Explaining Ukraine

When people look at this war from the outside, they often ask one question: When will it end? Many assume that if a ceasefire is reached, the war will be over and life will return to normal. But we should not confuse a ceasefire with a lasting peace—or, more importantly, with a just peace that restores Ukraine’s rights. Thinking about a possible ceasefire, therefore, also means thinking about its...

Many things have changed this year. Ukraine is now striking targets deep inside Russian territory on a regular basis. Russia’s traditional strengths—its vast territory and abundant resources—are increasingly becoming liabilities. The war may be approaching a turning point. It is time to seriously consider that a Ukrainian victory is not only possible but also the only viable path to a lasting peac...

I read this book with absolute passion. While it is a novel, it is truly an epic—the story of a family told through the greatest upheavals and disasters of the 20th century. Although it is set in Greece, we Ukrainians can deeply relate to this story: a narrative where global events shape your life far more than your own plans. It is a novel about national conflicts and population displacements, fa...

Although Russia claims to be waging a war against the so-called West, no other country has officially deployed its military to fight alongside Ukraine. Instead, thousands of individuals from across the globe have made the personal choice to join the Ukrainian defense. Who are these foreign volunteers risking their lives to fight the Russian invasion? What motivates them? What challenges do they fa...

On March 16, 2022, the Russian army committed one of the gravest war crimes of its invasion of Ukraine. It dropped air bombs on the Mariupol Drama Theatre, knowing that around a thousand civilians were sheltering inside, seeking refuge from Russian shelling. It did so despite the huge inscriptions reading “Children” — written in Russian on both sides of the theatre — clearly visible from the air a...

The Russian army is hunting people in Kherson, a major city in the southern part of Ukraine. It is estimated that 700 Russian drones attack Kherson region every day. Russian soldiers are targeting Ukrainian civilians, their cars, and their homes, as if they were on a safari. On the occupied lands of the Kherson region, on the left bank of the Dnipro River, the situation is even worse. There, the R...

Ukraine has won time for Europe. A vast amount of time. But the price of this time has been tremendous. It is measured not in money, but in human lives. Dozens of towns and hundreds of villages have been destroyed. Occupied territories, occupied people, occupied lives—an occupied future. Europe helps, and it helps a lot. The Ukrainian economy would be in a far more difficult situation without Euro...

In recent months, Ukrainian deep strikes into Russia have outnumbered Russian strikes on Ukraine. Ukraine has managed to build its military capacities practically from scratch, while Russia has made very little technological progress since 2022. Furthermore, Russia is losing more and more people on the frontline, even as the pace of its advance slows down. Does this mean Ukraine can win the war? *...

Let’s travel for a moment. Imagine you are on the shore of the Black Sea, in Odesa—one of the most beautiful cities in Eastern Europe. Odesa possesses multiple identities and refuses to be trapped by a single definition. It is Jewish, French, Italian, Ukrainian, Crimean Tatar, Romanian, Moldovan, Greek, Bulgarian, and more. Both the Russian and Soviet empires sought to flatten this multiplicity in...

Can Europe become a genuine security union? Is it truly aware of the 21st-century geopolitical dangers that threaten its very existence? How central is Ukraine to Europe’s self-defense, and does the continent understand—and adapt to—the changing nature of modern warfare? *** This is the “Explaining Ukraine” podcast. Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, chief editor of UkraineWorld,...

What do Ukrainians and Black Americans share in their historical and cultural experiences? Can we draw comparisons between serfdom and slavery, or find parallels in the colonial traumas and the struggle for human dignity? Furthermore, what role do culture, identity, and language play in overcoming these legacies? In this episode of the Explaining Ukraine podcast, we share a recording of a vital di...

How did two friends save hundreds of civilians? How did one restaurant feed tens of thousands in a besieged city? What does a former entrepreneur feel while recovering the bodies of fallen soldiers every day? What is life truly like under Russian occupation? And most importantly—why is the Ukrainian resistance impossible to grasp without understanding the role of ordinary people, like you and me?...

