Ukrainian Pulse #2

Tkachenko's resignation, a rare criticism of Zelensky, and was Ukraine a Russian colony?

Hi everyone and welcome to this second issue of ‘Ukrainian Pulse’, focused this week on the resignation of Ukrainian culture minister Oleksandr Tkachenko. There’s also a quick look at a rare example of a major Ukrainian political figure criticizing Zelensky, and a translated extract of a fascinating piece asking whether Ukraine was, in fact, a Russian colony (short answer, according to the authors: yes it was, but it’s also a bit more complicated than that).

This issue is only available to paid subscribers. I’m still fidgeting around when it comes to the publishing model and there’s a good chance I will sometimes make issues of ‘Ukrainian Pulse’ and ‘Analysis & Academic’ freely available. But buying a subscription is still the best way to support me and make sure you can read everything published here. Thank you!

The discussion

There was a discussion, but it wasn’t much of a debate—owing to his past as head of the 1+1 TV channel, a major media group controlled by controversial oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, Culture minister Oleksandr Tkachenko has always been a controversial figure among the country's civil society. His resignation, announced last week but still not confirmed by the parliament, was therefore seen as long overdue.