By now the world is well aware of the cold snap that’s descended upon Europe and swallowed it up. Eastern Europe has been hit particularly hard. More than 100 people in Ukraine alone have died in the past 10 days, after temperatures dropped well below zero. Some died in hospitals from hypothermia, but most simply [...]
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A ‘stiliaga’ – the Soviet Union hipster of the 1940s and 50s. I came across two very interesting articles this week pertaining to elements of Ukraine’s past and present culture. The first, “A foreign affair: On the great Ukrainian bride hunt“, published in Harper’s Magazine, follows a man who goes undercover to learn more about [...]
Too cool for school. I mean that quite literally. With the temperature hovering around -24 degrees Celsius (-10 degrees Fahrenheit) this morning, most schools cancelled lessons all together. My school, however, thought they’d give it a shot and see how many students would show up. In my first lesson of the day, usually a rowdy [...]
“Flora of Ukraine” by Interesni Kazki, The Wynwood Walls Project, Miami, 2011. While I’ve never considered myself to an expert on the subject of graffiti art, or even a huge fan of it for that matter, I’ve been fascinated with the Ukrainian graffiti art duo Interesni Kazki (Interesting Fairytales) since I stumbled upon their work on [...]
If there’s something Ukrainians born in the U.S.S.R. pride themselves on more than their mosaics, it’s their cosmonauts. So I wasn’t so shocked during a visit to Konstantinovka to find the sides of bloc apartments along aptly named Cosmonaut Blvd. adorned with mosaic images of Soviet cosmonauts, including the renowned Yury Gagarin – the first human [...]
In Ukraine, sometimes arriving to your flat in one piece is the ultimate survival. I’ve dabbled in off-roading, tried my hand at cliff jumping and grew up attempting an array of precarious tricks behind a speed boat on multiple apparatuses. But none of these things have raised my anxiety level and forced me to clench [...]
Nescafe 3 in 1 TURBO, for when you need a little something extra. Before March of 2010 I’d never drunk instant coffee, never even had a taste. Sure, I’d had the cheap stuff. Folgers was a mainstay in my suburban childhood home. The garage was lined with the empty cans. My father used them to [...]
My uncle on a train from Kiev to Donetsk after our excursion of the Chernobyl exclusion zone in June 2011. Besides being an affordable and comfortable alternative to buses and planes, trains are a great way to travel in Ukraine. Routes traverse the country in all directions – and often. The landscapes passing outside the [...]
Crossing of the Dnieper. (Переправа через Днепр). Political commissar. Stalingrad. (Политрук. Сталинград.) Monument to the civilians killed by the Nazis. Kiev Region. (Памятник мирным жителям убитым фашистами. Киевская область.) The photographer, Arkady Shaykhet. Born September 9, 1898, in Nikolayev, Ukraine, Arkady Shaykhet grew up to be one of the most famous Soviet photojournalists and photographers [...]
I was recently contacted by Matador Network to put together a photo essay that represented the eastern Ukrainian region that I’ve called home for the past two years. Beautiful rubble of rural Ukraine was the result. And while you’ve seen many of the 20 photos here on The Borderland Chronicles, there might just be a [...]
I finally got my hands on a copy of The Other Chelsea – A story from Donetsk, a documentary film by German director Jakob Preuss. Having lived in the Donbass region – where the film is set – for the past two years, I found it to be a very accurate and fair depiction of [...]
The Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported this week on a project that will bring new and innovative technologies to secondary schools throughout Ukraine. The Open World project, which Ukraine officially rolled out yesterday, will be implemented in 704 schools around the country, including schools in rural areas. The Interfax-Ukraine story lacks significant details regarding what exactly [...]
In Ukraine, apparently, splashing blue paint across a billboard of the president could result in jail time. Ukrainian police are looking for those responsible for defacing billboards in Kiev, Lvov, Rivne and Zaparozhia of President Viktor Yanukovich. Earlier this week, the billboards were found with blue paint splattered across the face of the president. Authorities [...]
The latest news in what has seemingly turned into an annual battle over gas in Eastern Europe is Ukraine’s desire to cut the amount it imports from Russia in half, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko has said that in 2012 his country will reduce the amount of natural gas [...]
It’s been five days since Ukraine celebrated Christmas on January 7, but I thought this story in The Local East Village, an NYU Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute project in collaboration with the New York Times, was interesting enough to post here. The story about a small Ukrainian shop in the New York City area [...]
