Russia’s attack on Ukraine in 2022 was called a watershed in postwar European history. The West sees Putin’s Russia on the way to restoring the former Soviet Union. But Putin’s increasingly aggressive stance was also a reaction to Western politics. The real possibility of a new security and peace order in Europe opening in the 1990s was not pursued. Instead, NATO was enlarged to the east. Now, a massive arms build-up is on the way. Using historical sources, international news media, representative surveys, and personal interviews with people in Ukraine, Max Haller shows that this war has not been predetermined and – following Kant – peace initiatives are possible even now. In these, the European Union should assume a leading role.