Ukraine 242 Podcast: Recent Episodes
Anne Levine
24/2, February 24th, was the day that Russia began bombing Ukraine at the beginning of its all-out invasion which is now in its third month. Every week Anne Levine interviews someone in Ukraine with a unique perspective on the war. Everyone from a military Colonel to an Instagram Influencer turned volunteer for orphaned children is on our show. Interviews conducted by Anne Levine and shows edited by Ursula Ruedenberg.
Journalists Alya Shandra and Bohdan Ben describe what happened on the ground during the Euromaidan Revolution of Dignity. Both participated in this historic grassroots peoples rebellion in 2014 that solidified Ukraine's pivot away from Russia towards Western Europe. Euromaidan with its preceding Orange Revolution is one of the most successful grassroots popular revolts in modern times. As a result. the then-president of Ukraine fled the country, leading to the formation of the government we know, today.
Last week, in the first half of our conversation, Alya Shandra and Bohdan Ben described the political situation and events leading up to Euromaidan. This week, they describe what happened once the mass movement became unstoppable. According to them, the revolution was sparked when violence was used against the Euromaidan protestors.
Alya and Bohdan frame the meaning of the Euromaidan revolution of dignity as the pivotal moment for Ukrainian society in two irreversible ways: the country completely turned away from Russia towards what they perceived as western democracy, and participatory citizenship became cemented in their culture, enabling Ukrainians to fight the current war.
The second part of an interview with Sarah Ashton Cirillo an American journalist who enlisted as a combat medic in the armed forces of Ukraine. She is an American trans woman and the only American female soldier at zero line, the front-most trenches.
This interview comes one year after Sarah first spoke with Ukraine 2 4 2. After being hospitalized from serious injury incurred on the frontline, she describes in deeply personal terms, her difficult transition away from combat areas on the front to serving the military in Kyiv as a soldier and an analyst. Sarah also describes, with remarkable candor, her spiritual experience during war and how it has affects her identity, offering an unusual window into the soldiers experience.
One year after an interview with Ukraine 2 4 2, the first of a two-part interview with Sarah Ashton Cirillo an American journalist who enlisted as a combat medic in the armed forces of Ukraine. She is an American trans woman. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, she was the only transgender journalist and then the only American female soldier fighting at zero line, the front-most trenches.
Sarah was hit by a missile on the front. After surgery and extended hospitalization to heal, she was presented with the Armed Forces of Ukraine's commander in Chiefs Golden Cross badge of honor. She was assigned as media director of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and is currently in Kyiv, working as a soldier and an analyst.
Sarah talks about her new moniker of terrorist given to her by the Russian media, and her job as soldier and analyst, as well as her projections of developments in Ukraines fight, including weapons and Ukraines new military leadership.
Mark Lindquist is a United States Air Force and Afghan war veteran. Since March of 2022, Mark has lived in Ukraine, which he calls his second home. He is on a self-directed humanitarian mission to voluntarily deliver non-lethal aid directly to Ukrainian civilians. After two years of his aid work, he gives an update. He discusses the nature of how this on-going war has developed, what is needed by Ukrainians to fight effectively, food-aid, and reasons why the US and other Western countries may prefer to delay the resolution of this war.
Poetry by:
Marianna Kiyanovska
Karen Khiel
Nancy Eaton
Vidma
Read by Kate Wallace Rogers
Music:
Anthem by Leonard Cohen
Editing by Michael Hill-Levine
Editing by Ursula Rudenberg
Ukrainian/ English political scientist Dr. Taras Kuzio discusses ways that Russia is seeking to destroy Ukrainian national identity and replace it with militarization and glorification of the Soviet ethos.
He discusses new textbooks being used to influence children, kidnapping of children, persecution and murder of Ukrainian citizens who facilitate Ukrainian civil society, and the contrived hunt for Nazis in Ukraine. Kuzio also discusses Russias historical antisemitism and the resurgence of Jewish culture in Ukraine.
Dr. Taras Kuzio is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy. He is Associate Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society in London. He was the Winner of the 2022 Peterson Literary Prize for his book Russian Nationalism and the Russian-Ukrainian War: Autocracy-Orthodoxy-Nationality (Published by Routledge, 2022)
Ukrainian political scientist Dr. Taras Kuzio discusses the global ramifications of Russias President Putins meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un in far Eastern Russia, early in September. He describes the coalition that is solidifying to support Russias invasion of Ukraine, including China, Iran and Korea, united against the West and their perception of a US-dominated uni-polar world.
Kuzio also discusses how the war is transforming NATOs orientation, how it has affected Russia on the world stage, post-soviet oligarchic society, and what Russias defeat would mean for its allies and other regimes in the area. He draws a contrast between Russian hierarchical vertical society and Ukraines horizontal society where the military is integrated with citizens acting as volunteers and partisans.
Dr. Taras Kuzio is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy. He is Associate Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society. He was the Winner of the 2022 Peterson Literary Prize for his book Russian Nationalism and the Russian-Ukrainian War: Autocracy-Orthodoxy-Nationality (Published by Routledge, 2022)
At the beginning of September, Ukrainian Defense Minister was removed in response to allegations of corruption. Former American Ambassador Daniel Fried discusses this removal along with other internal leadership shake-ups, including the death of leaders of the Wagner military group in Russia as well as how Putin's future is tied to the outcome of his invasion of Ukraine and Russia's patterns of leadership succession.
Fried also discusses Ukrainian and Russian actions and positioning on the world stage, including Africa and Syria, and briefly describes American Presidents Bush and Trump's responses to Putin.
In his forty-year Foreign Service career, Ambassador Fried played a key role in designing and implementing American policy in Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union. He was a National Security advisor to Presidents Clinton and Bush, Ambassador to Poland, and Assistant Secretary of State for Europe. He helped craft the policy of NATO enlargement to Central European nations and, in parallel, NATO-Russia relations.
