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.

At the end of November each year, Ukraine commemorates the Holodomor, the starvation of millions of Ukrainian people caused by the policies of the Soviet Union in 1932-33. 

This national trauma is the topic of this week's Ukrainian article, which tells a moving family story over three generations. But state-backed crimes and tragedies are still taking place today: this week we bring you stories about the suffering caused by Russia against Ukraine.

Spain's El País reports on Ukrainian soldiers rehabilitated in a military hospital in northern Spain, and asks: what kind of life did they previously have and what injuries did they suffer? We also warmly recommend a special online project commemorating the victims of the war in Ukrainian cultural life, edited by a fellow-journalist of the Europe-Ukraine Desk project, Bohdana Neborak.

It is understandable that these huge individual and collective losses and the constant threat are a dark cloud hanging over the heads of all Ukrainians: a long piece by Claudia Bettiol, an Italian author living in Kyiv, describes the war fatigue that the population is experiencing. History's witnesses are among us, let us not fail to listen.

Have a good read.

Kornélia Kiss
Editor of this week's edition

Germany 

Has Germany recognised the signs of the times? 

Core That Holds You Together, a documentary by Jonas Kaufmann, made its debut at the Braunschweig International Film Festival. After the outbreak of a full-scale invasion, Jonas, who was 18 years old at the time, headed to the Polish-Ukrainian border to help refugees and collect donations. He later documented this experience. WDR aptly describes the result as a "moving film" and a "profound coming-of-age documentary of Generation Z." (WDR)

Playwright Anne Habermehl unveiled the highly anticipated second instalment of her "Europe Trilogy", titled Mrs. Schmidt and the Child from Kharkiv, at the Munich Kammerspiele. The play revolves around the Schmidts, who use illegal channels to, adopt Micha, a Ukrainian baby from the Kharkiv region. In the intimate story, "Habermehl creates a language of love, a language of memory" according to a review. (Süddeutsche) 

Newly arrived Ukrainian doctors at a Frankfurt clinic aim to gain insights into the treatment of an amputee patient from their German counterparts. A total of 72 specialists, including occupational and physical therapists, are expected to seize the opportunity to enhance their knowledge of rehabilitation in the coming months. (FAZ)

Has Germany really recognised the signs of the times, asks Warsaw correspondent for Die Welt, Philipp Fritz. Despite Germany's efforts to restore trust through military aid and equipment exports to Ukraine, doubts linger in Central and Eastern Europe about Germany's understanding of the geopolitical landscape in the region. Factors such as Germany's Russia and energy policies, its nuclear phase-out, and its commitment to NATO guidelines contribute to the scepticism in Eastern Europe regarding Germany as a reliable partner. (Welt)

Bulgaria

Sanctions against Russia, circumvented in Bulgaria

Despite being under sanction, Russian MP Andrey Chepa has invested millions of euros in real estate in the centre of Sofia. bTV's investigation highlighted that a 19-storey business centre in the capital of Bulgaria, registered to offshore companies, is owned by Chepa's son, Danyil. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry, responsible for verifying compliance with the sanctions, did not respond to the broadcaster's questions. (bTV)

The Sofia parliament has definitively approved the donation of approximately 100 armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine. The vote took place amid strong controversy: according to the government, the armoured vehicles are no longer useful for the country's security needs, having lain in storage for over 40 years. The government also argues that the European Union would then promise compensation to cover the donation. However, the pro-Russian opposition parties, the Socialist Party and the "Renaissance" movement, argue the decision puts Bulgaria's security at risk. (Sega)

"The process of ecological reconstruction of Ukraine will be long and will last well after the end of the armed conflict. This is why it must be undertaken immediately," said Bulgarian Environment Minister Yulian Popov in a meeting in Sofia, in his country’s capacity as co-chair of the "Ecological Security" working group, part of the 10-point peace plan launched by Volodymir Zelensky. Popov stressed that lasting peace is not possible without environmental recovery, accompanied by a transition to a green economy in Ukraine, and reiterated Sofia's willingness to support this effort. (Bulgaria OnAir)

Italy

War fatigue: how exhausted is Kyiv?

