Democracy is fragile today. Yet it is not confined to a single place, a specific country, or a particular political system. The democratic promise remains far from fully realized. Still, we can find hope in the idea that when democracy retreats in one part of the world, it may grow stronger in another.

This is “Thinking in Dark Times”, a podcast series by UkraineWorld, an English-language media outlet focused on Ukraine.

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, the chief editor of UkraineWorld, and the president of PEN Ukraine.

Guest: Aman Sethi, an Indian journalist and the editor-in-chief of openDemocracy—an independent international media platform based in London.

We are recording this conversation during the Lviv Media Forum in May 2025, in Lviv, a city in western Ukraine.

You can support our work at: https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld.

Your support is vital, as we rely heavily on crowdfunding.

You can also contribute to our volunteer missions to frontline areas in Ukraine, where we deliver aid to both soldiers and civilians. Donations are welcome via PayPal at: [email protected].

This episode is produced in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute, the country’s leading institution for cultural diplomacy.

Does Ukraine have freedom of speech during the war? How are the media surviving under such harsh conditions? How do media perspectives within Ukraine compare to those from outside the country?

Guest: Ola Myrovych, CEO of the Lviv Media Forum—one of the largest media events in Ukraine. We’re recording this conversation during the forum itself, in May 2025, in Lviv.

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, the chief editor of UkraineWorld, and the president of PEN Ukraine.

The “Explaining Ukraine” podcast is produced by UkraineWorld, an English-language media outlet about Ukraine, run by Internews Ukraine.

You can support our work at: https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld.

Your support is crucial, as we rely heavily on crowdfunding.

You can also support our volunteer trips to frontline areas in Ukraine, where we provide assistance to both soldiers and civilians. Donations are welcome via PayPal at: [email protected].

We had a conversation with Anne Applebaum a few months ago on this podcast about her book "Autocracy, Inc".—be sure to check it out: https://ukraineworld.org/en/podcasts//ep-332

The current episode features a public conversation on similar themes: the crisis of democracy, the rise of new autocracies, Trump’s pro-Russian stance, and Russia’s war against Ukraine.

It was recorded as a keynote discussion at the Lviv Media Forum—one of Ukraine’s major media events—in May 2025 (https://lvivmediaforum.com/en)

We’re now publishing it as part of our Thinking in Dark Times series at UkraineWorld.

Anne Applebaum is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and political analyst.

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, the chief editor of UkraineWorld and the president of PEN Ukraine.

You can support our work at: https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld.

Your support is vital, as we rely heavily on crowdfunding.

You can also support our volunteer trips to frontline areas in Ukraine, where we provide aid to both soldiers and civilians. Donations are welcome via PayPal at: [email protected].

Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion has once again brought to light an old topic: the cruelty of Russian imperialism—both past and present.

In this episode, we explore the major historical periods and defining features of Russian imperialism since the 16th century. This conversation will help you understand that Ukraine’s experience is one of the most visible examples, but by no means the only one.

Our guest today is Donnacha Ó Beacháin, an Irish political scientist, professor at Dublin City University, and author of the recent book "Unfinished Empire: Russian Imperialism in Ukraine and the Near Abroad" (https://cup.columbia.edu/book/unfinished-empire/9781788218016/)

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, the chief editor of UkraineWorld, and the president of PEN Ukraine.

Explaining Ukraine podcast is produced by UkraineWorld, an English-language media outlet about Ukraine, run by Internews Ukraine.

You can support our work at: https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld.

Your support is crucial, as we rely heavily on crowdfunding.

You can also support our volunteer trips to frontline areas in Ukraine, where we provide assistance to both soldiers and civilians. Donations are welcome via PayPal at: [email protected].

Related episodes:

Time to rethink Russian cultural imperialism - with Vitaly Chernetsky

https://ukraineworld.org/en/podcasts//ep-305

5 things to know about Russian imperialism

https://ukraineworld.org/en/podcasts//ep-201

Rethinking Imperialism

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7EDqaafPqm5DnEtsw8sswu

In this episode, we will explore the life and works of Oleksandra Ekster, a prominent Ukrainian avant-garde artist of the early 20th century. We will discuss cubofuturism, the cultural identity of Kyiv, the role of women in Ukrainian art, and the connections between Ukrainian and European avant-garde art.

Our guest for this episode is Anna Lodygina, a Ukrainian art historian and journalist. She recently published a book in Ukrainian titled "Stories of Ukrainian Artists: Oleksandra Ekster." This conversation is moderated by Tetyana Ogarkova, a Ukrainian literary scholar and journalist, author of the podcast "L’Ukraine face a la guerre" (Ukraine facing the war) in French, and head of international outreach at Ukraine Crisis Media Centre.

"Explaining Ukraine" is a podcast of UkraineWorld, an English-language media outlet about Ukraine run by Internews Ukraine.

You can support our work on https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld.

