A few days ago we made a trip to Nikopol, an industrial town in southern Ukraine located 6 kilometers from the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, now occupied by Russian troops. Russians shell the town every day with artillery, but despite this regular bombardment and the risk of a major nuclear disaster, we met active and optimistic people. Hosts: Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher and journalist, chief editor of UkraineWorld.org, and Tetyana Ogarkova, Ukrainian scholar and journalist in charge of international outreach at the Ukraine Crisis Media Centre. Support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld. Support our humanitarian trips to the frontline areas: Paypal - ukraine.resisting@gmail.com

Nikopol, a town 6 kilometers from Russian troops, and from Europe’s biggest nuclear plant | Ep. 206

What does Donald Trump’s election as U.S. president mean for Ukraine? What are the potential threats—and perhaps hidden opportunities? Trump has claimed he can end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours, but what challenges would he face?

Our guest is Natalya Gumenyuk, a well-known Ukrainian journalist. She traveled to the U.S. to report on the election campaign and gain an insider’s perspective. Natalya has published extensively in both Ukrainian and international media and is a leading figure in the Public Interest Journalism Lab and the Reckoning Project.

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher, chief editor of UkraineWorld and president of PEN Ukraine

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of Ukraine’s largest media NGOs.

Listen on various platforms: li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine

Support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld. We provide exclusive content for our patrons.
You can also support our volunteer trips to the front lines at PayPal: ukraine.resisting@gmail.com.

Trump’s Election and Its Impact on Ukraine - with Nataliya Gumenyuk

There is a long intellectual tradition of studying the moral character of war. One of the key questions of this tradition is whether a war is just or unjust. What elements of this philosophical tradition can we apply to Russia’s war against Ukraine, and to Ukraine’s resistance? 

Our guest today is Jeff McMahan, an American moral philosopher, and author of books such as "Killing in War" and "The Ethics of Killing".

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher, chief editor of UkraineWorld and president of PEN Ukraine

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one Ukraine’s largest media NGOs.

Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine 

Support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld. We provide exclusive content for our patrons.

You can also support our volunteer trips to the front lines at PayPal: ukraine.resisting@gmail.com.

This episode is produced in partnership with the Department of Philosophy at the University of Tartu, which recently published a special issue of their journal on the Russia-Ukraine war.


Is this war just or unjust? - with Jeff McMahan

Trump’s election has brought the topic of negotiations with Russia back into focus. In this episode, we will analyze the obstacles that any talks with Russia are likely to entail. 

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher, chief editor of UkraineWorld, and president of PEN Ukraine.

Explaining Ukraine is a podcast by UkraineWorld, a multilingual media about Ukraine. 

UkraineWorld is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of Ukraine’s largest media NGOs.

You can support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld. We provide exclusive content for our patrons.
You can also support our volunteer trips to the front lines at PayPal: ukraine.resisting@gmail.com.

You can find these links in the description of this episode


Will ‘Peace Talks’ with Russia Really End the War?

There is a big debate about whether sanctions against Russia are working. Some argue that they are failing to stop the Russian war machine, and that Ukraine’s allies need to find something else. Others say that real sanctions are yet to be applied or truly implemented. What is certain is that without the sanctions in place against Russia, Moscow would likely be occupying much more Ukrainian territory than it is. 

In this episode, the Explaining Ukraine podcast invited Stephanie Baker,  senior writer at Bloomberg News, and author of the new book "Punishing Putin: Inside the Global Economic War to Bring Down Russia". Stephanie has reported a lot from Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe, and believes that Russia is more vulnerable than we think. 

Link to the book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Punishing-Putin/Stephanie-Baker/9781668050583

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher, chief editor of UkraineWorld and president of PEN Ukraine

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of Ukraine’s largest media NGOs.

Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine 

Support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld. We provide exclusive content for our patrons.

You can also support our volunteer trips to the front lines at PayPal: ukraine.resisting@gmail.com.

How to defeat Putin’s war economy - with Stephanie Baker

Japan stands among the top supporters of Ukraine today. It provides major financial and humanitarian aid, and backs Ukraine at the political level globally. These countries lie thousands of miles apart - so what brings them together? Has this difficult time of war brought the Japanese and Ukrainian people closer, helping them discover more about each other?

This episode is part of a joint series “Ukraine’s Global Partnerships” produced by UkraineWorld and the Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism”. 

In this episode, Deputy editor-in-chief at UkraineWorld Anastasiia Herasymchuk spoke with 
Tomonori Yoshizaki, from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies,
and
Anastasia Polishchuk, from the Foreign Policy Council  "Ukrainian Prism" and Waseda University

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of the largest Ukrainian media NGOs.

SUPPORT us at www.patreon.com/ukraineworld. We provide exclusive content for our patrons.
You can also support our volunteer trips to the frontlines at PayPal: ukraine.resisting@gmail.com.

This podcast series was created with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation. Its content is the exclusive responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the International Renaissance Foundation.


Ukraine-Japan relations | Ukraine’s global partnerships #6

Are Ukraine and Brazil truly worlds apart, or can a common ground be found? Do they actually see peace differently? The reality is far more complex than just the statements issued by politicians in both countries. In this episode, we look at the heart of Ukraine-Brazil relations—their history, mutual willingness to learn more about one another, and what the future may hold.

This episode is part of a joint series “Ukraine’s Global Partnerships” produced by UkraineWorld and the Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism”. 

