Vice-Rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University and former Ukrainian dissident Myroslav Marynovych shared his views on developments in Ukrainian history and memory politics. Interviewer: Kateryna Pryshchepa

Decentralization seems to be the least controversial of all the post-Maidan reforms in Ukraine. Yet it is one that has directly affected a large number of citizens.

The Lyubar unified territorial community in Zhytomyr oblast was established in October 2017 during the decentralisation reforms in Ukraine. The community is made up of the majority of the Lyubar administrative district within the Zhytomyr oblast. It includes 37 villages and the town of Lyubar itself.

Kateryna Handziuk's murder brings back memories of another politically motivated crime in Ukraine's newer history. President Poroshenko needs to try to avoid the same mistakes Kuchma made almost two decades ago.

Many of Ukraine’s judiciary reforms are starting to take effect. A new Supreme Court has been in place since last December and new commissions are vetting and retraining judges to ensure fair trials and minimise corruption. Activists who advocate reform, however, have expressed disappointment with the judiciary reform process thus far.

The judiciary reform in Ukraine, which unofficially started in 2014, has finally brought its first results. The new Supreme Court of Ukraine began functioning in December last year and the newly established higher bodies of the judiciary are now assessing the judges who will continue working in the general and appeals courts of Ukraine. However, the reforms, which began mostly out of the need to restore trust in the judiciary, have not yet managed to achieve its main goal. The judiciary continues to be one of the least trusted institutions in the country – a view that is shared by the general public and external experts.

A review of Serhii Hromenko's "#CrimeaIsOurs. History of the Russian Myth," Publisher: Himgest, Kyiv 2017.

Druzhkivka, a small industrial town in eastern Ukraine, is one of the testing grounds for the new system of schooling recently introduced in the country. The ceremony marking the beginning of the school year in a Druzhkivka school, which is now part of a wider network of base schools, was attended by Lilia Hrynevych, the education minister. It was also watched via live stream by Petro Poroshenko who, at the same time, was opening a new base school in Pokrovsks.

Druzhkivka is a small town in eastern Ukraine with a population of around 58,000. The city is the second to last railway stop on the Donbas-Kyiv route. Located just 18 kilometres from Kramatorsk, it can be easily reached by the local bus service, which is a popular way for the residents of Druzhkivka to commute. Between April and June 2014 the city was under the control of pro-Russian separatist forces. Even though tensions were not as strong as they were in the nearby Sloviansk, the town had its share of victims, with an Orthodox priest among them.

Interview with Yosyf Zisels, a former dissident, chairman of the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities (VAAD) in Ukraine and a board member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union. Interviewer: Kataryna Pryshchepa.

In Ukraine the history of Protestantism spans for centuries, marked by four major waves. The most recent one came after the collapse of the Soviet Union. As with all newcomers, however, Protestants are often faced with biased attitudes from a significant part of society. Despite this, Protestant communities have emerged as significant players in providing charity relief to war victims as well as in the politics of the post-Maidan Ukraine.

Interview with Christiaan Triebert, Bellingcat’s investigator. Interviewer: Kataryna Pryshchepa.

Interview with Oleksandr Chalyi, the former First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, State Secretary for European Integration and Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of Ukraine. Interviewer: Kateryna Pryshchepa. 

The rise in popularity of Arsen Pavlov, also known as “Motorola” is mainly due to the videos of the fights in Donbas which he filmed with a camera attached to his helmet. (Those videos have been used by Russian TV in their stories about the war in Ukraine and are still accessible on Youtube). Pavlov also clearly sought attention and liked to be followed around by the cameras and his fans. His wedding with Donbas local Olena Kolenkina was intensely covered by Russian media. Such a figure was too convenient not to be used by the Russian propaganda machine.

On July 27th around ten thousand people marched through the streets of Kyiv. Members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate from all over the country gathered in the capital to participate in a litany on St Volodymyr Hill and a procession for peace in Ukraine. Some of the pilgrims walked to Kyiv on foot from their hometowns all over Ukraine.