2+ week, 10+ hour ago (199+ words) I last wrote about Lesia Khomenko's ongoing retrospective exhibition here. "Looking at Ukraine through the arts reveals a deep resilience which is carrying the culture forward despite the constant Russian assaults" he told me when I visited Washington DC this past week. "This cultural vitality points to a vibrant Ukraine after peace arrives " the point of the series is to try to record a dimension of the war that would otherwise be overlooked." Incidentally " the Kennan Institute (which was closed down as a government funded entity by the Trump administration last April) is now relaunching as an independent institution this week! Much luck to them and to Director Michael C. Kimmage! The British reviews are great. If, dear reader, you happen to be on the other side of the pond and also missed his solo exhibition at the Marian Goodman Gallery…...

4+ week, 7+ hour ago (351+ words) A roundup from an art connoisseur's blog. A very good day for French-Ukrainian cultural solidarity." The lovely ladies of Dakh Daughters have recently been awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ambassador in Kyiv - in fact, the ceremony took place during an air raid that interrupted their concert!" According to the new profile of them in Kyiv Post - "His Excellency M. Gael Veyssiere took the moment and met the band in the basement corridors that lead to the dressing rooms." I was friendly with some of the members of the Dakh Daughters over the years- and partied with them as a few of them wound up in Paris and Normandy after the start of the Russian full-scale invasion. Which is the reason that the French have adopted them. "I have long had a crush on the lead…...

2+ week, 4+ day ago (460+ words) Annual inflation in October eased slightly, offering some relief despite previous central bank concerns as Russia's renewed attacks continue to pose pro-inflation risks. Annual inflation in Ukraine fell to 10.9% in October, compared with the same month last year, while core inflation decreased to 10.2%. Despite this decline, Ukraine remains cautious about whether inflation will slow toward the central bank's target of 5%, as ongoing attacks on the energy sector and the prolonged war continue to pose risks for higher prices, threatening economic stability. The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) kept its key interest rate at 15.5%, while Governor Andriy Pyshny noted that inflationary pressures had strengthened due to strikes on the energy infrastructure and higher budget spending. Monthly consumer inflation rose to 0.9% in October, up from 0.3% in September, according to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine. Despite this monthly uptick, the annual consumer…...

2+ week, 1+ day ago (514+ words) Citigroup's stock climbed after Vladimir Putin authorized Renaissance Capital to acquire 100% of Citibank's Russian subsidiary, a deal requiring special approval under Moscow's restrictions. Citigroup's shares gained on Nov. 12 after Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the sale of the US banking group's Russian subsidiary to Renaissance Capital. Citigroup stock rose 3.07% during Wednesday trading on the New York Stock Exchange, reaching an intraday high of $103.86. As of 18:53 New York time, gains tapered off to 2.68%, with shares trading at $103.47. The decree grants permission for Renaissance Capital to acquire 100% of Citibank Russia, the Russian news outlet RBK reported." Citigroup first announced plans to wind down its retail operations in Russia in spring 2021 as part of a broader strategy to scale back its presence in 13 markets." After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the group said it would halt almost all remaining operations,…...

6+ day, 2+ hour ago (744+ words) A Russian bid to capture a strategic logistics hub in eastern Ukraine that has been a Kremlin objective for more than a year has stalled, and the Ukrainians say they're winning the battle. Counterattacking Ukrainian troops have cleared the center of the city of Pokrovsk in a setback to a major Russian offensive launched almost a year ago to capture the strategic industrial and logistics hub in the eastern Donbas region, news reports and battle information feeds reported on Monday. A statement first released by the Armed Forces of Ukraine's (AFU) 7th Air Assault Corps on Sunday reported assault infantry teams backed by drones and artillery had cleared the Pokrovsk city railway station, pedagogical college, and central Soborny Square areas of Kremlin troops. The AFU's 425th Assault Infantry Regiment, a unit trained in urban warfare tactics and usually deployed by Ukrainian leadership…...

