Aleksander Palikot is a Ukraine-based journalist covering politics, history, and culture. His work has appeared in Krytyka Polityczna, New Eastern Europe, Jüdische Allgemeine, and beyond.
As Wagner mercenaries fighting in Russia’s war on Ukraine crossed into Russia, seizing military facilities heading toward Moscow, Ukrainians followed the dramatic developments with a mixture of hope and trepidation -- and a heavy dose of mirth.
The broken bridge over the river cutting through Kamyanske is as far as Russian forces got when they poured toward Zaporizhzhya following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Now, with a major Ukrainian counteroffensive in gear, the sounds of rocket and artillery fire are unceasing.
The civilian population of the Kherson region, which first survived the brutal Russian occupation and later lived alongside daily shelling and air attacks, is now bound to face what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described as "an environmental bomb of mass destruction."
Occupied by Russian forces in March 2022 and liberated in November, Kherson is in crisis again after the breach of a major dam upstream on the Dnieper River. Stunned but not surprised, residents remaining in a city deeply affected by Russia's war on Ukraine assess the damage and look to the future.
Russian forces shelled the Kherson area shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on June 8 visited the southern region where rescue teams are working to save thousands of people trapped by catastrophic flooding caused by the rupture of a major dam on the Dnieper River.
“She doesn’t have a mother anymore.” As the chestnut trees blossom in Ukraine's capital, its residents endure exhaustion and anxiety amid relentless Russian aerial assaults. The suffering and death of children compound concerns about life under constant attack.
Russia stepped up attacks on Ukraine with new tactics aimed to deplete Kyiv’s air defenses and slow its counteroffensive, analysts say. With hard-won experience and Western equipment, the defenses have proven efficient, but civilians continue to suffer and low missile stockpiles pose a threat.
As it seeks to fight off the Russian invasion, Ukraine is experiencing the most rapid shift away from the use of the Russian language in its recent history. The process, accelerated by Russia's renewed attempts to erase Ukrainian culture and sow divisions within the country, is far from painless.
As the conflict between Ukrainian authorities and a Ukrainian Orthodox Church long loyal to Moscow drags on, with clerics refusing to leave a sacred site in Kyiv, a violent incident at Khmelnytskiy Cathedral brings a confrontation that’s been brewing for decades to a head in a western region.
In anticipation of a major counteroffensive, thousands have volunteered to join Ukraine's Interior Ministry assault brigades. Backed by market research and an ad campaign, the units are part of an effort to rebuild the army while intense fighting continues unabated at the front.
Ukrainians on the streets of Kyiv are expressing a mix of support and skepticism after the ICC ordered the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his office’s commissioner for children’s rights. Some say the move will send a strong message. Some say it is not enough.
Amid Moscow’s deadly onslaught, many Ukrainians are distrustful and dismissive of the Russian opposition, despite having a common foe in the Kremlin. Nothing illustrates this more starkly than the outrage caused by the Oscar awarded to the documentary film "Navalny."
The first months of Russia's invasion of Ukraine turned Ivan Mishchenko, a judge on Ukraine's Supreme Court, into an infantry officer. One year later, back at work on the country's judicial reform, he says justice for Ukraine will require both internal reform and military victory.
Ukrainians in Zaporizhzhya, a city that Russia now claims as its own, understand that they are "next on Putin's list." But after a year of full-scale war, residents are defiant -- and displaced people sheltering here are not losing hope of returning home.
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine entered its second year on February 24 as heavy fighting continued unabated in the east and south, where Moscow's forces have been throwing immense military and human resources against the Ukrainian forces' fierce resistance.
Belarusian volunteers fighting on Kyiv's side are paying a high price for their choice to “liberate Belarus by liberating Ukraine.” This does not, however, stop opponents of the Lukashenka regime from joining the ranks of the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment.
As Ukraine braces for a renewed Russian offensive in the east, the southern front seems relatively stable despite the daily exchange of artillery fire. But with both sides hoping to control the corridor linking the Donbas to Crimea, tension is rising in hard-hit frontline towns like Hulyaypole.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine put the country’s female soldiers in the spotlight, where many have stepped up and enhanced their role in a military formerly seen as “no place for women.” But threats to women’s rights are growing as the war drags on, the deputy head of a women’s veteran group warns.
Ukraine's Security Service has raided facilities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in what it calls a counterintelligence operation, piling pressure on a Moscow-linked institution that now claims complete independence. Meanwhile, priests and parishioners struggle to come to grips with the changes.
Russia has opened an energy front' in its war against Ukraine, launching massive attacks that caused power outages while killing dozens of people. But as citizens, authorities, and energy companies learn to deal with the blackouts, there are growing indications that Moscow's efforts may fall flat.
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