In Ukraine, Adrift

Messy, care-free and lacking a sense of responsibility Ukraine is a country with agrand and bloody history and regular fistfights in the parliament. With itssize, geographical location and ongoing breakup from its towering neighbourRussia, Ukraine has entered the 20s navigating through populism, unbridled capitalismand sprouting democratic activism.  In a Europe beset by forces ofauthoritarianism and nationalism, Ukraine has - in an unorderly manner - takensmall but clear steps towards a modern liberal democracy. Its nationalism isone of a curiously internationalist brand.

In Ukraine, adrift is a report from a nation in search of an identity and a place in Europe. Paul Frigyes jumps on the train to Lviv todiscuss gender roles, tries to get his head around corruption and the post-Sovieteconomy in grand Kyiv, digs into memories of genocide and forgotten bodies inKharkiv in the East, meets environmental activists in the rough steel city ofKryvyi Rih and gets lost in the footsteps of Karl XII and Mazepa in the woodsof Poltava. Finally, he visits Chernobyl as it turns into a Mecca for miserytourism. 

Democracy activist Andriy Kruglashov summarizes the state of Ukraine, a nation that in2021 turns 30 years old: We are somewhere between pure madness and somethingthat could turn out really good.