ostapenko, director of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Reserve, has explained why Hetman Ivan Mazepa betrayed Peter I. He spoke about this in an interview with Sonia Koshkina on the LB Live channel.

“Mazepa realized that Muscovy, and later the Russian Empire, merely disguised itself under European canons while remaining Horde-like to the core. Having understood what threat was hanging over Ukraine, he was the first to challenge this force – fully aware of all the consequences for himself,” Ostapenko said.

According to the official, in the current war between Ukraine and Russia, “the figure of Mazepa is one of the key ones, because it all began back in the time of Peter I and Mazepa.”

He also added that “Peter I and the entire Russian elite regarded everyone else as nothing more than slaves,” while Ukraine’s enemies over the past three centuries have “always started with Mazepa”: “Mazepists, Petliurites, Banderites.”

As the UOJ reported, Zelensky said where a monument to Mazepa will be erected in Kyiv.

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