I sat down with Maksym Butkevych, a human rights activist who spent more than two years as a POW in Russian captivity. Hearing him describe the torture and starvation he endured was heartbreaking.

What moved me most was Maksym's transformation—from a pacifist with no military experience to someone who took up arms to defend his homeland immediately after the Russian invasion. He fought bravely until he and his unit were captured in June 2022.

During his captivity, Maksym was starved and fed stale food, like his fellow POWs. He thought he wouldn’t make it out alive. He was released in October 2024.

Today, Maksym continues to advocate for war veterans, defend refugee rights, and push for a diverse, inclusive Ukraine.

To watch the full interview go to www.youtube.com/@terrelljstarrofficial

Executive producer and host: Terrell J. Starr

Editor and producer: Mike Hull

Guest: Maksym Butkevych

Special Thanks: Philip Ittner and On The Edge studio

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#ukraine #ukrainewar #ukrainenews #trump

Regardless of how the talks in Alaska end between Russian President Vladimir Putin And U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian-American soldier Yaroslav Ponomarov believes it will not end in Ukraine’s favor.

Yaroslav moved to Brooklyn with his parents when he was five and grew up American. But when Russia invaded his homeland he decided to return, join the military and fight the colonizers. He said his commander gave him some sage advice.

”’Let them play their games. We don’t have a choice but to play along,’ he recalls his superior officer advising him. ‘In a way it's good that Ukraine is playing along because it’s showing the rest of the world that Russia doesn't want peace.’”

Dubbed as a “listening session,” Trump says any hopes for Ukraine to join NATO are off the table, but he’s open to offering Kyiv security guarantees once peace is brokered. However, virtually no one in Ukraine feels peace will follow Trump’s meeting with Putin.

Go to Terrell J Starr Official on YouTube to see video of this interview!

Executive producer and host: Terrell J. Starr

Editor and producer: Mike Hull

Guest: Yaroslav Ponomarov

Special Thanks: Philip Ittner and On The Edge studio

Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Blue Sky at @terrelljstarr.

Support our work on Patreon!

https://www.patreon.com/Terrelljstarr...

#ukraine #ukrainewar #ukrainenews #trump

Terrell was invited to be on a panel at the Hay Festival in Lviv in October. It's a wide ranging conversation that places the current war in the kind of historical context that is rarely a part of legacy media reporting.

The work of Myroslav Shkandrij, professor emeritus at the Department of German and Slavic Studies, University of Manitoba, and author of Revolutionary Ukraine, 1917-2017: Flashpoints in History and Contemporary Memory Wars, prompted Ukrainians to reflect on serfdom as a form of slavery that existed in Ukrainian territory. Terrell Jermaine Starr is an American journalist and activist who writes about Ukraine, foreign policy and race. Chaired by Bohdana Romantsova, editor at Tempora Publishing House.

Have you heard of Project 2025? If not, you better learn fast. It's the GOP's 900-plus page conservative manifesto aimed at dismantling the federal government and the Democratic Party has no answer for it. Here to talk about 2025 is Anne Nelson, who read the entire document and is traveling the country to educate communities about the dangers that lie ahead if Trump wins in November. 

Host: Terrell Jermaine Starr

Guests: Anne Nelson

Producer: Mike Hull

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About the guest

Anne Nelson is a prize-winning journalist and author who has published extensive work on human rights and resistance to dictatorship. Her most recent book is Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right. She is a graduate of Yale University and a research scholar at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs.  

Suggested reading

Here is a Project 2025 breakdown in case you don't have time to read the whole document (Washington Spectator)

Watch the Bad Faith documentary that delves into Project 2025 (interview with documentary filmmakers in Mother Jones)

Project 2025 Is An Attack On Black People (The Seattle Medium) 

How a Second Trump Term Will Redefine Foreign Aid (Foreign Policy)

Do HBCU students care about what’s happening in Gaza? Of course they do, but there are some distinct social-economic factors that play a role in how Black kids who attend HBCUs are protesting—or, in many cases, not at all. 

Two-time HBCU president Dr. Walter Kimbrough joins the podcast this week to talk about how he’d handle some of the challenges HBCU presidents face when it comes to student protests regarding Gaza, the right-wing congressional attacks on college presidents over Israel, as well as Biden’s commencement speech at Morehouse and Xavier University’s rescinding U.S. UN Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield’s invitation to deliver the school’s commencement address. 

Host: Terrell Jermaine Starr

Guests: Dr. Walter Kimbrough 

Producer: Mike Hull

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About the guest

A native of Atlanta, Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough was his high school salutatorian and student body president in 1985 and went on to earn degrees from the University of Georgia, Miami University in Ohio, and a doctorate in higher education from Georgia State University. 

He has enjoyed a fulfilling career in student affairs, serving at Emory University, Georgia State University, Old Dominion University, and Albany State University. In October of 2004, at the age of 37, he was named the 12th president of Philander Smith College. In 2012 he became the 7th president of Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and served for ten years. Both institutions are HBCUs.

Kimbrough served as the interim executive director of the Black Men’s Research Institute at Morehouse College during the 2022-23 academic year. He was also named executive in residence for the University of Southern California Race and Equity Center. In early 2022 he was appointed by President Joseph Biden to the President’s Board of Advisors on HBCUs. 

