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.

You may or may not know that 21 November is an important date in the Ukrainian calendar, as it celebrates the Day of Dignity. In 2004, the Orange revolution began on this date, and the day also honours the 2013 Euromaidan, two history-making popular movements that involved thousands of Ukrainians. The article we translated from Ukrainian into English this week shares the stories of those who took part in these revolutions.

Our press review details the latest evolution of Bulgaria’s tax on Russian gas in transit, which is having a knock-on effect on gas distribution in European countries such as Hungary. Meanwhile, Germany is counting the Ukrainian refugees on its soil. Not all of them are legally registered, because some have run away from serving in the military in their home country.

Since the full-scale invasion started, EU countries often discover how bound they are to Russia's interests, while at the same time applying sanctions against Russia. This is the case in Spain this week, with an agreement signed by leaders of a Catalan nationalist party, that allows them to forget "the Russian role in the separatist movement", in exchange for giving their support to Pedro Sánchez’s government. 

Have a good read.

Sarah-Lou Lepers
Editor of this week's edition

In Ukraine, the 21 November is called the Day of Dignity and Freedom, and marks two important anniversaries.

In 2004, it was the starting date of the Orange Revolution, when citizens took to the streets to protest against fraud in the Presidential election. The protests succeeded, and ended up with a re-run, which was declared free and fair, and brought Orange leader Victor Yushchenko to the presidency.

In 2013 Ukrainians flooded the main square of big cities to show their anger at a decision by the president Victor Yanukovych and the government to abandon its path to European integration. The so-called Euromaidan protests lasted until February the following year. The authorities killed more than 100 protesters, but the demonstrations succeeded, and Yanukovych fled to Russia.

These protests involved all parts of the society, but students were always a driving force. On the 10th anniversary of Euromaidan, and celebrating International Students Day on 17 November, a journalist for Espreso.tv Tetiana Yavorska asked participants of Ukrainian revolutions to recall their experiences of being students and protesters.

Espreso.tv is a website for a privately owned Ukrainian TV channel, which is focused on news delivery and analysis.

The article was translated into English for n-ost by Tetiana Evloeva.

Hungary

Hungarian postal services face competition from Ukraine

One of the largest Ukrainian companies, Nova Post, opened its first Hungarian branch in Budapest on the 10 November, and launched its own courier service in Hungary. Nova Post is expanding despite the war, and Hungary is already the tenth European country where they have entered the market. "This could also help Hungarian entrepreneurs enter the Ukrainian market, as the Ukrainian economy is expanding despite the war," said Marianna Pajda, the company's CEO in Hungary. (Forbes) 

The fact-checking site Lakmusz has published an analysis of Hungary's largest and best-known Russian propaganda site, Orosz Hírek (Russian News), including the identification of the authors of the page and how the content has been disseminated to the Hungarian public. (Lakmusz)

Bulgaria has imposed a tax on Russian gas in transit, which could cause supply problems for Hungary and Austria. The Bulgarian tax has been described as anti-Russian or an excessive revenue-raising measure. According to one analysis, the motive could be a political move to ensure Bulgaria wins accession to the Schengen zone, which has been delayed for 12 years. Bulgaria wants to put pressure on Austria, which has opposed Bulgaria and Romania’s entry into the zone. (Telex)

Zusha Pletnyov, a Jewish man from Luhansk, has been through a lot over the past ten years. In 2014, when Russia annexed his hometown, he fled with his wife and five children to Kyiv. In February 2022, the family fled from the Russian invasion to Israel. They settled in Askelon, a few kilometres from the Gaza Strip. After Hamas’s attack on 7 October, they fled once more, and ended up in Hungary. They are currently living in a state resort at Lake Balaton, in the west of the country. The resort opened last year for Jewish Ukrainian refugees following Russia’s invasion, and is now housing around 250 people, including some 100 children, most of whom have arrived from Israel since the attack. (AP)

Bulgaria

For the West, Ukraine is the new West Berlin

On the pages of the magazine Kultura, Bulgarian political scientist Ivan Krastev wonders whether the West, after the start of the war in the Middle East, has any long-term strategy to support Ukraine. Krastev draws a parallel with the 1958-1961 Berlin crisis during the Cold War, when the Soviet Union unsuccessfully tried to push Western forces out of the divided German capital. He argues that to win against Russia "the West must demonstrate that Ukraine is a country where people can invest […] where Ukrainian refugees can return, a country able to begin EU accession negotiations,” even before the Russian aggression has been fully defeated. (Kultura)

Serbia, Hungary and North Macedonia are coordinating to defend their interests after Bulgaria introduced a new transit tax on gas from Russia to these countries via the "TurkStream" pipeline last October. Sofia's measures, meant to limit Russian profits, risks increasing costs for end consumers. Serbia, which defined the tax as "unacceptable", has recently turned to the Secretariat of the Energy Community asking for the new tax to be withdrawn, and is supported by both Budapest and Skopje. (OFFNews)

