Ukrainian Spaces

S4E5

“Maidan is a place of freedom.”

Val and Marichka met in Kyiv to record a live episode from Maidan Square, where the Revolution of Dignity happened 10 years before. Listen to us walk around familiar streets and remember how it all started and what we were doing and feeling at the time. Through their eyes and memories, we go back to the events that shaped a new generation of Ukrainian freedom fighters.

DISCLAIMER: This is a publ...

S4E4

“There is no free Ukraine without free Qırım.”

When Russia invaded and annexed Crimea (or Qırım, an indigenous name) in 2014, the lives of all Ukrainians changed in irrevocable ways, but none more so than Crimean Tatars. Our season would be incomplete without an episode on Qırım, and the story of Crimea can only be told by those it truly belongs to. That’s why we invited Lina, a Crimean Tatar woman and activist, to talk to her...

S4E3

Before 2004, Ukraine pulsed with a vibrant cultural awakening. Following decades of Soviet suppression, Ukrainian language, music, art, and identity blossomed in a hard-won space. But this renaissance wasn't without its challenges. In this episode, we explore the diverse memories of Ukrainians navigating this crucial period:

• Marichka recalls the Orange Revolution through the eyes of a child, witnessing her mother'...

S4E2

On August 24th, 1991, Ukraine celebrated a moment etched in history: its independence from the Soviet Union. It was a culmination of centuries of struggle for freedom, a renewal of a spirit that had been suppressed for too long.

This episode of Ukrainian Spaces delves into the complex story of Ukraine's regained independence. We hear personal reflections from the hosts, exploring how their families and communities experien...

S4E1

For many Ukrainians born after 1986, Chornobyl wasn't just a history lesson. It was a silent shadow cast over their lives. This episode delves into the personal stories of three Ukrainians grappling with the legacy of the world's worst nuclear disaster. From childhood memories of dosimeters and secret evacuations to the lingering distrust of authority and the ongoing environmental impact, we explore how Chornobyl conti...

S4E0

What made four total strangers connect in those first few paralysing months of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine?  This season, Ukrainian Spaces embarks on a personal odyssey through defining moments in Ukrainian history with Val, Maksym, Stas and Marichka. From the haunting aftermath of Chernobyl to the spirit of resistance ignited by the Maidan Revolution, we explore how the past shapes the present and what unites us as Ukr...

podcast premiere episode: a jewish-ukrainian president and a korean-ukrainian governor emerge as key leaders in the ukrainian liberation war. perfect timing to decolonize your views about what it means to be a ukrainian. spoiler: it has nothing to do with ethnicity, race, or language. our featured ukrainian is oleksandr shyn, a civil society diplomat and activist

SUPPORT: #UkrainianSpaces is a 100% independent, volunteer and listen...

From victim-blaming and thinking that Russia is the language of smarter people to advocating against arming Ukraine. In our third bonus episode, available exclusively to our Patreon family, the #UkrainianSpaces team is bringing you a cringe-fest full of embarrassing things we said and thought about Ukraine and Ukrainianness. Be patient with us. One can measure the supremacy of a colonial empire in the number of lands it conquered a...

Misunderstood, ridiculed, or cast out. The relations between Ukrainians at home and the Ukrainian diaspora have often been rocky. It took another genocide and powerful soul-searching to finally bring them together - like never before. The 44-million family has finally merged into the 66-million one.

A while ago, we started treating ⁠our Patreon family⁠ with exclusive #UkrainianSpaces bonus episodes during which our team (Valeriia, ...

Ukrainians often mention that the ongoing genocide did not start in 2022 but rather has been a slow-burning event since the 2014 Maidan Revolution. Everything that has happened since then is about Russia punishing Ukraine for wanting to be free. If the world did understand the revolution and heard Ukrainians 9 years ago, then maybe we wouldn't be dealing with this catastrophe today. 

A while ago, we started treating our Patreon...

DISCLAIMER. This is a public version of the podcast. Our Patreon family⁠⁠ gets the episodes much earlier, packaged with lots of bonus and backstage content. 

s3e9 (season finale): The triumph of colonialism is not just about the size of the conquered lands or looted wealth. It is about the success of identity confusion among the colonized people. People who do not know who they are, do not speak their own language, who look down on...

DISCLAIMER. This is a public version of the podcast. Our Patreon family⁠⁠ gets the episodes much earlier, packaged with lots of bonus and backstage content. 

s3e8: Whenever you are in a museum and see an artist being credited as Russian or mentioned as being born in Russia — there is a massive chance that they are not. Malevych, Repin, Ekster. Many Ukrainian artists are still mislabeled as 'Russian' in most foreign museums,...

DISCLAIMER. This is a public version of the podcast. Our ⁠⁠Patreon family⁠⁠ gets the episodes much earlier, packaged with lots of bonus and backstage content. 

s3e7: The Crimea region in southern Ukraine (or Qirim, as local indigenous people call it) has been a centerpiece for russian imperial propaganda for centuries. You steal a land, cleanse it from the entire indigenous population, replace locals with settler colonists, rename ...

DISCLAIMER. This is a public version of the podcast. Our ⁠Patreon family⁠ gets the episodes much earlier, packaged with lots of bonus and backstage content. 

s3e6: Celebrated by some but used by others as an excuse to deny Ukrainians solidarity or even justify their mass murder. The topic of Ukrainian nationalism is divisive but, above all — profoundly confusing and unclear. That's why we called for help from the person who mad...

DISCLAIMER. This is a public version of the podcast. Our ⁠Patreon family⁠ gets the episodes much earlier, packaged with lots of bonus and backstage content. 

s3e5: 'My mother tongue tastes like ashes. Things scorched by enemy fire, then soaked with rain, touched with rot, smelling of death. I felt the taste of my mother tongue most acutely while driving through Borodianka, Bucha, and Irpin two months after these Ukrainian towns...

DISCLAIMER. This is a public version of the podcast. Our ⁠Patreon family⁠ gets the episodes much earlier, packaged with lots of bonus and backstage content. 

s3e4: During the latest mass pro-democracy protests in Sakartvelo-Georgia, you could see Ukrainian flags and hear 'Slava Ukraïni' everywhere. Why does Ukraine mean so much for Kartvelians-Georgians? This small Eastern European nation doesn't capture as many global ...

DISCLAIMER. This is a public version of the podcast. Our ⁠Patreon family⁠ gets these episodes much earlier, packaged with lots of bonus and backstage content. 

s3e3: 'There is no future for Ukrainian Jews if they want to go together with the Russian culture,' a Ukrainian Jewish activist ⁠Maria Gershova⁠ tells us. There's a massive identity evolution that most Ukrainians are going through amid this genocide. But also aff...

s3e2: thanks to our generous Patreon family, #UkrainianSpaces is back for season three. We felt big decolonization energy and tried something completely new - a live-audience show. This is part two of our podcast episode recorded in late February in Warsaw during our sold-out event featuring brilliant Ukrainians like:

• Mariam Naiem, a prominent Ukrainian artist and researcher working on mainstreaming global understanding of th...

s3e1: Thanks to our generous Patreon family, #UkrainianSpaces is back for season three. For this one, we feel big decolonization energy and tried something completely new - a live-audience show. Recorded in late February in Warsaw, a sold-out event featured brilliant Ukrainians like:

• Mariam Naiem, a prominent Ukrainian artist and researcher working on mainstreaming global understanding of the colonial and racial aspects of Ru...