All articles
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Two-Thirds of Ukraine’s Vineyards Are in Odesa Oblast: Wine Regions and Geographical Indications
Ukraine's vineyards covered 27,000 hectares in 2024, with about two-thirds in Odesa Oblast. This article looks, through statistics, legislation, and the intellectual-property office's register, at the Shabo settlement founded by Swiss settlers in the 19th century, the new wine law that took effect in January 2026, and the six wine geographical indications registered since 2023.
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A ₴187 Million Budget: The Animated Film Mavka and the Studio Behind It
The animated film Mavka. The Forest Song, based on Lesia Ukrainka's play, was selected in a 2016 state competition and released in Ukraine in March 2023. This article traces the timeline from conception to release, the budget and state funding, what exactly the State Film Agency's claim of “the highest box office since independence” is being compared against, its release abroad, and the projects that followed, drawing on the production company's and the state's own announcements.
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The Girl Who Freed 700 Cossacks: the Epic Songs Called Dumy
The dumy, Ukraine's epic songs, have no fixed verse form and were performed as recitation. This article reads the plots of "Marusia Bohuslavka," about a girl who freed captive Cossacks, and "Oleksii Popovych," who confesses his sins in a storm on the Black Sea, from an original 1920 text, and traces their history from the earliest record to a 1908 recording, following the encyclopedias.
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The Quay Belongs to the State, Cargo Handling to the Companies: Ukraine’s Ports and Concessions
In Ukraine, a port's quays and waters belong to the state, managed by the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, established in 2013. In 2020, the first concessions were signed for the ports of Kherson and Olvia, but they were halted by the full-scale invasion. In December 2025, a tender opened for the port of Chornomorsk. This article looks at the legal framework and the state of these projects as of September 2026.
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The 1921 Songs Before Dawn: Yeroshenko, Who Wrote Fairy Tales in Japanese
In 1921, the Tokyo publisher Sobunkaku brought out two collections by the blind poet Vasyl Yeroshenko, Songs Before Dawn and The Last Sigh. This article looks, through library catalogs and encyclopedias, at the Japanese-language books from his seven years in Japan from 1914, the portraits painted by Tsune Nakamura and others, and the points where encyclopedias disagree on his birthplace and his later life.
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“Marusia” and the Kharkiv Theater: Kvitka-Osnovianenko
Stories such as “Marusia,” collected in the 1834 Little Russian Tales, are described by encyclopedias as showing that Ukrainian prose could handle serious subjects, not just comedy. Their author, Kvitka-Osnovianenko, was a landowner who also served as manager of the theater in Kharkiv. Drawing on two encyclopedias, this article covers his life and the dates of his works, and the debate over his connection to Gogol's The Government Inspector.
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The 1574 Lviv Apostol and Azbuka
Printing began on February 25, 1573 and finished on February 15, 1574. The colophon of the Apostol, a liturgical book printed in Lviv, records the printer Ivan Fedorovych's own account of his career. Together with the small primer, the Azbuka, printed the same year, this article looks at their contents, the surviving copies, and the conditions behind the claim that this is “the first printed book in Ukraine.”
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Take Your Prescription to the Pharmacy Within 4 Days: The Special Fee for Brand-Name Drugs, and Bringing Medicine From Abroad
A Japanese prescription must be taken to a pharmacy within 4 days, including the day it is issued. You can choose your own pharmacy, and showing your medication notebook can lower what you pay. From June 2026, the “special fee” for choosing an original brand-name drug that has a generic equivalent is half the price difference. If you bring prescription medicine into Japan from Ukraine or another country, the limit is a one-month supply.
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The Dimensions of the Cossack Boat “Chaika” Trace Back to a Single Book
The chaika (чайка) was the boat in which Zaporizhian Cossacks rowed out to the Black Sea. Much of what is cited for its length and crew size traces back to a book published in Rouen in 1660 by the French engineer Beauplan — a book that never actually calls the boat a "chaika." This article looks at how the boat was built, where encyclopedias' figures differ, and what has become of boats raised from the Dnipro River.
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15,000 Branches, 34,000 Lockers: The Private Delivery Company Nova Poshta
Nova Poshta, which carries parcels around Ukraine, is a private company registered in Poltava in 2001. By its own figures, it delivered 522 million items in 2025 and, at the start of 2026, had 15,817 branches and 34,186 parcel lockers. Using company announcements and legislation current as of September 2026, this article looks at how it differs from the state-owned Ukrposhta, its expansion into Europe, and its place under the 2022 postal law.