Russia's war against Ukraine is waged not only with missiles and tanks, but with distorted myths — powerful narratives that romanticize empire, rewrite history, and embolden Russian soldiers to reduce once prosperous cities to rubble. Those very same myths surfaced at the Photo London Festival from May 15 to 18, where
The 13th Book Arsenal festival, one of Ukraine’s premier interdisciplinary cultural events attracting voices from across the country and around the globe, will take place in Kyiv from May 29 to June 1. Over the course of four days, the festival offers a number of discussion panels, book presentations,
Ukrainian band Ziferblat took ninth place at the Eurovision 2025 Grand Final on May 17 in Basel, Switzerland. Their song "Bird of Pray" received 218 points – 60 from the jury and 158 from the audience.
This year’s Eurovision Song Contest is taking place in neutral Switzerland, but politics are center stage. While debate continues over Israel’s participation amid the war in Gaza, Russia — banned from the contest since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine — continues to cast a shadow over the event. This year,
Ukrainian actor and TV presenter Maksym Nelipa was killed in action on May 12, his friends and family reported on May 14. The details of his death have not been disclosed.
Performing their song "Bird of Pray," Ukrainian band Ziferblat passed the Eurovision semi-finals on May 13, qualifying Ukraine for the grand final on May 17.
Ukrainian author Victoria Amelina never got to finish writing her book “Looking at Women, Looking at War.” After she was killed in a Russian missile strike on Kramatorsk in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk Oblast in 2023, it fell upon her closest friends and colleagues to do what they could to
In early May, 64-year-old film critic and journalist Ekaterina Barabash made international headlines when it was revealed that she had pulled off a daring escape from house arrest in Russia and sought political asylum in France. Barabash was put under house arrest in February for posts that she had made
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to include comments from a 2022 interview, given while Robert Prevost was Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru. With the announcement that Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost has been chosen as the new pope and leader of the Catholic Church, Ukrainians are wondering what the surprise
Kharkiv, located a stone’s throw away from Russia’s border, continues to pulsate with a resilient spirit despite the invasion. Each cultural event that takes place in this eastern Ukrainian city is more than just artistic expression — it is a poignant reminder of what Ukraine stands to lose in
A Ukrainian theater director has refused to stage an opera at the Jerusalem Lyric Opera Studio & Festival in Israel after the organizers of the event hired Russian singers against his wishes. Eugene Lavrenchuk explained the reason behind his decision in a post on Facebook on April 28, confirming that he
For most people today, the word Chechnya immediately brings to mind Ramzan Kadyrov, the authoritarian leader who governs the region as a loyal vassal of Vladimir Putin. It evokes images of a turbulent, fear-stricken state at the mercy of the Kremlin’s whims. Yet, Chechnya’s story is far more
American actor and film director Sean Penn met with the soldiers of the 3rd Regiment of the Special Operations Forces stationed in Kropyvnytskyi.
Pope Francis, who passed away on April 21 at 88, leaves behind a legacy as vast and varied as his global influence. Yet in Ukraine, his track record is far from positive. For many Ukrainians, the Pope’s legacy is shaped by his repeated downplaying of the gravity of Ukraine’
When the cause of liberty seemed most fragile, and its defenders most alone, a man named Thomas Paine picked up his pen and wrote: “These are the times that try men’s souls.” It was December 1776, one of the bleakest moments in the American War of Independence. Washington’s
President Volodymyr Zelensky has lauded Ukraine's "resilience, compassion, and humanity" in his Easter address on April 20, adding the country's faith has "not faded over 1,152 days of full-scale war."
Speaking to France's National Assembly on April 11, Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza did not petition Europe for the Kremlin's total military defeat. Yet, while answering one of the many questions posed to him, he talked about how a colleague supposedly learned that ethnic Russians find it "psychologically difficult" to
The Ukrainian documentary Militantropos has been selected for the "Directors' Fortnight" program at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, festival organizers announced on April 15.
As Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine drags into its fourth year — leaving behind more destruction, more death, and deeper trauma — the global conversation is shifting. The world’s leading democracies are preoccupied with their own internal crises, some slipping toward authoritarianism, others consumed by political division. As global attention
It's late in the second period of game four of the Ukrainian national hockey championship on April 2, and the upstart Kyiv Capitals, only in its second season, leads against established Hockey Club (HC) Kremenchuk and its star-studded roster. The Capitals captain, Serhii Chernenko, steals the puck and sends it
Artist Marharyta Polovinko could have spent her life creating art that challenged, provoked, and illuminated viewers. But Russia invaded her country, so she joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. A rising star in Ukraine's contemporary art scene, Polovinko made the decision to enlist in late 2024, channeling the same passion
Over the past three years of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, the very mention of a Russian novel or film about Ukraine has understandably evoked trepidation among Ukrainians and Ukraine's supporters. Despite Russia’s relentless missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and the staggering number of documented war crimes
The future of Harvard’s Ukrainian Research Institute (HURI) publishing program is in jeopardy, as it has become the latest target of sweeping grant cuts under the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), an independent U.S. federal agency, informed HURI that
The World Press Photo is an annual contest for professional photographers in photojournalism and documentary photography.
The Docville Film Festival in Leuven canceled the screening of the controversial "Russians at War" documentary after an intervention of the Ukrainian Embassy, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry reported on March 31.
Ukrainian director and journalist Mstyslav Chernov’s documentary 2000 Meters to Andriivka received the F:ACT Award at Denmark’s CPH:DOX documentary film festival, organizers announced on March 29.
Born in Crimea and raised in Kherson, journalist Yevheniia Virlych grew up speaking both Ukrainian and Russian in her daily life. It wasn’t until 2022, when she and her family lived through the Russian occupation of Kherson Oblast, that they made the definitive choice to abandon speaking Russian altogether.
A Dutch university is to screen the controversial documentary "Russians at War" and a panel discussion with its director, despite Ukrainian calls for it be be canceled because it "whitewashes… murder, rape, and torture." Canadian-Russian director Anastasia Trofimova's documentary has been criticized for what many perceive as an attempt to
Over the past three years of full-scale war, Ukraine’s cultural figures have shifted from focusing solely on their craft to becoming diplomats, advocating for their culture abroad as the Russian army continues its relentless attempt to destroy it. At the same time, within Ukraine itself, a resurgence of national
The Kyiv Independent's Kate Tsurkan sits down with Ukrainian writer Oksana Zabuzhko to discuss the role of writers and intellectuals in wartime, the importance of decolonization in Ukraine’s education, and why she wouldn't share a stage with Russian artists until Ukraine's victory.
Half of the human beings alive today are descended from the Yamnaya, a group that lived in what is now Ukraine 5,000 years ago, according to new DNA research led by David Reich, a geneticist at Harvard Medical School.
Listening to right-leaning alternative media in the U.S., one might come away with the impression — albeit without evidence — that Ukraine is irredeemably corrupt, President Volodymyr Zelensky is a dictator, and Russia’s invasion was somehow justified. On a December episode of comedian Tim Dillon’s podcast, podcaster Joe Rogan
The latest on literature, films, art, and traditions from Ukraine and the region. Ukrainian culture has survived centuries of Russian attempts to appropriate Ukrainian art, silence Ukrainian artists, and erase the Ukrainian language. Modern Ukrainian writers, filmmakers, and musicians — some of whom are serving on the front lines — continue to develop Ukrainian culture and fight for Ukraine’s future.
(Updated: )
