Explaining Ukraine

War photography is not just about capturing destruction—it is about witnessing history, shaping narratives, and conveying human resilience. What motivates a photographer to enter a war zone, and how does this experience transform their perception of the reality?

The guest of the Explaining Ukraine podcast is Jérôme Barbosa, an independent photographer who has ventured into Ukraine during wartime.

Host: Daria Synhaievska, an analyst and journalist at UkraineWorld.

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

Listen on various platforms: li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine.

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].

This episode is made with support from the International Renaissance Foundation

The humiliation of civilians is one of the widespread tactics of the Russian army. It uses starvation and deprivation as a war technique, and shells civilian targets when there are no military facilities around.

We are discussing this issue with Catriona Murdoch, Vice-President of Global Rights Compliance. Catriona is an international criminal and human rights expert with over 13 years of experience. She leads the Starvation Portfolio at Global Rights Compliance, a foundation comprised of international lawyers and development experts with a mission to achieve justice through the innovative application of international law.

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 about Ukraine.

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

You can support our work at www.patreon.com/ukraineworld. We really need your support now because our media is increasingly relying on crowdfunding.

You can also support our volunteer trips to the frontline 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 made with support from the International Renaissance Foundation

Feelings inside and outside Ukraine are different. Outside, most people think Ukraine is doomed. Inside, most believe Ukraine will stand and never give up. I share the inside view, as does my guest today—a very active member of the Ukrainian parliament.

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

My guest today is Dmytro Natalukha, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, and the chairman of the economics affairs committee.

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 frontline 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]

Trump made Europe lonely. Europe feels abandoned and perplexed in its geopolitical solitude. What it does not yet fully understand, though, is how insecure it has become. And how it should now learn from Ukraine, and not only teach it. Only if Europe understands that Ukraine is not its problem, but part of its solution, and that defending Ukraine means defending Europe, both will survive.

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

My guest today is Nicu Popescu, former vice prime minister of Moldova, and currently a distinguished policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

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 www.patreon.com/ukraineworld. We really need your support now because our media is increasingly relying on crowdfunding.

You can also support our volunteer trips to the frontline 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].

There is a striking parallel between the Russian war crimes in Syria and Ukraine. In both cases, the Russian army has been using extreme violence not to achieve military means, but to intimidate people and impose a tyrannical power over them through fear.

Our guest today is Raji Abdul Salam, a legal data archive analyst with experience in documenting war crimes, crimes against humanity, and attempted genocides in Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine. Currently, he works as the chief legal data archivist at The Reckoning Project (https://www.thereckoningproject.com/)

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

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is a multilingual media about Ukraine produced by Internews Ukraine, one of the country’s largest media NGOs.

Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine

This episode is made in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute.

Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/ukraineworld – we offer exclusive content for our patrons.

You can also support our volunteer trips to the front lines via PayPal: [email protected].

What is happening on the frontline of the Russo-Ukrainian war? How is the war changing technologically? What does Ukraine need from its partners? Why is Europe slow and indecisive - and why is it wrong?

The guest of the Explaining Ukraine podcast is Gustav Gressel, an Austrian political and military analyst, former Senior Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and currently a Researcher at the National Defence Academy Vienna

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

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

Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine

Support us at https://www.patreon.com/ukraineworld. We need your support now, because our media is more and more relying on crowdfunding.

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

Timothy Snyder came to Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, to present his book "On Freedom".

We have had several conversations about the ideas of this book before (in Kyiv and Kharkiv), and you can find links to the podcast episodes featuring these discussions in the description.

However, this was the first time we talked about this book after its publication.

We recorded this conversation on February 9, 2025, at the Sense bookstore on Khreshchatyk Street, in the heart of the Ukrainian capital, very close to Maidan.

Several hundred people attended, with many staying despite the lack of available seats. Most of them were young.

This demonstrates how important reading and critical thinking are for Ukrainians today.

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

The Ukrainian translation of this book was done by Choven Publishing House (translator: Halyna Herasym), with the support of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is a multilingual media about Ukraine produced by Internews Ukraine, one of the country’s largest media NGOs.

