Explaining Ukraine

We are analyzing the key features of the Ukrainian civic and political identity: a long history of fighting against tyranny, a culture of self-organization, dynamism of social change, and a bottom-up understanding of politics. This episode is made in partnership with VoiCEE, a podcast from Central and Eastern Europe, launched by Notes from Poland together with several independent media outlets in...

Amnesty International published a report in which it blamed Ukraine for “violating international humanitarian law” by “establishing bases and operating weapons systems in populated residential areas”. The report faced harsh criticism in Ukraine, both from the government, human rights defenders and journalists. – Russians are sending more troops to the South in an attempt to counteract a possible U...

Over 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in an explosion in Olenivka, a town on the Russian-occupied territory in Eastern Ukraine. Earlier, a video circulated in Russian social networks showing a Russian soldier castrating and then killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war. We analyze these crimes, as well as the trends on the frontline and in the newly occupied territories, in our weekly digest o...

Olha Sukhenko, the village head of Motyzhyn, near Kyiv, was tortured and killed by Russian soldiers, together with her husband and her son. We went to Motyzhyn and talked to a local woman who closely knew her. Regardless the exact causes of the murder, it is clear that Olga Sukhenko has always showed a remarkable solidarity with her people. – We also went to Makariv and talked to a woman who left...

Andriy Andrushkiv, a Ukrainian activist who runs an NGO reforming Ukraine’s institutions, became a volunteer soldier after February 24th. Andriy is also a theologian, and regularly publishes commentary on the Bible, trying to present the Gospels’ stories as if they were happening with us, now. We sent Andriy our questions through a messenger, and he replied to them using a smartphone dictaphone fr...

Agreements aimed to unblock Ukrainian grain exports were signed this week in Istanbul. The very next day, Russia attacked Ukraine's most critical port in Odesa. The three port complexes of Odesa are key to export Ukrainian food worldwide. – This is the weekly digest of our “Explaining Ukraine” podcast. Hosts: Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher and journalist, chief editor of UkraineWorld....

Makariv, a town near Kyiv, suffered from heavy fighting in February and March 2022. We visited Makariv and talked to its residents. Listen to our stories – about a director of a culture centre who evacuated town residents under the shelling, about a woman who lived for almost a month under occupation, about another woman who was raped by a Russian soldier and whose husband was killed when he tried...

Why is Ukraine constantly asking for weapons? Can it defend itself with the weapons it already has? Can it mount a counter-offensive against the Russians army with the weapons available to it now? How have the armaments supplied by Ukraine’s international partners made a difference on the frontline? – Listen to our conversation with Alina Frolova, Ukraine’s former deputy defense minister and curre...

Russians continue their missile strikes against civilians in Ukrainian cities. Horrible attack on Vinnytsia (at least 24 people dead, many wounded and missing); attacks on Chasiv Yar, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv. Russian “operational pause” in the Eastern Ukraine. Prominent human rights activist Maksym Butkevych is in Russian captivity. We focus on these key developments in this week’s episode of th...

One of Ukraine’s finest reporters, Nataliya Gumenyuk has traveled across many Ukrainian regions to understand the Russian invasion, Ukrainian resistance, and grassroots Ukrainian democracy. In this episode of the “Explaining Ukraine” podcast, she shares her reflections on what she has seen. Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher and journalist, chief editor of UkraineWorld.org. Support...

The explanation for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not only geopolitical, but also psychological. It is rooted in Russia’s culture of violence and political sado-masochism. We discuss this with Peter Pomerantsev, senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University and author of the best-selling books, This is Not Propaganda and Nothing is True and Everything is Possible. Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukraini...

Ukrainians are using Western-supplied high-tech weapons to destroy Russian ammunition stocks, thus undermining Russia’s whole artillery-dependent warfighting strategy. We focus on this key development in this week’s episode of the “Explaining Ukraine” podcast. Hosts: Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher and journalist, chief editor of UkraineWorld.org, and Tetyana Ogarkova, Ukrainian schola...

Chernihiv, a medieval city in Northern Ukraine, suffered heavily from Russian shelling and airstrikes in February and March. The city was without electricity and water for one month, and over 140 multi-storey buildings and over 2,000 private houses were damaged or destroyed. The number of dead could reach 1,000 people. If Chernihiv had fallen, the Russians were in position to take Kyiv next. We tr...

