Explaining Ukraine - Page 5

The world has yet to hear Ukraine’s complete story. With “Explaining Ukraine,” the Kyiv Independent is illuminating its path.

NEWSLETTER

Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan

EXPLAINER

What is Explaining Ukraine project?

Animation by dukhovne lychko

Chornobyl nuclear disaster

The accident is the most devastating nuclear disaster to date.

Ukraine's Orange Revolution

The lesser-known Orange Revolution was a major political event in post-Soviet history and pivotal in Ukraine’s transition to democracy.

EuroMaidan Revolution

The EuroMaidan Revolution is often credited with being the single most consequential event in Ukraine's modern history.

Ukraine’s struggle for independence

Ukraine’s long fight for sovereignty — from the 1918 Battle of Kruty to today — reveals a nation’s enduring quest for freedom.

Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan

Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan

Ukraine is interesting not only for its heroic actions, but also for its history, culture, and identity.

What is the Explaining Ukraine project?

The world is full of distorted versions of Ukrainian history. The Kyiv Independent wanted to make sure readers had a reliable source of information about important Ukrainian historical events, figures, and cultural traditions.

The articles featured here are thorough and detailed pieces that span centuries to the current day and include topics from Ukraine’s presidents to the country’s culinary traditions.

Explore more from this series

Ivan Mazepa — Ukraine's hero, Russia's devil

Pysanky: Ukraine's centuries-old easter egg tradition

Theater director Les Kurbas, novelist and poet Mykola Khvylovy, and modernist writer Valerian Pidmohylny.

The Executed Renaissance: Ukraine’s cultural rebirth and its violent death

Kazimir Malevich was a pioneering avant-garde artist best known for founding Suprematism.

The Ukrainian origins of avant-garde artist Kazimir Malevich, long mislabelled as Russian

Children take part in Malanka celebrations in Krasnoilsk, Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukraine, on Jan. 14, 2022.

Malanka: Ukraine's winter ritual of masks, mischief, and good fortune

Alla Horska’s life and death in Ukraine’s struggle against Russian annihilation

The origins and meaning of the tryzub, the Ukrainian coat of arms

How Russia fueled and weaponized a 2014 Odesa fire that left over 40 dead

The Hidden Canon:
Discover Ukrainian literary classics

“The Hidden Canon: Ukraine's Literary Iconoclasts,” a Kyiv Independent project backed by the Ukrainian Institute, unveils bold Ukrainian classics long hidden from international readers. These writers defied censorship, reimagined cultural identity, and pushed the boundaries of art itself — showing that Ukrainian literature is a daring, vital, and unforgettable part of the global literary canon.

Learn more