Explaining Ukraine

What brings foreigners to Ukraine? What motivates them to come and help a country at war? What do they find in this country that they don’t find at home?

This episode's guest is Jaap Scholten, a Dutch writer and journalist, who came to Ukraine to volunteer. He regularly visits Ukraine with his friends to bring cars to soldiers, as well as medical equipment and other aid. He is also the author of the book "Three Bags of Ladies Clothes and a Sniper" about his trips to Ukraine, and is the founder of the charity Protect Ukraine (https://www.protectukraine.nl/)

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher and journalist, chief editor of UkraineWorld.org

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of the largest Ukrainian media NGOs.

Support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld. We provide exclusive content for our patrons. You can also support our volunteer trips to the frontlines at PayPal: [email protected].

What do we get if we turn away from the abstract “geopolitical” or “military” analysis of this war and talk about the human side of it? What do we see if we look at this war primarily as a story of human suffering and courage?

This episode's guest is Catalina Gomez, a Colombian journalist working in Ukraine for France 24. In this episode, we talk about the empathy and compassion that spans oceans and vast distances. We also talk about Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, who was killed by a Russian missile strike in Kramatorsk which Catalina managed to survive.

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of the largest Ukrainian media NGOs.

Support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld. We provide exclusive content for our patrons. You can also support our volunteer trips to the frontlines at PayPal: [email protected].

While Russian occupiers attempt to breach Ukrainian defense lines and encircle Avdiyivka, Ukraine cuts them off south of Bakhmut, forcing them to retreat to the Bakhmut-Horlivka highway.

In addition to frontline developments, the previous week was marked with encouraging news regarding international support for Ukraine. The US has agreed to supply Ukraine with ATACMS missiles on an ongoing basis. Meanwhile, the Bring Kids Back UA platform was created to raise awareness about Russia's genocidal deportation of Ukrainian children.

This is our weekly roundup of key events and trends in and around Ukraine.

Volodymyr Yermolenko, the chief editor of UkraineWorld, is joined by Anastasiia Herasymchuk and Dariia Synhaievska, analyst and journalist at UkraineWorld, to discuss key events and trends in and around Ukraine over the past week.

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of the largest Ukrainian media NGOs.

Support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld

We provide exclusive content for our patrons. You can also support our volunteer trips to the frontlines at PayPal: [email protected].

Russia has launched a massive offensive in the Avdiivka area (the Eastern direction). Ukraine holds its position. Despite the volatile situation on the frontlines, the previous week was marked with encouraging news regarding international support for Ukraine. President Zelenskyy brought home new aid packages and assurances of continued support from Brussels and Bucharest.

This is our weekly roundup of key events and trends in and around Ukraine.

Volodymyr Yermolenko, the chief editor of UkraineWorld, is joined by Anastasiia Herasymchuk and Dariia Synhaievska, analysts and journalists at UkraineWorld, to discuss key events and trends in and around Ukraine over the past week.

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of the largest Ukrainian media NGOs.

Support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld

We provide exclusive content for our patrons. You can also support our volunteer trips to the frontlines at PayPal: [email protected].

Russia has carried out a series of heinous and bloody terror attacks on Ukrainian civilians in Kherson, Kharkiv, and Hroza. The aggressor murdered a large part of Hroza's population who gathered to pay tribute to a fallen soldier, their countryman.

As Ukraine advances, Russians resort to more brutal tactics on the frontlines. Meanwhile, Ukraine is attempting to gain more international support by acting on a global scale.

This is our weekly roundup of key events and trends in and around Ukraine.

Volodymyr Yermolenko, the chief editor of UkraineWorld, is joined by Anastasiia Herasymchuk, analyst and journalist at UkraineWorld, to discuss key events and trends in and around Ukraine over the past week.

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of the largest Ukrainian media NGOs.

Support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld

We provide exclusive content for our patrons.

You can also support our volunteer trips to the frontlines at PayPal: [email protected].

