Explaining Ukraine

There is a striking parallel between the Russian war crimes in Syria and Ukraine. In both cases, the Russian army has been using extreme violence not to achieve military means, but to intimidate people and impose a tyrannical power over them through fear. Our guest today is Raji Abdul Salam, a legal data archive analyst with experience in documenting war crimes, crimes against humanity, and attempted genocides in Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine. Currently, he works as the chief legal data archivist at The Reckoning Project (https://www.thereckoningproject.com/) Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko – Ukrainian philosopher, chief editor of UkraineWorld, and president of PEN Ukraine. UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is a multilingual media about Ukraine produced by Internews Ukraine, one of the country’s largest media NGOs. Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine This episode is made in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute. 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.

What is happening on the frontline of the Russo-Ukrainian war? How is the war changing technologically? What does Ukraine need from its partners? Why is Europe slow and indecisive - and why is it wrong? The guest of the Explaining Ukraine podcast is Gustav Gressel, an Austrian political and military analyst, former Senior Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and currently a Researcher at the National Defence Academy Vienna Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher, the chief editor of UkraineWorld and the 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 https://www.patreon.com/ukraineworld. We need your support now, because our media is more and more relying on crowdfunding. You can also support our volunteer trips to the front lines at PayPal: ukraine.resisting@gmail.com.

Timothy Snyder came to Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, to present his book "On Freedom". We have had several conversations about the ideas of this book before (in Kyiv and Kharkiv), and you can find links to the podcast episodes featuring these discussions in the description. However, this was the first time we talked about this book after its publication. We recorded this conversation on February 9, 2025, at the Sense bookstore on Khreshchatyk Street, in the heart of the Ukrainian capital, very close to Maidan. Several hundred people attended, with many staying despite the lack of available seats. Most of them were young. This demonstrates how important reading and critical thinking are for Ukrainians today. Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko – Ukrainian philosopher, the chief editor of UkraineWorld, and the president of PEN Ukraine. The Ukrainian translation of this book was done by Choven Publishing House (translator: Halyna Herasym), with the support of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine. UkraineWorld (ukraineworld.org) is a multilingual media about Ukraine produced by Internews Ukraine, one of the country’s largest media NGOs. Listen on various platforms: 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. Other conversations with Timothy Snyder: Kyiv, September 2022 www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHksNrj7elQ&t=10s https://soundcloud.com/user-579586558/ep-144 Kyiv, September 2023 www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LkXsW14qJQ&t=724s https://soundcloud.com/user-579586558/ep-258 Kharkiv, September 2024 www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR0bqQy5gzA&t=9s https://soundcloud.com/user-579586558/snyder-kharkiv -- Contents: 01:54 - «I feel in Ukraine better than in most other places» 02:44 - being a historian who wrote a philosophy book 07:17 - What can the Ukrainian experience tell other nations about freedom? 12:45 - positive freedom (freedom-to) vs negative freedom (freedom-from). «Freedom isn’t just the absence of evil, but the presence of good» 15:44 - thinking about positive and negative freedom in America and Ukraine 20:30 - freedom and values 24:55 - freedom and sovereignty 32:47 - freedom and unpredictability 41:13 - the metaphor of the bell 45:07 - freedom during military occupation and de-occupation 50:30 - is history repeating itself? 1:00:00 - on social networks 1:11:50 - which values can unite Ukrainians during the war? 01:14:50 - rethinking Ukrainian history from the global perspective

What have we learned from the year 2024 in Ukraine? What have been the key trends on the frontline? What does Ukraine need to defend its sovereignty? What are Russia’s goals in this war, and what are the keys to achieving sustainable peace? In this episode of the Explaining Ukraine podcast, the guest is Tetyana Ogarkova, a Ukrainian intellectual, literary scholar, and journalist, the head of the international outreach department at Ukraine Crisis Media Centre, lecturer at Kyiv Mohyla Academy, and author of the podcast in French, Ukraine face a la guerre. Here are our personal conclusions from this year. L’Ukraine Face à la guerre podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/1qaLEtzl4lWiQTIEfeMenD 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.