Russia's war against Ukraine inflicts more than physical damage; it's creating deep psychological scars across an entire population. This episode confronts the hidden epidemic of trauma – the PTSD, anxiety, and moral injury devastating lives. We explore the personal stories behind the statistics, the neurological impact of constant stress, and the critical need for accessible mental healthcare and societal healing in the face of ongoing conflict and its long-term consequences.

Authored by Vitalii Atanasov from Kyiv.

Invisible scars: the psychological impact of war

This is not just a song—this is a testament.
A powerful lyrical journey through the horror, heartbreak, and unbreakable spirit of Ukraine during the full-scale war that began in February 2022.

“Ukraine Will Survive, Ukraine Will Restore” by AbstAIn23 captures real stories from the frontlines and shattered cities—Kyiv under sirens, Bucha’s tragedy, Mariupol’s devastation—and transforms them into verses of resistance, hope, and national pride.

Through haunting imagery and soul-stirring lines, this anthem honors the bravery of Ukrainian civilians, soldiers, journalists, and survivors. It remembers the victims. It condemns the crimes. And it declares, with unwavering voice: Ukraine will overcome. Ukraine will rebuild.

Ukraine Will Survive Ukraine Will Restore

Bosnian journalist and writer Aida Ćerkez covered the war in Bosnia and the siege of Sarajevo. During the first two years of the conflict, she believed that her reports could help stop the war. But eventually, she realized that the world knew everything — and did nothing. At that time, she felt that others simply didn’t care about what was happening in her country. After such disappointment, Aida Ćerkez wanted to give up and leave the Balkans. However, an interview with a very old man became a turning point for her. He remarked that after her reports on the war in Bosnia, no one would ever be able to say they didn’t know what was happening there. She stayed in Sarajevo, continued writing articles, and reporting the news.

Having lived through war in her own country, the journalist became able to recognize the signs of a potential armed conflict. She warned her Ukrainian colleagues and friends about the coming full-scale war in Ukraine. Aida saw the same signs. Throughout 2021, Russian troops were constantly stationed near Ukraine’s borders, under the pretext of military exercises. In the 1990s, the 44-month-long siege of Sarajevo also began with military drills in the mountains surrounding the capital. Yet many of her Ukrainian colleagues didn’t believe her. Ćerkez didn’t even hold it against them, as she herself had felt the same before the war in Bosnia began.

After the full-scale invasion started, Aida Ćerkez wrote a letter to Ukrainians in March 2022. “In the dark times that are ahead of you, you will lose faith sometimes and be overwhelmed by exhaustion. But I’m writing to you from the future and I’m telling you: “You will prevail just as we did,” she wrote. At the end of the letter, she rephrased the slogan printed on a T-shirt she wore during the siege of Sarajevo. The T-shirt, which she still keeps, reads: “Sarajevo will be, everything else will pass.” To Ukrainians, she wrote: “Ukraine will be, everything else will pass.”

Journalist Angelina Kariakina speaks with Aida Ćerkez about the siege of Sarajevo and how culture helped its residents feel human, about the mothers of the victims of the Srebrenica massacre and the process of healing, about the tribunal, and why it is crucial to continue collecting evidence of Russian war crimes.

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Aida Ćerkez on the Mothers of Srebrenica, Humor and Culture during War, and What Can Prevent Revenge

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For what? It was just a civil house, where people slept in peacefully, where childrens plays at the cortyard near the building. Fucking war, fucking missiles and drones...

Fuck the War! Glory to Ukraine!

Odessa March 2024

Слова - Тетяна Власова
Музыка, вокал, аранжировка - suno AI

Дорогі росіяни, я хочу сказати вам от що.
Нахуй все, що у нас із вами було ніби “общєє”.
Нахуй “мы-же-единый-народ-никакого-различия”.
Нахуй вашу історію, нахуй ваше вєлічіє.
 
Нахуй ваші матрьошки, нахуй вашу культуру.
Нахуй вашу вєлікую рускую літєратуру.
Нахуй ваши совєтскіє фільми і пєсні гуманниє.
Нахуй вашого баскова, нахуй олєга газманова.
 
Нахуй ваші пости про «мір» і трєвожні лайки.
Нахуй ваші рублі, ушанкі і балалайкі.
Нахуй всіх, хто нас мріє поставити на коліна.
Нахуй всіх, хто не знає, що правильно — «В Украине».
 
Нахуй ваше хуйло, і він ще своє отримає.
Нахуй всіх, хто мовчить, а значить — мовчки підтримує.
Нахуй ваших вояк, які нам тут зброєю брязкають.
Нахуй ваше сочувствіє, нахуй любов вашу братскую.
 
