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.
Ukraine has deployed four NATO-trained, Western-equipped brigades in a small sector of the southern front and made significant advances there. From recently recaptured trenches, the war seems endless, but from headquarters, it’s a battle of wits as well as weapons -- and the smarter side will win.
Soldiers in a unit serving on Ukraine's southern front have been hardened by over a year of war, but they are also exhausted. As Kyiv's counteroffensive grinds on 18 months after the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian authorities are trying to minimize losses and buy more time.
After a series of corruption scandals, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced the dismissal of all top military recruitment officials and promised to tackle problems experienced by soldiers as Russia’s invasion persists. Reforming the system may prove a decisive stress test for Ukrainian society.
The monks of the Svyatohirsk Lavra, a major monastery near the front line in Ukraine’s war-torn Donbas region, have been accused of siding with Russia-backed forces in the past. Now, the majestic site is caught in the middle of Russia’s war on Ukraine and a struggle for the Orthodox faithful.
The Russian missile attack on Odesa on July 23 left people dead and wounded and damaged historic buildings in the heart of the city, including its biggest cathedral. Outraged residents showed unity, struggling to persevere as Moscow targets the iconic port city in its bid to dominate the Black Sea.
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam caused disaster in southern Ukraine -- and uncovered long-inundated lands sometimes called the Cossack Atlantis. Archaeologists expect a flood of discoveries, but Russia still holds much of the territory that has been exposed by the receding waters of the Dnieper.
Ukraine’s media landscape has shifted in the face of the Russian invasion. The sweeping changes may be part of the staunch resistance to Moscow’s onslaught, but they also create risks that could grow as the war rages on -- or after it ends.
"Our job is to…make a bad day for the Russians." Following a lull in the fighting, the Ukrainian Army is advancing on the northern and southern flanks of Bakhmut, hoping to surround the destroyed Donetsk region city to avoid getting involved in street fighting again and suffering losses.
Ukrainian officials and intelligence officers say catastrophe could strike any moment at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant. The residents of Nikopol, across a Dnieper River reservoir that is almost completely dry after a dam breach downstream, fear their predictions may come true.
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.
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