This week, Black Diplomats Podcast speaks with Christopher Shell, a fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment. At Carnegie, Christopher’s work studies how Black Americans feel about foreign policy issues. We talked about how Black folks feel about Ukraine, Gaza and other foreign policy issues, based on his research

Host: Terrell Jermaine Starr

Guest: Chris Shell 

Producer: Mike Hull

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Read Some of Christopher’s work 

The West Should Engage With Reparations for Slavery and Colonialism (World Politics Review) 

Most Black Americans Want a More Active U.S. Role in Ending the War in Gaza and Protecting Palestinian Lives (Carnegie Endowment) 

How Black Americans Feel About the Possible Use of Military Force in Ukraine and Taiwan (Carnegie Endowment) 

Today, I speak with two young Georgians under 30-years-old who have been hitting the streets every day in protest of their ruling government’s introduction of a “foreign agent” law that critics say will restrict the work of organizations and independent media that safeguard free and fair elections and other services that depend on foreign financial support. 

Read more about the controversial bill here.

Ana Lazariashvili, 24 and Giorgi Vachnadze, 28, told Black Diplomats that it has mostly been young people who’ve been facing off aggressive police officers that target them with tear gas and rubber bullets. Both Ana and Giorgi say they will continue protesting even if the bill is signed into law.

Host: Terrell Jermaine Starr

Guests: Ana Lazariashvili and Giorgi Vachnadze

Producer: Mike Hull

Support us financially!

Venmo: @BlackDiplomats 

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About the guests

Ana Lazariashvili and Giorgi Vachnadze are young Georgians who have been protesting for a European future for their country.

More on this topic:

Georgian Opposition See Opportunity in Tbilisi Protests (Black Diplomats Newsletter)

This week, I spoke with two Ukainians who support Palestine and why they feel it is important for their countrymen and women to understand colonialism in other parts of the world. Rita Adel, a humanitarian analyst, and Vladyslav Starodubtsev, a socialist leader and historian, and I talked about Ukrainian socialism, what progressives in the west don’t get about Ukraine and NATO and why Ukrainians aren’t privileged because they are “white.”

Host: Terrell Jermaine Starr

Guests: Rita Adel and Vladyslav Starodubtsev 

Producer: Mike Hull

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About the guests

Vladyslav Starodubtsev is a left-wing Ukrainian activist and historian. He specializes in the history of Central Eastern Europe. 

Rita Adel, a humanitarian analyst. Rita is both of Ukrainian and Palestinian origin, having lived in Ukraine and Jordan. Currently based in Amman.

Warning: This week’s episode will focus on sexual violence committed by Russian soldiers. Reader, listener and viewer discretion is advised

This week, I talk about Ukrainian civilians who survived sexual assault from Russian troops during the war. Ukraine is investigating  nearly 300 cases of sexual assault, but that number is likely much higher. Today, I am talking with Nadiia Volchenska, co-founder of the Sylni foundation, which was founded soon after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 202s to support survivors of sexual assault. 

Translating for Nadiia is Vira Stadnyk - communications manager at the Sylni Foundation. 

FINANCIALLY SUPPORT Sylni’s work here.

Host: Terrell Jermaine Starr

Guest: Nadiia Volchenska

Producer: Mike Hull

Support us financially!

Venmo: @BlackDiplomats 

CashApp: $BlackDiplomats

PayPal: https://paypal.me/blackdiplomatspod 

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Read about this subject 

Reparations to be paid to survivors of wartime sexual violence in Ukraine (The Guardian)

Ukrainian survivors of sexual violence, torture say country will have to share burden of their trauma (CBC)

Exclusive: Ukraine accuses Russian snipers of abusing child, gang raping mother (Reuters) 

This week’s episode is about the ongoing protests in Georgia in response to the country’s ruling political party, Georgia Dream, moving forward with its “foreign agent.”

Officially titled “On the Transparency of Foreign Influence," the bill, if passed into law, would require organizations in the country receiving more than 20% of their funding from overseas to register as “foreign agents” or face large fines. Protesters say it is similar to laws spearheaded in Russia by Vladimir Putin.

Here this week to talk about the protests and why the bill is driving so many people to the streets around Georgia is Katie Shoshiashvili, Senior Corruption Researcher at Transparency International Georgia, who focuses on democracy reporting and research on democratization in the EU's Eastern Partnership region. 

Host: Terrell Jermaine Starr

Guest: Katie Shoshiashvili

Producer: Mike Hull

Support us financially!

Venmo: @BlackDiplomats 

CashApp: $BlackDiplomats

PayPal: https://paypal.me/blackdiplomatspod 

Patreon: patreon.com/blackdiplomats

Links to read about this subject:

Georgia presses on with Putin-style ‘foreign agent’ bill despite huge protests (CNN)

2024 Is a Year of Opportunity for Georgia (National Interest)

Georgians Call for Ex-Leader's Release on Revolution Anniversary (VOA)

Georgians dream of EU membership as their leaders move closer to Putin (The Guardian)