All articles
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The Exclusion-Zone Storage Facility That Ended Sending Spent Nuclear Fuel to Russia
Until 2021, spent fuel from three of Ukraine's nuclear power plants was shipped to Russia. It is now received by a centralized storage facility in the Chornobyl exclusion zone, which was granted an operating license in May 2026. This article covers the 2012 law, the construction history spanning the occupation, the containers from the U.S. company Holtec, and the differences from the Chornobyl NPP's ISF-2.
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A World Heritage Site of 93 Beech Forests — Its Single Largest Component Is a Forest in Ukraine
The World Heritage site bringing together European beech forests began in 2007 with 10 locations in Slovakia and Ukraine, and by September 2026 had grown to 93 locations across 18 countries. The 15 locations in Ukraine account for roughly 30% of the total area, and the largest single component is Uholka–Shyrokyi Luh in Zakarpattia Oblast. This article also traces where the phrase “largest in Europe” comes from.
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From Single-Member Districts to Proportional and Back to Mixed: Verkhovna Rada Elections, 1990–2019
The way Ukraine's 450-seat Verkhovna Rada is elected changed three times across nine elections between 1990 and 2019: single-member districts, a mix of party lists and districts, a purely proportional list system, and back to a mix. The electoral threshold moved between 4%, 3%, and 5%, and turnout fell from 70.78% to 49.24%. This article builds a timeline from the text of the electoral laws and the protocols of the Central Election Commission.
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“5-ban 25-go” or “123 Banchi”? How to Read a Japanese Address
A Japanese address is written starting from the prefecture and ends with a number after the town name. That final number works in one of two ways: a "jukyo hyoji" (residential address display) number assigned to a building, or a "chiban" land-registry number — and close to a quarter of Shinjuku Ward, along with all of Kyoto City, still uses chiban. This article also covers how postal codes are assigned and the order to use when writing an address in the Roman alphabet.
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Hutsuls, Boikos, and Lemkos: Ukrainians of the Carpathian Mountains
The Hutsuls, Boikos, and Lemkos are ethnographic groups of Ukrainians who have lived in the Carpathian Mountains. They are arranged from east to west, and the Hutsul region, with little farmland, has lived by herding. The Lemko region, the westernmost, lies mostly within today's Poland and Slovakia, and the resettlements of 1944–1947 moved many of its people to the Ukrainian lowlands and to various parts of Poland.
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3,185 Nests and “45,000 to 50,000 Pairs”: Counting Ukraine’s White Storks
The international census of the white stork began in 1934, and has been held every ten years since 1974. In the 8th census, in 2024, 3,185 nests were counted in Ukraine, and the organizing association estimated Ukraine's total breeding population at roughly 45,000 to 50,000 pairs. This article traces the difference between the counted nests and the estimate, how nest locations have changed, and stork folklore, drawing on an encyclopedia and census reports.
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Whose Words Are “the World’s Largest”? The Menorah Jewish Center in Dnipro
The Menorah Jewish community center, which opened in Dnipro in 2012, houses a synagogue, a museum, research institutes, and consulates. The community that runs it calls it "the world's largest," but no basis for the comparison is given. Using the community's own published materials and two encyclopedias, this article traces the center's origins and the history of Jews in the city once known as Katerynoslav.
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машина Takes Seven Different Forms: Case and Declension in Ukrainian Nouns
Ukrainian nouns change form into seven cases depending on their role in a sentence. This article draws on the 2019 orthography and Ukrainian-language encyclopedias to set out the names and main functions of the nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative, and vocative, the four declension types, how prepositions combine with cases, and examples where Japanese particles do not map one to one.
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Bulgarians and Gagauz Who Settled the Budjak Steppe
In southwestern Odesa Oblast, ethnic Bulgarians who moved north from below the Danube in the 19th century, and the Gagauz, Orthodox Christians who speak a Turkic language, live in concentrated communities. In the 2001 census, 60% of the residents of the former Bolhrad district were Bulgarians. In the 2020 reorganization of districts, Bulgaria's parliament and Ukraine's foreign ministry exchanged statements over how this district would be treated.
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The Old World Swallowtail Was Removed, the Bobak Marmot Was Added: The Lists in Ukraine’s Red Book
Ukraine's Red Book has gone through three editions since the first one in 1980, and the list was revised by ministerial order in 2021. That revision removed 27 animal species and 21 plant and fungus species, and added new ones such as the bobak marmot. As of September 2026 a 4th print edition could not be confirmed, and the responsible ministry changed its name in 2025 and 2026. This article also covers the penalties and compensation rules.