FAQ-U: Ukraine Explained Свідомі

Episode Summary
The perception of the contemporary Russian state begins with the fundamental misconception that the Russian Empire has ceased to exist. In fact, it is fully thriving today, simply under a new name - the Russian Federation. The Soviet Union was considered a state of equality and fraternity. The Russian Federation is a democratic country. But it has always been an empire that steals the history and culture of its colonies. 

Why don't people in the West still identify this large, powerful country as a so-called superior nation that conquered and committed genocide on thousands of people, as other empires in Europe did? Moreover, the Russian Federation/Empire is still doing this today against Ukrainians. How and who created this myth of a great empire, and was Ukraine ever a colony? 

The guest of today's episode is Mykola Riabchuk, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. He will tell us how Russia has become the state it is today.

Learn More

Who created the label about Great Patriotic War

Russian Propaganda in Africa: Background and Consequences


Further Reading
Follow Yulia on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Read more about Ukraine and the world on Svidomi Media’s Instagram, and support Svidomi's work by joining Svidomi’s Readers Community!

Literature, recommended by Mykola Riabchuk:
https://www.cidob.org/en/publications/publication_series/notes_internacionals/288/war_in_ukraine_peace_talking_versus_peace_making
https://lisd.princeton.edu/publications/rallying-around-flag-war-challenges-and-civic-mobilization-ukraine
https://en.desk-russie.eu/2023/05/27/the-toxic-spell-of-imperial-knowledge.html
https://www.raamoprusland.nl/auteurs/20-mykola-riabchuk
Ewa Thоmpsоn: https://www.amazon.com/Imperial-Knowledge-Literature-Colonialism-Contributions/dp/0313313113
Serhii Phohii: https://www.amazon.com.be/-/en/Serhii-Plokhy/dp/0241633524 https://www.amazon.com.be/-/en/Plokhy-Serhii/dp/0141980613
Timothy Snyder: https://snyder.substack.com/

Want to Collaborate?
If you have ideas for collaboration, ask Svidomi’s podcast producer at olha.kruhlii@svidomi.in.ua
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode Summary

Today, Yulia addresses some of the most popular misinformation circulating on the world wide web in the form of a true FAQ, with bite-sized rebuttals to some of the most ill-informed Ukraine-related tweets the Internet has to offer. 

Learn More
Read more about Russia's War Crimes at Svidomi Media's Website:

More than 50 Russian servicemen sentenced for war crimes in Ukraine

During 500 days of full-scale war, Russia committed 94,000 war crimes

Ukraine's official website for monitoring war crimes


Support Our Work and All Things Ukraine
Follow Yulia on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Read more about Ukraine and the world on Svidomi Media’s Instagram, and support Svidomi's work by joining Svidomi’s Readers Community!

Want to Collaborate?
If you have ideas for collaboration, ask Svidomi’s Head of Public Relations at olha.kruhlii@svidomi.in.ua.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode Summary
You've probably heard of the one of the most elite brigades of the National Guard of Ukraine. Maybe you've heard of their bravery, or maybe you've seen the fear they inspire in the russian armed forces. Maybe you've heard the russian propaganda about them.

The guest of today's episode, Vladyslav Zhaivoronok, callsign Wikipedia, of the former Azov Regiment (now Azov Assault Brigade), is a serviceman of the National Guard of Ukraine, a Mariupol defender, an Azovstal defender, and formerly a Russian POW. 

We're going to do our episode a little bit differently. Instead of debunking fakes, we are going to introduce you to an average guy who decided to quit his job and join Azov. And hopefully, you can make your own conclusions from there.

Learn More
Read more about Azov at Svidomi Media's Website:

How russian Propaganda Discredited the Defenders of Mariupol

The Most Dangerous Thought Is That russia Can Change


Further Reading
Follow Yulia on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Read more about Ukraine and the world on Svidomi Media’s Instagram, and support Svidomi's work by joining Svidomi’s Readers Community!

Want to Collaborate?
If you have ideas for collaboration, ask Svidomi’s Head of Public Relations at olha.kruhlii@svidomi.in.ua

Special Thank You
Special thanks to Matt Christensen for providing the English voiceover! Follow him on social media at @mattchristensonvo.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode Summary
You've already heard of the events of February 20, 2014: a large group of unmarked soldiers known as “little green men” entered Crimea and occupied it by force. Although they presented themselves as a neutral militia, they were, in fact, russian armed forces, there to annex the peninsula to the “fatherland." They then oversaw an illegal and unconstitutional referendum with the intent to falsify proof that Crimea was eager to join russia.