Ambassador Fried is one of the U.S. governments foremost experts on Central and Eastern Europe and Russia. He is currently a Weiser Family Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council. He is also on the Board of Directors of the National Endowment for Democracy and a Visiting Professor at Warsaw University.
Athletes are collateral damage in Russia's war with Ukraine, according to Taylor McKee, a researcher committed to analyzing the socio-cultural intersections of sport and society. He discusses how, since 2014, the story of the Russian invasion plays out in theatres of sport as well.
In this interview, the discussion focuses on the upcoming Olympic games in Paris, what could play out there, considering the Russian invasion, as well as the general practice of political expression at the Olympics by athletes and the public. The Era of Boycotts in the 70s and 80s is also reviewed, and the failure to boycott in 1936.
Dr. Taylor McKee is professor and researcher at St. Catharines. Ontario, Canada. He has published on topics including Olympic History, Sport and Residential Schools, Hockey History, Monuments and Historical Memory, and Masculinity in Hockey.
This Week on Ukraine 2 4 2: Urban Warfare and other Battle Knowledge – US Major John Spencer
TRT: 29 minutes
US Major John Spencer is considered the world's leading expert on urban warfare. In February 2022, he wrote The Mini-Manuel for The Urban Defender, a guidebook for everyday people to defend their territory against military aggressors. The manual was posted online by the Ukrainian military and went viral, enabling Ukrainians to help their military to defeat the February 24 attack by Russia on Kyiv and other major cities.
Spencer discusses the concepts in his booklet and answers many questions about the war in Ukraine from the point of view of a military expert. He discusses why Russians bomb civilian targets, the purpose of F-16 planes that have just been granted to Ukraine, NATO, threats to Poland, nuclear weapons, the current character of this war and how warfare has changed, and more. He speculates about possible outcomes for Ukraine and Russia. Above all, he reminds us that war is ultimately a matter of politics, not weaponry.
Major John Spencer is an award-winning scholar, professor, author, combat veteran, and internationally recognized expert and advisor on urban warfare and other military related topics to four-star generals and other senior leaders in the U.S. He currently serves as the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies with the Madison Policy Forum. He recently served as the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, Co-Director of the Urban Warfare Project, and host of the Urban Warfare Project podcast. He served as a Colonel in the California State Guard with an assignment to the 40th Infantry Division, California Army National Guard as the Director of Urban Warfare Training.
Music: Hey Hey Rise Up by Pink Floyd featuring Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Boombox
Ukraine 2 4 2 features interviews with experts, key people on the ground in Ukraine and many others affected, who can give direct and personal accounts of the unfolding of the war in Ukraine, how people of diverse backgrounds and professional skills rally in the fight for freedom and the historical context of Russia's invasion.
Historian Ekaterina Malygina describes SUCHO - Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online " an international initiative by more than 1,500 volunteer historians, archivists, librarians, and humanities researchers whose mission is to provide digital support, server space, equipment, and training resources to their colleagues in Ukrainian cultural institutions.
The goal is to support the preservation of Ukrainian culture as hundreds of historic buildings, museums, libraries, archives, and websites are being damaged or destroyed by the Russian invasion. An additional goal is to document destruction of these institutions, themselves in the war.
SUCHO was created at the onset of the invasion as a collaboration between Anna Kijas (Tufts University, US), Quinn Dombrowski (Stanford University, US) and Sebastian Majstorovic (European University Institute, Italy). It is a global grassroots initiative of over 1500 volunteers around the world.
Ekaterina works in SUCHO as an archiving and digitization expert, helping cultural institutions to digitize their data and record objects in their care of cultural importance, as well as to provide necessary equipment.
Susan Mathison tells the story of herself and her three friends in Plymouth, New Hampshire who were aghast at the invasion of Ukraine. Feeling called to do something, they used their collective experience and resources as humanitarians, activists, and businesspeople, as well as their connections with Rotary Clubs here and in Poland and Ukraine, to create Common Man For Ukraine. This multi-million-dollar grassroots network for basic humanitarian aid provides food, warmth, and psychological support for orphans, refugee, and displaced children due to the war in Ukraine. The organization runs on donations and volunteer work.
At least 2 million children are displaced in Ukraine, due to the death of family members and attempts of parents to hide their children from Russian abduction in Eastern Ukraine. Common Man for Ukraine delivers food, toys, sleeping bags, solar-powered lights, and generators to the secret safe houses where the children are being kept. They also provide psychological counseling and run a recovery retreat in Poland for Ukrainian children who need a break and counseling due to the war.
The Museum Territory of Terror in Lviv Ukraine was built on the site of a former Jewish Ghetto under the Nazis and a former Soviet prison. While its original mission was to document tragic pages of the 20th century, the museum has changed its focus, since the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, to preserving Ukrainian art, museum collections, archives, monuments, and museum buildings which are the targets of Russian destruction.
Liana Blicharska, research fellow at the Museum Territory of Terror, discusses efforts to save Ukrainian museum collections and to re-produce ones that have been destroyed. They Liliana create audio-visual history installations which are experienced with virtual reality headsets, enabling the visitor to see lost works, buildings, and even towns while simultaneously listening to an audio guide. She also describes her personal online documentary project about the persecution of the Crimean Tartars. The Russian abduction of Potemkin's bones from his tomb in Kherson is also discussed.
This Week on Ukraine 2 4 2:
Realities of War: Ukraine Cntr for military & legal Studies
Now available in Audioport.org under WEEKLY PROGRAMS
TRT: 29 minutes
Produced by Anne Levine, WOMR, Provincetown MA
Military analyst Oleksander Musiienko speaks about various current realities of the war in Ukraine from a Ukrainian analyst's perspective. He talks about various current events, including the second bombing of the Kerch bridge, Russian mercenary groups, the counteroffensive, Belarus, and the protection of Ukrainian art that has not yet been stolen or destroyed.
