Section: The Guardian (The United Kingdom)
Ukraine’s presidential rivals trade insults in raucous stadium debate
Polls suggest comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy is due to score an overwhelming victory in Sunday’s voteA noisy, boisterous standoff in a cavernous stadium. A police cordon separating the two rival fan sections, rock music pumping and insults flying. It had the feeling of a boxing grudge match, but instead it was the final act of Ukraine’s...
A referendum on Poroshenko but also a very Ukrainian election
Some question whether rival is also shackled by old system that reasserted itself despite hopes of Maidan revolutionWhen Petro Poroshenko won Ukraine’s presidential election five years ago, it was with the campaign slogan: “Live in a new way!”Ukrainians voted for him in the hope he would make real the hopes and desires of all those who had...
Is Ukraine about to elect a comedian as its next president? – podcast
Ukrainians look set to elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a comedian and actor with no political experience, as their new president on Sunday. Andrew Roth discusses the events that have taken him to the brink of power. Plus: Peter Tatchell on why the British police should not be providing leadership training to officers in BruneiA comedian who plays a...
Ukraine elections: actor and comedian poised to win crushing victory
Volodymyr Zelenskiy is hot favourite to triumph in Sunday’s presidential electionLatest polling in Ukraine suggests that the actor and comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who has eschewed traditional political campaigning and given little insight into his policy positions, is set to win a crushing victory in Sunday’s presidential...
‘A whole generation has gone’: Ukrainians seek better life in Poland
As Ukraine prepares to elect a new president, millions of its citizens have moved across the borderWhen the small business run by Kristina Melnytska’s father began to struggle in 2014 he did what hundreds of thousands of other Ukrainians were doing and moved his family to Poland.Melnytska, then 19, enrolled in a university in the eastern...
Donbass: true lies from the Ukrainian frontline
Sergey Loznitsa’s absurdist satire of the Russian propaganda machine falls foul of a similar selective storytelling, writes former Moscow correspondent Shaun WalkerDonbass, unlike much of Ukrainian director Sergey Loznitsa’s previous work, is a feature film, not a documentary. But most scenes in the movie, which deals with the...
Shots fired by police in London’s Holland Park after vehicle rammed
Ukrainian embassy says officers were ‘forced to open fire’ after ambassador’s car hitShots have been fired by firearms officers in the Holland Park area of west London, the Metropolitan police have said.A Met police spokesman said the incident took place on Saturday morning and was not ongoing. … …read more Source: The...
Ultranationalism in Ukraine – a photo essay
The growing presence of far-right groups in Ukraine leaves the west in a quandary. The ultranationalists have played a key role in fighting Russia-backed separatist rebels and are now challenging government corruption. But they are pushing for changes that go against democratic idealsThe country’s ultranationalist groups came to the fore in...
Nuclear wasteland: inside Chernobyl’s exclusion zone – in pictures
The Chernobyl disaster in 1986 forced the evacuation of nearby Pripyat, home to 45,000 people. David McMillan has journeyed there 21 times since to record abandoned homes and buildings as they are reclaimed by nature … …read more Source: The...
Ukraine president takes up comedian’s drug test challenge
Petro Poroshenko and challenger Volodymyr Zelenskiy undergo tests before runoff voteUkraine’s presidential candidates have taken alcohol and drug tests in Kyiv, heightening the sense of a political circus before a runoff vote on 21 April.Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a popular comedian who left President Petro Poroshenko far behind in Sunday’s...