But russian forces didn’t just show up in Crimea in 2014. The first “separatist” movement under russian direction occurred as early as 1994, three years after Ukraine proclaimed independence. The groundwork to russify the population started then and there. 2014 wasn’t the first attempt at annexation either. In 2003, russia tested the waters with the conflict at Tuzla Island, largely believed to be the beginning of the end of “peaceful” attempts to leave Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty intact.

Today, Yulia speaks with Pavlo Artemyshyn, Ph.D., lecturer of Ukrainian History at the I. Krypiakevych Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. They walk us through russia's centuries-long history of occupation on the Crimean Peninsula. 

Learn More
Follow Yulia on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

Read more about Ukraine and the world on Svidomi Media’s Instagram, and support Svidomi's work by joining Svidomi’s Readers Community!

Want to Collaborate?
If you have ideas for collaboration, ask Svidomi’s Head of Public Relations at olha.kruhlii@svidomi.in.ua
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode Summary
russian propaganda spreads the false narrative that Crimea has belonged to russia for most of its existence. Their propaganda asserts its indigenous people, the Qırımtatarlar — more commonly known as the Qirimli — have always been a small part of the Crimean population and have lived with ethnic russians.
The truth is much more grim: russia's attempted to wipe them off the map over the past three centuries. Due to their resilience, the Qırımtatarlar are not only alive, but are fighting for their homeland both on the peninsula and along the larger front as part of the Ukrainian Army.
Yulia and Alim Aliev, Deputy Director General of the Institute of Ukraine, member of PEN Ukraine and founder of the Crimean Fig literary project, discuss one of the most disputed peninsulas in the world — Qirim (or Krym in Ukrainian). Whom does it really belong to? Was it really originally russian land? What happened there between 1918 and 2014, when it became known worldwide (again) after the russian occupation?
Episode Glossary

The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People (Crimean Tatar: Qırımtatar Milliy Meclisi) is the single highest executive-representative body of the Crimean Tatars between sessions of the Qurultay of the Crimean Tatar People. The Mejlis is a member institution of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience.

The song heard in the episode is Yosmam by Jamala (Dzhamala)

Learn More
Learn more about the Qırımtatarlar and Crimean Tartars.


Read the story of Alim's family's deportation on Svidomi Media's website.


Take the Udemy course titled Crimea: History and People



Read Blood of Others: Stalin's Crimea Atrocity and the Poetics of Solidarity by Rory Finnin


Watch Khaytarma, a movie about Stalin's crimes against the Crimean Tatars on May 18, 1944


Watch Homeward, an award-winning film about a Crimean Tatar family that returns to Qirim.


Listen to the album Qirim by Crimean Tatar composer Jamala (Dzhamala)


Follow Asan Isenadzhyiev, paramedic, Crimean Tatar, and Azovstal Defender on Instagram


Follow the Deputy Head of Prosecutor General's Office of Sevastopol Nariman Suleymanov on Facebook


Support Our Work and All Things Ukraine
Follow Yulia on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Read more about Ukraine and the world on Svidomi Media’s Instagram, and support Svidomi's work by joining Svidomi’s Readers Community!

Want To Collaborate?
If you have ideas for collaboration, ask Svidomi’s Head of Public Relations at olha.kruhlii@svidomi.in.ua
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode Summary
In 2014, Western media took a liking to frequent reporting on what they have deemed to be the "Ukrainian conflict," labeling the paid-by-russia militia and their russian troops as "separatists." russia created the perception in the West that Ukraine was persecuting the culture and identity of an independent group of people in the Donbas. Perception in hand, russia spun the narrative that this group of people wanted to cease being Ukrainian and form their own sub-republics adjacent to Mother russia.

Yulia and Olya discuss what really happened in Donetsk in 2014. Olya, a 16-year-old in 2014, was born and raised in the city of Donetsk, capital of Donetsk Oblast. Were there really pro-Russian crowds yearning to separate from Ukraine, so much so that they decided to create their own independent republics?

Episode Glossary

External independent evaluation or external independent testing (EIT, external testing, ET): the examination for admission to universities in Ukraine.

Izolyatsia: factory and art centre used as a prison in Donetsk City, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. Created after the city's capture in 2014 by russian armed forces.


Learn More
Follow Olya on Instagram and TikTok


Support Our Work and All Things Ukraine
Follow Yulia on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Read more about Ukraine and the world on Svidomi Media’s Instagram, and support Svidomi's work by joining Svidomi’s Readers Community!

Want to Collaborate?
If you have ideas for collaboration, ask Svidomi’s Head of Public Relations at olha.kruhlii@svidomi.in.ua
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices