All articles
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A Town Planned in 1986 for Nuclear Plant Workers: Slavutych
Slavutych was established by a construction decision in October 1986, following the Chornobyl accident, as a town where the power plant's staff and their families could live. Eight Soviet republics took part in its construction, and the town is divided into 14 districts. Using materials from the city, the power plant, and the statistics service, this article traces the commute to the plant, changes in population, and the March 2022 occupation.
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A Husband’s Mother Is свекруха, a Wife’s Mother Is теща: Ukrainian Kinship Terms
Ukrainian uses different words for a husband's mother and a wife's mother, and for a husband's siblings and a wife's siblings. This article draws on the dictionary and etymological dictionary of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine to set out the terms for in-laws, for uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews, and nieces, and for кум and кума, the words that link parents and godparents through a child's baptism.
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The Danube Delta Reserve and Twenty Years Over the Bystre Canal
On the Ukrainian side of the Danube Delta, a biosphere reserve was established by presidential decree in 1998, and 302 bird species have been recorded there. When the Bystre Canal, running through the reserve, opened in 2004, Romania invoked the inquiry procedure under the Espoo Convention, and in 2006 the inquiry commission concluded that a significant adverse transboundary impact was likely. The case was closed at a meeting of the parties in December 2024.
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The Well for the Thirsty, Unreleased for 22 Years, and Ukraine’s “Poetic Cinema”
Yurii Illienko's The Well for the Thirsty, shot in 1965, was shelved over an “ideological deviation” and not released until 1987. This article covers the main works of “poetic cinema” that followed Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (released in Japan as The Fiery Horse) at the Kyiv studio, the production years that differ between encyclopedias and the archive that holds the films, how the movement was shut down in 1974, and where the term “poetic cinema” itself comes from.
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The Game Studio That Changed “Chernobyl” to “Chornobyl”: GSC and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
GSC Game World, the studio behind the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, was founded in Kyiv in 1995. The second installment was delayed repeatedly, had its title's spelling changed, and moved part of its development base to Prague before its release on November 20, 2024. This article lays out the stages of release, the figures the studio has announced, and changes in ownership, using company statements and press reports.
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From November 9 to October 27: Ukrainian Language Day and the Radio Dictation
The day marking the Ukrainian written word and language was set by presidential decree in 1997 on the feast day of the chronicler Nestor, and moved from November 9 to October 27 in 2023. It is not a public holiday. This article sets out the mechanics of the "National Unity Radio Dictation," broadcast by the public broadcaster every year since 2000 to mark the day, and the state of play for 2026.
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Even After the 10-Year Export Ban Expired, Logs Still Can’t Leave the Country: Ukraine’s Forests and Timber
In 2015, Ukraine banned the export of unprocessed timber for ten years. Since November 2025, when the ban for species other than pine expired, the same effective ban has continued through an export-permit system and a "zero quota." This article covers the forests that make up 15.9% of the country's land area, the EU arbitration that found the ban in breach, and the consolidation of 158 state forestry enterprises, through legislation and public announcements.
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Foreign Films Must Be in Ukrainian: The Laws That Have Decided Cinema’s Language
In Ukrainian cinemas, as a rule, foreign films are dubbed into Ukrainian; screenings in the original language with Ukrainian subtitles are capped at 10% of each cinema's monthly screenings. This article traces the language provisions governing film, from the 1998 Cinema Act through the 2007 Constitutional Court ruling, the 2012 language law, the 2019 State Language Act, and the 2024 English-language law.
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The Kyiv Welding Institute Born in 1934, and the All-Welded Paton Bridge
The Paton Bridge, which spans the Dnipro in Kyiv, is an all-welded bridge about 1.5 km long that opened on November 5, 1953. The bridge is named after the bridge engineer Yevhen Paton, who founded a welding research institute in 1934. This article traces the institute's history, the origins of the phrase "the world's first," the businesses that grew out of its research, and the state of a bridge now more than 70 years old.
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The Woman Who Sang Butterfly at Brescia in 1904: Solomiia Krushelnytska
Madama Butterfly premiered at Milan's La Scala in February 1904, and a revised version was staged in Brescia that May. The singer of Cio-Cio-San there was Solomiia Krushelnytska, born in a village in Habsburg-ruled Galicia. Drawing on encyclopedia accounts, this article looks at her life and at what lies behind the claim that she "saved" the opera.