Ukraine qualifies for Eurovision 2024 song contest finals
With their song "Teresa & Maria," Ukraine's Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil qualified for the Eurovision finals in Sweden's Malmo, successfully passing the semi-finals on May 7.
Ukraine & Culture
What's inside a Ukrainian Easter basket? The answer isn't chocolate eggs
For the nearly two-thirds of Ukrainians who identify as Orthodox Christians, Easter is known as Velykden, meaning “Great Day” in Ukrainian. This year, it is celebrated on Sunday, April 20. The Orthodox Church of Ukraine calculates the date of Easter according to the revised Julian calendar. It falls on the
Ministry: Russia's war destroys or damages almost 2,000 cultural facilities
The list of damaged sites includes 958 cultural and social clubs, 708 libraries, 153 art schools, 114 museums and galleries, 36 theaters, cinemas, and concert halls, 15 parks, zoos, and nature reserves, and three circuses.
Ukrainian writer Aseyev injured in combat in Donetsk Oblast
"I'm alive, although according to all the laws of physics and probability, I should have died," Stanislav Aseyev wrote on X, adding: "The positions, unfortunately, have been lost. Now I'm in the hospital with a concussion."
Kyiv authorities begin dismantling historical monument to Pereiaslav Council
The Pereiaslav Council of 1654 saw the Cossacks, inhabitants of modern-day Ukraine, enter into an alliance with Moscow against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Ukrainian writer Dmytro Kapranov dies at 56
Ukrainian writer and public figure Dmytro Kapranov died on April 16, according to the Kapranov brothers’ official Facebook page. He was 56 years old.
PM Shmyhal rejects petition calling for telethon funds to be given to armed forces
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal rejected a petition that called for the funding of the national telethon to be redistributed to the Ukrainian Armed Forces on April 15, responding that the telethon is part of the government's security and defense policy.
The recipe behind Ukraine’s beloved food chain Puzata Khata
If there is one institution in Ukraine impervious to the sweeping decommunization efforts of the last decade, it’s the Soviet-era canteen, or stolovaya as it’s usually referred to in Russian. An invention of the Soviet Union’s founding father Vladimir Lenin, the stolovaya (called yidalnia in Ukrainian) was
Popular poet Lazutkin named Defense Ministry spokesperson
Born in Kyiv in 1978, Dmytro Lazutkin is a laureate of the Shevchenko National Prize, the country's highest award for works in culture and arts. While having background in multiple professions, he is best know for his work in poetry.
Russian movie theaters are openly stealing Western films, and going unpunished
Russian state television has been vocal in painting Western democracies, especially the U.S., as the reason for all of Russia's problems. The desire for U.S.-made products inside Russia, however, remains high, with the country's providers turning to illegal schemes to cover the demand. After Russia launched its
Ukraine's circuses, TV channels recognized as 'critically important' companies, allowing employees to defer military service
Ukraine's Culture Ministry has recognized a number of TV channels, circuses, and other cultural institutions as "critically important" companies during wartime, allowing some of their employees to defer military service, according to decrees published on the ministry's website.
Poll: Just 12% of Ukrainians only speak Russian at home
When asked which language they speak at home, 12% of Ukrainians said they speak only Russian, while 59% said they speak only Ukrainian, according to a poll by the Sociological Group Rating published on April 4.
Hollywood actress Ivanna Sakhno: ‘I’ve never felt more at home in Ukraine than during full-scale war’
When Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, attacking the country from multiple fronts and the sky, Ukrainian actress Ivanna Sakhno was thousands of kilometers away. She has been living in the U.S. for nearly 10 years at that point, ever since deciding to pursue her dream of acting
Parliamentary committee backs renaming 7 cities and over 40 villages
Ukraine's Parliamentary Committee on Regional Development supported the renaming of seven more cities and 44 villages, whose names do not meet the standards of Ukrainian language or refer to Russian or Soviet names, lawmaker Roman Lozynskyi wrote on X on April 4.
Ukrainian photojournalist wins World Press Photo prize
Ukrainian photojournalist Julia Kochetova was announced as one of the 2024 World Press Photo Contest winners on April 3 for her multidisciplinary project "War Is Personal."
Minister: Nearly 1,800 cultural institutions have suffered damage in liberated territories of Ukraine
A total of 1,795 cultural institutions have suffered damage at the hands of Russian forces in parts of the country that had been liberated by Ukrainian forces, the country's acting Culture Minister Rostyslav Karandieiev announced on March 29.
