Explaining Ukraine

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.

We have a lot to share with each other. We won’t agree on everything. Often, what is “good” for one may be “bad” for the other.

And yet, this conversation is necessary — and it’s interesting. A perspective from Africa on Ukraine can offer a fresh viewpoint. Likewise, a Ukrainian perspective on Africa can do the same. At the very least, let’s try.

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

Our guest today is Simon Allison, co-founder of The Continent (https://www.thecontinent.org/), Africa’s most widely distributed newspaper.

UkraineWorld is run by Internews Ukraine, one of the country’s largest media NGOs.

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 help fund our volunteer trips to front-line areas, where we assist both soldiers and civilians — mainly by delivering vehicles for soldiers and books for civilians. Donations can be made 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.

Ukrainian modernist literature is one of the golden ages of Ukrainian cultural history. In this episode, we’ll explore why that is—and why the questions raised during this period, spanning the late 19th and early 20th centuries, remain deeply relevant today.

"Explaining Ukraine" is a podcast by UkraineWorld, a multilingual media outlet focused on Ukraine.

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

Guest: Rostyslav Semkiv, a Ukrainian literary scholar, associate professor at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, and director of the publishing house Smoloskyp.

Writers mentioned in this podcast: Modernists - Lesya Ukrainka, Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, Olha Kobylianska, Vasyl Stefanyk. Others: Ivan Franko, Marko Vovchok, Olena Pchilka, Vasyl Stus, Serhiy Zhadan, Kateryna Kalytko and others.

UkraineWorld is run by Internews Ukraine, one of Ukraine's largest media NGOs.

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 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.

They have already become our friends: Jaap Scholten and a group of courageous Dutch writers, photographers, artists, and rugby players who come regularly to Ukraine to bring vehicles to the Ukrainian soldiers.

We have already had conversations with some of them: 

https://soundcloud.com/user-579586558/ep-287 

https://soundcloud.com/user-579586558/ep-270

This time, we held a big event at PEN Ukraine and UkraineWorld to talk about inspiration, courage, fatigue, freedom, and the need to act.

Guests:

Tommy Wieringa, an acclaimed Dutch writer and ambassador of ProtectUkraine.nl, joined five of the most recent convoys of Protect Ukraine to Izyum and beyond. 

Maurits Chabot, a writer and historian, co-author of the book for the National Book Week of the Netherlands 2025, joined Protect Ukraine on two convoys. 

Jaap Scholten, an author and anthropologist, founder of ProtectUkraine.nl. 

Eddy van Wessel, a prize-winning and internationally respected photographer, has independently traveled to Ukraine since the 2022 full-scale invasion, documenting the ongoing war.

Moderator: Anastasiia Herasymchuk, Deputy Editor-in-Chief at UkraineWorld.

ProtectUkraine.nl is a Dutch NGO focused on supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the frontlines with defensive materials.

"Explaining Ukraine" is a podcast by UkraineWorld, a multilingual media outlet about Ukraine.

UkraineWorld is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of Ukraine's largest media NGOs.

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

We really need your support now because our media is increasingly relying on crowdfunding.

You can also support our volunteer trips to the front-line areas, where we help both soldiers and civilians, bringing mostly cars for soldiers and books for civilians. You can support our trips at PayPal: [email protected].

This episode is a recording of an event held by UkraineWorld and PEN Ukraine on January 30th, 2025

You probably all know the Black Square, a famous avant-garde painting that has radically changed the way we think about art.

You’ve probably heard that this painting was created by Kazymyr Malevych, a “Russian painter”. But he was not Russian. He comes from Polish and Ukrainian descent, and the Ukrainian sources of his creativity and thinking are huge.

In this episode, we will try to explain why it is important to look at Malevych as a Ukrainian artist.

Our guest is Tetyana Filevska, a Ukrainian art historian, the creative director of the Ukrainian Institute, the country’s major cultural diplomacy institution.

She is interviewed by Tetyana Ogarkova, a Ukrainian literary scholar and journalist, an expert at the Ukraine Crisis Media Centre, and a lecturer at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

"Explaining Ukraine" is a podcast by UkraineWorld, a multilingual media outlet focused on Ukraine.

UkraineWorld is run by Internews Ukraine, one of Ukraine's largest media NGOs.

You can support our work at 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].

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.

Which 20th-century ideas should we carry with us into the 21st century? And which of them have become obsolete?

