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A Venetian Gothic facade adorned with banners for the 2026 Venice Biennale, in Venice, Italy, on Feb. 25, 2026.
Culture

What's on at the Venice Biennale? Russian soft power

by Kate Tsurkan

In the fifth year of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the Russian pavilion is set to return to the Venice Art Biennale with a “musical festival come to life” that serves as “a space for dialogue and exchange.” The pavilion was effectively canceled in 2022 after the artists and curator chosen to represent Russia withdrew in protest of the invasion. At the time, the organizers of the Biennale released a statement praising the decision and condemning “all those who use violence to prevent

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

A black-and-white portrait of a well-dressed, composed family draws the eye to a figure in the left-hand corner —  Antin Krushelnytsky, the family’s patriarch, and a writer, educator, and former minister of education of the Ukrainian People’s Republic. Likely taken in Kharkiv in the early 1930s, the photograph captures a moment of cultural rebirth for Ukraine. Krushelnytsky and his family were part of a generation of writers, artists, and intellectuals who believed Ukrainian culture could devel

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

About Culture

Our reporting on literature, films, art, and traditions from Ukraine and the latest news on culture in Eastern Europe.

Ukrainian culture
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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Why Rheinmetall and the West still don't understand Ukraine's defense tech revolution

A soldier of the 127th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade launches a drone in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine, on March 14, 2026.

When evaluating military technology, it helps to distinguish between two domains: the industrial and the battlefield. Rheinmetall is unquestionably a large company that produces effective weapons systems that actually work on the battlefield. This is a fact that does not require emotional amplification or denial. But those two domains carry different kinds of authority, and conflating them leads to poor analysis. The statement by Rheinmetall's CEO, Armin Papperger, about Ukrainian drones goes

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