What is happening at the front in the Russo-Ukrainian war? Can Ukraine break Russian defense lines in the South? What are the key frontline spots, and why are they important? How are drones changing the art of war? What arms does Ukraine need, and how could they change the situation on the frontline?

The guest on this episode of the Explaining Ukraine podcast is Mykola Bielieskov, a Ukrainian military analyst, research fellow at Ukraine’s National Institute for Strategic Studies, and chief analyst at Come Back Alive, one of Ukraine’s largest volunteer foundations.

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher and chief editor of UkraineWorld.org

UkraineWorld is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of the most reputable Ukrainian media NGOs.

Support UkraineWorld at patreon.com/ukraineworld. Patrons get exclusive content.

Support our volunteer trips to the frontline areas at PayPal: [email protected]

Ukraine and Poland are now going through one of the worst periods of their recent mutual relations. Historical memory clashes have reared their heads again, and controversy about Ukrainian grain exports to and through Poland shows signs of a serious trade dispute. What happened to the seemingly rock-solid relations from a year ago, when Russia started its cruel invasion against Ukraine, and Poland stepped up as one of the leading countries in helping Ukrainian refugees and supporting Ukrainian resistance against the Russian invasion?

Our guest on this episode of the Explaining Ukraine podcast is Wojciech Przybylski, a Polish political analyst and author. Przybylski is Editor-in-Chief of Visegrad Insight and President of the Res Publica Foundation.

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher and chief editor of UkraineWorld.org

UkraineWorld is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of the most reputable Ukrainian media NGOs.

Support UkraineWorld at patreon.com/ukraineworld. Patrons get exclusive content.

Support our volunteer trips to the frontline areas at PayPal: [email protected]

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit, along with French and British Ministers of Defense Sébastien Lecornu and Grant Shapps.

Meanwhile, Russia continues its terror against Ukrainian cities. However, that’s not all that caught our attention. In Russia, a sham trial against Ukrainian POWs has begun.

This is our weekly roundup of key events and trends in and around Ukraine.

Volodymyr Yermolenko, the chief editor of UkraineWorld, is joined by Anastasiia Herasymchuk, analyst and journalist at UkraineWorld, to discuss key events and trends in and around Ukraine over the past week.

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of the largest Ukrainian media NGOs.

Support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld

We provide exclusive content for our patrons. You can also support our volunteer trips to the frontlines at PayPal: [email protected].

Capitalizing on its previous successes, Ukraine has continued its operations in occupied Crimea, destroying the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. On the international plane, President Zelensky has visited the US to partake in the UN GA, as well as to hold bilateral talks.

This is our weekly roundup of key events and trends in and around Ukraine.

Volodymyr Yermolenko, the chief editor of UkraineWorld, is joined by Maksym Panchenko and Anastasiia Herasymchuk, analysts and journalists at UkraineWorld, to discuss key events and trends in and around Ukraine over the past week.

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of the largest Ukrainian media NGOs.

Support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld

We provide exclusive content for our patrons. You can also support our volunteer trips to the frontlines at PayPal: [email protected].

How can we think about the future today - and learn from it? How is the war influencing our thinking and action? Why are societies polarized, and can we overcome this polarization?

Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher and chief editor of UkraineWorld.org, speaks to Otto Scharmer, a German-born American intellectual who introduced influential concepts like Theory U and presencing in an attempt to learn from the emerging future and act in a more creative way.

Otto Scharmer is a Senior Lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Founding Chair of the Presencing Institute. Through his bestselling books Theory U and Presence (the latter co-authored with Peter Senge and others), Otto introduced the concept of “presencing” — learning from the emerging future.

Thinking in Dark Times is a podcast series by UkraineWorld. This series seeks to make Ukraine and the current war a focal point of our common reflection about the world’s present, past, and future. We try to see the light through and despite the current darkness.

UkraineWorld is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of the largest Ukrainian media NGOs.

Support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld

Support our volunteer trips to the frontline areas at paypal: [email protected]