In this episode - 1:30 - Russian forces take control of the ruins of Bakhmut 11:15 - A questionable group of Russian volunteer soldiers fighting for Ukraine launch a raid into Belgorod Oblast of Russia and take a strangely long amount of time to be driven off. 37:30 - With the Russian success in Bakhmut, the war enters a new phase. What are the opportunities and concerns for how that new phase will shape out? 47:30 - Looking to the sky, Kyiv thwarts a massive missile barrage with the help of the...
May 25, 2023•1 hr 16 min
In this episode - 1:45 - An overview of the evolving situation in the war. Ukraine has made a series of localized micro-offensives throughout the front line resulting in numerous small victories against the Russian occupiers. Most importantly, in the area around Bakhmut, where they have retaken ground to the north and south of the city. This also enflames the struggle between the Wagner Group and the regular Russian army. 26:15 - Ukraine's acquisition of Patriot and Storm Shadow missile systems ...
May 15, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 48
Ukraine without Hype is joined by Armenian political scientist Karena Avedissian. Karena specializes in governance, access to justice, social movements, and new media/communications in Eurasia. We asked her about the background of the Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict over the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region, recent developments of Baku tightening their grip on the region and Yerevan looking like they may give in, and the role of civil society in either country. Twitter Karena: @KarenaAv Anthony: @...
Apr 30, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 47
In this Episode... 1:00 - Combat Update: Ukraine pushed back to the last few neighborhoods in Bakhmut, while a raid in Kherson Oblast gains attention as paving the way for the coming offensive. 12:05 - Putin visits occupied Kherson Oblast...maybe 17:05 - Wagner fighters blow the whistle, having been given extermination orders against Ukrainians (https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/18/wagner-mercenary-admits-tossing-grenades-at-injured-ukrainian-pows) 25:12 - Ukraine's EU neighbors block U...
Apr 27, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 46
In this Episode... 01:10 - War Updates: The Russians advance through the city center of Bakhmut, but it seems pretty certain that the city will not be surrounded. No Russian progress around Avdiivka, and most other advances have ground down. 10:07 - The Wagner Group circulates a video of themselves beheading a live Ukrainian prisoner. We go into some of the sociology behind why they would go to such depths. 20:52 - The Russian Orthodox Church faces an increasingly frequent series of localized cr...
Apr 15, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 45
In this News Digest... 00:50 - War Updates: The focus of the war is on Bakhmut and Avdiivka, two cities that have been largely destroyed and are threatened by attempted Russian encirclements. Russia knocks a US surveillance drone out of international skies, while Slovakia supplies Ukraine with fighter jets. Putin threatens to move tactical nuclear weapons into Belarus. 15:00 - International Relations: While Putin accepts his role as an inferior partner at a summit with China, Japanese PM Kishida...
Mar 31, 2023•46 min•Season 1Ep. 44
James is a US Army veteran who supported Ukraine for years before the full-scale invasion and enlisted when the time came. We talk to him about how his many years living in Russia opened his eyes to the country's simmering fascism and his path into the Ukrainian army. Since he also has a YouTube channel where he talks about old movies, we also go into how evolving technologies and pop culture shape popular perceptions of the nature of war. James Twitter: @SpaghettiKozak YouTube: https://www.yout...
Mar 16, 2023•1 hr 19 min
00:45 - Combat Update, including the increasingly brutal fight to defend the strong point of Bakhmut while preparing a counter-offensive. 10:50 - A militia made up of Russian dissidents fighting for Ukraine makes a cross-border raid into Bryansk region of Russia in order to get the rest of the country to revolt. We have questions. 26:00 - China presents a peace plan while rumors swirl of them possibly beginning to sell Russia military equipment. 34:30 - Pro-Russian protests in Moldova raise conc...
