Krynytsya (The Well), your wellspring for Ukraine and Ukrainians

Larisa Didkovska is the Rector of the Ukrainian Free University (UFU) located in Munich, Germany. The university was originally established in Vienna, Austria, in 1921. This private graduate academic institution offers many students from Ukraine, Europe and elsewhere programs of study in the social sciences and the humanities primarily in the Ukrainian language. Noteworthy alumni of UFU include Volodymyr Kubiyovych (1900–1985), who was a famous Ukrainian geographer, cartographer, encyclopedist, politician, and statesman, and Leonid Rudnytzky (1935-2024), who was a Ukrainian-born American linguist and professor of German, Slavic and Ukrainian studies who taught at the University of Pennsylvania. https://ufu-muenchen.de/uk/

Christian Borys is a Ukrainian Canadian journalist who covered the Russian war against Ukraine for a while. When he returned to Canada, he decided to create a fund-raising site for the Ukrainian army. Eventually this effort evolved into a social enterprise based in Ukraine that produces various consumer products. He hopes to continue this venture even after the war ends.

https://www.saintjavelin.com/pages/saint-javelin-day-2025-metal

Kira Rudik is a member of the Ukrainian Parliament and the leader of the Golos Party. Before her first election to parliament in 2019, she was a key player in Ukraine's technology industry as the CEO of Ring Ukraine. In this interview, Ms. Rudik assesses the current social and political mood in Ukraine and emphasizes how the country continues to fight for its freedom and sovereignty despite the Russian invasion. One of her key goals is to use the roughly $300 billion of frozen Russian assets to help support and rebuild Ukraine. https://www.kirarudik.com/

The third anniversary of the Russian invasion against Ukraine will occur in February 2025. Are Ukraine and Russia ready to begin peace negotiations? Will the U.S. continue to play a major role as an ally of Ukraine, or will the incoming administration of President Donald Trump change course? Taras Kuzio, professor of political science at National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, offers his views on Ukraine and its current situation with the Russian invasion. https://isad.uj.edu.pl/en_GB/taras-kuzio

Beginning in the 1940's, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was a key venue in the USSR for the development of cybernetics and information technology (IT). When Ukraine became independent in 1991, a new wave of creativity was unleashed in the field of technology leading to the development of innovative IT companies that sought to play a crucial role in the global economy. Serhii Kryvoblotskyi, Head of Technological R&D at the Ukrainian company MacPaw Inc., discusses this engaging book written by Volodymyr Nezorov and published by MacPaw. https://www.innovation-in-isolation.com/

Tony Leliw is a London-based, freelance British Ukrainian journalist, playwright and filmmaker. His writing career spans some 30 years and he currently is a freelancer for The Kyiv Post. His new short film, "Ukraine's Gold", is based on the legend of Hetman Pavlo Polubotok. It has been warmly received in the UK and abroad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQKlXXtcfU8 https://www.kyivpost.com/authors/45

There has been significant destruction of Ukraine's national heritage sites and cultural institutions since the Russian invasion began in February 2022. Kateryna Goncharova has been involved with the preservation of architectural heritage and historical sites in Ukraine, including research, management, and scientific support of projects. She is currently Country Director for Ukraine with the World Monuments Fund. Ms. Goncharova discusses damage done to national heritage sites and cultural institutions during the war and efforts to restore them. https://www.wmf.org/kateryna-goncharova-phd https://www.wmf.org/

Journalist Svitlana Oslavska and her photographer sister Anna Ilchenko started the Old Khata Project in 2020 intending to create a photobook about rural houses in Ukraine. The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine slowed down the project, but the duo finally published their book in 2023. They were born in the city of Sieverodonetsk which is currently occupied by Russia. Ms. Oslavska and Ms. Ilchenko talk about why this project is so important for better understanding rural architecture and folk art in Ukraine as well as the people they interviewed in their travels from the regions of Zakarpattia to Luhansk and from Chernihiv to Kherson. Their book artfully reveals traces of traditional culture in modern everyday life. https://www.oldkhataproject.com/en/

Miriam Guttman is an award-winning Dutch filmmaker and photographer. She directed the new documentary "Front Row". The American actress and television producer Sarah Jessica Parker is the executive producer. The film tells the story of the United Ukrainian Ballet Company founded in the Hague in the Netherlands with a group of 60 Ukrainian war refugees in 2022 by the famous Dutch ballerina Igone de Jongh. An essential part of the film is the brotherly relationship that develops between ballet dancer Oleksiy Tiutiunnyk and 26-year-old Ukrainian wounded veteran Oleksandr Budko. Oleksandr meets the ballet company at a performance in Washington, D.C., and aspires to perform with them even though he is a double amputee. He eventually does in Los Angeles in July 2023. This inspiring documentary makes its world premiere in New York City on Saturday, November 16, 2024, at 6:15PM at the Village East theater by Angelika. https://www.miriamguttmann.com/ https://marinaharss.substack.com/p/the-battlefield-within

https://svidomi.in.ua/en/page/i-am-an-example-of-the-consequences-of-war-the-story-of-veteran-oleksandr-teren-budko

Peter Solowka and Len Liggins founded The Ukrainians British Punk Rock band in England in 1990. Since then they have entertained audiences throughout Great Britain, Western and Eastern Europe with traditional Ukrainian folk songs, covers of classic British and American rock songs and their own compositions. The duo recently published a new book about the band, "The Ukrainians: From Kyiv to the Kosmos". This interview includes their discussion on the history of the band and also offers their thoughts about the new book. https://www.the-ukrainians.com/