Explaining Ukraine

What do Ukrainians and Black Americans share in their historical and cultural experiences? Can we draw comparisons between serfdom and slavery, or find parallels in the colonial traumas and the struggle for human dignity? Furthermore, what role do culture, identity, and language play in overcoming these legacies?

In this episode of the Explaining Ukraine podcast, we share a recording of a vital discussion held at PEN Ukraine in Kyiv in October 2025. This conversation explores collective memory, the universal aspiration for freedom, and the growing solidarity between communities that have endured systemic oppression.

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Our Speakers are:

- Terrell Jermaine Starr – Independent American journalist and host of Black Diplomats, a documentary news show covering civilian life in Ukraine. Over his 16-year career, he has reported extensively on the U.S. military, nuclear policy, and the Black Lives Matter movement.

- Christopher Atwood – Human rights and communications expert, Head of the Ukraïner International, which an international branch of Ukrainer, a popular Ukrainian media.

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

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Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine
UkraineWorld: https://ukraineworld.org/en

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SUPPORT:
You can support our work on https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld
Your help is crucial, as we rely heavily on crowdfunding.

You can also contribute to our volunteer missions to frontline areas in Ukraine, where we deliver aid to both soldiers and civilians.
Donations are welcome via PayPal at: [email protected].

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CONTENTS:

00:00:00 Guests: American journalist Terrell Jermaine Starr and American civic activist Christopher Atwood. Discussion at PEN Ukraine, October, 2025.
00:04:03 What can Black Americans and Ukrainians tell each other to make their shared struggles better understood by the world?
00:07:34 What are the three profound commonalities between the 2014 Maidan Revolution and the Black Lives Matter movement?
00:18:54 How do the legacies of Frederick Douglass and Taras Shevchenko reveal the universal trauma of being "born into unfreedom"?
00:22:56 How did the exploitative "sharecropping" system in the American South mirror the traps faced by Ukrainian peasants?
00:28:41 What is the historical link between the "slave catchers" of the 19th century and the architecture of modern American policing?
00:30:30 In what ways is the current political divide in America a shadow of the Civil War?
00:32:38 Why does the American democracy only have a "30-year jump" on Ukraine’s independence?
00:33:48 In what ways is "whiteness" weaponized as a tool of convenience by Western powers?
00:35:07 What is the difference between the "colonialism of racism" and the "colonialism of assimilation"?
00:36:18 How does Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks explain language as a primary tool of domination?
00:37:15 Why does the Western intellectuals struggle to reject colonialism in practice?
00:42:48 Why is it a dangerous intellectual shortcut to blame systemic issues on "one bad man" like Trump or Putin?
00:53:32 What does the history of the Brooklyn Bridge reveal about the racial hierarchies?
00:57:17 How can Black Americans and Ukrainians build solidarity when they face the same systems of oppression but have "colonizers who look different"?
01:05:40 What are the "multiple layers of whiteness"?
01:12:50 How does Edward Said’s Orientalism help explain why Western scholars often treat Ukrainians as "objects" of study rather than "subjects"?
01:24:10 How did Western academics miss the "seething rage" that signaled Ukrainians would never welcome invaders as liberators?
01:26:56 Why does the American "dominant class" believe democracy is a finished project?
01:33:33 Can a government truly understand the cultural dynamics of another country if it refuses to reflect on the racial dynamics of its own?

How did two friends save hundreds of civilians? How did one restaurant feed tens of thousands in a besieged city? What does a former entrepreneur feel while recovering the bodies of fallen soldiers every day? What is life truly like under Russian occupation? And most importantly—why is the Ukrainian resistance impossible to grasp without understanding the role of ordinary people, like you and me?

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Explaining Ukraine is a podcast by UkraineWorld, an English-language media outlet covering Ukraine.