St. Michael’s Monastery, Kiev. Svyatogorsk Monastery, Svytogorsk. St. Sofia Cathedral, Kiev. St. Sofia Cathedral from the bell tower, Kiev. St. Andrew’s Church, Kiev. St. Andrew’s Church, Kiev. Church of St. John the Baptist, Lvov. Kiev Pechersk Lavra. (Photo by BriAnne Wills) St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, Artemovsk.
This fascinating short documentary by Maisie Crow explores the lives of survivors of the Chernobyl disaster and the workers still dismantling the plant today, in the city of Slavutych.
We’d heard about the beauty in western Ukraine, but had never seen it for ourselves. A place more reminiscent of European cities like Krakow and Prague than of Kiev and Kharkov. It wasn’t only foreigners, but Ukrainians, too, who crooned its praises, proud to call it a part of their country. So over Christmas, my [...]
Kiev’s Central Station on Christmas Eve, moments before my girlfriend and I boarded our train to Lviv. A kiosk at Lviv’s holiday market sells handicrafts and souvenirs. Christmas sparklers. Lviv as seen from the bell tower in Rynok Square. The Black House, located on Rynok Square, was built for Italian tax-collector Tomaso Alberti in 1577. Today [...]
To all our friends and family around the world, we wish you all the best this holiday season. Now we’re off to Lviv to celebrate! Cheers!
A monument for those who died in the Chernobyl disaster stands near the nuclear power plant’s reactor No. 4. On April 26, 1986, an explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive material into the atmosphere, which spread across the western USSR and Europe. I spent nearly two hours this afternoon going through the incredible [...]
A Ukrainian friend and I like to drink beer together and share stories, humorous anecdotes and jokes about our respective cultures. Tonight he told me a good one. And while this particular anecdote isn’t entirely accurate (I’ve never felt unsafe walking around my eastern Ukrainian city in my nearly two years here), there’s always a [...]
I came across this poster today and thought it was interesting for a couple of reasons. It was done by the well-known Soviet artist A. A. Kokorekin in 1943. He created a number of propaganda posters in the 1940s, during and after the Great Patriotic War (World War II), most of which I’ve seen. But [...]
The big news in Ukraine today was the dismissal of charges against former President Leonid Kuchma that linked him to the 2000 murder of online investigative journalist Georgiy Gongadze. From The Wall Street Journal: State prosecutors charged the former president in March of abuse of office for giving orders that led to the gruesome slaying. [...]
Ukraine’s only rival in the bid for EuroBasket 2015 withdrew today, citing concerns of the bidding process. The country’s only competition – a joint bid by France, Germany, Italy and Croatia – said in a joint statement today posted on the Web site of the France Basketball Federation that the decision was made “because of [...]
Girlfriend in Krakow, relieved to have made it out of Ukraine without any problems. Heavy-eyed and over-tired from just three hours of poor sleep, we spent the 30 minute taxi ride reassuring each other everything would be fine, that despite my girlfriend’s multiple entries into Ukraine and living here for five months now customs officers [...]
Passengers board and de-board a train in Artemovsk. Most of the engines and wagons in Ukraine are decades old and slow. Ukraine Vice-Premier and Infrastructure Minister Borys Kolesnikov said Tuesday that the first “Ukrainian Express” high-speed Hyundai trains will begin running May 15, 2012, with tickets available May 1, news agency Interfax-Ukraine reported. The announcement [...]
aaaa The cabinets in my language teacher’s Kiev apartment, covered in Russian language materials. I was recently asked by Matador Abroad to write two language pieces for travelers and others interested in learning Russian. The first piece, published today, is 8 essential tips for learning Russian. An excerpt: 4. Keep a pocket notebook and pen [...]
In so many words, Ukraine’s first president said last weekend that the conviction and imprisonment of former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko may just come back to bite Yanukovich’s government in the ass. Speaking with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Dec. 3, Leonid Kravchuk said that putting Tymoshenko behind bars has only galvanized the opposition. [...]
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich in Donetsk, Sept. 2011. United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed concern Tuesday over Russia’s parliamentary election that she said was rigged. Speaking at ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Vilnius, Lithuania, Clinton criticized Russia’s recent State Duma elections [...]
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars’ “dialogue” series this week discussed all things Ukraine. Guests Blair Ruble, director of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, and Mark Medish, a former senior staff member for the National Security Council, covered economics, politics, corruption and more with host John Milewski. As Medish put it, Ukraine’s still [...]