According to Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, who has been accused in the past of adopting a pro-Russian stance, pushing Ukraine to undertake the summer counter-offensive was "the biggest strategic mistake" the West made since the full-invasion started. Radev argued that Ukraine should have used last year's military victories to deal from a position of strength. "Now Russia feels strong again, and for this reason it refuses any negotiations," said Radev. His statements were sharply criticised by the Ukrainian embassy in Sofia, which called them "words in the interests of the Russian aggressor". (Mediapool)

Spain

A Russian threat in the Spanish Prime Minister's gambit

Is Spain a Russian chessboard? Five months after the general election, fears of Russian influence in the country’s internal politics have resurfaced. To return as prime minister, Pedro Sánchez needs the support of seven parties, including Junts, a Catalan separatist group whose leaders are fugitives from Spanish justice. An article from Vozpopuli sums up the context, explaining how Junts have maintained contacts with the Russian secret services to receive political and economic support from Putin’s Regime. (Vozpópuli)

A signed agreement states that, in exchange for their seven votes, the leaders of Junts will be amnestied for their crimes, including terrorism, the embezzlement of public money, and trying to break up the State. This could imply that the Spanish State and justice system will be "ignoring the Russian role in the separatist movement", according to eastern Europe expert, and Pulitzer Prize winner for Gulag: a History, Anne Applebaum (here on X, former Twitter). Nevertheless, it is unclear whether this will be the case, explains María Sahuquillo, EU Bureau Chief and former Moscow correspondent for El País (X).

As of today, the amnesty law has not yet been passed, but some MEPs warn about the consequences: a reprieve for the Junts leaders will invalidate some parts of the Spanish judicial investigation into Russian interference. It is important to stress that the European Parliament has repeatedly denounced "the Russian connections with the Catalan pro-independence process" and the threat posed to Europe by hybrid interference. (El Español)

Germany 

An ongoing destination for refuge and training

Germany now serves as the primary destination for Ukrainian refugees relocating from Poland, and has seen an increase of 410,000 refugees in Germany since August 2022. The recent study From Poland to Germany: New Trends in Ukrainian Refugee Migration shows that the main reasons for Ukrainians continuously moving to Germany and the West are better social standards and job opportunities (Berliner Zeitung). The German Federal Ministry of the Interior found that almost 190,000 Ukrainian men eligible for military service are currently in Germany, with an estimated 100,000 men living there illegally without registration. (Welt.de)

Around 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers have undergone military training in Europe (outside of Ukraine) since the start of the year. At any given time, an average of 600 soldiers are being trained in Germany. Vice chief of the German Army Lieutenant General Marlow says the goal is "to increase the soldiers' ability to survive and endure longer at the front." The Western methods are applied to the practical experience of soldiers who are often sent to training directly from the battlefield and then return to their units right away. (FAZ)

Expert in psychosomatic medicine Stephan Herpertz travels through Ukraine to explore the mental health challenges of Ukrainians. Interviews with Ukrainian psychotherapists show that the efforts to deal with trauma are going to be a "tremendous challenge of the future" but various therapeutic approaches, including art therapy and reconnecting with nature, are already valuable for those dealing with the consequences of the ongoing war that "has lasted almost 10 years." (Süddeutsche)

Italy

Is there a place for art during wartime? 

A piece by La Repubblica tells about the thousands of Ukrainian exiles - mostly in Germany - in the crowd at the football match Ukraine vs. Italy, which took place last week at the BayArena in Leverkusen. "This is a very important date for all of us Ukrainians," said Andriy Shevchenko, 2004 Ballon d’Or winner and appointed as an ambassador for fundraiser UNITED24 by President Zelensky. Beating Italy would have been important for Ukraine. Qualification for Euro 2024 for the midfielder Viktor Tsygankov would have given "happy moments" to the Ukrainians (La Repubblica). But Italy qualified for Euro 2024 following a controversial 0-0 draw, where the referees denied Ukraine a late penalty. Ukraine now advance to the play-offs. (Fanpage)

Italian PM Giorgia Meloni is dealing with conflict in her far-right party Fratelli d’Italia over support for Ukraine. An article by La Stampa explains the internal tensions: on one side, undersecretary to the presidency of the council of ministers, Giovanbattista Fazzolari, is a strong supporter of unconditional aid to Kyiv, and is working to invite president Zelensky as a guest of honour at Fratelli d’Italia’s celebration of one year in power. On the other side, some members of the party are against this decision because it "could come at a high price in terms of consensus". Others in the party are openly pro-Russian. (La Stampa)

"Is there a place for art during wartime?" is the central question in a piece about the artist Vjačeslav Bondarenko, who hails from the Luhansk region. He was a journalist until 2014 in Luhansk, and was imprisoned by the occupants, then fled to Kyiv with his family, where he founded the magazine +/- Infinite. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Bondarenko asked artists to produce material for the magazine, but many of his friends replied that "it was not the time". Afterwards, they admitted that working on it "turned out to be a kind of therapy". (Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso)

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

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