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

This episode features a conversation held at PEN Ukraine in late February with the authors of the book Dark Days, Determined People: Stories from Ukraine under Siege, written by journalists Bohdan Ben and Orysia Hrudka. Part of the "Ukrainian Voices" series, the book was published in English by Ibidem-Verlag and is available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Days-Determined-People-Ukrainian/dp/3838219589

The book brings together 20 reportage stories documented between 2022 and 2024 across Ukraine. Originally published mostly by Euromaidan Press, these stories capture the lived experiences of Ukrainian soldiers, volunteers, artists, students, and children.

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Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine
UkraineWorld: https://ukraineworld.org/en

***
SUPPORT:
You can support our work on https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld
Your help is crucial, as we rely heavily on crowdfunding.
You can also contribute to our volunteer missions to frontline areas in Ukraine, where we deliver aid to both soldiers and civilians.
Donations are welcome via PayPal at: [email protected].

***
CONTENTS:

00:00 — Why Ukrainian resistance is impossible to grasp without the effort of the ordinary people
01:51 — Writing a book together: natural or unthinkable?
04:40 — The first days of invasion: urgency to inform the world
06:20 — The “human spirit radar”: stories of unexpected courage
08:15 — Small decisions that changed the war’s outcome
09:30 — Beyond the headlines: the secret to Ukraine's first victories
10:45 — The political nature of freedom: why a state is a necessity
12:56 — Navigating hell: the raw motivation behind civilian evacuations
14:39 — When heroism isn't planned, but becomes survival
17:29 — Vulnerability revealed: when nothing is guaranteed anymore
21:00 — Farming in minefields: the sheer determination to feed a nation
23:15 — Stealing warmth: Russia’s war on basic human needs
25:19 — The psychological toll of recovering the fallen
27:45 — The physical limit: the truth about endurance
30:17 — A nation turned factory: drones, innovation and resistance
31:57 — Ukraine as Europe's military asset, not a victim
34:10 — Second Life: rediscovering the will to live
36:30 — Sniper theologian: when ethics collide with survival
41:24 — Orcs and adventures: how parents explain the war
45:23 — Why Ukraine needs its own films
51:30 — Rewriting in real time: the grind of wartime reporting
54:30 — Dark stories, real hope: what keeps them going
56:30 — Where Ukrainians find hope for the future
59:45 — Stories left untold: what didn’t make the book
01:02:45 — How the war shapes the Ukrainian society
01:05:30 — The intensity of life when facing death

Why has Ukraine rapidly emerged as a global leader in advanced defense technology? What is the secret behind this innovation? How has warfare evolved over the past few years, and how are these shifts manifesting not only in the Russo-Ukrainian war but also in the Middle East? Are new drone technologies permanently altering the balance of power between major powers and smaller nations? Finally, what is required to defend the world against the Russian and Iranian regimes—and why is the Ukrainian experience the key to global security?

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Explaining Ukraine is a podcast by UkraineWorld, an English-language media outlet covering Ukraine.
Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko—Ukrainian philosopher, editor-in-chief of UkraineWorld, and president of PEN Ukraine.
Guest: Yulia Marushevska, a civic activist, former head of the Office of Support for Reforms at Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence and currently Supervisory board member at Brave 1, a platform for Ukrainian defense innovations.

***
Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine
UkraineWorld: https://ukraineworld.org/en

***
SUPPORT:
You can support our work on https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld
Your help is crucial, as we rely heavily on crowdfunding.

You can also contribute to our volunteer missions to frontline areas in Ukraine, where we deliver aid to both soldiers and civilians.
Donations are welcome via PayPal at: [email protected].

***
CONTENTS:
00:00 Guest: Yulia Marushevska’s background in defense reform and innovation
01:52 Ukraine’s shift from security recipient to security provider.
03:49 What have Ukrainians learned about modern warfare?
05:58 High-precision weapons vs. cheap drone swarms
08:14 Can Western bureaucracy adapt to modern production needs?
11:04 What is a "Defense Ecosystem"?
14:15 Ukrainian civil society as a contributor to the Ukraine’s defense
16:13 A lack of urgency: key problem of Ukraine’s partners
19:03 Are authoritarian regimes better prepared for a war of attrition?
22:12 Why is joint air defense between Ukraine and the EU essential for European security?
28:18 How do volunteers "buy time" for state institutions?
34:59 Expectations for the new Ministry of Defense team
38:32 Hope through horizontal connections and people
40:10 How to support UkraineWorld.

