Aleksander Palikot is a Kyiv-based journalist reporting on war and its impact on society, culture, and politics.
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.
"If a year ago somebody had told me I'd become a partisan or kill somebody, I'd have laughed at them. But here we are," says Vladyslav Nedostup, a sociology graduate and car-parts dealer who sought "bloody revenge" after a former classmate and her daughter were killed by a Russian missile.
After the Russian retreat from Kherson, power outages and other problems did not dim the euphoria as Ukrainians celebrated the liberation a key city. Invading forces across the river and bangs of artillery in the background served as reminders that the war is far from over and the danger persists.
Determined to stay put, Volodymyr survived the long Russian occupation of Velyka Oleksandrivka, a Kherson region town that was left in ruins when the invaders pulled out. But like other Ukrainians whose lives have been torn apart, he has lost a great deal, and there’s no way back to his past life.
As the battle for the strategically important city of Kherson looms over the region and Russian occupation authorities deport civilians to the eastern bank of the Dnieper River, civilians in villages under fire are crossing the front line to get to Ukraine-controlled territory.
The Russian invasion left many civilians in eastern Ukraine trapped between bad choices or deprived of any choice at all. The ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive has brought an end to the brutal occupation -- but many have been left with their lives shattered.
Determined to escape as shelling threatened their village in eastern Ukraine, two dozen desperate people thought they were taking a safe route out -- but it all went bad quickly. At a Kharkiv hospital, survivors recall an ambush that authorities say killed 13 children and 11 adults.
Long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kharkiv artist Hamlet Zinkivskiy was known for the spare, thought-provoking murals that changed the face of his beloved city. Now he is turning its walls into a record of wartime experiences.
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