We discuss these topics during a live event with David Rieff, a prominent American writer and journalist. The discussion was held on March 1st at PEN Ukraine space in Kyiv, and was organized by UkraineWorld, PEN Ukraine and Thinking in Dark Times podcast.

Hosts: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher and the chief editor of UkraineWorld, the president of PEN Ukraine, and Tetyana Ogarkova, a Ukrainian literary scholar, and author of the French-language podcast L’Ukraine face a la guerre by the Ukraine Crisis Media Centre. Both are lecturers at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, the oldest Ukrainian university.

Explaining Ukraine is a podcast by UkraineWorld, a multilingual media outlet focused on Ukraine.

UkraineWorld is run by Internews Ukraine, one of Ukraine's largest media NGOs.

You can support our work at 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].

Ivan Mazepa is a renowned Ukrainian leader who made significant contributions to the flourishing of Ukrainian culture and the Cossack state in the late 17th century. Because of his desire for Ukraine's freedom from Muscovy, Mazepa aligned himself with the Swedish king Charles XII in a war against the Russian tsar Peter I, ultimately losing the decisive battle near Poltava in seventeen o nine

However, in the 19th century, Mazepa became a prominent cultural figure. George Gordon Byron, Victor Hugo, Juliusz Słowacki, Franz Liszt, and Eugène Delacroix created poems, musical compositions, and paintings depicting him as a young man, a political and sexual rebel. This portrayal of Mazepa gained popularity globally, reaching as far as South Africa and the United States.

We delved into this story with Tony Voss, a South African university professor, Professor Emeritus and research associate of the University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban, and Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, South Africa

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

Explaining Ukraine is a podcast by UkraineWorld, a multilingual media outlet focused on Ukraine.

UkraineWorld is run by Internews Ukraine, one of Ukraine's largest media NGOs.

You can support our work at 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].

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

The Russian and Soviet imperial narratives tried to persuade us that Ukrainian culture is provincial. It is not. It is very global and is enshrined in many interesting topics of the wider world. In this episode, we delve into these trajectories of ideas.

Hosts: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, the chief editor of UkraineWorld, the president of PEN Ukraine, and Tetyana Ogarkova, a Ukrainian literary scholar, and author of the French-language podcast “L’Ukraine face a la guerre” by the Ukraine Crisis Media Centre. Both are lecturers at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, the oldest Ukrainian university.

This episode is made in partnership with Kyiv Mohyla Academy and project “Heritage Ukraine” supported by the European Union’s Erasmus programme

We greatly appreciate your support for our work at https://www.patreon.com/ukraineworld. Your contribution is crucial as our media increasingly depends on crowdfunding.

Additionally, you can also support our volunteer trips to the front line areas where we provide aid to both soldiers and civilians. We bring essential supplies such as cars for soldiers and books for civilians. You can support our trips by donating through PayPal at [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.

How can Ukraine adapt to the new world that has emerged? Has America ceased to be its key partner? Is Europe ready to step in, and what does it need to do? Where else can Ukraine find its partners?

Our guest is Dmytro Kuleba, a prominent Ukrainian diplomat and intellectual who served as Ukraine’s foreign minister from 2020 to 2024.

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

Explaining Ukraine is a podcast by UkraineWorld, a multilingual media outlet focused on Ukraine.

UkraineWorld is run by Internews Ukraine, one of Ukraine's largest media NGOs.

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].

This is podcast is made with support from the International Renaissance Foundation.

Let's explore the Ukrainian intellectual tradition. What recurring ideas can be found in Ukrainian philosophy, literature, and historiography? What are the key topics of ongoing debates in these fields?

Hosts: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher and the chief editor of UkraineWorld, the president of PEN Ukraine, and Tetyana Ogarkova, a Ukrainian literary scholar, and author of the French-language podcast "L’Ukraine face a la guerre" by the Ukraine Crisis Media Centre. Both are lecturers at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, the oldest Ukrainian university.

This episode is made in partnership with Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and project Heritage Ukraine supported by the European Union’s Erasmus programme

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UkraineWorld is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of Ukraine's largest media NGOs.

We greatly appreciate your support for our work at https://www.patreon.com/ukraineworld

Your contribution is crucial as our media increasingly depends on crowdfunding.

Additionally, you can also support our volunteer trips to the front line areas where we provide aid to both soldiers and civilians. We bring essential supplies such as cars for soldiers and books for civilians. You can support our trips by donating through PayPal at [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.