2+ week, 2+ day ago (551+ words) Russia continues daily strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure in an effort to plunge the country into cold and humanitarian crisis ahead of winter. Russian forces unleashed one of the largest and most destructive attacks on Kyiv in the early hours of Friday, Nov. 14, pounding the capital with a barrage of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones. Almost every district in Ukraine's capital came under attack, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, with a death reported hours after Kyiv Post journalists heard explosions across the city. At least three people were killed and at least 26 were injured, including a 10-year-old child and a pregnant woman. Nine victims were hospitalized, according to the mayor." Klitschko said sections of heating networks were damaged, leaving parts of the northeastern Desnyansky district without heat at a time when temperatures hovered around 40 degrees Fahrenheit. The State Emergency…...

3+ week, 4+ day ago (514+ words) Analysts say the US President must press Budapest's "outlier" PM on frozen funds and sanctions relief in exchange for lifting the accession veto. The visit follows Trump's summit with Central Asian leaders and comes amid a broader US push to tighten economic pressure on Russia. Senior US officials confirmed Orb'n will be received Friday morning, followed by a private lunch, signaling talks are intended to carry weight beyond optics. Since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, Hungary has repeatedly blocked EU support for Kyiv " from sanctions to reconstruction funding. Orb'n has framed Ukraine's EU ambitions as a threat, warning that supporting Kyiv could "ruin Europe." The Atlantic Council, Washington-based think tank, calls Hungary "the biggest outlier" in the EU's near-unified stance on Russia. Domestically, Orb'n enjoys nationalist support, but his isolation in Brussels, frozen EU funds, and rising energy costs have left…...

1+ week, 2+ day ago (280+ words) Ukraine's "Living the War" project preserves civilians' and creators' stories from invasion " capturing testimonies, wartime transformations, and the urgent need to support Ukraine's documentarians. How Ukraine Documents a War the World Cannot See Ukraine's "Living the War" project preserves civilians' and creators' stories from invasion " capturing testimonies, wartime transformations, and the urgent need to support Ukraine's documentarians. Ukraine's full-scale invasion produced countless frontline reports " but far fewer efforts to document how civilians, artists, and ordinary professionals lived through the war. In this episode of Off The Record, Kyiv Post host Natalka Cmoc speaks with Volodymyr Kadygrob, publisher of the independent documentary project Living the War, about why Ukraine must preserve these personal histories now. JOIN US ON TELEGRAM Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Kadygrob explains how the project captures experiences of children, civilians under occupation, newly mobilized…...

13+ hour, 3+ min ago (323+ words) The map appears to reveal a location in Georgia, which Tbilisi denies. The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (HUR) has discovered communication terminals belonging to the Russian Armed Forces, not only along the contact line but also abroad. The HUR has published maps showing the majority of the Russian army's terminals, with one terminal marked in the territory of Georgia and two in Africa. "The national military intelligence pays considerable attention to exposing and tracking the movement of enemy control points, trying to extract maximum information from them and, under favorable conditions, to destroy the enemy leadership," the publication stated. Using technical intelligence in combination with operational methods, the HUR was able to identify these special secure communication terminals " exposing the networks of the Russian Armed Forces After long-term analysis of information obtained from…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago (570+ words) CSIS panel discusses "industrial paradox" where Kyiv"s adaptive, high-tech arms sector proves capable but lacks capital to sustain production at scale. WASHINGTON DC " As Russia"s full-scale war against Ukraine drags toward another brutal winter, a new tension is coming into focus for Kyiv"s backers in Washington: Ukraine"s defense industry is finally firing on all cylinders " but the money to sustain it is running short. At a Wednesday discussion hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Ukraine watchers Max Bergmann, Maria Snegovaya, and Kateryna Bondar, joined by Carnegie Endowment"s Dara Massicot, mapped out the shifting balance between battlefield innovation and industrial capacity " and the hard fiscal math behind both. One of the panel"s defining themes was a clash of military cultures. Russia"s rigid hierarchy continues to grind forward, while Ukraine"s…...