Over 100,000 Ukrainian refugees have come to Estonia at some point since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Of those, tens of thousands remain in the country, building their own communities and integrating with local Estonians. For many, art is an important assertion of Ukrainian identity, but also a bridge to their new neighbors. Scholar and filmmaker Parker Watt set out to document these stories and embarked on an integration journey of his own during a year spent in Estonia, finding meaning at each step, proverbial and literal, along the way.

Image: Facebook | Ukrainian song and dance group “Volya”

Baltic Ways is a podcast from the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies, produced in partnership with the Baltic Initiative at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of AABS or FPRI.

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