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Thanks to our generous Patreon family, #UkrainianSpaces is back for season three. For this one, we feel big decolonization energy and tried something completely new - a live-audience show. Recorded in late February in Warsaw, a sold-out event featured brilliant Ukrainians like: Mariam Naiem, a prominent Ukrainian artist and researcher working on mainstreaming global understanding of the colonial and racial aspects of Russian culture concerning Ukraine and other peoples colonized by Russia. Alice Zhuravel, a Ukrainian artist and the founder of the Tozhsamist storytelling initiative. Yulia Krivich, a Ukrainian artist behind SDK "Słonecznik", a Ukrainian Solidary Community Center in Warsaw Marichka Buchelnikova and Stas Olenchenko of the Ukraine Explainers storytelling initiative, a leading outlet for educating foreigners about Ukraine in social-media-friendly formats. Julia Tymoshenko, a leading Ukrainian storyteller, and social media influencer educating the world about the Russian invasion of Ukraine Enjoy part one. This show reminds the world that: Ukraine will win Ukraine will rebuild Russian colonialism will end Any forms of colonialism and imperialism will fall Ukraine will stand diverse, and free. Слава Україні! SUPPORT: #UkrainianSpaces is a 100% independent, volunteer, and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voicemail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support

It has been the worst year for every Ukrainian. In a way, it also has been the best one. Those Ukrainians who survived through it are transformed forever. Despite the trauma, pain, and heartbreak, they keep dreaming, creating, and daring. There are millions of Ukrainian stories that can inspire anyone to live in a better world and to be a better person. But for the season two finale, we decided to keep it within the close family and feature 9 Ukrainians and how they withstood the darkest, coldest winter of our lives. The episode features: Solomiya Petlyak, Mariam Naiem, Stas Olenchenko, Maria Buchelnikova, Romeo Kokriatski, Tetyana Denford (Bisyk) and Alice Zhuravel.  SUPPORT US: #UkrainianSpaces is 100% independent, volunteer and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voice mail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support

Russian-backed conspiracies about Ukraine and Ukrainians might come across as bizarre, entertaining, or even funny. But every piece of anti-Ukrainian propaganda shared abroad, even if accidentally or as a hate share, has a specific price in actual Ukrainian lives. That's why Ukrainians take so seriously the work on the information frontline, and it is universally regarded as important as defending our freedom with actual weapons in the trenches. Mark Kaplan, our featured Ukrainian for this episode, might have a reputation as a funny journalist ridiculing Russian propaganda for a late-night show on Telebachennya Toronto. But he also developed one of the brightest and smartest understandings of how anti-Ukrainian disinformation gets picked up in the West and why it happens.  SUPPORT US, PLEASE: #UkrainianSpaces is a 100% independent, volunteer, and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voicemail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support

This is not the first time russia is trying to eradicate Ukrainians. This is not the first time fascism is trying to wipe an entire nation from the face of the Earth, either. Nevertheless, there has never been so much global unity when it comes to helping Ukrainians like today. But does it mean that we are finally learning our 'never again' lessons? Let's do a quick rundown of things foreigners historically always get wrong about Ukraine and whether they are still mainstream. Our featured Ukrainian is Andrea Chalupa, a prominent Ukrainian-American journalist, author and the person behind an absolute must-see Holodomor movie Mr. Jones.  SUPPORT: #UkrainianSpaces is 100% independent, volunteer and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voice mail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support

When Ukrainians express discomfort by being pushed into a space with a russian person without consent, some foreigners label it 'hatred' or 'russophobia.' When Ukrainians talk about centuries-old pattern of serial abusive behaviour of Russian society towards the neighbours, we are dismissed as 'emotional' and 'hysterical.' Could it be just a lack of empathy or education? Lia Dostlieva, a Ukrainian artist, anthropologist and our featured Ukrainian for this episode, want you all to recognize in this attitude the old Western colonial tradition of marginalizing 'uncomfortable' voices. Together we decided to do a small workshop on how to talk and listen to Ukrainians without falling into colonial tropes. SUPPORT: #UkrainianSpaces is 100% independent, volunteer and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voice mail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support

