In Soviet times, being a pro-Ukrainian artist was dangerous. The Soviet secret police were particularly brutal in Ukraine, given that it was a country with a long history of resistance to Russian rule. Still, new generations of artists remained committed to their culture in the face of widespread Russification. Among
In a reciprocal gesture, Ukraine has received Poland's approval to carry out its own search and exhumation activities in the Polish village of Yurechkova.
In recent years, the Kremlin has sought to cast Russia as a bastion of so-called traditional values, positioning itself in stark contrast to what it describes as the morally decaying West. Yet beneath this veneer, a more complex reality persists. As exiled Russian philosopher Alexey Zhavoronkov told the Kyiv Independent,
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a growing debate has emerged over the cultural and political legacy of Russian literature — particularly the global reverence for classic Russian authors, which critics argue has long served to promote the imperial narratives embedded in their work. As
As Russia's systematic destruction of Ukraine's cultural heritage continues amid the full-scale war, Ukraine's art community is seeking innovative, if not unconventional methods, to preserve their country's legacy — among them blockchain technology. Officially launched in February 2025, the Ukrainian Fund of Digitized Art (UFDA) was conceived with a bold mission:
With the fading U.S. global leadership under Donald Trump, Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine, and growing populism at home, Europe faces a stark choice: step up or fall into irrelevance. Speaking with the Kyiv Independent on May 16, British historian Timothy Garton Ash paints a picture of a West in transition.
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
Amid much pomp, military machinery, and the threat of Ukrainian drone strikes, Russian President Vladimir Putin has delivered his annual speech to mark his country's Victory Day parade. The Kremlin's celebrations, which mark the Soviet Union's role in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II, are one of the country's
The Kyiv Independent’s Chris York sat down with author, historian, and Russia’s Victory Day celebrations on May 9, which mark the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II, are one of the country’s biggest public events of the year. President of the Ukrainian Society of Switzerland Andrej Lushnycky who sheds some light on the things Putin would rather you didn’t know about World War II.
The Kyiv Independent’s Chris York discusses with Jonathan Brunstedt, associate professor of history at Texas A&M University, how Russian President Vladimir Putin has weaponized the Soviet myths about World War II to help him justify Russia’s war against Ukraine.
This is the first such exhumation since 2017, when Ukraine imposed a moratorium in response to the destruction of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) memorials in Poland.
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
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’
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
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
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.
English speakers the world over long referred to Ukraine’s capital as Kiev, not realizing they were using the Russian name for the city.
Editor’s note: The transcript of this interview has been edited for length and clarity. Poland holds a special position among Kyiv's partners — with a shared history of Russian oppression and conquest, its leaders have left no room for doubt that the full-scale invasion of Ukraine represented an existential threat
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.
President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Poland for a commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi Auschwitz death camp, Zelensky’s spokesperson, Serhii Nykyforov, told Ukrinform on Jan. 27.
I first visited the looted museums of Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine, in May 2024. At the time, my team at the Kyiv Independent’s War Crimes Investigations Unit and I were beginning an investigation into the illegal export of artifacts from Kherson to occupied Crimea by Russian forces
"I would like to thank the ministers of culture of Poland and Ukraine for their good cooperation. We are waiting for further decisions," Donald Tusk wrote in a post on X.
The return of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to political life has raised uncomfortable questions about the future, not only within the U.S. but also on the global stage. This is particularly true for countries like Ukraine, which relies on U.S. aid as it’s locked in a
Editor's note: This article is a shortened on-site version of KI Insights' The Week Ahead newsletter covering events from Dec. 16 to Dec. 22. Sign up here to start your week with an agenda of Ukraine-related events, delivered directly to your inbox every Sunday. Central banks accounting for over 40%
The year 2024 proved to be another landmark for books about Ukraine and Ukrainian literature in translation, with a continued trend in publishing in fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Unsurprisingly, Russia’s ongoing full-scale war against Ukraine was the most common topic among these works. Whether through incisive on-the-ground reportage that
Two weeks before Ukraine's pivotal 2004 presidential election, 22-year-old filmmaker Iryna Tsilyk found herself at the center of a heated exchange during a trip to Moscow. The upcoming elections were a topic of group conversation and one Russian woman, bristling with anger, demanded, “How dare you Ukrainians think you are
A new political museum at the same site will open on Feb. 15, 2025, Finnish authorities announced. The museum will reportedly focus on Finnish-Russian relations, including developments in the 21st century.
Why do some young people in the West romanticize Communism? How did Russian President Vladimir Putin manage to sell the idea of retaining the imperialist regime to the Russian people?
Poland can make Ukraine's accession to the EU contingent on the resolution of the Volyn massacre as joining the bloc is not a matter of the country's survival, a Polish minister said in a media interview published on Oct. 15.
Ukraine commemorated the 83rd anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy on Sept. 29, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying that it is a "terrifying symbol" of what can happen when the world "lacks the determination to stand up against evil." The Babyn Yar tragedy was a mass murder of nearly 34,
Despite being scarred by Russia’s full-scale war, the city continues to draw locals and tourists to its lively streets, sunny beaches, and legendary nightlife.
Russian forces have damaged several ancient burial mounds on the front line in southern Ukraine, potentially violating the Hague and Geneva Conventions, according to research from the Ukraine Conflict Observatory published on Sept. 4.
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