In this episode, Deputy editor-in-chief at UkraineWorld Anastasiia Herasymchuk spoke with 
Caio Favaretto, Co-founder and Director of Maranta Inteligência Política,  Professor of the Graduate Program in Economic and Business Criminal Law at Mackenzie Presbyterian University and Ivan Fechko, Expert of the Latin America and Caribbean Program at the Foreign Policy Council "Ukrainian Prism"

Listen on various platforms: li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine 

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of the largest Ukrainian media NGOs.

SUPPORT us at www.patreon.com/ukraineworld. We provide exclusive content for our patrons.
You can also support our volunteer trips to the frontlines at PayPal: ukraine.resisting@gmail.com.

This podcast series was created with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation. Its content is the exclusive responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the International Renaissance Foundation.


Ukraine-Brazil relations | Ukraine’s global partnerships #7

Timothy Snyder came to Kharkiv on September 8th, 2024, despite regular strikes on the city by Russian bombs, missiles, and drones. Our conversation was focused on freedom and values, which are the key topics of his latest book, "On Freedom", published on September 17th. 
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/460254/on-freedom-by-snyder-timothy/9781847928054

Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second-largest city, located some 40 kilometers from the Russian border. The city is hit almost daily by Russian glide bombs, missiles, and drones, mostly hitting civilian buildings and causing casualties among civilians. Despite this, Kharkiv remains one of the key centers of Ukrainian cultural life. 

Our conversation took place in an underground shelter, to ensure safety against possible Russian attacks. For safety reasons, the audience was carefully selected by invitation, without public announcements. Despite the dangers, about a hundred Kharkiv artists, writers, journalists, students, and university instructors came, with many of them contributing questions. 

The cooperation of several organizations made this meeting happen:  UkraineWorld (Internews Ukraine), the Kharkiv Literature Museum, Kharkiv Media Hub, PEN Ukraine, Art Area, and the Public Interest Journalism Lab.  

The meeting was moderated by Volodymyr Yermolenko, chief editor of UkraineWorld and president of PEN Ukraine. 

Listen on various platforms: li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine 

This is an English-only version of this conversation. Watch it in English AND Ukrainian here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A37SHxcCYS0

Ця версія розмови - англійською. Подивитися і послухати її англійською з УКРАЇНСЬКИМ перекладом можна тут: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A37SHxcCYS0

UkraineWorld is a multi-lingual media about Ukraine brought to you by Internews Ukraine. 

Other conversations with Timothy Snyder by UkraineWorld: 

Timothy Snyder: Freedom as a Value and a Task - a Talk in Kyiv 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LkXsW14qJQ&t=722s

Timothy Snyder: Ukraine, the War, and the Plurality of Values 
https://youtu.be/BHksNrj7elQ?si=YhU-S4QbSsFrm7Pc

Timothy Snyder, Marci Shore, and Volodymyr Yermolenko at Yale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRRduBjkdxw&t=933s

Support our work: patreon.com/ukraineworld

Support our volunteer trips to the warzones on PayPal: ukraine.resisting@gmail.com

Timothy Snyder in Kharkiv: A Conversation about Freedom - with Volodymyr Yermolenko

Brazil has the 3rd largest Ukrainian community in the Americas. Over half a million Brazilians have Ukrainian origins, with most of them descendants of 19th century labor migrants. 

In this episode, we navigate through the unexpected links between the two countries, and analyze why relations between Brazil and Ukraine are difficult today. 

The Explaining Ukraine podcast invites you to a conversation at the PEN Ukraine / UkraineWorld event with Brazilian authors. The conversation took place in Kyiv, at PEN Ukraine’s headquarters, in September, 2024.

The event was held within PEN Ukraine’s programme “Solidarity with Ukraine” supported by the International Renaissance Foundation. 

Participants: Sérgio Utsch, Brazilian journalist; Flávia Tavares, chief editor of Meio online media; Guto Pasko, Brazilian filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer with Ukrainian origins. 

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher, chief editor of UkraineWorld and president of PEN Ukraine

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is brought to you by Internews Ukraine, one of Ukraine’s largest media NGOs.

Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine 

Support us at patreon.com/ukraineworld. We provide exclusive content for our patrons.
You can also support our volunteer trips to the front lines at PayPal: ukraine.resisting@gmail.com.

Interpretation (Ukrainian - English): Anna Vovchenko

This episode is produced in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute, the country’s major public and cultural diplomacy institution. 


Brazil and Ukraine: Unexpected Connections

Trump wants to stop Russia’s war against Ukraine, but what difficulties will he face? Why must he genuinely engage with Ukraine and the EU to achieve this goal? What leverage does he have to encourage Putin to negotiate? Why does any peace in this context need to be sustainable?

In this episode of the Explaining Ukraine podcast, the guest is Fredrik Wesslau, a Swedish diplomat and analyst who has worked for many years in Ukraine. Wesslau is currently a Senior Advisor at Rasmussen Global and a Distinguished Policy Fellow at the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies (SCEEUS). Until December 2022, he served in Kyiv as Deputy Head of the EU Advisory Mission in Ukraine. Fredrik has also held the position of Director of the Wider Europe Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko – Ukrainian philosopher, chief editor of UkraineWorld, and president of PEN Ukraine.

UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is produced by Internews Ukraine, one of the country’s largest media NGOs.

Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine

Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/ukraineworld – we offer exclusive content for our patrons.
You can also support our volunteer trips to the front lines via PayPal: ukraine.resisting@gmail.com.


Can Trump Stop the War? – with Fredrik Wesslau

A podcast by UkraineWorld.org, a multimedia project about Ukraine run by Internews Ukraine. Explaining Ukraine, its politics, society and its culture. Support us: patreon.com/ukraineworld

Nikopol, a town 6 kilometers from Russian troops, and from Europe’s biggest nuclear plant | Ep. 206

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