Explaining Ukraine

Ep. № 47 - Ukraine in May 2021: Totalitarian Belarus; Medvedchuk; Nord Stream-2; WWII anniversaries by UkraineWorld

Tune in for our conversation with Serhii Plokhy, a famous Ukrainian historian and director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University. We talk about Ukraine’s special experience as a culture of both dialogue and conflict between settled cultures and nomadic cultures; between Christianity, Judaism and Islam; between various forms of Christianity; between East and West, North...

In the new episode of our “Explaining Ukraine” podcast looking at developments in and around Ukraine in April 2021: the buildup of Russian troops on Ukraine’s border; the risk of a full-fledged Russian invasion; the illusion of the withdrawal of Russian troops; diplomatic battles in Central and Eastern Europe after proof of Russian state terrorism. We also talk about Ukraine’s domestic agenda, in...

Does Ukraine have soft power? If yes, how strong is it? How can Ukraine increase its attractiveness to the world? UkraineWorld talks to Steven Thomson, Insight Director of Brand Finance, and co-author of the report Global Soft Power Index 2021.

During March and April, Russia accumulated at least 90 thousand troops on Ukraine’s border, masking it as a “military exercise”. Ukraine and its international partners, however, saw it as a threat of full-fledged military aggression. Despite Russia’s announcement that it is ending its “exercises”, the risk of military escalation remains high. - What is happening, and what can we expect? UkraineWor...

We have released our March 2021 episode of “Explaining Ukraine,” our monthly podcast in which we talk about major events and trends in Ukraine. We focus on the anniversary of the occupation of Crimea, the escalation of the war in the Donbas, the record escalation of the pandemic, the creation of anti-disinformation bodies, protests against Zelensky and law enforcement, and the struggle over cultur...

What is unique about Ukraine’s democracy? How is it different from that of other countries in Central and Eastern Europe and from the democracies of Western Europe? Can we compare Ukraine’s pluralistic political culture with that of the United States? UkraineWorld’s chief editor Volodymyr Yermolenko talks with Emily Channell-Justice, Director at the Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program at the Harv...

In this month’s episode of our Explaining Ukraine podcast, we look at major events in Ukraine in February 2021. We examine why Medvedchuk and his allies were put under sanctions by the government; what the situation is around COVID vaccination; why Ukraine hopes to review its Association Agreement with the EU; why Ukraine failed to get a deal with IMF and how to understand the Sternenko protests....

UkraineWorld is starting a regular monthly podcast taking snapshots of key developments in the country over the previous month. Here we look at early 2021: January and a bit of February. UkraineWorld chief editor Volodymyr Yermolenko is joined by UW analyst and journalist Maksym Panchenko to talk about how Ukraine is struggling to get access to COVID vaccines, how it is developing relations with t...

What’s happening in the Eastern Partnership countries - Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus - and with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict? What will be the consequences of Maia Sandu’s victory in Moldova’s presidential election over pro-Russian Igor Dodon? UkraineWorld talks with Nicu Popescu, a prominent Moldovan expert, the director of the Wider Europe Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations...

President Zelensky's party "Servant of the People" failed to curb the power of local mayors in Ukrainian local elections on October 25th. Why did this happen, what is new in Ukrainian politics, and what are the pros and cons of the Ukrainian decentralization process? We focus on these issues in our next UkraineWorld podcast with Maksym Yakovlev, The Chair of International Relations and Director of...

Following last week's EU-Ukraine summit, UkraineWorld discusses what is happening in Ukraine's EU integration under the presidency of Volodymyr Zelensky. Are reforms going forward or they are being stalled? What is the future of the EU-Ukraine visa-free regime, and are low-cost air travel links here to stay? Listen to the conversation with UkraineWorld analysts Volodymyr Yermolenko and Maksym Panc...

A new app using augmented reality technology to tell the stories of Ukrainian prisoners of the Kremlin has been launched by Internews Ukraine, with support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation. The app will help users become immersed in the experiences of prisoners and their living conditions. Listen to the UkraineWorld podcast with Olexiy Furman, a Ukrainian visual storyteller, to learn how high-...

