WorldcrunchLIVY BEREG (Left Bank) is a Ukrainian news analysis and opinion website media founded by the independent Gorshenin Institute in 2009.
Russia’s invasion pushed some 8 million Ukrainians to leave the country. While some are starting to return — for their families, education or other reasons — the total number of Ukrainians who return home depends on the duration of the war. And some demographers warn that only one-third or one half of emigrants may come back.
In the language of math or geography: two thousand kilometers and three and a half years — that’s five settlements. Bucha. Hostomel. Narovlya, Belarus. Novozybkov, Russia. Pakino, Russia. Udarnoye, Russia.
At a cultural diplomacy forum in Kyiv, Nobel laureate and human rights defender Oleksandra Matviichuk urged the world to see culture as a force for justice and freedom — and as essential to building a lasting peace.
The United States faces a lack of practical alternatives to sustaining Ukraine’s defense. With missile production lagging and diplomacy stalled, Washington is struggling to deliver the air defenses Kyiv needs to slow Russia’s advance.
Once again, there’s talk of peace in Ukraine — a lasting, just peace. But the West has all the clues it needs in 25 years of Putin’s actions, and much of Russian history.
Along with questions of a ceasefire deal with Russia come questions of when Ukraine will hold its next presidential election. While much remains uncertain, Livy Bereg considers the prospects of potential candidates — including several recognizable faces from the past.
Vladimir Putin has offered a 72-hour ceasefire to begin on May 8, but signs on the ground point instead to plans for a major assault in eastern Ukraine. A key weapon would be specialized motorcycle brigades that could evade Kyiv’s defenses.
On the one hand, the prevalence of Soviet-era T-55 tanks, golf carts, donkeys and other makeshift transport are a clear sign of Moscow’s exhaustion. On the other hand, Russia is clearly investing in a transformation of its military. It’s the real reason that Europe is mobilizing.
It is likely that there will not be a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia this year — or ever one at all. If negotiations stagnate, they could resemble the post-World War II relations between Japan and the Soviet Union: A peace treaty was never signed, and the dispute over the Kuril Islands has persisted for more than 70 years.
Ukrainians are still processing Friday’s meeting. Donald Trump speaks about Zelensky’s “cards.” It’s as if he doesn’t realize what a war is.
As Russia negotiates exclusively with the U.S., Putin aims to redraw spheres of influence, pulling former Soviet states back under Moscow’s control. All of this, paradoxically, continues to leave the fate of Ukraine as the vital issue for our times.
Father Petro Balogh recalls the later books of the Old Testament, and especially in the New Testament, where personal faithfulness and holiness do not necessarily guarantee deliverance from earthly enemies or suffering — look at the story of Jesus himself.
The release of the film Bucha by Ukrainian director Stanislav Tiunov, based on true events during the Russian invasion in spring 2022, raises questions about the ethics and exploitation of war on film. While this is not the first time a director has been accused of trying to make a blockbuster out of a tragedy, the film demonstrates the importance of taking time to reflect on such events.
Since the end of the 20th century, the idea has spread that there’s a fundamental link between energy prices and Moscow’s ability to carry out military aggression. After all, low energy prices were one of the factors behind the economic collapse of the USSR.
What should we make of Vladimir Putin’s “new rules” regarding what constitutes a nuclear aggressor and how Moscow might retaliate? A closer look, especially after another recent failed launch test of the Sarmat missile system, shows the Soviet legacy increasingly appears to be a rusting shell of its former self.
The arrest in Paris of Telegram founder Pavel Durov raises a lingering question about who actually controls the Russian messaging and social platform. Some say it’s Vladimir Putin’s most powerful (not-so) secret weapon in the global hybrid war aimed at spreading backward ideology and destabilizing the world.
Vladimir Putin threatened major escalation if Ukraine was allowed to strike into Russian territory with Western weapons. Once the West crossed that red line, the escalation did not happen. The West knows that bluffing is Putin’s favorite way of conducting foreign policy, so why does it keep playing this game?
Inside the activism of a prominent Ukrainian Protestant trying to show Republicans in the U.S. that Kyiv is the real defender of Christian values.