Why has Ukraine rapidly emerged as a global leader in advanced defense technology? What is the secret behind this innovation? How has warfare evolved over the past few years, and how are these shifts manifesting not only in the Russo-Ukrainian war but also in the Middle East? Are new drone technologies permanently altering the balance of power between major powers and smaller nations? Finally, wha...

Since Donald Trump’s return to the U.S. presidency, Russia has drastically escalated its missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities. In January 2026, launches exceeded 6,000—a sharp increase from approximately 2,000 in January 2025. The use of guided aerial bombs (KABs) also reached a record high of almost 6,000 per month. With the Trump administration significantly cutting military aid to Kyiv...

During this record-breaking cold winter, millions of Ukrainians are regularly left without electricity, water, or heat as temperatures plummet to -20°C and below. Does Russia intend to make life in Ukraine unlivable? Can the country’s civilian infrastructure continue to withstand such a massive, relentless assault? And what are the alternatives for the future? *** Explaining Ukraine is a podcast b...

What are the prospects for peace talks — and why are many Ukrainians skeptical about them? Does Ukraine have technological parity with Russia on the battlefield? And how has Ukrainian civil society become one of the country’s greatest assets during the war? *** Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, editor-in-chief of UkraineWorld, and president of PEN Ukraine. Guest: Volodymyr Havry...

What can the deep past of Ukrainian lands reveal about the global story of humanity? Six thousand years ago, "mega-sites" flourished in what is now central Ukraine—but can these be considered the world’s first cities? How were they organized without central authorities, and how do they challenge everything we thought we knew about early social life? *** This is Thinking in Dark Times, a podcast by...

In 2025, Ukraine is facing unprecedented pressure from one of its key partners, the United States. The Trump administration has chosen not to act as Ukraine’s ally, but rather as a mediator between Ukraine and Europe on the one hand, and Russia on the other. This shift has fundamentally changed the geopolitical framework of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Around the world, the language of victory ha...

Imagine an NGO that has raised over one billion dollars to support the Ukrainian army. Imagine a civil society initiative that purchases armaments and military equipment. Imagine a transparent organisation with an independent board and detailed reporting. This NGO exists — it is called “Povernys Zhyvym”, or “Come Back Alive”. It is one of the largest Ukrainian civil society foundations supporting...

Ukraine has its own tradition of geopolitical thinking — a tradition that reaches deep into the past and continues to shape the country’s strategic imagination today. What are its key traits? Why was it developed more by writers than by statesmen? And how does it relate to Ukraine’s current reflection on its identity? *** Explaining Ukraine is a podcast by UkraineWorld, an English-language media p...

What makes the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church so unique? Why is it such a remarkable attempt to bridge the divide between Eastern and Western Christianity? How can its history help us better understand the history of Europe and of the Christian religion? How has it shaped Ukrainian national identity? And how did it survive the Soviet era, when the authorities sought to eradicate it? *** Explainin...

Ukrainian cultural heritage is not something that quietly settles into national archives. In reality, it is the result of a dramatic struggle against destruction and oblivion. This makes this heritage so magnetic—precisely because it is not always visible or accessible, yet can be reconstructed like a lost mosaic. In this episode, we talk about what the Ukrainian cultural heritage is, and how we c...

Russian propaganda claims that Ukraine is not a separate nation, but merely a “preliminary form” of Russia. Today’s Kremlin ideology seeks to annex Ukrainian history in order to justify its territorial aggression. But this myth has a birth certificate. It emerged in the 19th century, when the Russian Empire started inventing its “ancient” medieval roots. Before that, Russian travellers in Ukrainia...

She is not only a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. She is not only one of the most visible human-rights defenders in Europe in recent decades. She is not only a tireless activist with profound empathy for others. She is also a thinker — someone who reflects deeply on the moral foundations of freedom and dignity. Our guest today is Oleksandra Matviychuk, a prominent Ukrainian human-rights defender and h...

How is the life of a soldier different from that of a civilian? Which aspects of it are hardest for civilians to understand? What is happening on the frontline today — and how will the outcome of this war depend on the technological race? *** Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, editor-in-chief of UkraineWorld, and president of PEN Ukraine. Guest: Vladyslav Urubkov, a former soldie...