Corruption persists in many countries around the world, according to Transparency International’s 2011 Corruption Perception Index. “This year we have seen corruption on protestors’ banners be they rich or poor. Whether in a Europe hit by debt crisis or an Arab world starting a new political era, leaders must heed the demands for better government,” [...]
Students at the Red Village School pose with their World AIDS Day poster, 2010. Today is World AIDS Day. And while I didn’t spend the afternoon teaching lessons to students about HIV/AIDS in Ukraine like I did last year, I did have some conversations about the situation here with some friends and colleagues. In case [...]
Skaters ride at the foot of a monument of revolutionary hero Slava in a city park. “Salute” Restaurant and hotel in Kiev’s Pechersk neighborhood. Inside Kiev’s Golden Gate Metro Station. Flowers sit at the base of a religious icon at a church building near Kiev Pechersk Lavra. A man practices a form of spiritual relaxation [...]
aaaa A hallway inside one of Pripyat’s secondary schools. The photograph was taken on the last tour, June 22, 2011. It was once a Soviet city of the future, a community of new apartment complexes, community centers, hotels and restaurants. There was even a shiny, new amusement park built to celebrate its future. But on [...]
Ukrainian police stand guard outside a Kiev courthouse during the trial of ex-Premier Yulia Tymoshenko in October. A protester is reported to have died in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk during a police raid of a tent city on Nov. 27. Retired miner Hennadiy Konoplyov, 70, reportedly collapsed of a heart attack and died [...]
Josef Stalin holding his daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva Stalin, 1935. The only daughter of Josef Stalin, the Soviet leader who imprisoned thousands and was responsible for the Ukrainian famines of the early 1930s that killed millions, passed away last week at her home in Wisconsin. More surprising than Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva (later she would be [...]
Another holiday abroad, and more specifically another Thanksgiving. This year, however, I was thankful to be spending it with my girlfriend, who’s now living in Kiev. We had to settle for chicken instead of turkey, but mulled wine, a good white wine, plenty of garlic mashed potatoes and a killer apple, red onion and blue [...]
As if we needed another reason to call a dog “man’s best friend.” One handy pooch in Ukraine can fetch bottles of vodka for its owner. In a YouTube video, the dog’s owner, a man dressed in fatigues, gives the dog a treat before it bounds off to a vehicle and returns seconds later with [...]
Mattison hops across the railroad tracks in Artemovsk. The reflection of an apartment building on the edge of town. Mattison lurking in the bushes along the river’s edge. A pile of leaves burns in the middle of a village road in Artemovsk. Colorful patterns and decorations adorn the homes of Ukrainians. Artemovsk’s old wooden churches [...]
You’d think this to be the beginning of a joke your pal might tell you over happy hour, “So Darth Vader walks into the mayor’s office…” But In Odessa, Ukraine this week Darth Vader did walk into the mayor’s office to claim a seaside land plot for himself and his, er, spaceship, Reuters reported today. [...]
aaaaa A stray dog roams the street outside my apartment in Artemovsk, Ukraine. Photo by BriAnne Wills. A teacher I work with told me a story this morning. A young student was waiting for her mother to pick her up from school. While waiting for her mother to arrive, she noticed a group of men [...]
BriAnne sips a cappuccino at the Sky Art Cafe in Kiev. I spent this past weekend in Kiev, visiting my girlfriend. On Sunday we took a stroll through the city center. Remembering that a new exhibition had just opened at the Pinchuk Art Centre, we decided to check it out. There always seems to be [...]
Andriyivs’kyi uzviz, or Andrew’s Descent, might be Kiev’s most famous and popular street after Khreschatik. Colorful and lively, the street, about a half-mile in length and made of laid cobblestones, stretches from the city’s Upper Hill neighborhood to the old Podil district and Kontraktova Square. Descending the street you can see the 18th century baroque St. [...]
A shop in the eastern Ukrainian mining city of Torez. Two men hauling leaves down a dirt road in Torez. Aleksey and Nikolai crossing a footbridge in Torez.
Recently I spent time with a group of miners in the eastern Ukrainian town of Torez. It’s there, a couple hundred yards off the road and through the woods, that these men, young and old, work in an illegal mine, or kopanka, they call “The Hole” in order to make ends meat. A story I’m [...]
So you like stories about contract killers? Me too. This happened a couple of weeks ago, but I thought it was worth mentioning because of the fact that it involved a Russian assassin, Kalashnikovs, grenades and a serious shootout. Better yet, it was caught on video. Here’s the story, from the Kyiv Post: Police storm criminal hideout in [...]
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