Your support is crucial for us as we rely heavily on crowdfunding.

You can also support our volunteer trips to the frontline areas in Ukraine, where we provide support for both soldiers and civilians. You can donate via PayPal, [email protected].

This episode is made in partnership with Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and under the framework of the project HER-UKR: Challenges and opportunities for EU heritage diplomacy in Ukraine, co-funded by the EU within the ERASMUS+ Jean Monnet Policy Debate action.

What lessons can we draw from the Ukrainian experience? Why is Ukraine not only a place of suffering and fight, but also a place of thinking and creation? Why is the cultural renaissance so strong during the war? What does it mean to think in dark times?

Lecture by Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, the chief editor of UkraineWorld, and the president of PEN Ukraine, at the Institute for Human Sciences (Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen) in Vienna on May 6th, 2025.

Moderator and host: Ludger Hagedorn, Permanent Fellow at IWM.

"Thinking in Dark Times" is a podcast series of UkraineWorld, an English-language media outlet about Ukraine run by Internews Ukraine.

You can support our work on https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld. Your support is crucial for us as we rely a lot on crowdfunding.

You can also support our volunteer trips to the frontline areas in Ukraine, where we deliver support for both soldiers and civilians. You can donate via PayPal: [email protected]

We should look at wars not to build hierarchies but to understand something important about humans. Where does the violence come from? How to prevent it? What to do when it is already there? How can we defend ourselves and others?

For this episode, we invited an award-winning writer V.V. Ganeshananthan. Her novel "Brotherless Night" tells a story of the civil war in Sri Lanka that has lasted for more than 25 years. The book won Women’s Prize for Fiction 2024 and the Asian Prize for Fiction in 2023. In this conversation we tried to connect war experiences in Sri Lanka and Ukraine.

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher and journalist, the chief editor of UkraineWorld and the president of PEN Ukraine.

Explaining Ukraine is a podcast by UkraineWorld, a media about Ukraine run by Internews Ukraine, and based in Kyiv.

You can support our work at https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld. Your support is crucial as our media increasingly relies on crowdfunding.

You can also support our volunteer trips to the front-line areas, where we provide assistance to both soldiers and civilians - mainly by bringing cars for soldiers and books for civilians. You can support our trips via PayPal at [email protected].

This episode was produced in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute, Ukraine's major cultural and public diplomacy institution, and NGO Cultural Diplomacy Foundation.

"Brotherless Night": https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/453754/brotherless-night-by-ganeshananthan-v-v/9780241997673

Do dictators rule by death and nihilism? Do they want to make us powerless - and do they succeed? Is today’s crisis also our chance?

This is an online conversation between Polish philosopher Krzysztof Czyzewski, American historian Marci Shore, Georgian writer Iva Pezuashvili, and Ukrainian philosopher Volodymyr Yermolenko.

The event was held under the aegis of Dilemma project implemented by the Institute for Central European Strategy with the support of the European Commission

Explaining Ukraine is a podcast by UkraineWorld, an English-language media outlet about Ukraine run by Internews Ukraine.

You can support our work at https://www.patreon.com/ukraineworld. Your support is crucial as our media increasingly relies on crowdfunding.

You can also support our volunteer trips to the front-line areas, where we provide assistance to both soldiers and civilians - mainly by bringing cars for soldiers and books for civilians. You can support our trips via PayPal at [email protected].

Why is Russia using World War II as its major historical anchor? Why is the end of World War II seen in Ukraine as a victory of one evil over another, rather than a victory of good over evil? What was Ukraine’s role in World War II?

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher and writer, the chief editor of UkraineWorld, president of PEN Ukraine.

You can support our work at https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld.

Your support is crucial as our media increasingly relies on crowdfunding.

You can also support our volunteer trips to the front-line areas, where we provide assistance to both soldiers and civilians - mainly by bringing cars for soldiers and books for civilians. You can support our trips via PayPal at [email protected].

More information:

Historian Serhii Plokhii: World War II and the Russian invasion of Ukraine - Vol. 1

https://ukraineworld.org/en/podcasts/ep-223

What Russian Propaganda Says about Ukraine’s History? Analysis and Deconstruction

https://ukraineworld.org/en/articles/books/re-vision-of-history-book

Margaret Atwood is perhaps one of the greatest living writers today. Her novel "The Handmaid’s Tale" and its continuation, "The Testaments," are seen by many as prophetic.

This is a conversation about dangers and hopes, about human nature, the classics, and the challenges of dark times.

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, the chief editor of UkraineWorld, and the president of PEN Ukraine.

"Thinking in Dark Times" is a podcast by UkraineWorld, an English-language media outlet about Ukraine based in Kyiv.

You can support our work at https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld. Our media is increasingly relying on crowdfunding.

You can also support our volunteer trips to the front-line areas of the Russian war against Ukraine via PayPal at [email protected]. We are trying to help both soldiers and civilians.