Through centuries of colonial oppression, music remained a secret superpower for Ukrainians to keep their resistance up. The ongoing genocide is no different. Ukrainian music artists have been creating breathtaking art that keeps our spirits up and inspires not to give up. For this one we feature Zbaraski, one of our favourite Ukrainian musicians, to explain deep anti-colonial roots of Ukrainian music and where Ukrainian artists find the inspiration and energy to keep creating in the ultimate act of resistance.  Music featured: Zbaraski - Всі навколо метушаться Аква Віта - Я жду Zbaraski - Bo ty Zbaraski - Dyvni Dyva Zbaraski - U horakh Jamala - Сину Назарій Яремчук - Посміхнулась ти Zbaraski - Cofein Zbaraski - Bo Togo SUPPORT: #UkrainianSpaces is 100% independent, volunteer and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voicemail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support

We took the theme of our second season, building bridges with Ukrainian allies worldwide, and thought why not go more ambitious? That's how Volya Hub was founded. A sister Ukrainian Spaces project, it unites journalists, storytellers and scholars across former Russian colonies to expand public awareness about the crimes of Russian colonialism — in languages of the communities that are affected by it. We invited our friends and partners to chat about why we teamed up for Volya Hub and how personal it is for all of us. This episode features prominent Qazaq journalist Vyacheslav Abramov of Vlast, Georgian activist Nodar Rukhadze of Shame Movement and Ukrainian journalist Kateryna Sergatskova of Zaborona. SUPPORT: #UkrainianSpaces is 100% independent, volunteer and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voice mail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support

How does one go from a foreign journalist to a NAFO founding figure to a Ukrainian soldier putting your life on the line for Ukraine daily? For this one, we talk to James (his second name will remain secret due to security concerns) from Spaghetti Kozak Media. We discuss the price of freedom, colonialism, the NAFO phenomena, russian propaganda in the most honest, raw way. Because facing death on the Ukrainian frontline puts all of it in a new, crystal-clear perspective.  SUPPORT: #UkrainianSpaces is a 100% independent, volunteer, and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voicemail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support

Despite what russia claims, the roots of Ukrainian identity reach as far back as thousands of years. Despite what russia is trying to do, a new generation of Ukrainian artists resists the cultural erasure and makes ancient Ukrainian culture reborn and reimagined again. For this one, a Ukrainian ethnographic researcher, style icon and the founder of Nadiia, Nadiia Shapoval, explains how centuries of Ukrainian traditions are inspiring a new age of powerful cultural renaissance in wartime Ukraine, why many Ukrainians are on the journey to reclaim their ancient ancestral roots and in what way it makes our resistance to genocide even stronger. SUPPORT: #UkrainianSpaces is 100% independent, volunteer and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voice mail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support

We talk so much about cultural appropriation by white westerners. But russians have been doing the same thing to Ukrainians - and so many other neighboring cultures - for centuries, presenting stolen cultures as their own. We've had enough. Receipts of colonialism are ready to be shown, anti-colonial tea is ready to be spilled. Our featured Ukrainian is Oleksandra Povoroznyk, a culture critic and just an insanely smart person.  SUPPORT: #UkrainianSpaces is a 100% independent, volunteer, and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voicemail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support

Before russia started mass-slaughtering us, Ukrainians had global traction for exceptional work ethic, 'everything-is-possible' attitude, and breathtaking creativity. Exactly for the same reasons, Ukraine turned into one of the main global hubs for high-end movie and video production in recent years. But what it has to do with our colonial past? Everything. For this one, we feature Kateryna Galytska, an executive producer behind the award-winning production house Radioaktive Film with accolades from Cannes Lions, MTV Music Video Awards, Emmys, and more.  SUPPORT: #UkrainianSpaces is 100% independent, volunteer and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voicemail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support

sport plays such an important identity-shaping role in Ukraine - athletes of different genders, ethnicities, skin colors helped to crystalize our feeling of national pride and what it means to be a Ukrainian in the last three decades since the end of the last Russian occupation. That's why it is no surprise that when another Russian assault started this year, thousands of Ukrainian athletes went to the frontline to defend Ukraine or rally global solidarity across the world — they know very well what's really at stake in this war. For this episode, we feature Vladyslav Heraskevych, a Ukrainian two-time Olympian athlete and the first-ever Ukrainian skeleton racer.    SUPPORT: #UkrainianSpaces is a 100% independent, volunteer, and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voicemail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support

there's so much queerness in being a Ukrainian. there's so much Ukrainianness in being queer. both are making the backbone of the holy Ukrainian resistance. We promise, this all will make perfect sense once you are finished with this powerful, raw, and defiant episode featuring Natalka Gurba, a Ukrainian artist, activist, and storyteller. They recently authored 'Queer Joy. Ukrainian Liberation' zine.  SUPPORT: #UkrainianSpaces is 100% independent, volunteer and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voice mail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support