Musiienko is head of the NGO Center for military and legal studies and he is co-founder of the National Political Academy of Ukraine. He disassembles and communicates news of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Territorial Defense Forces.
Ukraine 2 4 2 features interviews with experts, key people on the ground in Ukraine and many others affected, who can give direct and personal accounts of the unfolding of the war in Ukraine, how people of diverse backgrounds and professional skills rally in the fight for freedom and the historical context of Russia's invasion.
Two stories of encounters between Ukrainians and Russians in the Diaspora. In Abu Dhabi Ukrainians and Russians encounter each other, leading to tensions. In Uzbekistan, refugees who are both Russian and Ukrainian, find each other for solace and mutual help and rebuilding.
Julia Tymoshenko is a Ukrainian reporter, communications expert, and marketing executive. She studied at the Abu Dhabi and New York City campuses of New York University, where she studied social and public policy. Her research led her to do ethnographic fieldwork in Abu Dhabi, which allowed her to observe Ukrainians there, and their relations with Russians.
YouTube vlogger Konstantin Samoiyov was a successful professional in Russia where he lived with his family until he left, last fall. He fled when mobilization was announced to recruit Russians as soldiers for the invasion of Ukraine. He tells the story of how refugees face losing everything. Samoilov started and leads the Tashkent International Breakfast Club, which regularly brings together hundreds of people at a cafe in the capital of Uzbekistan to help each other rebuild their lives.
Britta Ellwanger volunteers for the non-profit organization For Peace and discusses her work currently in Ukraine. She describes how For Peace provides humanitarian aid to civilians and soldiers through local connections and organizing. She has developed an expansive network informing her about what is needed, and her methods for fulfilling these exemplify the power and effectiveness of local and international grassroots organizing.
Britta discusses projects such as locating needed vehicles and responding to the flood resulting from the explosion of the Kakhovka Dam.
Britta was a graduate student at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy in their flagship Anticorruption Studies program. She is specializing in humanitarian aid until the war is over. She has been living, working, and investing in Ukraine for ten years. She has a B.A. from Stanford University in Political Science.
For Peace states its purpose is integrated war relief, responding to the multifaceted needs of frontline communities during war time.
37-year-old Victoria Amelina, one of Ukraine's best-known young writers, died from injuries from a Russian missile strike in the city of Kramatorsk on June 27. In memoriam we rebroadcast her Ukraine 2 4 2 interview with Anne Levine from last May.
Victoria Amelina stopped writing novels when Russia invaded Ukraine, saying: in 2022, it became impossible to write fiction (because) reality is so much more intense; it is impossible to invent stories anymore.
Prior to her death she worked as a war crimes researcher with the organization TRUTH HOUNDS.
In the Izium region, Victoria Amelina uncovered the war diary of fellow Ukrainian writer Volodymyr Vakulenko, who buried the dairy before he was killed by the occupying forces. She found it with the aid of his father in the back yard of the family home.
Amelina kept a journal of the work being done by war-crimes researchers and became a successful poet published by papers such as the New York Times, and various anthologies.
Victoria Amelina was a celebrated Ukrainian author of novels and children's books since 2015, when she won several literary awards for her first book, The Fall Syndrome, about the events at Maidan in 2014. In 2017 her novel Doms Dream Kingdom was released and was shortlisted for the prestigious LitAkcent literary award and the European Union Prize for Literature in 2019.
"There was great optimism about Russia in the 90s as it emerged from decades of authoritarian control. This has gone into reverse since 2014, and its messy geopolitical divorce from the Western world is accelerating."
As a teenager, Jonathan Fink was a Russophile. While in college, he lived in Russia to deepen his knowledge. He found that in the 90's, the Russian people were humbled but not scornful of foreigners. Today, he says the Russian climate is much different, and it's part of what has brought the country to a possible near coup during the invasion of Ukraine, with Putin finding himself unexpectedly sparring off with the head of the state-funded paramilitary organization, The Wagner Group.
On his YouTube channel, The Silicon Curtain, Fink interviews academics and thought leaders on the topic of Russia, with a focus on "propaganda, digital disinformation, politics, corruption, hybrid warfare, weaponized conspiracy theories, social echo chambers and digital dystopias." Today on Ukraine 2 4 2, Fink explains how these tactics have created chaos and self harm, leaving Russians with no centralized opinion on the war, if any at all.
Reporter, communications expert, and marketing executive Julia Tymoshenko speaks about issues Ukraine has with analytical fieldwork by Amnesty International on the Ukraine crisis. She says their position creates harmful consequences for her country. She also shares her experience of living under bombs in Kyiv, and reveals how her organization, St. Javelin, has raised more than 2.5 million dollars for the war effort by selling merchandise of popular memes.
Sarah Ashton Cirillo, American transgender journalist, has been fighting as a combat medic on the Ukrainian front in the Donbas. In the midst of war conditions, she finds respect and acceptance she lacks in the USA, as a transgender woman, judged in Ukraine solely on her performance rather than on sexual identity.
The war in Ukraine has brought many foreigners and Ukrainians together to do extraordinary things: a conversation with Richard Woodruff, the 30-year-old leader of Frontline Kitchen in Lviv, Ukraine.
Originally from a London suburb, Woodruff worked in publishing. When he quit his job to take an extended vacation in Spain, news came of the Russian invasion in February 2022. On an impulse, Richard got on a plane to Poland and a bus to Ukraine. There, he offered his assistance to a volunteer kitchen, providing fresh home cooked meals for troops at the front-line. At that time, the kitchen was run by several Babushkas -or grandmothers. Under Richards leadership, the operation expanded.
Woodfuff spoke with Ukraine 2 4 2 last February and in this return interview, he describes the expansion, the volunteers, puppies they save, orphans they visit, NAFO, the Internet meme and social media movement dedicated to countering propaganda and raising funds. Woodruff also describes lives and emotions of humanitarians in Ukraine, including his own trip to the frontline.
