Welcome to this edition of What about Ukraine?, a newsletter that helps you keep updated about what has been said recently about Ukraine in Ukraine, and in the international media.

"Why is it that an average Ukrainian knows about the 200 Israelis still kept hostage by Hamas, but we have no clue about our own compatriots who were taken hostage [by Russia]?"

The story of Olena and her husband Serhii, captured in Bucha and detained for almost three years in Russia, takes us into the little-known crisis of the thousands of Ukrainian civilians captured in the occupied territories. These detainees are not covered by the Geneva Convention, are suspended in a legal limbo, and are sometimes viewed with suspicion in their homeland. In this week's newsletter we translate an in-depth report by LB.ua, which tries to grasp this thorny issue.

Many recent international political developments could have heavy repercussions on Ukraine's ability to resist the Russian invasion. The "traffic light coalition" of the social democrats, greens and liberals in Germany has fallen, in part due to disagreements between the parties on military support for Kyiv, Süddeutsche Zeitung reports.

Many are trying to understand the political course of the new US administration towards Ukraine after Trump's victory: the first signs, according to Bulgarian media Trud, are not encouraging. While waiting for a new EU Commission, writes EFE, the outgoing commissioner Josep Borrell made a last trip to Kyiv, inviting Brussels to "respect the commitments it has made" towards Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the Italian government is trying to approve its tenth package of military aid to Ukraine, Il Corriere reports. However, Rome complains of economic hardship at home, while trying to overcome the permanent internal divisions within the government majority on supporting Ukraine.

Have a good read!

Francesco Martino
Editor of this week's edition

The latest prisoner swap with Russia took place on 18 October, when Ukraine brought home 95 soldiers held in captivity. However, many civilians are also held by Russia, and securing their release is much more challenging. A problem is that they are not part of prisoner exchange agreements with Russia, and the Geneva Conventions do not apply to the exchange of military prisoners for civilian captives.

In July 2024, Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets cited a figure of over 14,000 civilian hostages in Russia or the temporarily occupied territories. Mykhailo Savva, an expert at the Center for Civil Liberties, states that 1,700 civilians are currently detained by Russia for certain, though the actual number is likely much higher. There has been no information from the Russian Federation about their whereabouts.

In a piece translated by n-ost this week, we shed light on the struggles of the relatives of Ukrainian civilian prisoners in Russia. One story is about Olena, who has not seen her husband since March 2022, when she was evacuated from Bucha. Step by step, she managed to trace his whereabouts. Unlike many, she was fortunate enough to know where he is located, but communicating with Russian authorities and raising awareness about her husband’s case remains difficult:

"Now, we are in real trouble, as soldiers returning from captivity are treated as heroes, while civilians returned from captivity are viewed negatively — all because this issue has never been properly covered [in the media]! Some people even brand such hostages as 'collaborators'.

This article was originally published by LB.ua, an online Ukrainian media outlet focused on the analysis of current affairs, and was translated for n-ost by Tetiana Evloeva.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria protests against North Korean troops in Ukraine war

The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry has summoned the North Korean chargé d'affaires in Sofia, to express its concern over the alleged presence of North Korean troops in Russia against the Ukrainian army. According to Sofia, these actions make North Korea a co-belligerent of Russia in its unprovoked aggression against Ukraine. According to US sources, there are currently 12,000 North Korean soldiers in Russia, stationed mainly in the Kursk region, which has been occupied by the Ukrainian army since last August. To date, the Kremlin has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Korean troops on its territory. (Standart)

The integration of thousands of Ukrainian refugees in Bulgaria involves knowledge of their respective cultural and culinary traditions. This is the goal of the 'Days of Ukrainian Cuisine', which launched in November in the Ethnographic Museum of Burgas, one of the main port cities on the Black Sea. Today, 18,000 Ukrainians live in the Burgas region. In total, there are 52,000 Ukrainians in Bulgaria, of whom 14,000 have successfully entered the Bulgarian labour market. (BgOnAir)

Bulgarian media outlets have commented on the consequences of Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential elections and on the fate of Washington’s military support for Ukraine. According to Trud, the president-elect sent a strong signal by announcing the exclusion from the next administration of political figures seen as pro-Ukraine, such as former secretary of state Mike Pompeo. According to journalist Nina Spasova, interviewed by bTV, the new US administration will try to "bargain on Ukraine" and could put pressure on Bulgaria, a NATO outpost on the Black Sea, to adapt to Washington's new political course. (Trud)

Germany 

Conflicts over Ukraine funding behind coalition break-up

The break-up of the "traffic light" coalition partly stems from a clash over funding for Ukraine, as Social Democratic chancellor Olaf Scholz and the liberal Free Democratic finance minister Christian Lindner disagreed on balancing the war support with debt limits. Scholz sought to suspend the debt break for emergency funding, including three billion euros for Ukraine, but Lindner argued this would breach his "oath of office," accusing Scholz of pressuring him to violate the constitution. This caused Scholz to fire Lindner, bringing the coalition of the liberals, greens and social democrats to a close. (Süddeutsche) However, after the US elections, Scholz has shifted his Ukraine stance, moving toward a "return of peace in Europe" following a call with president-elect Trump, signalling a potential shift in German and European foreign policy. (FAZ) 

"Is it right to supply weapons to Ukraine?," Die Zeit asks Yulia Navalnaya, Russian politician and widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. "It’s hard to say," she responds. "The war was unleashed by Vladimir Putin, but the bombs are also hitting Russians." This interview has gained "attention and irritation" in Germany, according to Stuttgarter Nachrichten. Conservative party CDU's member and defence expert Roderich Kiesewetter told Bild: "She obviously has no understanding of Ukraine's legitimate right to self-defence" and that she is an "advocate of imperial Russian claims." Historian Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk wrote on X: "The interview shows a Russian opposition figure who offers little cause for hope." (Zeit) 