Since Donald Trump’s return to the U.S. presidency, Russia has drastically escalated its missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities. In January 2026, launches exceeded 6,000—a sharp increase from approximately 2,000 in January 2025. The use of guided aerial bombs (KABs) also reached a record high of almost 6,000 per month. With the Trump administration significantly cutting military aid to Kyiv, Ukraine now finds itself in an increasingly vulnerable position.

What are the underlying causes of this policy shift, and what does it reveal about Trump’s vision for global order and human rights?

***
Explaining Ukraine is a podcast by UkraineWorld, an English-language media outlet covering Ukraine.
Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko—Ukrainian philosopher, editor-in-chief of UkraineWorld, and president of PEN Ukraine.
Guest: Christopher Atwood, an American human rights and communications expert and Head of Ukraїner International—the international branch of the popular Ukrainian media platform, Ukraїner.

***
Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine
UkraineWorld: https://ukraineworld.org/en

***
SUPPORT:
You can support our work on https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld
Your help is crucial, as we rely heavily on crowdfunding.

You can also contribute to our volunteer missions to frontline areas in Ukraine, where we deliver aid to both soldiers and civilians.
Donations are welcome via PayPal at: [email protected].

***
CONTENTS:
00:00 Intro
06:00 Why is it important to be in Ukraine?
10:08 Analysis of the US political shift: Biden VS Trump
13:58 Trump and violence
15:00 "Empathy Recession": How cruelty has become a cultural zeitgeist
21:10 The role of the media establishment
27:11 Trump`s perspectives on Ukraine: Is he a mediator or closer to Putin’s vision?
30:43 The threat to Europe
35:27 Trump’s economics
40:01 Public vs. Political support: Why most Americans still favor Ukraine
44:04 Building a coalition of the willing

During this record-breaking cold winter, millions of Ukrainians are regularly left without electricity, water, or heat as temperatures plummet to -20°C and below. Does Russia intend to make life in Ukraine unlivable? Can the country’s civilian infrastructure continue to withstand such a massive, relentless assault? And what are the alternatives for the future?

***
Explaining Ukraine is a podcast by UkraineWorld, an English-language media outlet covering Ukraine.

Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko—Ukrainian philosopher, editor-in-chief of UkraineWorld, and president of PEN Ukraine.
Guest: Oksana Ishchuk, an analyst specializing in international and energy relations at the Centre for Global Studies "Strategy XXI," a prominent Ukrainian think tank.

***
Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine
UkraineWorld: https://ukraineworld.org/en

***
SUPPORT:
You can support our work on https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld
Your help is crucial, as we rely heavily on crowdfunding.

You can also contribute to our volunteer missions to frontline areas in Ukraine, where we deliver aid to both soldiers and civilians.
Donations are welcome via PayPal at: [email protected].

***
CONTENTS:
02:05 — The real goal behind Russian energy strikes on Ukraine
05:10 — Is a "total blackout" in Ukraine possible?
09:00 — A Soviet-built system: pros and cons
12:20 — Why Ukrainian cities go dark all at once
14:40 — Why every citizen must prepare for the next winter now
16:40 — The reason Russia succeeded only this winter
18:30 — Fragmenting the grid: Russia’s new energy tactics
19:55 — Why can’t Ukraine defend every power plant?
22:30 — The terrifying reality of Russia’s "indirect" nuclear terrorism
27:40 — Rebuilding the grid for a long war
32:10 — Why sanctions policy should be improved
34:30 — How Russia bypasses sanctions via the Baltic Sea
36:40 — The kind of Ukraine’s resilience Europe tries to understand