Listen on various platforms: li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine

Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/ukraineworld – we offer exclusive content for our patrons.

You can also support our volunteer trips to the front lines via PayPal: [email protected].

Other conversations with Timothy Snyder:

Kyiv, September 2022

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHksNrj7elQ&t=10s

https://soundcloud.com/user-579586558/ep-144

Kyiv, September 2023

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LkXsW14qJQ&t=724s

https://soundcloud.com/user-579586558/ep-258

Kharkiv, September 2024

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR0bqQy5gzA&t=9s

https://soundcloud.com/user-579586558/snyder-kharkiv

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Contents:

01:54 - «I feel in Ukraine better than in most other places»

02:44 - being a historian who wrote a philosophy book

07:17 - What can the Ukrainian experience tell other nations about freedom?

12:45 - positive freedom (freedom-to) vs negative freedom (freedom-from). «Freedom isn’t just the absence of evil, but the presence of good»

15:44 - thinking about positive and negative freedom in America and Ukraine

20:30 - freedom and values

24:55 - freedom and sovereignty

32:47 - freedom and unpredictability

41:13 - the metaphor of the bell

45:07 - freedom during military occupation and de-occupation

50:30 - is history repeating itself?

1:00:00 - on social networks

1:11:50 - which values can unite Ukrainians during the war?

01:14:50 - rethinking Ukrainian history from the global perspective

What have we learned from the year 2024 in Ukraine? What have been the key trends on the frontline? What does Ukraine need to defend its sovereignty? What are Russia’s goals in this war, and what are the keys to achieving sustainable peace?

In this episode of the Explaining Ukraine podcast, the guest is Tetyana Ogarkova, a Ukrainian intellectual, literary scholar, and journalist, the head of the international outreach department at Ukraine Crisis Media Centre, lecturer at Kyiv Mohyla Academy, and author of the podcast in French, Ukraine face a la guerre. Here are our personal conclusions from this year.

L’Ukraine Face à la guerre podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/1qaLEtzl4lWiQTIEfeMenD

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

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is produced by Internews Ukraine, one of the country’s largest media NGOs.

Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine

Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/ukraineworld – we offer exclusive content for our patrons.

You can also support our volunteer trips to the front lines via PayPal: [email protected].

Trump wants to stop Russia’s war against Ukraine, but what difficulties will he face? Why must he genuinely engage with Ukraine and the EU to achieve this goal? What leverage does he have to encourage Putin to negotiate? Why does any peace in this context need to be sustainable?

In this episode of the Explaining Ukraine podcast, the guest is Fredrik Wesslau, a Swedish diplomat and analyst who has worked for many years in Ukraine. Wesslau is currently a Senior Advisor at Rasmussen Global and a Distinguished Policy Fellow at the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies (SCEEUS). Until December 2022, he served in Kyiv as Deputy Head of the EU Advisory Mission in Ukraine. Fredrik has also held the position of Director of the Wider Europe Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).

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

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is produced by Internews Ukraine, one of the country’s largest media NGOs.

Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine

Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/ukraineworld – we offer exclusive content for our patrons.

You can also support our volunteer trips to the front lines via PayPal: [email protected].

Brazil has the 3rd largest Ukrainian community in the Americas. Over half a million Brazilians have Ukrainian origins, with most of them descendants of 19th century labor migrants.

In this episode, we navigate through the unexpected links between the two countries, and analyze why relations between Brazil and Ukraine are difficult today.

The Explaining Ukraine podcast invites you to a conversation at the PEN Ukraine / UkraineWorld event with Brazilian authors. The conversation took place in Kyiv, at PEN Ukraine’s headquarters, in September, 2024.

The event was held within PEN Ukraine’s programme “Solidarity with Ukraine” supported by the International Renaissance Foundation.

Participants: Sérgio Utsch, Brazilian journalist; Flávia Tavares, chief editor of Meio online media; Guto Pasko, Brazilian filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer with Ukrainian origins.

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

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

Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine

Support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld. We provide exclusive content for our patrons.

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

Interpretation (Ukrainian - English): Anna Vovchenko

This episode is produced in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute, the country’s major public and cultural diplomacy institution.