Culture

Returning home, photographer Yelena Yemchuk finds beauty in a country at war
Culture

Returning home, photographer Yelena Yemchuk finds beauty in a country at war

by Kate Tsurkan

There was no doubt for photographer Yelena Yemchuk that upon returning to Ukraine, she would encounter the pain and loss that comes with the day-to-day reality of Russia's full-scale war — but she wasn't quite ready for how much love there was to go around, too. "It's this understanding of what life is, the understanding of what love is, the understanding of human relationships, and this appreciation for the moment," Yemchuk told the Kyiv Independent. "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever e

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Ukraine war latest: Special Forces drones hit oil depots, trains, logistic facilities in Russian-occupied Crimea

Hello, this is Kollen Post reporting from Kyiv on day 1,353 of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Today's top story so far: Ukraine's Special Operations Forces (SSO) said on Nov. 7 that its long-range drones struck an oil depot and logistic facilities in the Russian-occupied peninsula of Crimea. The oil depot near the village of Hvardiiske, just 20 kilometers north of Simferopol, was struck, and a full RVS-400 tank — designed for storing oil, petroleum products, and other liquids — was

No aid? No problem (yet): Ukraine stirs up a fiscal fix

Get more news like this directly to your inbox every week by subscribing to our Ukraine Business Roundup newsletter. Ukraine is considering a cocktail of ideas to keep its finances afloat while it waits for Brussels to greenlight new aid, and a big drop in foreign aid in 2026 looms. Unspent funds from government ministries in 2025, ad-hoc government borrowing, and front-loading loans whose disbursements are currently scheduled throughout 2026 could contribute to a buffer early next year, a top

AI soldiers: How deepfakes are manipulating Ukraine’s mobilization narrative

Editor's note: This article was published as part of the Fighting Against Conspiracy and Trolls (FACT) project, an independent, non-partisan hub launched in mid-2025 under the umbrella of the EU Digital Media Observatory (EDMO). Click here to follow the latest stories from our hub on disinformation. Tears, panic, and young Ukrainian soldiers pleading for help — a new disinformation campaign using artificial intelligence (AI) to fabricate videos of Ukraine's mobilization efforts is flooding soci

Can the West win a сeasefire with Russia?

Since 2014, every ceasefire Russia has signed has ended the same way: with Russia in a stronger position, and the West scrambling to catch up when Russia decides to escalate again. The gap between how the West sees a ceasefire and how Russia uses one isn't theoretical. It's why Ukraine is still fighting — on a more devastating scale — a war for nearly a decade now. The West faces a choice, but so does Ukraine. Used correctly, a ceasefire could see Ukraine rearm, the Western industrial capacity

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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Ukrainian forces continue to stubbornly defend the pocket around Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, despite relentless Russian assaults in and around the two cities, leading to an ever-increasing threat of encirclement. Over two weeks since Russian soldiers were filmed breaking into the urban area of the mining city in Donetsk Oblast en masse, the city has descended into a deep gray zone, in which the concept of territorial control is lost in a fog of chaotic movement. "The situation hasn't changed that

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