Ukraine 242 Podcast

Can North Korea's military involvement significantly alter the course of the Ukraine war? Join us on Ukraine 242 as Sarah Ashton Cirillo, an American journalist turned combat medic and sergeant in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, provides an unfiltered look into the complex alliances shaping this conflict. Our candid conversation uncovers the unsettling collaboration between Russia and North Korea...

Journalists Alya Shandra and Bohdan Ben describe what happened on the ground during the Euromaidan Revolution of Dignity. Both participated in this historic grassroots peoples rebellion in 2014 that solidified Ukraine's pivot away from Russia towards Western Europe. Euromaidan with its preceding Orange Revolution is one of the most successful grassroots popular revolts in modern times. As a r...

The second part of an interview with Sarah Ashton Cirillo an American journalist who enlisted as a combat medic in the armed forces of Ukraine. She is an American trans woman and the only American female soldier at zero line, the front-most trenches. This interview comes one year after Sarah first spoke with Ukraine 2 4 2. After being hospitalized from serious injury incurred on the frontline, she...

One year after an interview with Ukraine 2 4 2, the first of a two-part interview with Sarah Ashton Cirillo an American journalist who enlisted as a combat medic in the armed forces of Ukraine. She is an American trans woman. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, she was the only transgender journalist and then the only American female soldier fighting at zero line, the front-most trenches....

Mark Lindquist is a United States Air Force and Afghan war veteran. Since March of 2022, Mark has lived in Ukraine, which he calls his second home. He is on a self-directed humanitarian mission to voluntarily deliver non-lethal aid directly to Ukrainian civilians. After two years of his aid work, he gives an update. He discusses the nature of how this on-going war has developed, what is needed by...

Poetry by:  Marianna Kiyanovska Karen Khiel Nancy Eaton Vidma Read by Kate Wallace Rogers Music: Anthem by Leonard Cohen Editing by Michael Hill-Levine Editing by Ursula Rudenberg

Ukrainian/ English political scientist Dr. Taras Kuzio discusses ways that Russia is seeking to destroy Ukrainian national identity and replace it with militarization and glorification of the Soviet ethos. He discusses new textbooks being used to influence children, kidnapping of children, persecution and murder of Ukrainian citizens who facilitate Ukrainian civil society, and the contrived hunt f...

Ukrainian political scientist Dr. Taras Kuzio discusses the global ramifications of Russias President Putins meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un in far Eastern Russia, early in September. He describes the coalition that is solidifying to support Russias invasion of Ukraine, including China, Iran and Korea, united against the West and their perception of a US-dominated uni-polar world. K...

At the beginning of September, Ukrainian Defense Minister was removed in response to allegations of corruption. Former American Ambassador Daniel Fried discusses this removal along with other internal leadership shake-ups, including the death of leaders of the Wagner military group in Russia as well as how Putin's future is tied to the outcome of his invasion of Ukraine and Russia's patt...

Athletes are collateral damage in Russia's war with Ukraine, according to Taylor McKee, a researcher committed to analyzing the socio-cultural intersections of sport and society. He discusses how, since 2014, the story of the Russian invasion plays out in theatres of sport as well. In this interview, the discussion focuses on the upcoming Olympic games in Paris, what could play out there, con...

This Week on Ukraine 2 4 2: Urban Warfare and other Battle Knowledge – US Major John Spencer TRT: 29 minutes US Major John Spencer is considered the world's leading expert on urban warfare. In February 2022, he wrote The Mini-Manuel for The Urban Defender, a guidebook for everyday people to defend their territory against military aggressors. The manual was posted online by the Ukrainian milit...

Historian Ekaterina Malygina describes SUCHO - Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online " an international initiative by more than 1,500 volunteer historians, archivists, librarians, and humanities researchers whose mission is to provide digital support, server space, equipment, and training resources to their colleagues in Ukrainian cultural institutions. The goal is to support the preserva...

Susan Mathison tells the story of herself and her three friends in Plymouth, New Hampshire who were aghast at the invasion of Ukraine. Feeling called to do something, they used their collective experience and resources as humanitarians, activists, and businesspeople, as well as their connections with Rotary Clubs here and in Poland and Ukraine, to create Common Man For Ukraine. This multi-million-...

The Museum Territory of Terror in Lviv Ukraine was built on the site of a former Jewish Ghetto under the Nazis and a former Soviet prison. While its original mission was to document tragic pages of the 20th century, the museum has changed its focus, since the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, to preserving Ukrainian art, museum collections, archives, monuments, and museum buildings which a...

This Week on Ukraine 2 4 2:  Realities of War: Ukraine Cntr for military & legal Studies  Now available in Audioport.org under WEEKLY PROGRAMS TRT: 29 minutes Produced by Anne Levine, WOMR, Provincetown MA Military analyst Oleksander Musiienko speaks about various current realities of the war in Ukraine from a Ukrainian analyst's perspective. He talks about various current events, includi...

Two stories of encounters between Ukrainians and Russians in the Diaspora. In Abu Dhabi Ukrainians and Russians encounter each other, leading to tensions. In Uzbekistan, refugees who are both Russian and Ukrainian, find each other for solace and mutual help and rebuilding. Julia Tymoshenko is a Ukrainian reporter, communications expert, and marketing executive. She studied at the Abu Dhabi and New...

Britta Ellwanger volunteers for the non-profit organization For Peace and discusses her work currently in Ukraine. She describes how For Peace provides humanitarian aid to civilians and soldiers through local connections and organizing. She has developed an expansive network informing her about what is needed, and her methods for fulfilling these exemplify the power and effectiveness of local and...

37-year-old Victoria Amelina, one of Ukraine's best-known young writers, died from injuries from a Russian missile strike in the city of Kramatorsk on June 27. In memoriam we rebroadcast her Ukraine 2 4 2 interview with Anne Levine from last May. Victoria Amelina stopped writing novels when Russia invaded Ukraine, saying: in 2022, it became impossible to write fiction (because) reality is so...

"There was great optimism about Russia in the 90s as it emerged from decades of authoritarian control. This has gone into reverse since 2014, and its messy geopolitical divorce from the Western world is accelerating." As a teenager, Jonathan Fink was a Russophile. While in college, he lived in Russia to deepen his knowledge. He found that in the 90's, the Russian people were humbled...

Reporter, communications expert, and marketing executive Julia Tymoshenko speaks about issues Ukraine has with analytical fieldwork by Amnesty International on the Ukraine crisis. She says their position creates harmful consequences for her country. She also shares her experience of living under bombs in Kyiv, and reveals how her organization, St. Javelin, has raised more than 2.5 million dollars...

Sarah Ashton Cirillo, American transgender journalist, has been fighting as a combat medic on the Ukrainian front in the Donbas. In the midst of war conditions, she finds respect and acceptance she lacks in the USA, as a transgender woman, judged in Ukraine solely on her performance rather than on sexual identity.

The war in Ukraine has brought many foreigners and Ukrainians together to do extraordinary things: a conversation with Richard Woodruff, the 30-year-old leader of Frontline Kitchen in Lviv, Ukraine. Originally from a London suburb, Woodruff worked in publishing. When he quit his job to take an extended vacation in Spain, news came of the Russian invasion in February 2022. On an impulse, Richard go...

A conversation with Renowned Ukrainian author Victoria Amelina who has stopped writing novels.  She says,“in 2022, it became impossible to write fiction (because) reality is so much more intense; it is impossible to invent stories anymore.” She now works as a war crimes researcher with the organization TRUTH HOUNDS. In the Izium region, Victoria Amelina uncovered the war diary of fellow Ukrainian...