A conversation with Renowned Ukrainian author Victoria Amelina who has stopped writing novels. She says,“in 2022, it became impossible to write fiction (because) reality is so much more intense; it is impossible to invent stories anymore.” She now works as a war crimes researcher with the organization TRUTH HOUNDS.
In the Izium region, Victoria Amelina uncovered the war diary of fellow Ukrainian writer Volodymyr Vakulenko, who buried the diary before he was killed by the occupying forces. She found it with the aid of his father in the backyard of the family home.
Amelina now also keeps a journal of the work being done by war-crimes researchers and she has become a successful poet published by papers such as the New York Times, and various anthologies.
Victoria Amelina has been a celebrated Ukrainian author of novels and children's books since 2015, when she won several literary awards for her first book, The Fall Syndrome, about the events at Maidan in 2014. In 2017 her novel Doms Dream Kingdom was released and was shortlisted for the prestigious LitAkcent literary award and the European Union Prize for Literature in 2019. Amelina is a member of PEN International.
Movement talk with a feminist queer activist and journalist from Belarus, discussing LGBTQ rights in Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and solidarity across the ocean between Eastern European and American activists.
Current developments and the consequences of the war in Ukraine are talked about, including the situations of the oppressed Roma and Crimean Tatar minority communities.
Tony Lashden is co-founder of an activist organization stationed in Minsk, Belarus, called Tender Na Gender, which means Tender for Gender, which gives support to women and members of the LGBTQ community in Belarus and other parts of Eastern Europe. Tony lived and worked in the Belarussian capital until life became too dangerous, as an LGBTQ activist. They spoke to Ukraine 2 4 2 host Anne Levine from an undisclosed location in Eastern Europe.
Ivano Frankivsk is a beautiful Medieval city, in western Ukraine. Near the city, in the Carpathian Mountains, is a small hospital where surgeries on wounded soldiers brought from the front are performed and their physical rehabilitation is overseen. Most of the patients are in treatment for crushed and lost limbs. These warriors face months and years of psychological therapy long after their orthopedic injuries have healed. At First Volunteer surgical hospital, a unique, robust program is in place to care for the emotional and social wounds of military patients. The recovering soldiers have access to activities that include trips to film, music and theater performances, pastoral walks and time to sit by one of the region’s pristine rivers. Inside the hospital English classes game nights and group therapy sessions take place on a regular schedule. The hospital staff fully participates in all activities alongside the patients and their interactions create a strong sense of family throughout the campus. One of the most popular programs offered by the hospital takes place at a local horse farm. Conceived of and built by young German entrepreneur Matthias Hopfner, the farm is a haven for horses and other barnyard animals rescued from the front. Thousands of animals have been injured, abandoned, and starved as a consequence of the Russian invasion. Hopfner's program brings hope and comfort to all sentient beings involved in this ingenious project. American reporter and photographer Patrick Patterson visited the hospital recently and I spoke to him about the equine program and other restoratives offered at Ukraine’s First Volunteer Surgical Hospital.
After many years of stated neutrality, the country of Finland has became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO on April 4. Finland, Russia's neighbor to the Northwest, shares more than 800 miles of border and thus their NATO membership marks a dramatic change in the political landscape in Northern Europe.
Ryhor Nizhnikau is a Senior Research Fellow at the Finnish Institute Of International Affairs in Helsinki, Finland. His expertise is on Russia, Northern and Eastern Europe and Eurasia, the European Union, and NATO.
He gave a first-hand description of how Finlands new NATO membership is felt there and in Europe and why Finland made this dramatic change.
Finland shares several experiences with Ukraine and Ryhor discussed international relations from outside the perspective of a superpower, a vision he hopes that Finland can bring to NATO which nurtures cooperation and rule of law between nations instead of power struggles. His hope is also that this cooperative approach could make room for the smaller powers to have a seat at the international table.
Ryan Hendricks, retired American Green Beret, is president and founder of the organization Tip of the Spear Land Mine Removal and author of Tip of the Spear: The Incredible Story of an Injured Green Beret's Return to Battle.
Conflict in Ukraine has increased awareness about civilian war casualties as a 21st century global crisis. The Ukrainian war has attracted various experts and humanitarians, from inside and outside of the country, to respond and help, a catalyst for developing organizations, services, and technologies which will be widened to help other war-torn parts of the world. Ryan Hendrickson is one of these; he plans to dedicate the rest of his life to the international cause of landmine removal.
Ryan describes how he came to build his organization after almost dying from a landmine himself, then undergoing a harrowing series of 28 surgeries and painful rehab that pioneered new methods of leg reconstruction. When war broke out in Ukraine, Hendrickson went there to drive civilian rescue vehicles, volunteer work that led him to focus on landmine removal. He describes the mines and their removal process and discusses how landmines in Ukrainian farm fields will impact international food supplies, causing hunger crises in countries that normally rely on Ukraine.
Our guest is Mariam Lambert whose call name in Ukraine is Cinderella. She Is the co-founder of two NGOs orphans-feeding-foundation.org and angels-of-ukraine.org
Born in Belgium, Mariam lives in Amsterdam with her family and works in Ukraine, delivering humanitarian aid to the front lines. Mariam earned her call-name, Cinderella because she is a very petite and beautiful blonde who insists on sweeping the floor and doing the dishes at every safe house she visits. She also maintains a strict rule that she goes off duty at midnight to rest.
She was recently in Bakhmut making a delivery under heavy shelling. and spoke to us afterwards from the Netherlands where she was picking up a large haul of humanitarian supplies prior to returning to deliver them to Ukraine.
The conflict in Ukraine is referred to by many on social media as a Crowd Funded War. Mark J. Lindquist is an American air force veteran who now lives in Kyiv Ukraine and exemplifies this. He is one of numerous independent and self-funded volunteers who run small, nimble organizations and cooperate in a network to give life-saving assistance to Ukrainian civilians and soldiers. They go to places near the front and do what large nonprofit organizations cannot. These small volunteer groups have become a vital life-saving part of the Ukrainian defense struggle.
Mark delivers clothes, equipment, and other life-saving necessities to the frontlines in the Donbas Region. He is a fundraiser for Ukrainian volunteer groups with his tax-exempt nonprofit organization called The A-Team. He is also a musician, entertainer, and social media influencer and during this conversation, he describes how he has used those talents towards moments of relief from war, for Ukrainians.
This program is the second of two interviews with Mark.
The conflict in Ukraine is referred to by many on social media as a Crowd Funded War. Mark J. Lindquist, an American veteran now living in Kyiv Ukraine, exemplifies this. He founded a 501(3) called The A-Team and, in cooperation with other independent volunteer fundraisers for Ukraine, runs his small, nimble non-profit that plays a pivotal role in supplying desperately needed resources for both Ukrainian soldiers and citizens. Mark J. Lindquist describes the logistical and moral problems involved in donating money to Ukraine. Mark explains the difficulties with sending gear from the United States due to politics and war profiteers.
Lindquist, who is also a musician and entertainer, describes, in this show, his recent successful "40 Hour March" to raise money for a Veterans' home in Ukraine, where he marched in Fargo North Dakota.
Lindquist was an orphan from Seoul, South Korea, adopted by a family in Minnesota. He went on to serve in the Air Force honorably at Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, Hawaii and is part of a world touring entertainment unit called Tops in Blue. He feels his service to the US and now Ukraine is an expression of his appreciation for the help and gift of freedom he was given.
Part II of my interview with the wonderful Sarah Ashton Cirillo: combat medic in the AFU, journalist and the only woman in the trenches at Zero Line.
Sarah Ashton-Cirillo also known as Sarah Ashton and Sarah Cirillo is an American journalist who enlisted as a combat medic in the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War, having previously worked as a war correspondent in that conflict. A self-described "recovering political operative"[9] from Las Vegas, Nevada, she was active in Nevada politics from 2020 to 2021, including an abortive run for Las Vegas City Council.
Ashton-Cirillo drew national media attention in 2021 when she released records of conversations from her time working with Republican candidates, documenting efforts to recruit members of the Proud Boys, a far-right group, for a planned "Brooks Brothers Riot" (alluding to the 2000 demonstration)[10] as part of efforts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 United States presidential election. In 2022, she leaked a text exchange with the Republican nominee for Nevada Attorney General, which became a key controversy in that election.
Starting in March 2022, Ashton-Cirillo reported on the Russian invasion of Ukraine from Kharkiv, Ukraine, primarily for LGBTQ Nation, often writing about the war's effect on LGBTQ people. A trans woman, she is thought to have been the first openly transgender war correspondent and the only transgender journalist covering the invasion. In Kharkiv, she worked closely with the Ukrainian military and police, and was appointed by the mayor of Zolochiv, Kharkiv Oblast, as a representative to advocate with aid groups. After witnessing and reporting on the October 2022 Kyiv missile strikes—including posting a controversial widely-shared video that showed a dead body—she resigned from LGBTQ Nation to become a combat medic in Ukraine's Noman Çelebicihan Battalion, a Crimean Tatar unit. In February 2023, she was wounded by Russian shelling while serving on the front lines in
As the saying goes, An army marches on its stomach and heres a man doing the cooking.
Richard Woodruff is the creator of Front-Line Kitchen, a Twitter account and organization he runs out of Lviv raising money for equipment, food, and supplies needed by soldiers on the front line, and an account advertising volunteer opportunities in Ukraine, all while volunteering himself in a Lviv kitchen making 10,000 meals a day for soldiers on the frontline.
One year ago, Richard Woodruff was lying on a beach in Spain, relaxing after quitting his job in publishing and taking a break. When Ukraine was invaded by Moscow, Woodruff went to Lviv, Ukraine. With no plan, he discovered there a kitchen where the women he calls the grandmothers had been voluntarily making home-cooked food for frontline troops since 2014. His volunteer work in the kitchen led him to become a large-scale fundraiser on Twitter. His story illustrates how the defense of Ukraine is a pervasive grassroots and collective effort of participatory citizenship.
Woodruff who works close to 24/7 says, I cant sleep because I begin to calculate how many soldiers will die because they didnt get a life-saving meal or a bandage. I will sleep after the war. He describes his journey into a whole new life, prompted by the war in Ukraine where he discovered his passion and life work going beyond the current war.
On the eve of the anniversary of the onset of last year’s February 24 Russian invasion of Ukraine along with worries about a new offensive, a conversation with Iuliia Mendel, award winning international journalist and former press secretary for Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy.
Mendel speculates about the spring offensive. She also describes the early days when Zelenskyy was gaining sea legs in democracy, and her impressions of the 2019 Paris talks between Zelenskyy, Russian President Putin, French President Macron and German Chancellor Merkel. She also speaks about Russian weaponization of language and the struggle for self-determination experienced by post-soviet countries.
Throughout her interview, Mendel positions Ukraine as the vanguard of resistance and self-determination in the region in the struggle between old and new ways, and gives voice to Ukrainians’ strong will, together with sadness and dread felt in her country over the violence and death they continue to experience and anticipate.
Iuliia Mendel was press secretary in the administration of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy from 2019 until 2021. She worked as a journalist for ICTV, Espreso TV, 112 Ukraine and Inter TV channels. Mendel became the first Ukrainian journalist to win the World Press Institute program.
She had previously worked as a Communications Consultant at the World Bank and had contributed journalistic reporting for The New York Times. Mendel had worked as a journalist for several other media outlets including Politico Europe, the Atlantic Council, Vice, Spiegel Online and Forbes. In April 2016, she was the producer of the first documentary about post-traumatic stress disorder, Shell-Shocked: Ukraine's Trauma. In October 2019, she was included in the rating of the 100 most influential women in Ukraine by Focus magazine.
Dr. Elizabeth Wishnick, noted expert on Russia and China who focuses on international relations in Asia and Chinese foreign policy, analyzes the efforts of China to uphold its partnership with Russia and their shared interpretation of the invasion of Ukraine from the standpoint of perceived threat from the Western World.
However, Wishnick also discusses how the invasion of Ukraine raises problems with good reputation and trade relations with Europe, something China wants. In addition, the invasion jeopardizes China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative – its flagship program for ushering in infrastructure and commerce for Chinese-led economic growth in Asia, Africa, and elsewhere.
Dr. Elizabeth Wishnick is a Senior Research Scientist in the China and Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Division at the Center for Naval Analysis, on leave from her position as Professor of Political Science at Montclair State University. She is also a Senior Research Scholar at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University. Her current research focuses on international relations in Asia and Chinese foreign policy. She is the author of Mending Fences, which illuminates the forces driving Moscow’s China policy.
Music: Moonlight in the City sung in Mandarin by Ukrainian Artist Natalia
Editing by Ursula Rudenberg for the Pacifica Network
Recording by Michael Levine
Texas Photographer Patrick Patterson recently lived in Ukraine, after taking several prior trips to Ukraine and Poland, to document war refugees. By connecting with volunteer networks, he was able to intimately document the terror and suffering the Russian invasion is causing for ordinary people. He speaks about his approach to photographing people, by connecting on a human level and listening to their stories with his promise of telling the world. He also describes war crimes he has documented, the experience of being under attack himself, and the intense personal consequences of danger and bonding with others in war. He makes a plea for the world to focus on the plight of everyday people in Ukraine, instead of on weapons.
GO TO UKRAINE242.COM TO SEE PATRICK AND HIS PHOTOGRAPHS AND VIDEOS
PATRICK'S WEBSITE: WILLIAMPATRICKPHOTOGRAPHY.COM
Patterson has spent much of his career documenting human rights. His photographic narratives expose the invisible and can influence change. Each photograph is evidence that someone or something has been seen. His work on undocumented migrants in the Midwest provides an opportunity for viewers to question their biases of people crossing the US southern border. His work on Texas Death Row sheds light on wrongful convictions based on racial bias.
Patricks work has appeared in US and International press, including Playboy Magazine, De Groene Amsterdammer, and Poland Monthly.
Music: Misto Marii by Okean Elzy
Ukraine 2 4 2 features interviews with experts, key people on the ground in Ukraine and many others affected, who can give direct and personal accounts of the unfolding of the war in Ukraine, how people of diverse backgrounds and professional skills rally in the fight for freedom and the historical context of Russia's invasion.
Our guest is olena halushka
a board member of the Ukrainian NGO Anti-Corruption Action Center. She is also part of the International Center for Ukraine Victory. She worked as a Chief of International Advocacy at the Post-Maydan Reanimation of Package Reforms from 2015-2017. She was an Advisor to Members of Parliament from 2012 to 2014. She served as a Kyiv City Council Member and Deputy Chair of the Council Commission on Housing and Energy. An avid writer and political commentator, her works can be found in outlets such as The Washington Post, the Atlantic, Foreign Policy, EU Observer, and the Kyiv Post. Olena obtained a PhD from Kyiv National University in International Economics in 2016. Olena spoke to us from Warsaw Poland where she is currently working.
Pavlo Kukhta, the former minister of Economy to President Petro Poroshenko and to President Volodymyr Zelensky, discusses what is happening in Ukraine from the insiders' perspective of a member of the government and public servant.
He describes the fundamental system change being attempted by the Ukrainian government, the collective ethos of Ukrainian society that prepares them for this war, and issues of economics during the war and thoughts on what recovery would look like. He debunks the popular comparison made between this Russian invasion to the Nazi invasion of World War Two.
Pavlo Kukhta is a graduate of Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and studied at Aspen Institute Kyiv. As well as the former Minister of Economy to President Petro Poroshenko and to President Volodymyr Zelensky, he is a board member of the I am Not Alone Charitable Foundation and an economist at the Center for Economic Solutions. He cooperated with the Reanimation Package of Reforms. From 2015 to 2019, he worked as an adviser to the Minister of Finance. From 2016 to 2019, he was an adviser to the Prime Minister of Ukraine. From September 2019 to April 2020, Kukhta served as First Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture.
He is the co-author of "Reforms in Ukraine After Revolution of Dignity " Tilda Publishing 2019
SERHEII PLOKHY - A COMPLETE HISTORY OF UKRAINE AND RUSSIA'S WAR SINCE 2014
Serheii Plokhy, legendary historian and author, provides a comprehensive overview of the origins of Ukraine and Slavic cultures, Ukrainians history of both independent statehood and subjugation to Russia, the role of language as a tool for imperialism, and how Ukraines tradition of pluralism has evolved in recent times into a nation fully capable of fighting its war of independence.
Serheii Plokhy is legendary in Ukraine and in academic circles worldwide, widely considered to be the greatest living expert in Ukrainian history. He is prolific, with a book coming out every year for the last 20 years. His book, The Gates of Europe, A History of Ukraine, is widely considered to be the definitive history of Ukraine.
Plokhy is the Mykhailo Kruszewski, Professor of Ukrainian history at Harvard since 2013 where he has served as the director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, where he leads a group of scholars working on Mapa the digital atlas of Ukraine. He was born Ukrainian and between 1983 and 1991, Plokhii taught at the University of Dnipropetrovsk, where he was promoted to the rank of full professor and held a number of administrative positions during perestroika. In 1996, after a number of visiting appointments as the Ramsey Tompkins Professor of Russian history at the University of Alberta, Plokhy joined the staff of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, where he founded the Research Program on Religion and Culture. As part of the Peter Jacyk Center for Ukrainian Historical Research he participated in the publication of the English-language translation of Mykhailo Hrushevskys History of Ukraine-Russia. Plokhys books have been translated into a number of languages, including Albanian, Belarusian, Chinese, Estonian, Greek, Finnish, Korean, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, and Ukrainian, and won numerous awards and prizes.
