Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from March, 2022
Trapped in Mariupol: What it’s like inside Ukraine’s besieged city
Mariupol in south-eastern Ukraine has been surrounded by Russian troops for more than a week. These are the voices of some of its residents.
Can Ukraine's internet sustain longer-term attacks and destruction from Russia?
In Ukraine, the internet has become the major front of defense against the Russian invasion. Many experts have been asking why Russia has not tried to destroy Ukraine’s internet infrastructure?
How the ‘two Myanmars’ view the Russian invasion of Ukraine
"The two very different approaches were a reflection of Myanmar’s split political and diplomatic status."
Turkmen students: Escaping from war-torn Ukraine
During the first few days of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the Turkmen embassy was largely unhelpful when it came to evacuating students and citizens.
Why Uyghurs are envious of Ukrainians
What Uyghurs would like to say to Ukrainians: "Don’t abandon arms, otherwise you’ll all be facing death, like us."
Undertones: Russia's feminists rise up
Today, feminists in Russia and abroad are joining forces to protest Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine by mounting a “Feminist Anti-War Resistance” movement.
In the Czech Republic, ‘private sanctions’ increase Russophobia
The 50,000 Russians living in the Czech Republic are now exposed to heightened Russophobia, even though no one asks them their opinion about the war in Ukraine.
Russia’s cyberwarfare remains limited, while Ukraine is crowdsourcing its own
Since 2008, Russia has been lauded as a cyber superpower. In the past, Russian cyber attacks have taken out electric grids, hacked elections, bankrupted corporations, and disabled military infrastructure. Nations across the world have been bracing for increased levels of cyberattacks, fearing that Russia will retaliate against sanctions by infiltrating global...
Russian embassy in Skopje threatens to ‘record’ dissenters from Kremlin official positions, labeled ‘Russophobes’
The Russian embassy in North Macedonia was the only one in the Balkans that reissued a warning by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that incidents of “Russophobia” "are meticulously recorded.”
Silent and uneasy: Armenia’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine
In Armenia, people have found themselves lost between deep-seated feelings of trauma and apathy.
Georgia hurriedly applies for membership in the European Union
The move follows Ukraine’s decision to apply for EU membership on Monday, February 28, amidst the Russian invasion of the Ukraine.
Why have attempts to debunk Russian war propaganda on Weibo failed?
China relies on Russian propaganda as the main source of information on the Ukraine crisis. Censorship instruction forbids Sino-Russian antagonism and anti-war declaration. Love triangle analogy has gone viral.
This International Women’s Day, let’s come together against violence
This International Women’s Day, we must work together to make women equal in society, starting with being free from violence, with a global treaty for greater awareness and accountability.
What lies behind India’s silence on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?
As a citizen of a postcolonial society, I sit uneasily with the implication that the whole world must immediately prioritize the goals and problems of the white West over their own.
What lies behind Moscow's claim of the need for ‘denazification’ of Ukraine?
The great losses the Soviet Union endured in WWII have cultivated Nazism into an emotional trigger that deems it "moral" to take up arms to “protect the motherland”.
Following invasion of Ukraine, Russia declares war on its citizens
Draconian punishments and social persecution are making it increasingly more dangerous to speak out against the official government narrative.
Ukrainian Dispatches 3: Angels
You start walking to the border and tears drop down your face. You will pass ... you are confident, and your situation is perhaps the easiest one. But what about the others?
Ukrainian Dispatches 2: The border
You ask yourself where will all this stop, is there really nowhere safe in the country?
“Nothing can break these people”: Social media dispatches from Ukrainians
"How are you?" "Air raid siren" "I’m running to the shelter" "I’m safe" "I love you"
Ukrainian Dispatches 1: Fleeing Kyiv with family and pets
Fleeing for you means to go home, for them it means to abandon, perhaps forever, all that they have: house, friends, objects, and carry whatever memories of their lives into a small suitcase.
Do we live in a news bubble of our own making?
We are able to follow news in multiple languages and make conclusions, choose what we share and what we label as misinformation.
About our Eastern & Central Europe coverage
Filip Stojanovski is the Central Europe editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.
Daria Dergacheva is the Eastern Europe editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.
