Author: Mike Buryk

Anders Aslund is a Swedish economist, former Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and a preeminent specialist on East European economies. He has been closely involved with Ukraine and its economy since the 1980’s. He is a prolific author and his book, “How Ukraine Became a Market Economy and Democracy (2009)”, is a comprehensive account of how Ukraine successfully made the transition to a market economy. In this interview, Mr. Aslund discusses the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and what the EU and the West must do to ensure Ukraine’s security and independence. www.kyivpost.com/opinion/28064

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Yuliya Ziskina is a policy and advocacy attorney specializing in information policy and public international law. She is also a Senior Legal Fellow for the Ukraine advocacy group Razom. Ms. Ziskina reviews the options for using frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction. newlinesinstitute.org/people/yuliya-m-ziskina/ www.linkedin.com/in/juliya-ziskina/

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The Ukrainian American restaurant Veselka made its debut in the Lower East Side of New York City in 1954. Veselka, which means rainbow in Ukrainian, was founded by Volodymyr and Olha Darmochwal in 1954. Their son-in-law Tom Birchard later took over management and operated the restaurant for many years. Eventually he passed the torch to his son Jason during the early days of the COVID pandemic. Michael Fiore, a documentary filmmaker, is now releasing his inspiring movie about this father-and-son team who have helped make Veselka an icon in the local Lower East Side community and beyond. You can find…

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Peter Dickinson is the editor of the UkraineAlert blog at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and the publisher of Business Ukraine and Lviv Today magazines. He is a well known British journalist and media manager in Kyiv and has been focused on Ukraine since the 1990’s. Mr. Dickinson discusses Ukraine as it grapples with the Russian invasion now entering its third year. www.atlanticcouncil.org/expert/peter-dickinson/

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Ukrainian Master Chef Yevhen Klopotenko has become an innovative cultural ambassador for Ukrainian cuisine. Mr. Klopotenko applied to UNESCO to obtain international recognition for borshch. As a result of his efforts, in July 2022 UNESCO inscribed the Culture of Ukrainian borshch on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in need of urgent safeguarding. He talks about his career and culinary efforts which include a Ukrainian cookbook, a restaurant in Kyiv and the upcoming launch of Ukrainian cafes in New York and Washington, D.C. klopotenko.com/en/

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Kurt Volker is an American diplomat with more than 35 years experience in government, academia and the private sector. He is a well known expert in U.S. foreign and national security policy. He was the US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations from 2017-2019 and the US Ambassador to NATO in 2008-2009. Ambassador Volker discusses the Russian invasion of Ukraine and what the country’s prospects are for winning the war. ldns.asu.edu/about/ambassador-kurt-volker bgrdc.com/team-member-post/ambassador-kurt-volker/

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Lucia Bondar is a Ukrainian publisher and author. Her coffee table books focus on architecture and design in Ukraine. Ms. Bondar’s latest book, “Ukraine Rising: Contemporary Creative Culture from Ukraine” is a collaboration with the independent German book publisher Gestalten based in Berlin. This book presents the work of the Ukrainian creative community and highlights their innovation and intrepid spirit. cp-publishing.com.ua/en/main-page/ us.gestalten.com/products/ukraine-rising

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In 2017 Ukrainian American doctors Nelya and Serhii Melnitchouk founded a non-profit to work on improving cancer and trauma care in Ukraine. The focus of Global Medical Knowledge Alliance (GMKA) is to develop physician and patient educational content that is evidence based, written by experts, and available through an online educational platform. Serhii is a cardiac surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston. Nelya is a cancer surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and also a Harvard Medical School assistant professor in Boston. They discuss their non-profit project and how it is bringing…

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The implementation of geothermal energy in Ukraine could bring an important new source to ensure energy security. Taras Popadynets, head of Geothermal Ukraine, and Yuliia Demchuk, board member, discuss why the NGO Geothermal Ukraine was established and what the advantages are in the implementation of geothermal energy in Ukraine.geothermalukraine.org

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Prof. Volodymyr Dubovyk is the Director, Center for International Studies at Mechnikov National University, Odesa, Ukraine. He is a Ukrainian expert on U.S.-Ukraine relations and security in the Black Sea region. Prof. Dubovyk is currently a visiting scholar at the Tufts University Fletcher Russia and Eurasia program in Massachusetts. He offers his views on U.S.-Ukraine relations and Ukraine’s increasing success in counteracting Russia in the Black Sea region.cis-onu.com/en/cv-dubovyk

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On June 5, 2023, the Kahkovka Dam was breached in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine. The disaster has been cited as evidence of Russian ecological warfare against Ukraine. Freelance Ukrainian American journalist Mark Temnycky talks about what happened and the long term impact for Ukraine and the global economy. www.atlanticcouncil.org/expert/mark-temnycky/

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