When the U.S. and other Western countries recently defended Israel against Iran’s drones and missiles, Ukrainians began to blame themselves for not receiving similar protection against Russia’s attacks. But the reality is very different.
Russia’s semantic war against Ukraine aims to create a discourse and future in which Ukraine never was and never will be. Ukraine — and its Western allies — must take this war as seriously as the military war.
Russians have long waged systematic and effective disinformation campaigns. Roman Vybranovskyi considers “active measures” that have been successful in the past, and what can be done to fight them today, notably in Ukraine.
After a short “honeymoon period” that followed the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, Ukrainian-Polish relations have once again entered a state of permanent crisis. Strong words against Russia at the UN by Polish Foreign Minister were appreciated, but long-term relations between Kyiv and Warsaw are bound to be more complicated.
Look back over the past two decades, and you’ll see Vladimir Putin has always been the man revealed by the Ukraine invasion, an evil and sinister dictator. The Russian leader just manages to mask it well.
Even as questions swirl about whether Zelensky will replace Valery Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, the bigger question is Ukraine’s strategy. Rather than liberating occupied territories, Ukrainian forces should be focused on destroying the Russian army. Or put another way: “It is not the big that eat the small, but the fast that eat the slow.”
Despite uncertainty over Western delivery of weapons and setbacks on the battlefield, it is crucial for Ukraine to continue fighting each and every battle, writes Viktor Kevlyuk in Livy Bereg, as every conquered inch of terrain can tip the war’s balance.
Houthi rebels are now blocking the strategic Red Sea, by striking or seizing merchant ships, while also attempting to launch rockets into Israeli territory. This has sparked a strong response from the U.S and Britain, escalating a situation that could impact global security in major ways, with competing powers ready to cash in.
After two months of war, experts in Ukraine are starting to consider what plan could work to restore the local infrastructure and economy, looking at the experience of Germany, Japan and Italy — countries that went down in history for their economic miracles after being destroyed by war.
Ukraine’s Western allies seem to be sticking to a strategy of giving the country just enough weapons to defend itself, but not enough to win.
Right-wing movements have surged in Europe, and fascism is on the ascendancy across disparate regions of the world. As populist leaders gain power, the specter of authoritarianism looms large.
Russia is largely discrediting itself as a viable leader in diplomacy after siding so plainly with Hamas.
Oleksandr Solonko, a military trooper and aerial scout, played an active role in combat operations in Bakhmut and later on the Zaporizhzhia front near Robotyne, where Ukraine is securing its breach of Russian defenses.
The blind spots began appearing in the first hours and days after more than 1,200 civilians were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists, who breached the border from Gaza. A former Israeli military intelligence operative guides us through the mistakes that allowed it to happen.
From preparing for the complexity of urban warfare to addressing technological vulnerabilities and gaining self-reliance in military production, the unfolding crisis in Israel has a number of critical messages for Ukraine.
The area around Robotyne, in southeastern Ukraine, has been the centre of a fierce two-month battle. Ukrainian publication Livy Bereg breaks down how Ukrainian forces were able to exploit gaps in Russian defenses and push the counteroffensive forward.
Congress and President Biden averted a shutdown, but thanks to a temporary deal that doesn’t include new aid for Ukraine’s war effort. An analysis from Kyiv about what it means, in both the short and long-term.
Ukraine has stepped up attacks on the occupied Crimean peninsula, and Russia is doing all within its power to deny how vulnerable it has become.
Hundreds of sexual crimes have been officially reported in Ukraine following the full-scale invasion by the Russian army, though the actual number is likely 10 times higher. Ukrainian news website Livy Bereg explores how the nation is documenting the crimes and responding to support victims and bring perpetrators to justice.
More than 6,000 collaboration cases have already been filed in Ukraine — but how does the law distinguish between wilful collaboration and simply trying to survive? And what should happen to the guilty?
The Ukraine war is not just physical — it’s also being fought on a psychological front. Russian soldiers are subjected to complex psychological pressures at home and abroad.
Yevgeny Prigozhin is gone, two months to the day of his aborted insurrection against the Russian military. The Wagner Group chief was likely killed in a plane crash on orders from the Kremlin. A piece written after Wagner’s coup offers a reminder that Russia is in the hands of a man obsessed with control, who wields his cowardice as a weapon.