Mar 11, 2023•1 hr 4 min
The glory of Ukraine has not yet perished, nor the will. Still upon us, young brothers, fate shall smile. Our enemies shall vanish, like dew in the sun. We too shall rule, brothers, our country. February 24th is the anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, a day that shall live in infamy. It has been a full year since the Russian-fascist forces began their three-day campaign to conquer and exterminate Ukraine. We talk to former Ukraine Without Hype co-host Maria Romanenko about...
Feb 24, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 41
For this week's combat update, Russia continues to grind away at Bakhmut, making the most progress in the northern suburbs while being fought back in the south. In what appears to be the start of their much-awaited Spring offensive, most other fronts are successfully holding the Russians off. Then... 30:45 - The execution of Russian neo-Nazi could be another sign of inter-fractional fighting either within the ultra-nationalist camp or being it and the regular army. 40:50 - Zelesnky's makes a dip...
Feb 17, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 40
The second half of January has been extremely busy and there are many headlines to cover. 00:42 - Combat Update: Russian forces make troubling gains to the north and south of Bakhmut, but Bakhmut still stands. Russia fails in offensives along the southern line at Orikhiv and Vuhledar. Ukraine advances against Kreminna but is met with an increased Russian buildup. 09:10 - Russia missile strike hits an apartment building in the central city of Dnipro, killing 46 people. 19:12 - A helicopter crash ...
Jan 31, 2023•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 39
After months of little but continuous defeat, the Russian military looks like it is on the verge of taking the Donbas salt-mining town of Soledar. The battle is ongoing, but the situation is dire and would leave northern Bakhmut more vulnerable. We go into what little we know about the situation on the ground. This is followed by a discussion on the mercenary company Wagner Group, who is leading the battle, and the designs of its owner Yevgeny Prigozhin. The start of 2023 has seen Ukraine destro...
Jan 12, 2023•53 min•Season 1Ep. 38
On the last day of a very difficult year, we do a news roundup of the last headlines of 2022. President Zelensky leaves Ukraine for the first time of the full-scale invasion to hold a joint presser with President Biden, then a speech before a joint session of Congress. In other news, Russia sends its New Year Greetings in the form of multiple murderous missile salvos against most of Ukraine's major cities. Russian ultra-nationalist and ex-space program head Dmitry Rogozin was wounded in a strike...
Dec 31, 2022•35 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Our news update covers the continuing Russian offensive on Bakhmut while Ukraine steps up its campaign of HIMARS strikes and partisan sabotage behind enemy lines, the coming and going power blackouts, the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to a Ukrainian NGO, and what may be the final death of the corrupt Kyiv District Administrative Court. Plus, morbid packages are being sent to Ukrainian embassies throughout Europe. Then (@19:15) the Ukrainian government is moving to ban religious organizations wh...
Dec 19, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Kyiv is suffering from increasingly severe power outages as Russia focuses it strategy on making Ukraine as unlivable as possible for the civilian population during the winter. Then (@11:45) we take our time to remember the Holodomor following its remembrance day on November 26th. What is was, why it was a genocide by the Stalinist regime against the Ukrainian people, and what it may have been like to live through. And, of course, how the genocide of the Ukrainian people in the 1930s is connecte...
Nov 29, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 35
In a rustic candlelit recording session, Anthony covers the liberation of Kherson - the steps that led to the victory, the immediate priorities for the civilian population, and where the fighting is likely to shift to. Twitter Anthony: @Bartaway Romeo: @RomeoKokriatski Ukraine Without Hype: @HypeUkraine Patreon https://www.patreon.com/UkraineWithoutHype Music Celebration in liberated Kherson...
Nov 18, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Recorded and edited during the windows where everyone has electricity, this episode traces what led Russians to change strategies to targeting civilian infrastructure. Frustrated by continuous battlefield failures, the Russians can only take comfort in making Ukrainians as miserable as they can. Then, ANthony and Romeo discuss some of their recent travels from one side of the country to the other. Frontline report: https://english.nv.ua/nation/nv-visits-the-frontline-of-the-kherson-counteroffens...
