4 Resources That Let You Know More About Ukraine

The information about Ukraine is easy to find. Google, Wikipedia, YouTube, and Quora are ready to deliver it to you in the blink of an eye. But it is much better to have at least several reliable resources by hand, the ones that are constantly focused on Ukrainian topics and created by Ukrainians. Such projects really exist. Here’s a brief overview of resources that allow you to learn more about Ukraine.

InsightUA

Ukrainian Institute, the government institution, that promotes Ukraine abroad, did a great job creating this website. It allows foreign audiences to learn more about Ukrainian culture. You can easily find what you are interested in using the search panel in the upper right corner or choosing one of the topics: performance, music, literature, film, and visual art. Also, the website contains such topics as Crimea and the Russian war against Ukraine. The section Discover Ukraine Online is a catalog that allows you to familiarize yourself with various art projects created by Ukrainians like We Are Crimea, National Communities During the War: Stories, Culture Fights Back: Ukrainian Artists at War, etc.

The Gaze

If you want to learn more not only about Ukraine but about Eastern Europe as well, visit The Gaze. This media is powered by the financial support of the Ukrainian state budget but has an independent editorial board. Its goal is “to pierce the veil of these nations, to understand the people that call them home, to appreciate the rich tapestry of their cultures, the tantalizing opportunities for leisure and relaxation, and the crises that simmer beneath the surface” as its website states. You can find there both news and analytics, videos, and articles, dedicated to a broad range of topics — politics, economics, life, technology, and culture. And, of course, The Gaze posts and streams many materials about the Russian war against Ukraine.

Chytomo

In contrast to the projects mentioned above, Chytomo is a Ukrainian non-government media. It covers mostly literature topics about Ukrainian writers, publishers, and literary events. After the full-scale invasion, the media launched an English version of its website. So now you can read in English such articles as a review of the novel Daughter by Tamara Duda (pen name Tamara Horikha Zernia), news about Ukrainian writers shortlisted for the Angelus Award, and a review of 10 books for children by Ukrainian writers. If you are a book person, you will like this resource.

Ukrainer

“A project is brought to you by (a team of) 640 volunteers”, the main page of this website tells us. Ukrainer offers you a great opportunity to learn more about different regions of Ukraine — from West to East. Prior to the war, its volunteers organized expeditions to Ukrainian regions and later published articles, pictures, and videos about amazing places and people in Ukraine. Now they position themselves as “the platform of reliable information about events in Ukraine”. They post content about the war in Ukraine and Ukrainian history in order to educate both domestic and foreign audiences. Here you can read the memories from occupied Bucha, an article about Soviet and Russian mass deportations, and an interview with John Sweeney, a British writer and reporter who called Putin a war criminal twenty-three years ago when covering the war in Chechnya. Unfortunately, it was the time when the West looked at Russia through the rose glasses and nobody listened to him…