In an interview with journalist Olena Tregub, political scientist Andreas Umland argues that Ukrainian integration into the European mainstream is of crucial importance, both for Ukraine and the EU. In his view, alignment with Europe should become Ukraine’s top priority.
Ukraine is known as the breadbasket of Europe, but something very strange is going on in the grain market, writes Anna Babinets. A hitherto unknown company with dubious connections has been appointed state trading agent, the farmers and traders are being badly hit, and there is no prospect of clar
Twenty-five years after the Chernobyl disaster, Barys Piatrovich recalls the tension of unknowing that gripped him and those around him during the days that followed. Today, barely any of the Chernobyl evacuees are still alive. Spread throughout the country, they died alone and unnoticed, statisti
Ukrainian identity has historically been defined in opposition to Russia, but an anti-Russian agenda is unable to bind together a state with a large ethnic Russian population. With the Yanukovych administration now taking a neo-Stalinist approach to history and education, airbrushing out nationali
It is clear Viktor Yanukovych's recent moves against his predecessor Leonid Kuchma were driven by not by justice, but a mixture of revenge, intimidation and diversion. The Ukrainian President may well discover that his ulterior strategies are flawed, and that he is simply playing into the hands of
The re-opening of the investigation into the 2000 murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze is motivated more by President Yanukovych’s wish to cut a positive figure in the West and solve domestic problems than by a desire for justice. Ordinary Ukrainians, meanwhile, are more likely to regard it as pa
Georgii Gongadze, inconvenient Ukrainian journalist, died in horrible circumstance nearly 11 years ago. His murderers may be behind bars, but who gave the order for his killing? Ordinary Ukrainians know – it was (then) President Leonid Kuchma. Despite a new case being opened against him, Valery Ka
The fate of the popular insurgencies in Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine and elsewhere in the early-mid 2000s could offer guidance or warning to the middle-east uprising of 2011 - and to western states, says Vicken Cheterian.
Having spent six years preparing for a lucrative deal supplying arms to Iraq, Ukraine seems to be about to breach the first part of the contract. Anna Babinets suspects external forces may be at play...
President Yanukovych has awakened the spirit of nationalism in Ukraine, writes Roman Kabachiy. In all probability, this was a deliberate operation, executed to allow the “guarantor of the nation” to triumphantly rid his countrymen of radical nationalism.
Ukrainian politics has until recently been divided between two camps: the pro-Western democrats (recently represented by the "Orange" parties) and the pro-Russian anti-liberals (recently dominated by the Party of Regions). Now radical nationalists are gaining political strength. Will they manage t
Subsidised articles and broadcasts spin the official line and the erosion of media freedom is gathering speed in Ukraine. President Yanukovych may ‘order his ministers to look into’ the situation, but they’re all hand in glove, laments Iryna Kolodiychyk
