A lot of Americans aren't particularity good at understanding world history -- particularly history that didn't particularly involve us. As a result, it's still common for me to encounter people who aren't familiar with the Ukrainian genocide. If more people grasped what happened, there would be far fewer socialists in this country.
Somewhere between 2.5 and 5 million Ukrainians were intentionally starved to death by the Soviet Union. Many Ukrainians resorted to cannibalism.
The genocide was eventually exposed by Gareth Jones, a British journalist who wanted to get an interview with Stalin. Jones became suspicious when he realized that the Soviet Union was showing a massive surplus of grain while seemingly not actually farming much. The Soviets also wouldn't allow him to visit Ukraine. Jones snuck in and documented the horrors. Ukraine was being used by the Soviet Union for her resources and her citizens were being used as forced labor under threat of death.
Jones came under suspicion from the Soviets and forced into silence under threat that his colleagues and contacts would be executed. When Jones finally did publish the story, it inspired Orwell to write Animal Farm.
I know we glossed over the Holodomor during my schooling. It took a while for me to actually read anything substantial about it. I doubt today's Ukrainians are as ignorant of the history of abuse at the hands of Russian occupiers. I'm also sure that they understand the extent of their natural resources that Putin clearly has his eyes on.
What gives me hope in this whole thing is that I'm fairly certain that the Ukrainians will fight like hell to maintain their independence.