Explaining Ukraine

Anne Applebaum is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, historian, and political analyst. A few weeks ago, she was awarded the Peace Prize of German Publishers at the Frankfurt Book Forum. Her new book, "Autocracy, Inc.", explores the fragility of today’s democracies, and an ever-stronger network of autocracies that threaten them. In this podcast, she discusses some of the book’s key ideas...

Why does Ukraine need to speak with the Global South? How can it have these conversations? Is the “post-colonial” framework effective? What parallels can be drawn between the Russian invasion of Ukraine and recent and current wars in the Middle East? What can studying ISIS teach us about contemporary wars? The Explaining Ukraine podcast invites Dr. Omar Ashour, Professor of Security and Military S...

Ukraine has started a conversation with the countries of the "Global South." This conversation is difficult, but it is opening up new prospects for understanding. What do we still lack to better understand each other? The Explaining Ukraine podcast invites you to a conversation at the PEN Ukraine / UkraineWorld event “Ukraine, South Africa, India: How can we better understand each other?” The conv...

Both India and Ukraine suffered from artificial famines imposed on them by British and Russian colonial authorities, respectively. In both cases, colonialists who committed mass crimes against the indigenous populations were considered “heroes” in their imperial metropoles. Yet there were also differences in how the relations between the colonial master and the colonized were organized. It is time...

Could a new alliance be taking shape in Europe? In 2022, just before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the UK, Poland, and Ukraine forged a partnership. Yet its path forward remains unclear. Does this format have a future? And what motivates each country? This episode is part of a joint series “Ukraine’s Global Partnerships” produced by UkraineWorld and the Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian...

Are Russians still using their troll armies to influence public opinion in Europe? Is their effect substantial? How does this work in different countries? How can we identify coordinated non-authentic behavior on social networks? The Explaining Ukraine podcast invites Robert van der Noordaa, a Dutch journalist and analyst, and the founder of the Trollrensics initiative to uncover disinformation ca...

Germany has shown its support for Ukraine’s resistance against the Russian invasion. Yet questions arise whether this support is as substantial as it could be and needs to be. What are the deeper reasons for Germany’s cautious position on the Russian war against Ukraine? Guests: renowned German politicians and civil society figures Marieluise Beck and Ralf Fücks, co-founders of the Center for Libe...

What Ukrainian non-fiction books are available in English? Why is Ukrainian non-fiction important to read for those who want to understand Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and Russia’s war against Ukraine? Why has documenting wartime reality become so important for today’s Ukrainian literature? The Explaining Ukraine podcast speaks to Iryna Baturevych, co-founder and development director of Chytomo.com, a...

Ukraine has succeeded in restoring its food exports to pre-2022 levels. It has achieved this tremendous victory despite the loss of large swaths of its agricultural lands to occupation, combat, and mines. Ukraine also had to overcome the loss of several key ports, Russia’s attempts to blockade Odesa and its surrounding ports, and the threat of ongoing Russian strikes. Despite all this, Ukraine has...

Ukraine and Qatar - two nations with seemingly little overlap. But what brought these countries closer? How did Qatar become involved in Ukraine's most sensitive humanitarian issues? How does Qatar navigate its stance on the Russian invasion, and why does it matter? And what cooperation opportunities between Ukraine and Qatar should we look out for? In this episode, Deputy editor-in-chief at Ukrai...

On July 8th “The Guardian” featured an open letter titled, “The Nato Alliance should not invite Ukraine to become a member”. It claimed that, by admitting Ukraine into the Alliance it would reduce the security of other Nato allies, at a considerable risk to all. In this episode, we argue the opposite: that Ukraine’s NATO membership will be an asset for global security and can put an end to Russia’...

Ukraine and Canada share a strategic relationship. It is bolstered by a large Ukrainian diaspora in Canada and an extensive legal framework, that allows for easy cooperation. Yet, we must ask: Does the label "strategic" reflect the real nature of their bilateral ties? And, in light of Russia’s aggression, is Canada responding adequately to the Russian threat on a global scale? In this episode, Dep...

