Self-Determination for the Kremlin

For a quarter of a century now, Russia has the dubious distinction of being the biggest provocateur and supporter of separatist projects in the neighbouring countries, which mars its prospects.

Volodymyr Vasylenko: “Ukraine had to give up its nuclear weapons to become a sovereign state and have its independence recognized by the entire world”

The anamnesis of Ukraine’s non-nuclear status

Russian Aggression: Genesis, goals, counteraction and legal consequences

Ukraine itself must spearhead efforts to counteract Russian aggression. Only then can other countries be expected to help. Disregard for the motivation behind Russia’s policy and a failure to understand Russia’s geopolitical goals are the fundamental reasons why the Ukrainian government is so irresponsible in security issues and the West so helpless in counteracting Russia’s expansion.

The Old New Cold War

Edward Lucas: “The new Cold War has been about the use of Russian money to divide the weak of the West and also the use of the energy weapon”

A Ukrainian Foreign Legion

Does Ukraine need mercenaries in its army

The Crucial Human Resource

Behind the nice façade of a top government-level reshuffle, the new Ukrainian authorities are outrageously indiscriminate in other appointments.

The Vacuum in Luhansk Oblast

How pro-Russian forces are trying to fill the emptiness created by the fall of Yanukovych

Bloody Games

How Ukraine should tackle lustration, skeletons in the closets of its new government and tools that could help it not lose the war

Volodymyr Ohryzko: “Ukraine has the moral and legal right to restore its nuclear status”

The Ukrainian Week talks to Volodymyr Ohryzko, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2007–2009, about what Ukraine can do if the guarantors under the Budapest Memorandum it signed in 1994 in exchange for giving up its strategic nuclear weapons arsenal, the third largest in the world, fail to meet their commitments

Viktor Chumak: “Crimea can be used as a base for further intervention in south-eastern regions of Ukraine”

Viktor Chumak, MP, Head of the Parliamentary Committee for Fighting Corruption and Organized Crime and Major General of Justice, who served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and Border Service for over 20 years, talks to The Ukrainian Week about Ukraine’s defence capability, ways to localize Russian aggression and protection of Ukraine’s eastern borders

Will History Repeat for the Crimean Tatars?

Separatists exploit Kyiv’s weak stance on Crimea’s indigenous population

Mykola Melnyk: "Putin will not stop. In fact, we should expect military intervention everywhere where we see attempts to destabilize the situation"

Mykola Melnyk, ex-First Deputy Head of Military Intelligence and a founder of the National Guard, comments on Ukraine's defence capacity and efforts of the previous defence ministers to destroy the Ukrainian army

Anatoliy Hrytsenko: "Vladimir Putin is an aggressor. This is a fundamental truth"

Ex-Defence Minister Anatoliy Hrytsenko comments on Russia's aggression, Ukraine's response to it and NATO

Ukrainian Revolution: Western Perspective, Western Influence and Western Contribution

It was bitter on the one hand. The West didn’t support us… Kept waiting… Negotiating… On the other hand, what did we expect? Did we hope that Europe would immediately side with the Maidan, believe in Ukrainian civil society and press the tyrant out of power? Firstly, that is not how things are done in international politics. Secondly, European officials had every reason to be skeptical.

The Feast of Defiance

The last week, the Crimea, which had been watching the events unfolding in Kyiv with some aloofness, suddenly erupted. People took to squares with radically different slogans. Some openly stated their desire to live in Russia, while others categorically opposed separation. Against this backdrop, other, equally serious processes were taking place, potentially defining what the future authorities in the Crimea will look like

Andrew Wilson: “The West did not react adequately to the usurpation of power by Yanukovych”

Andrew Wilson is a Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and a permanent Reader in Ukrainian Studies at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), University College London. He shared his views with The Ukrainian Week on the prospects for rapid reform in Ukraine, on the inadequate reaction of the West to the usurpation of power by Viktor Yanukovych and the absence of the rule of law, both under the Orange government and under that of Yanukovych.

Opposition signs Agreement to solve crisis with Yanukovych

Opposition leaders and Viktor Yanukovych signed the Agreement to Regulate the Crisis in Ukraine at the Presidential Administration on February 21. The text has been promulgated by the President's press-service

Anti-constitutional and authoritarian regime has now resorted to large-scale war against the Ukrainian people

Public Commission to Investigate Human Rights Violations in Ukraine issues its Statement after the bloodshed of February 18

Andriy Kurkov: “I want Ukrainian culture to incorporate everything that belongs to Ukraine”

The Ukrainian Week talks with Andriy Kurkov, Ukraine’s most translated contemporary Russian-speaking author, about the essence and tempo of social changes, the Russian language and Russian presence in Ukraine.

A One-Way Ticket to the Olympics…?

Intrigue is brewing in Ukraine. Both unexpected and predictable. Will Viktor Yanukovych come full circle from the Olympics in Sochi? Will he be able to do this? And will he want to…?

A Debilitating Truce

The authorities’ “concessions” did not address any of the original causes of the mass protests, leaving the confrontation at a standstill

Ukrainian Challenge for Washington

While American leadership is waking up to the political crisis in Ukraine, experts discuss gloomy scenarios for Ukraine

The Anatomy of Power

The Ukrainian State was the impossible dream of grandparents and something the parents sacrificed their lives and comfort for. For the Ukrainian leadership, it is nothing but a temporary resource of personal wealth

Freedom or Death

Loki, the Belarussian who was killed on Hrushevskoho Street, always carried a Ukrainian flag in his pocket. Armenian Serhiy Nihoyan “never asked for anything” and was constantly on duty on the Maidan

Uncompromising: Yanukovych and the opposition

The Yanukovych regime has refused to compromise even after the deaths of several protesters, and there is no indication that any number of victims will change this

What Kind of Europe Do We Need?

At this critical moment, the European Union is tarrying unacceptably in finding ways to influence the situation in Ukraine