Ukraine

Ukraine blast eyewitness: “It felt like an earthquake”

 
At least 27 people were wounded on Friday in a series of blasts in Dnipropetrovsk, a city in central Ukraine. Our Observer, who was there at the moment of the explosions, told us what he saw. Read more…
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Ukrainian newspaper depicts Africans and Arabs as monkeys groping woman

 
A local newspaper in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil illustrated its front-page story on Tuesday with a photomontage of monkeys groping a woman to depict African and Arab men who had allegedly gotten into a bar fight. Our Observer, a Congolese student living in Ternopil, tells us this has deeply upset African students at his university, who he says are frequently the target of racist attacks. Read more…
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‘Darth Vader’ demands free land from Ukrainian government

 
Donning a long black cloak and a plastic light sabre, a man disguised as Darth Vader clambered up the stone steps leading to the city hall of the Ukrainian port city of Odessa. Irked by news that Odessa’s mayor had redistributed public land for private use, the “Star Wars” villain had come to claim a piece of it as his own. Read more…
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The week in amateur videos: a motorcycle miracle, brave bridge climbers and more

 
Silly, amazing or shocking things happen every day, all over the world – and in our era of video phones and high-speed internet, chances are they’ll be caught on camera and broadcast across the globe. Watch videos...
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YouTube keeps a check on unruly sons of Ukraine’s elite

 
Some of the offspring of Ukraine’s leaders seem to be a particularly unruly bunch. Hardly a month goes by without Ukrainian newspapers reporting on their outrageous – if not downright unlawful – behaviour. But in today's era of security cameras and viral online videos, their actions have less chance of going by unnoticed and unpunished. Read more...
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Chernobyl: radioactive jungle...and new tourist hot spot

 
Nearly a quarter of a century has passed since the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl. The ill-fated power plant lies abandoned in a jungle of overgrown weeds and forest, like an apocalyptic sci-fi movie set. Yet the site of the world’s biggest nuclear catastrophe is attracting a growing number of tourists. Read more…
 
 
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How far is too far? Artist jailed for frying eggs on Kiev eternal flame

 
National pride can be a prickly subject for most artists – those who tackle it sometimes pay a high price. In Ukraine, a young artist was jailed for a performance that involved frying eggs over an eternal flame honouring fallen soldiers. Read more...
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Suffer from asthma? Try spending a week or two in a Ukrainian salt mine

Ukrainians have a somewhat unorthodox way of treating their breathing ailments: they head 300 metres underground, in a disaffected salt mine-turned-therapy centre beneath the village of Solotvyno. Read more and see the photos...

Russia invaded by… crickets

Southern Russia and eastern Ukraine have been inundated with a gigantic swarm of crickets. See the amateur images...

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