A long piece by Claudia Bettiol, a translator and author living in Kyiv since 2017, describes the war fatigue that the population is living through, on the threshold of a new winter and the renewal of Russian missile attacks. Bettiol explains that, on the surface, the situation seems normal — people are going to work, restaurants and cultural events. But this "picture postcard" facade does not reflect the atmosphere in the city, where people’s faces appear drained and tired. (Meridiano 13)

"What peace for us Ukrainians?" is an interview with Oleksandra Romantsova, executive director of the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine, and a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, published in La Stampa. We do not feel abandoned by the international community, Romantsova explains, but "it’s not enough", because Russian aggression does not let up, and it’s strongly funded. "More substantial economic sanctions are needed," she adds, and underlines the difficulty in tracking down Russian propaganda because of the depth of corruption and manipulation. (La Stampa)

The historian Eric Gobetti traces the path of eight members of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists during Fascist times in Italy. This small group of Ukrainian political opponents, who were fighting for the independence of their land from the Soviet Union, was firstly welcomed by the Italian regime. The Fascist regime was financing and supporting extremist groups as long as they were anti-communist and useful for the regime’s own goals, like the Croatian ultranationalist Ante Pavelić, who hosted the Ukrainians in Italy. However, the international crisis caused by the assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia in Marseilles in 1934, led the Italians to jail Ante Pavelić, who was implicated in the murder, and his contacts, including eight Ukrainians. (Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso)

Spain

Healing the wounds of war in a Spanish hospital 

Ten years ago, Oleg was a happy baker in eastern Ukraine. The outbreak of war in 2014 pushed him to volunteer for the Ukrainian army and, without military experience, he ended up in an assault brigade. Now he is blind due to a Russian sniper’s bullet. Oleksandr, a paramedic in Donetsk, lost both his legs to a shell. 80 more soldiers with similar serious injuries are being rehabilitated in a military hospital in northern Spain (El País). This kind of support will be increased soon: the Spanish Ministry of Defence announced that the Ukrainian families of those killed in combat will be able to travel to Spain to rest free of charge in Spanish army accommodation. (El Mundo)

In November, Ukraine commemorates the tenth anniversary of the Euromaidan. Irene Savio interviewed Mustafa Nayyem, a journalist and activist who published the first post on Facebook calling on people to go out on the streets. After three months of demonstrations with more than 100 deaths, the protests saw the pro-Putin government fall and the country’s corrupt president flee. Russia reacted by occupying Crimea and the eastern regions of the country, and this was the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine War. (El Periódico) 

In a collaborative project between journalists from six European countries (including Ukraine), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) conducted an investigation to give voice to the Ukrainian society who lived under Russian occupation, but were later liberated. The six chapters (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) of the project address topics such as education, culture and collaborationists. The series can be found on the website of the Spanish Public Radio and Television. (RTVE)

France

Doppelgänger campaign hits French media again 

You may remember the Doppelgänger campaign from earlier this year, which distributed fake articles from mainstream media brands discrediting Ukraine and its western supporters. The fact checking team of France 24, The Observers, detailed a similar campaign this autumn, which spread fake articles about the Israel-Gaza conflict, presenting the events in a way that could undermine the public’s support for Ukraine. This campaign targets media in Russian, Ukrainian, French, English, German and also Hebrew. According to the article, the sources come from accounts on the platform X. Like the previous campaign, it spreads fake news on websites imitating the design of leading media like Le Point, Le Parisien or La Croix. (Les Observateur, France 24)

The joint police and justice forces of Europol have dismantled a network of ransomware based in Ukraine, after French authorities initiated a joint investigative team with other countries, including Germany and Ukraine (Le Monde). On their website, Europol explains that the operations, which started in 2019, with a first round of arrests in 2021, remained "steadfast and uninterrupted, persisting even amid the challenges posed by the ongoing war in Ukraine". (Europol) 

The national radio station France Culture broadcasted the audio documentary Uliana, Olga, Ludmila, Natalia, une histoire ukrainienne (Uliana, Olga, Ludmila, Natalia, a Ukrainian history) that gives voices to a line of Ukrainian women from the same family. Natalia, who arrived in Paris with her two daughters in March 2022, just after the full-scale-invasion of Ukraine, tells the story of Ukraine from her family’s point of view. Her mother Ludmilla adds to the story, but from Kyiv, where she still lives (L’Expérience, France Culture). The review magazine Telerama gave its best grade to this documentary. (Telerama)

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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