Back in February, most Ukrainians still had no idea about the harrowing scale of genocide awaiting them in the coming months. But our friends from Syria and other parts of the Middle East reached out instantly with live-saving tips. Before unleashing it onto Ukraine, Russia tested and polished most of its terrorist and war crimes tactics on Syrian civilians — facing zero consequences or meaningful condemnation. But the hope is that crushing Russia in Ukraine will also end Russian terror in Syria. For another bridge episode, we feature Joey Ayoub, a Lebanese writer and host of The Fire These Times Project, and Leila Al-Shami, a Syrian writer and co-author of 'Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War.' SUPPORT: #UkrainianSpaces is a 100% independent, volunteer, and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voicemail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support

"Being free people is not cheap. What Ukrainians are going through is very much similar to what many people in Africa went through or are still going through." For another bridge episode of anti-colonial solidarity, we invited a legend of the South Sudanese liberation movement and prominent African thinker Peter Ajak Blair. In a powerful, raw, and moving chat, he explains why the Ukrainian liberation struggle triggers so many personal memories for him and why he believes more African nations should care.   SUPPORT: #UkrainianSpaces is a 100% independent, volunteer, and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voicemail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support

when genocide in Ukraine started we were overwhelmed with the outpouring of support and solidarity from Japan. What makes people from, literally, the other side of our planet, to hurt, rally and cheer together with Ukrainians — as if their own lives depend on it? For another bridge episode, we feature Ihor Ihnatiev, an activist from Stand With Ukraine Japan and Asami Terajima, a Kyiv-based journalist with Kyiv Independent. We will also have a very special and moving cameo from one of our Patreon family member, joining live from Japan.  SUPPORT: #UkrainianSpaces is 100% independent, volunteer and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voice mail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support

this battle is not only about our land. it is about our values, our identity, and our right to proudly manifest who we are. facing genocidal evil that is trying to assimilate us, Ukrainians resist by doubling down on our diversity, creativity, and belief that we can build a better world. for this one, we feature Alice Zhuravel, a proud mixed Ukrainian, a wartime artist making brilliant things at the nexus of tech and media, and the founder of Tozhsamist, a Ukrainian creative collective.  SUPPORT US: #UkrainianSpaces is a 100% independent, volunteer, and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voice mail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support

'that's very unfair, that you, Ukrainians, have to pay for all of us to find ourselves, to start valuing ourselves, to start emancipating ourselves.' we entered this bridge episode to find some similarities between Kazakhstan and Ukraine in our shared anti-colonial struggle. we ended up with one of our most powerful and moving episodes to date. our featured Ukrainian ally is Botakoz Kassymbekova, a prominent Kazakh scholar and thinker.  SUPPORT: #UkrainianSpaces is a 100% independent, volunteer, and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voicemail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support

Genocide in Ukraine triggers millions across russian neighborhood. It is more than empathy, though. The history of colonial violence, erasure, and assimilation by russia is a shared experience for dozens of nations. For another bridge episode, we foster Ukrainian-Kyrgyz anti-colonial solidarity and feature brilliant Kyrgyz journalist Bektour Iskender. SUPPORT: #UkrainianSpaces is a 100% independent, volunteer, and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voice mail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support

for this one, we pay tribute to fearless queer ukrainians who defiantly manifest their rainbow colors even as russian bombs keep raining down on them. kharkiv pride went ahead on September 25th, 2022 in the country's second-largest city — despite fighting ongoing just several kilometers away and non-stop russian shelling. how come ukrainian queer awakening has been turbo-charged by russian full-scale invasion? we feature Ruslana Hnatchenko of Kharkiv Pride and Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, the only transgender journalist covering genocide in Ukraine full-time.   SUPPORT: #UkrainianSpaces is a 100% independent, volunteer, and listener-supported initiative. If you like us, please become our Patreon sponsor and help us to amplify more Ukrainian voices GET FEATURED: you can also send us a voicemail GET CONNECTED: find #UkrainianSpaces on ukrainianspaces.com _ twitter _insta_ follow Val and Maksym Val’s twitter and Insta and tiktoks Maksym’s twitter and insta and tiktoks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ukrainianspaces/support