PUBLISHED BOOKS
- Plokhy, Serhii. The Cossacks and Religion in Early Modern Ukraine, Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-19-924739-4
- Plokhy, Serhii. Tsars and Cossacks: A Study in Iconography, Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University, 2003. ISBN 978-0-916458-95-9
- Plokhy, Serhii and Frank E. Sysyn. Religion and Nation in Modern Ukraine, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 2003. ISBN 978-1-895571-36-3
- Plokhy, Serhii. Unmaking Imperial Russia: Mykhailo Hrushevsky and the Writing of Ukrainian History, University of Toronto Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0-8020-3937-8
- Plokhy, Serhii. The Origins of the Slavic Nations: Premodern Identities in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-521-86403-9
- Plokhy, Serhii. Ukraine and Russia: Representations of the Past , University of Toronto Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8020-9327-1
- Plokhy, Serhii. Yalta: The Price of Peace, Viking Adult, 2010. IS
Oleksandra Vyacheslavivna Matviichuk heads the Ukrainian non-profit organization: The Center for Civil Liberties. She describes their work since the beginning of Russian aggression in 2014, the 18,000 human rights violations and atrocities documented in Ukraine so far, and their goal, together with a wide network of Ukrainian and international organizations and volunteers, of documenting every individual case in the country. She expresses a need to confront and bring to justice Russian terror inflicted deliberately on civilians to gain submission, a military tactic that they have recently used with impunity, in various countries.
Matviichuk frames the war in Ukraine as a struggle over democracy or authoritarianism, and calls for the restoration of civil society and justice, pointing out the problem of processing so many cases of human rights violations. She describes how she is seeking to establish an international tribunal of crimes against humanity to bring justice for Ukrainians and prevent future wars of terror in the region.
Trigger warning: this program addresses topics of extreme violence, torture, kidnap, murder, and rape.
Oleksandra Matviichuk earned her law degree from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and became the first woman to participate in the Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program of Stanford University. In 2007, Matviichuk was awarded the Vasyl Stus Prize for 'outstanding achievements, and in 2015, she became a laurate of the Norwegian 'Lindebrække prize for democracy and human rights' and in 2016, 16 delegations to the OSCE recognized Matviychuk with their first Democracy Defender Award for 'Exclusive contribution to promoting democracy and human rights'. The U.S. Embassy to Ukraine recognized Matviichuk as Ukraine's Woman of Courage 2017 for 'her constant and courageous dedication in defending rights of Ukrainian people'. In 2021, Matviichuk was nominated to the United Nations Committee Against Torture and made history as Ukraine's first female candidate to the UN Treaty Body. She ran on a platform to limit violence against women and conflict. Since the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, she has focused on documentation and prosecution of war crimes. She met with Vice President of the United States Joe Biden in 2014, and advocated for more support to help end the Russian war against Ukraine.
discussion with two experts in Slavic culture and history, exploring history and current realities of Slavic women in the times of the Ukrainian invasion, as well as the prior invasion of Chechnya and the protests in Belarus.
Topics covered are the history and tradition of Slavic feminism leading anti-authoritarian movements, the connection between this war and culture of violence and domestic abuse, how women are participating in the fighting, and ways women are being victimized by the current war.
Trigger warning, this program discusses violence, torture, and sexual abuse.
Dr. Colleen Lucey is Assistant Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies at the University of Arizona. She is a specialist in Russian literature and visual culture of the long nineteenth century, and has published on works by both canonical writers (Fyodor Dostoevsky, Lev Tolstoy) and the texts of their lesser-known contemporaries (Avdot'ia Panaeva, Nadezhda Khvoshchinskaia). In addition to the representation of commercial sex in literature and art, her research and teaching interests include the history of Russian theatre and performance (from the nineteenth century to the present), and Russian language instruction.
Dr. Marci Shore teaches modern European intellectual history at Yale University. She received her M.A. from the University of Toronto in 1996 and her Ph.D from Stanford University in 2001; she taught at Indiana University before coming to Yale. Her research focuses on the intellectual history of twentieth and twenty-first century Central and Eastern Europe. She is the translator of Micha Gowiskis The Black Seasons and the author of Caviar and Ashes: A Warsaw Generations Life and Death in Marxism, 1918-1968, The Taste of Ashes: The Afterlife of Totalitarianism in Eastern Europe, and The Ukrainian Night: An Intimate History of Revolution. In 2018 she received a Guggenheim Fellowship for her current book project, a history of phenomenology in East-Central Europe, tentatively titled Eyeglasses Floating in Space: Central European Encounters That Came about While Searching for Truth. She is a regular visiting fellow at the Institut fr die Wissenschaften vom Menschen in Vienna. | Dr. Colleen Lucey and Dr.
A discussion explaining some of the Russian point of view with historical background of the Ukrainian invasion, with Dr. Adele Barker, Professor of Russian/Slavic Studies, Emerita at the University of Arizona. Barker, who has friends and professional colleagues in Russia and has been there many times herself, describes some of the current opinions Russians have and the reasons behind them.
Barker also provides more insight into the history shared by these two lands, leading up to the war:
-The history Russia's and Ukraine's mutual origins
- Historical religious and cultural influences
- Current stances of the Russian and Ukrainian
Orthodox churches
- What is meant by a Russian Ethnic
- Historical context of Putin's vision of empire and why he does not see Ukraine as an independent and separate country
Assistant Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies at the U. of Arizona Dr. Colleen Lucey discusses the historical relationship between Russia and Ukraine. She gives insight into why Ukrainians see themselves as independent and why Russia sees Ukrainians as belonging to the Russian Empire.
