Sets off researches forgetting victory in Europe (10)

I believe the answer is:

instigates

'sets off' is the definition.
('instigate' can be a synonym of 'set off')

'researches forgetting victory in europe' is the wordplay.
'researches' becomes 'investigates'.
'forgetting' suggests deleting specific letters.
'victory in europe' becomes 've' (abbreviation as in 'VE Day').
'investigates' with 've' taken away is 'INSTIGATES'.

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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