Нахуй, рускій іван, що так хоче зайти сюди на ніч.
Ну і рускій воєнний корабль — ти сам уже знаєш.
Рускій мішка нашу країну не розпанахає.
Дорогі росіяни, від’їбіться від нас.
І — нахуй.

Дорогі росіяни, я хочу сказати вам от що

Read Borders in Red for FREE!
https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501780554/borders-in-red/#bookTabs=1

Transcript: https://otter.ai/u/3ndhPn4qPVQKBrbos5QrSp41j_8?utm_source=copy_url

Stephan Rindlisbacher is a postdoctoral researcher at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder).

We spoke to Stephan about how his new book, the first comprehensive look into how the border between Russia and Ukraine was drawn, helps us better understand today’s current conflict between the two nations; how politicians, experts, and people from the border regions worked together to create the Soviet Republic borders in the 1920s and early 1930s; and the amazing detailed maps that accompany this rich history throughout the book.


1869, Ep. 168 with Stephan Rindlisbacher, author of Borders in Red

Jen Stout is a Scottish freelance journalist covering the war in Ukraine for British media. She specializes in long-form reporting. Stout has reported from Kharkiv, Odesa, Kyiv, Kramatorsk, Kostiantynivka, from the front line, train carriages, schools, minefields, and humanitarian convoys. In 2024, she published her debut book «Night Train to Odesa: Covering the Human Cost of Russia’s War». In it, Stout reflects on the work of journalists and photographers during wartime.

She found herself in Siberia when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, having arrived there as part of an academic program. After receiving messages from her friends in Kharkiv saying they were being bombed by Russian aircraft, she immediately left Russia.
Stout had never been a war correspondent before. She decided to first travel to Ukrainian border towns to interview refugees. She deliberately avoided working alongside large international media outlets. Instead, she chose the small Romanian town of Isaccea, located on the Danube River, where refugees from southern Ukraine and Mariupol were arriving. Later, she went to Odesa.

Although Odesa appears in the book’s title, Stout writes more about her beloved Kharkiv. She first visited the city in 2018 and was blown away by its diverse architectural styles, which embody the city’s — and Ukraine’s — layered history. She still keeps a photo from that visit, in which she stands smiling happily under one of the arches of the Derzhprom building.

Journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk talks with Jen Stout about her book, what people abroad ask her about Ukraine, her deep affection for Kharkiv, how foreign freelance journalists work, what draws her to Ukrainian culture, and why pacifists aren’t pressuring Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine.

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I See a Fast Process of Unpicking Centuries of Colonialism and Russification in Ukraine | Jen Stout

EP: [prompt] <Настрій:_Україна>
Ukraine, Chernivtsi
2025.11.25


https://t.me/ilkaonisim/1871
https://soundcloud.com/ilkaonisim/sets/prompt-nastry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfQ_PAoXzYY&list=PLfpv_VcF52vPPPhHl97eBqKJ_wO2VJkBL


1. Бо я до тебе лину
2. Море, сонце, берег, пляж (Balearic Nu-Disco Mix)
3. Крок
4. Благаю
5. Так, ми ховаємося
6. На світанку
7. New Year & Christmas Theme

Ilka Onisim - New Year & Christmas Theme

Ilka Onisim - Krok

Ilka Onisim - Blagayu

[prompt] Настрій:_Україна

Bo ya do tebe linu

Ilka Onisim - Bo ya do tebe linu

Ilka Onisim - More, Sonce, Bereg, Plyag (Balearic Nu-Disco Mix)

Ilka Onisim - Tak, mi hovaemosya

Ilka Onisim - Na svitanku

Слова - Леонид Каганов:

Вот человек, потерявший детей и жену.
Глядит на руины и ничего не видит.
Наверное он ненавидит мою страну.
Наверное я понимаю, за что ненавидит.
 
Останутся только цветы и огонь свечей.
И память о том, что было сделано это
от имени всех россиян и всех москвичей,
от имени русской культуры, певцов и поэтов.
 
Какая к дьяволу дружба, какой этикет,
когда ежедневно в этой игре без правил
на каждом куске снаряда, обломке ракет
горит моя подпись, которую я не ставил.
 
Горит моя боль, мой шок, мой испанский стыд,
горит в городах, в домах, где я был и не был.
Классик сказал, что рукопись не горит.
Её у меня без огня превращают в пепел.
 
Война пройдёт. Но мы-то куда пройдём?
Что общего между нами? Что общего между
тобой — потерявшим жену, дочерей и дом,
и мной — потерявшим веру, любовь, надежду.

Music, vocals - suno AI


Рукопись

Журнал соціальної критики «Спільне» — ліве українське видання про економіку, політику, історію та культуру.

Founder of "Deep Sea Records" studio. Making feelings through the music.

Podcast series from Cornell University Press. Changing the world one book at a time.

New tracks tagged #war in Ukraine