Ukraine & Culture

Ukrainian film 'Militantropos' to premiere at Cannes Film Festival

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 the world looks away, Ukraine’s journalists are stepping up to tell the story themselves

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

Forget Ovechkin and Washington. The Kyiv Capitals are playing for the survival of Ukrainian hockey

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

'With honor and weapon in hand' — artist Marharyta Polovinko killed on front line defending Ukraine

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

No redemption for empire — a review of Sergei Lebedev’s ‘Lady of the Mine’

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

Publishing house of Harvard’s Ukrainian Research Institute latest target of Trump’s federal budget cuts

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

World Press Photo apologizes for combining photos of pro-Russian militant, Ukrainian child in 'visual pair'

The World Press Photo is an annual contest for professional photographers in photojournalism and documentary photography.

Belgian film festival cancels screening of 'Russians at War' documentary after Ukraine's appeal

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.

Mstyslav Chernov's film '2,000 Meters to Andriivka' wins award at documentary film festival in Denmark

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.

Explainer: Some Ukrainians speak Russian language — it doesn’t make them Russian

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.

'Outright propaganda' — Dutch university to screen 'Russians at War' and host panel with controversial director

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

Ukrainian author Oksana Zabuzhko on why Ukrainians ‘don’t have to respect Pushkin’

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

Ukrainian writer on canceling Russian culture

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 global population descended from ancient group in what is now Ukraine, DNA research shows

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.

How US right-wing podcasters shape pro-Russia, anti-Ukraine sentiments

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

Why doesn't Zelensky wear a suit?

When President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived at the White House on Feb. 28 to discuss ending the war that had inflicted tremendous tragedy on his country since its escalation in 2022, he was asked a question he likely least expected to hear at such a critical moment. "Why don't you wear

Kyiv, not Kiev — How Ukrainians reclaimed their capital's name

For decades, if not more, English speakers the world over referred to Ukraine’s capital as Kiev, pronouncing it kee-yev. Few people knew they were using the Russian name for the city. The city is pronounced keeiv in Ukrainian and is transliterated correctly into English as Kyiv. In fact, until

'Anora,' film with former Russian propaganda actor, wins 5 Academy Awards

The movie won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actress (Mikey Madison), Best Director (Sean Baker), Best Editing, and Best Original Screenplay (Sean Baker).

Culture Ministry to suspend issuing recommendation letters for journalists, artists to travel abroad

The measure, which will take effect on March 3, comes in response to cases in which men used their permits to stay abroad longer than permitted.

Ukrainian director of commercials Vitalii Kokoshko killed in Russia's war

Vitalii Kokoshko, a Ukrainian director of commercials and veteran of the Ukrainian advertising industry, was killed in Russia's war, his daughter Olha Kokoshko wrote on Facebook on Feb. 25.

The Kyiv Independent presents its first magazine — ‘The Power Within’

The Kyiv Independent has presented its first-ever magazine, “The Power Within,” as a record of Ukrainian resilience and life three years into Russia's full-scale invasion. This special edition marks a departure from the solely digital presence that the Kyiv Independent has maintained since its foundation in November 2021. It was

After 3 years of war in Ukraine, sometimes I think: Stop the planet, I want to get off

I bet you woke up this morning, read the world news, and couldn’t believe it — how is this really happening? Has the world truly plunged into total chaos and madness? You just want to wake up from this nightmare, but instead, it keeps insisting on becoming the new normal

Plokhy argues in Chornobyl occupation book that Russia’s nuclear blackmail is ‘warning for the future’

The specter of nuclear war cast a long shadow over the 20th century, serving as a reminder of humanity's capacity for self-destruction. Now, as the world seems to shrug off Russia’s nuclear saber-rattling against Ukraine — and by extension, all of humanity — a haunting question calls for an answer: Have

Film 'Rock, Scissors, Paper' about war in Ukraine wins BAFTA award

The film "Rock, Paper, Scissors" won the Best British Short Film nomination at the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) on Feb. 16.

Russian singer who spoke out against war in Ukraine dies after allegedly falling from window during police raid

Singer Vadim Stroykin reportedly fell from the window of his 10th-floor apartment while officers were investigating an alleged donation to Ukraine's Armed Forces.

In bomb shelters and without power, Ukrainian Jews translate the Torah into their national language for first time

When Oleg Rostovtsev hovered between life and death after a serious operation last April, he asked friends and family to do something that, until recently, had been impossible — to pray for him by reading the Tehillim, the Hebrew Book of Psalms, in Ukrainian. Hebrew or Ukrainian, he requested, just not

‘Donbas is fiction’ — Kateryna Zarembo’s book dismantles Russian myths about Ukraine’s east

For some, Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts evoke images of coal mines, industrial sprawl, and Russian-speaking culture oriented toward Moscow. Yet to accept this as the regions’ defining reality is to ignore a deeper truth: a Ukrainian heritage that Russia has spent centuries attempting to erase. In the wake

Putin relaunches Soviet-era Intervision song contest amid Eurovision ban

Russia has been banned from participating in the Eurovision Song Contest since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Slavoj Zizek: Leftists falsify the choice that Ukrainians face during wartime

In times of war, the fundamental questions of survival, morality, and identity not only dominate the discourse but also expose the fissures in global political ideologies. Amid the clamor of media narratives and entrenched partisan frameworks, a few voices manage to rise above the fray, offering incisive critiques and grappling

Russian physiologist Pavlov’s statue dismantled in central Kyiv

Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s statue was removed from Kyiv’s Pechersk district for symbolizing Russia’s imperial past and his cruel experiments on humans and animals, the Kyiv city administration said on Jan. 27.

Russian actor who starred in propaganda films lands Oscar nomination

Russian actor Yura Borisov, who has previously starred in Russian propaganda films and illegally visited Russian-occupied Crimea, has received an Academy Award nomination for his role in the film "Anora."

Curated Theft | An investigation into the largest museum heist in Europe since World War II