A specialist in Russian literature and visual culture of the long nineteenth century, Dr. Lucey publishes on works by both canonical writers (Fyodor Dostoevsky, Lev Tolstoy) and the texts of their lesser-known contemporaries (Avdot'ia Panaeva, Nadezhda Khvoshchinskaia). In addition to the representation of commercial sex in literature and art, her research and teaching interests include the history of Russian theatre and performance (from the nineteenth century to the present), and Russian language instruction.
Bogdan Bolkhovetsky on Zaporizhia, Soviet Education in and about Ukraine. The Soviet fear of Western influences regarding everything from chewing gum and jeans to politics.
Bogdan's hair raising account of fleeing Kyiv with his family when the bombs began to fall on February 24, 2022. The rebranding of Kraina FM to Radio National Resistance
Volodymyr Anfimov is a Ukrainian Radio, television and print journalist who lives in Kyiv. He is the host of a popular weekly podcast called Another Interview in which he speaks to journalists, editors-in-chief and opinion leaders. He has a degree in Cultural Studies with a major in Transatlantic Studies.
He discusses the recent killing of Ukrainian prisoners of war being held at Olenivka Prison Atrocities and a video released recently depicting a Russian soldier or sympathizer torturing and castrating a Ukrainian soldier. He makes the case that Russia is engaging in terrorism and is recreating the state abuses of the late soviet gulag and Stalin's concentration camps.
He also talks about mental health and life-philosophy for Ukrainians while living under attack,
Dr. Ian Garner is a historian and translator of Russian culture and war propaganda. Starting with a description of his forthcoming book, Stalingrad Lives: Stories of Combat & Survival, to be released this year, he discusses Russian government use of propaganda and that country's leadership's historical obsession with dominance over Ukraine as part of its national identity.
Garner has written for and been interviewed by the Washington Post, Rolling Stone, New York Times, BBC, CBC, ABC, Radio Canada and many more. He has a PhD from the University of Toronto and studied at University of Bristol (England) and St. Petersburg State Conservatory (Russia).
His work focuses on Soviet and Russian literary and cultural representations of war. He is on a mission to illuminate the hidden sides of Soviet and Russian life.
Two caregivers discuss civilian trauma resulting from the invasion of Ukraine, experienced by those in Ukraine, as well by those who leave the country.
American MarkAlain Dery is an internationally renowned infectious disease specialist, trauma care doctor, and public health specialist. He is currently working in Ukraine with the NGO, The Swiss Foundation, which is organizing transports, looking for supply sources, and carrying out major education campaigns for first responder public servants in Ukraine such as police and fire people. They are providing training for emergency trauma care, needed since civilians are being injured or can be casualties of the war. Dery speculates that the need for civilian care will increase globally as internal conflicts increase in countries, catching non-soldiers in the crossfire. MarkAlain is also founder and manager of Pacifica Affiliate WHIV-LP in New Orleans.
Mila Yalovaya, is a Ukrainian Psychotherapist who specializes in work with teenagers. She describes the psychological trauma of the Ukrainian war, especially for teenagers, who are in a vulnerable developmental stage. She describes the cost to teenagers of leaving Ukraine and living abroad and some of the services they are offering for support.
Yalovaya discusses the benefit of psychotherapy in wartime and mental strategies for emotional stability. Yalovaya received her training at Kyiv Gestalt University, where she now teaches,
An incredible interview by Volodymyr Anfimov with Christo Grosev; legendary investigative journalist. He takes Anfimov's questions on Putin's health, the spectre of tactical nuclear war, and Putin's possible next steps.
Anton Ptushkin is a hugely popular vlogger and TV presenter who used to travel the world to bring stories to Russia and Ukraine. Now, having been banned from Russia by Putin (which Anton takes as a badge of honor), Ptushkin's videos concentrate on Ukraine only. His English language channel, Anton Somewhere is superb. His shooting, editing, and story-telling is superb. In this interview we talk about everything from maintaining Ukraine's vital railways in the midst of bombing to the way all 45 million Ukrainians are volunteering there time and skills to the resistance. That includes teronlyfans.com - nudie pics for a donation to a Ukrainian organization. Anton is extraordinary guy. Enjoy this interview.
Volodymyr Anfimov on Ukrainian Culture Druing War. Is barring Russians from events fair?
How are artists responding to war?
In a hair-raising escape from Mariupol hospital, Sergei describes, as much as he is able without compromising his colleagues, how he stayed alive under the Russian occupations. His doctor, Stanislav Onyshchuk of First Volunteer Surgical Hospital describes his injuries, treatment and the role of Sergei's daughter Irina.
Sergey - A soldier liberated from Mariupol describes war atrocities, Brutal treatment in Mariupol Hospital when the Russians occupied, and how many of their lives were saved.
UKRAINE 242 Viktoriia Gosudarska Trend Analyst for the OSCE on War atrocities - Russia's block of the USCE - How war will end.
In this interview Nastya who was a jetsetter, nightclub DJ and business woman, describes her life since 24/2. Her descriptions of her family in Mariupol and Chernihiv include how the Jewish Community got her family out of Chernihiv.
This episode contains descriptions violence and horrors.
Please use your descrection before listening.
An incredible moment by moment account of 24/2, February 24th. Bogdan awoke to bombs falling. He first attended to getting his family out of Kyiv which was a nightmare adventure. Then he turned the national radio station, of which he is the General Manager, into Radio National Resistance from an undisclosed location. Of all the interviews I have done the is the most exciting and hair-raising. Enjoy!
This episode contains segments of three interviews. It begins with Roman Davydov, the Programming Director and Voice of Kraina FM on why it is imperative that Ukraine wins the war.
Section two is with Dr. Stanislav Onyshchuk, the creator and chief of First Volunteer Surgical Hospital of Western Ukraine. How he created the hospital where all doctors, nurses, and staff are volunteers and no payment is accepted for services during the war.
Finally a talk with Colonel Andrew Milburn, a US Marine working in Ukraine on the front with Special Ops and the Ministry of Defense. Why are all of the donations to NGOs not getting to where they need to be?