Russia made a missile strike on a trade mall in Kremenchuk, killing over 20 people; 36 went missing. This and others are cases of Russia’s increasing missile terrorism hitting civilian targets in Ukraine, which Kremlin propaganda tries in vain to deny. Unable to withstand Ukrainian strikes, Russia retreats from the Zmiinyi island in the Black Sea, but Russians continue their offensive in the whole...

What are the key elements of contemporary Ukraine? How can we understand its past 30 years? We discuss decentralization, generational changes, people vs power, the fluidity of the language situation, and other topics. Hosts: Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher, chief editor of UkraineWorld.org, and Tetyana Ogarkova, Ukrainian scholar and journalist, in charge of international outreach at t...

The team at the Explaining Ukraine podcast is traveling through the villages in towns around Kyiv which heavily suffered from the battles in March. We describe our impressions and share the stories told to us by people who lived through the war. Here is the story of Borodyanka, a town near Kyiv. Hosts: Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher, chief editor of UkraineWorld.org, and Tetyana Ogark...

In this episode of the “Explaining Ukraine” podcast, we ask whether Russian actions in Ukraine amount to genocide. Our guest is Christopher Atwood, a researcher at the Harriman Institute of Columbia University, and a contributor and advisor to a report on Russia's breaches of the genocide convention in Ukraine, recenently published by the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, and the Raoul...

In our new weekly digest we look back into the key lessons from the 4 months of Russia’s full-scale invasion. We analyze why Ukraine’s EU membership candidacy is important for Ukraine and the whole region. We also draw attention to Russia’s intensified missile strikes on Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv. Hosts: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher and journalist, chief editor of UkraineWo...

Is Russian propaganda responsible for the current Russian atrocities against Ukraine? How has it tried to dehumanize its enemies, and has it succeeded? Chief editor of UkraineWorld.org Volodymyr Yermolenko talks to Vitalii Rybak, UkraineWorld’s chief analyst. UkraineWorld is brought to you by Internews Ukraine. Support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld Our live coverage of Russian propaganda / disinf...

In this episode we are asking what one can learn by looking at Ukraine from America. Our guest for this episode is Marci Shore, American historian and scholar, associate professor at Yale University where she teaches modern European intellectual history. She has written, among other works, The Taste of Ashes: The Afterlife of Totalitarianism in Eastern Europe, and The Ukrainian Night: An Intimate...

Dana Pavlychko, chief editor of the Osnovy Publishing, and founder of the podcast Osnovy Show, talks to Volodymyr Yermolenko, host of the Explaining Ukraine podcast. They discuss the wicked, negative, lose-lose, imperialist, and expansionist logic of the Russian Federation in a new episode of The War Special by Osnovy Show.

With this episode, we’re starting a series of weekly podcasts, in which we’re making an overview of key events in or around Ukraine during the past week. This episode is focused on 13-19 June, 2022. Hosts: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher and journalist, chief editor of UkraineWorld.org, and Tetyana Ogarkova, scholar and journalist, in charge of international outreach of Ukraine Crisi...

In this episode of the Explaining Ukraine podcast, we will talk about Germany and its indecisive stance with regard to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Why is Germany reluctant to engage more with Ukraine, to supply arms Ukrainians are asking for, and to acknowledge that its traditional policy of seeking compromise with Russia has failed? Our guests are the famous German politicians Marieluise Bec...

Our episode about Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, located 40 km from the Russian border. Kharkiv has severely suffered from the Russian shelling, and is still bombed almost every day. Hosts: Volodymyr Yermolenko, chief editor of UkraineWorld.org, and Tetyana Ogarkova, Ukrainian scholar and journalist in charge of international outreach at the Ukraine Crisis Media Centre. Support us on patr...

What should we know about Russian imperialism? How is it connected to Russian nationalism? What does it have in common with other imperialisms in recent history, and how is it different? Volodymyr Yermolenko, host of the “Explaining Ukraine” podcast and chief editor of UkraineWorld.org, welcomes Vera Tolz, professor of Russian studies at the University of Manchester, and the author of numerous wor...