Ukraine’s popular ‘Drunken Cherry’ bar opens in London as company expands westward
If you are ever a guest for an evening in a Ukrainian home, at some point you can probably expect a narrow bottle of sweet alcohol made from local fruits, known as nalivka, to be placed on the table. While nalivka is traditionally home-made, in 2015 Ukraine’s largest restaurant
Kyiv at risk of losing iconic market to development
Kyiv’s City Council canceled an auction for the capital's iconic Zhytniy Market after accusations that the competition was unfair but activists warn the modernist building is still at risk. This wouldn’t be the first time Kyiv has lost its architectural heritage to developers looking for new real estate
Kurkov’s new historical detective novel is full of thrills, light on the history
Like any true detective novel, Andrey Kurkov’s “The Silver Bone” starts off with a brutal murder and endeavors to maintain high stakes until its final pages. The novel, now available to English-language readers in translation by Boris Dralyuk, was recently longlisted for the International Booker Prize, one of the
US veteran and photographer’s wartime Ukraine memoir tests notion of ‘universal’ truths
Editor's note: All the photographs in this article are featured for illustration purposes only. “I’m a photographer,” writes U.S. combat veteran and photojournalist J.T. Blatty, “But really, I’m just a human drawn toward the truth, in snapshots of truth.” Blatty’s new memoir "Snapshots Sent Home:
Ukrainian embassy appeals to France over 'cultural appropriation' at Russian film festival
The Ukrainian embassy in France appealed to local authorities after the "Another Russia" (Une autre Russie) organization included the Ukrainian film "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" by Sergei Parajanov into the program of the Russian film festival in Paris and Taverny, the embassy's press service reported on Facebook on March 13.
Poll: Vast majority of Ukrainians against Russian as official or state language
The poll reflects changes in Ukrainians' perception of the Russian language outside the domestic sphere since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian poet and national hero
In nearly every village, town, and city across Ukraine today, you can spot some kind of monument to the 19th-century poet and artist Taras Shevchenko. Following Ukraine’s independence in 1991 and the Euromaidan Revolution in 2014, many of them replaced statues of 20th-century Bolshevik revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin that
Generation of Fire: Young Ukrainians forced to survive first, plan for future later
Editor’s Note: The young people featured in this article are either quoted by first name at their family’s request for privacy reasons or, in the case of service members active on the front line, for their safety. “The past two years have flown by. It’s hard to
Opinion: In the past 2 years of war, we have all died a little
Where were you that morning when the great war began? Here's my story: The war spoke to me with the distant rumble of explosions outside the window, but I didn't believe it, thinking I was living a dream. Then, on the second floor of my friends' house near Kyiv, the
‘20 Days in Mariupol’ can win an Oscar. Will it make the world care about Russian war crimes in Ukraine?
Editor’s Note: This story contains descriptions of graphic scenes. “My brain will desperately want to forget all this,” narrates journalist Mstyslav Chernov over footage he filmed of city workers adding bodies to a mass grave in Mariupol, “but the camera will not let it happen.” At the start of
‘20 Days in Mariupol’ wins BAFTA award for best documentary
The Ukrainian documentary “20 Days in Mariupol” won an award for best documentary on Feb. 18 at the British Academy Film Awards.
UNESCO: Ukraine needs $9 billion to revive tourism, cultural sectors
According to UNESCO, the besieged country has lost over $19 billion in tourism revenue as a result of Russia's full-scale war.
‘The Ukraine’ book of stories offers a look at different, pre-war Ukrainians
Ukrainian author Artem Chapeye has lived many lives: journalist, activist, translator, and since the spring of 2022, a soldier in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Being a writer helps him to “endure everyday army life,” he said in an interview in June 2023, but “until everything is finished, it is very
Shuster’s ‘Showman’ was supposed to be the definitive Zelensky biography. But it’s not
“We are dealing with a powerful state that is pathologically unwilling to let Ukraine go,” President Volodymyr Zelensky tells journalist Simon Shuster on a train from the front line back to Kyiv in 2022. “(Russia sees) the democracy and freedom of Ukraine as a question of their own survival.” Originally
Russian attacks hit 18th-century national monument of Cossack period in Kherson Oblast
“Today, Russia inflicted yet another blow to our heritage, once again proving that the Russian Federation is purposefully destroying our (Ukraine’s) material culture to erase Ukrainians as a nation," Acting Culture Minister Rostyslav Karandieiev said.
Is it ok to have fun during war? We asked Ukrainians
Editor’s Note: The servicemember and volunteer quoted in this article are referred to by first name only at their request for security reasons. A day after Russia attacked Kharkiv in mid-October with drones that damaged residential buildings, several dozen local residents gathered at an undisclosed venue to attend a
Ukraine culture
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.
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