A new refugee accommodation opened in Berlin’s former City Hotel Berlin East on 11 November, intending to house "mainly people who have fled the war in Ukraine". With overcrowding issues at sites like the former Tegel and Tempelhof airports, Berlin authorities are working to alleviate pressure on shelters. The decision has drawn criticism from residents concerned about "overstretched" social services, including schools and healthcare. Berlin officials say the measure is "temporary and necessary," even though current shelter conditions are "far from ideal." (RBB) 

Hungary

EPC-Summit: Disagreement between Zelensky and Orbán on ceasefire

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky attended the European Political Community (EPC) Summit in Budapest last week, where Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán called again for an immediate ceasefire. In his opinion, right now it's as "if we had gotten lost in the woods while hundreds of thousands are dying" (Telex English). The Ukrainian President argued that a ceasefire alone, and then working out "the details later", as happened in 2014, is not sustainable, because it will only freeze the conflict. Zelensky also noted that the ceasefire was proposed by "someone who does not want to see Ukraine in NATO". (Telex)

Hungarian citizen Csaba worked as a manager in an energy company until April 2024, when he quit his job for reasons of conscience and joined the Ukrainian army, knowing he would be committing a crime under Hungarian law, which forbids joining the armed forces of a non-NATO country. He is serving with the 73rd Battalion of the 101st Berehovo Brigade on the Russian-Ukrainian border. "If the Ukrainian army were to order them to lay down their arms, many of the Ukrainian soldiers would not obey. The Ukrainian people are suffering, but they will not give up. They will not give up a single piece of their land," he said about his experience. (Szabad Európa)

Europe-Ukraine Desk-fellows Anna Bánáti and Serhij Stukanov’s insightful two-part report on the psychological effects of war in Ukraine was published in Telex. They described the struggles of demobilised or seriously injured soldiers and their families (Telex) and researched the impact of the war on ordinary people and vulnerable groups: civilians and soldiers held captive by Russia, children deported to Russian foster care and internally displaced persons. This project was funded by The Europe-Ukraine Desk’s grant programme. (Telex)

Italy

How Italian companies circumvent EU sanctions on Russian gas  

Italian companies have indirectly supplied materials for a project in Russia aiming to liquefy Arctic natural gas for export, despite EU sanctions. An investigation in Domani found that most supplies to the Arctic Lng 2 project were not direct, but reached Russia through intermediary companies based in China, the UAE and Turkey, which haven’t sanctioned Moscow after the full-scale invasion. Since 9 April 2022, components of both state-controlled and private companies registered in Italy have reached the project, worth a total value of 134 million euros. The project is strategically important to Moscow for compensating export losses to the EU. (Domani)

The tenth package of Rome’s military aid to Kyiv, which is being finalised, will be significantly lighter than its predecessors. Although the contents of the package are covered by secrecy, Il Corriere writes that the supply will be limited due to scarce resources. The Italian government has confirmed its support to Ukraine, despite some parties’ opposition in the ruling majority, such as Lega. The aid is expected to focus on defensive support, but advanced systems such as the antimissile SAMP/T are in short supply, and the package will include instead older Aspide missiles and ammunition. Increasing Italy’s defence budget remains challenging due to financial constraints. (Il Corriere)

An Italian volunteer on a humanitarian mission, Massimiliano Galletti, was killed on 3 October in the Kharkiv region, probably while assisting a wounded soldier. His presence in Ukraine was unknown in Italy until recently, and his family confirms he was "only a rescuer and a paramedic". Galletti's pro-Ukrainian stance led him to multiple search and rescue missions, but his task during his last trip is still not clear. His family had not heard from him for three weeks, until Ukrainian authorities informed them through official channels that he had died, after being in coma in a hospital in Kyiv. (La Stampa)

Spain

Kids from "sunny Spain" write letters of support to Russian invaders

Josep Borrell made a last trip to Kyiv this weekend in the closing days of his mandate as EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, meeting with president Zelensky to reaffirm EU’s support for Ukraine. The Spanish diplomat emphasised that, with combined military and civilian aid, Europe remains Kyiv’s largest donor, which should not change after the US elections: "We made a commitment to help this country, and I believe these commitments must be fulfilled," he said. (EFE)

"Hello, dear soldier! I am writing to you from sunny Spain. My name is Maria, I am ten years old, and I love Russia very much." These words, addressed to Russian servicemen in the occupied Ukrainian city of Lysychansk, were sent by a letter-writing initiative organised by groups of Russians in Spain. Legally registered as cultural organisations, Ukrainian diaspora claims these are Kremlin-controlled tools for spreading propaganda and indoctrination. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov recently honoured the head of this network, representing over 100 Russian associations in Spain. El Mundo confirmed that several dozen Spanish-national minors received military training at the Artek International Children’s Centre, a camp sanctioned by the EU in occupied Crimea. (El Mundo)

A Ukrainian think tank identified 12 Spanish military reservists accused of spreading pro-Putin narratives. A 25-page report accessed by El Español claims that "the involvement of retired officers in influencing unpopular social issues serves as an effective tool for Russian-affiliated actors." The list includes former military figures who transitioned into politics, media commentary, bestseller-writing, and YouTube content creation, notably Colonel Pedro Baños, who headed counterintelligence and security for the European armed forces in Strasbourg in the early 2000s. (El Español)

The Europe-Ukraine Desk curated this newsletter. This week's edition has been composed by our team from all over Europe: Marika Ikonomu, Kornelia Kiss, Katarina Kukla, Oksana Mamchenkova, Francesco Martino, Antonina Rybka and Fermin Torrano.
Michael Bird was our proofreader. 

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