Anti-Western propaganda is growing in the Ukrainian information space. It is fuelled by pro-Russian politicians and media, some popular bloggers, and oligarchs-aligned politicians. This episode of the UkraineWorld podcast focuses on the information campaign by anti-Western politicians in Ukraine, which present the “West” as Ukraine’s chief enemy. Two analysts at UkraineWorld and Internews Ukraine,...

Despite the prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine, at least 100 prisoners are still being held captive in Russia and occupied Crimea, with several hundred also likely held in occupied Donbas. Learn more about their situations in the latest UkraineWorld podcast with Olexandra Matviychuk, a Ukrainian human rights activist and head of the board of the Centre for Civil Liberties. This podcast...

Host Volodymyr Yermolenko (chief editor at UkraineWorld.org) welcomes Hennadiy Druzenko, a well-known Ukrainian intellectual and volunteer, and the co-founder of a volunteer mobile hospital helping soldiers on the frontline and people who suffered from COVID-19 pandemics. They talk about Zelensky's presidency and how it compares to Poroshenko's; about the Ukrainian volunteer movement and its futur...

Host Volodymyr Yermolenko welcomes Olga Tokariuk, a Ukrainian independent journalist and documentary filmmaker, formerly of Hromadske.ua. She is now finalizing a documentary film “The Wrong Place” with her Italian colleagues. The film is about Vitaliy Markiv, a Ukrainian soldier with Italian citizenship who was sentenced to 24 years of prison by an Italian court for the alleged murder of Italian p...

Host Volodymyr Yermolenko welcomes experts Orysia Lutsevych and Mathieu Boulègue from Chatham House, to discuss their report, “Resilient Ukraine: Safeguarding Society from Russian Aggression.” https://www.chathamhouse.org/publication/resilient-ukraine-boulegue-lutsevych

Host Volodymyr Yermolenko (chief editor of UkraineWorld.org) welcomes Dana Pavlychko, director of Osnovy Publishing, to talk about Osnovy’s famous book series “Awesome Ukraine.” They also talk about the things that are "awesome," "weird," "odd," and "horrible" in Ukraine today; how the country can be interesting for foreigners; what its attitude is towards its Soviet past; and what’s happening in...

Host Volodymyr Yermolenko welcomes Duncan Allan, Associate Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House in London to talk about the prospects of the Minsk agreements aiming to end the war in Eastern Ukraine. The conversation focuses on Chatham House’s research paper, “The Minsk Conundrum: Western Policy and Russia’s War in Eastern Ukraine” (https://www.chathamhouse.org/publication/m...

Volodymyr Yermolenko, the chief editor of UkraineWorld.org, welcomes famous Ukrainian author and journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk to talk about Ukraine's experience of the coronavirus pandemic and what it tells us about Ukrainian society and media.

Volodymyr Yermolenko, the chief editor of UkraineWorld.org, welcomes Christopher Miller, the reporter at BuzzFeed and Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, to talk about Biden-Poroshenko tapes and their impact on American and Ukrainian politics.

Host Volodymyr Yermolenko welcomes two experts of the Ukrainian Institute for the Future: Pavlo Klimkin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019, and Andreas Umland, General Editor of the book series "Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society" at ibidem Press in Stuttgart. They discuss the pandemic's far-reaching repercussions for the international system and Ukraine’s place in...

In this podcast, host Volodymyr Yermolenko welcomes Yulia Fediv, the executive director of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation. The conversation is focused on recent trends in the Ukrainian culture, Ukrainian creative class, current cultural renaissance, and the new ecosystem of Ukrainian cultural institutions.

Host Volodymyr Yermolenko welcomes Ukrainian philosopher Vakhtang Kebuladze to talk about the current Ukrainian approach to World War II memory. They discuss the differences between Ukrainian and Russian commemoration approaches, as well as dilemmas of Ukrainian de-communization.