What is the current situation on the frontlines of the Russo-Ukrainian war? What is the theory of victory for Ukraine and its partners? How can Ukraine use asymmetric approaches against Russia? What mistakes have Ukraine’s partners made, and what can they do now to help Ukraine win? The Explaining Ukraine podcast invites Andriy Zagorodnyuk, a Ukrainian defense expert and the country’s former Minis...

Why should Putinism be considered as absolute evil? Why should we treat it in the same way as fascism or Nazism? Why does Europe need to view the task of defending Ukraine as its own war? UkraineWorld invites Nicolas Tenzer, the French philosopher and strategist. Mr. Tenzer’s latest book is "Notre guerre, le crime et l’oubli" (Our War: Crime and Oblivion). This episode is a recording of a meeting...

Is this war somehow fundamentally new in character? What is the role of technology in this war? How can Ukraine protect its cities from Russian missiles and bombs, and why does the West need to do things much faster than it is now? The Explaining Ukraine podcast invites Ben Hodges, the former commanding general of the United States Army Europe. Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher, ch...

This war also concerns the politics of knowledge production. Today we will talk about the epistemically unjust myth of Russian imperial innocence and why the episteme of pacifism is deadly dangerous. In this episode, Daria Synhaievska, analyst and journalist at UkraineWorld is joined by Olga Burlyuk, Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam and the...

Ukraine and Australia - two geographically distant nations with shared values. But what was the tragedy that initiated real cooperation between these states? Why is supporting Ukraine important not just for Kyiv but for Canberra as well? And what prospects lie ahead for this partnership? In this episode, Deputy editor-in-chief Anastasiia Hersymchuk spoke with: - Mick Ryan, top-resident Fellow at L...

What challenges does democracy face in light of the Russian war on Ukraine? How can Ukraine defeat Russia while remaining a democracy? The guest of the Explaining Ukraine podcast is Lucan Way, Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto, Co-Director of the Petro Yatsyk Ukrainian Studies Programme at the Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (CERES), researcher of the e...

Is democracy in decline today? What is “Post-Wall” Europe, born after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and why is it now gone? How is Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion changing Europe? UkraineWorld invites Timothy Garton Ash, a British historian, Professor of European Studies at the University of Oxford, Isaiah Berlin Professorial Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford, and Senior Fellow at...

How can history help us understand the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Why can Moscow not even imagine itself without Kyiv? Is Russia an empire in decline? The Explaining Ukraine podcast invites Professor Serhii Plokhii, a prominent Ukrainian historian, director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute (HURI), and author of numerous books about Ukraine, Russia, and Eastern Europe. His latest book...

Almost 20,000 Ukrainian children have been kidnapped by Russia during its invasion of Ukraine, according to Kyiv’s official data. Russia’s figures are much bigger: it says it has relocated more than half a million of Ukrainian children - and is not going to give them back. This is a horrible, systematic policy of depriving the Ukrainian nation of its future. The Explaining Ukraine podcast invites...

Do India and Ukraine share common ground for cooperation? What shared interests might emerge from their unique contexts? And in the face of Russian aggression, how can these nations forge relations that benefit both sides? In this episode, UkraineWorld's Deputy editor-in-chief Anastasiia Hersymchuk spoke withSwasti Rao, Associate Fellow at the Europe and Eurasia Center, Manohar Parrikar Institute...

What do citizens of the EU and the United Kingdom think about Ukraine? How substantial is their support? How high the Ukrainian topic is on their agenda? The Explaining Ukraine podcast invites experts from “More in Common” - an international initiative aiming to understand the forces driving people apart, find common ground, and bring people together to tackle shared challenges. Guests: Mathieu Le...

A conversation about Ukraine, the Russian invasion, resistance, ideas, and ordinary people doing extraordinary things, - held during Volodymyr Yermolenko’s visit to Yale University in February 2024. Timothy Snyder is an American historian and Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale University. Marci Shore is an American historian and associate professor at Yale University. Volodymyr Yermolen...

We tend to look at today’s world as a consequence of World War II. Yet, in the first years after that war, there were several directions which the world could have turned. There was a chance that China would not have become communist. There was also a chance that Europe would have become much more communist. A few years ago, Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, the current editor of Foreign Affairs magazine, wrot...