Nov 08, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Greetings Comrades! This is a crossover episode with the Eastern Border podcast where Anthony and Kristaps discuss their recent reporting trip to the city of Mykolaiv and the nearby frontlines. But first, a combat update regarding the rapid Ukrainian advances on both the Kharkiv and Kherson fronts. And a special thank you to our fixers at the Ukraine Frontline Media Platform. Twitter Anthony: @Bartaway Romeo: @RomeoKokriatski Ukraine Without Hype: @HypeUkraine Kristaps: @Eastern_Border Fixers: @...
Oct 03, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 32
It is a short-form on-the-road episode by Anthony Bartaway, but these are all developing stories that deserve more focus. First up, the Ukrainian advance in the Kharkiv region and northern Donbas is continuing to roll forward and retake occupied territory, but they are discovering all of the horrors seen in all recovered territory. Putin swaps high-profile Ukrainian POWs for his flunky Medvedchuk. Russia holds a stage-play of a "referendum" in occupied regions of Ukraine, in a stunt that should ...
Sep 27, 2022•19 min
While the Russian army was focused on defending its holdings in Kherson, Ukraine pulled off a stunning offensive to the east of Kharkiv. In less than a week, the Russian garrison in the Izyum salient completely disintegrated, leading to them abandoning Kharkiv Oblast to the west of the Oskil River. This offensive has not stopped, so this episode may become immediately out of date - in the time between editing and posting Ukraine has taken more territory to the north of the Donets River. Anthony ...
Sep 12, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 30
This episode is dedicated both to Ukraine's Independence Day and the 6th-month anniversary of the war that threatens that independence. In our news round-up we cover: 00:00:45 - The combat update, including the long-awaited kinetic phase of the Kherson Offensive. 00:19:00 - Russia has been staging continuous provocations at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant that threaten a meltdown. The IAEA has arrived on the site to carry out an inspection. 00:30:45 - Morgue workers have managed to leak inf...
Sep 01, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 29
In a brief news update, Russia focuses its efforts in Donbas on the Donetsk suburb of Pisky, which guards the way to the vital strategic Ukrainian fortress-city of Avdiivka. On the Kherson front, the Russian army pours into the region in order to forestall a Ukrainian offensive, but by doing so put themselves in an extremely logistically precarious position. This is helped by Ukraine, somehow, blowing up a Russian Air Force base in Crimea. Then, we speak with Vladyslav Starodubtsev , a Democrati...
Aug 15, 2022•1 hr 3 min
In a brief news update, Russia shifts away from the Sloviansk front to Avdiivka in Donbas, while building up its defenses against the awaited Ukrainian offensive in Kherson. Meanwhile, they continue their intense missile strike campaign, especially against Mykolaiv and are suspected of an unusual mass execution in a prison camp in Olenivka. Then, we speak with Sarah Ashton, an American journalist based out of Kharkiv. She tells us about the situation on the ground in the liberated front line tow...
Aug 02, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 27
Ukraine struck a deal to secure its grain exports, but Russian perfidy meant Moscow broke the agreement almost immediately. Following the end of the battle for Lysychansk, fighting on the front lines has slowed considerably, though that is very relative. Russia has not made any advances since then, and its artillery attacks are far less frequent. This is thanks in large part to the devastating effectiveness of the HIMARS system in destroying their logistics. This may be the key to a (hopefully) ...
Jul 24, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 26
A rapid Russian advance finishes off the long battle for Luysychansk, allowing them to occupy the entirety of Luhansk Oblast. The Battle for Donbas shifts westward to the Seversk/Bakhmut line. Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces continue to make grinding progress around Kherson and Zaporizhia and force Russia to abandon Snake Island. Next, we discuss the protests in the Karakalpakstan region of Uzbekistan and the importance of watching Central Asia both in the broader regional and global contexts. Final...
Jul 08, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 25
A rapid Russian offensive captures territory around Lysychansk, leading to the Ukrainian withdrawal from Severodonetsk, with a tough fight still to come. The Ukrainian parliament ratifies the Istanbul Convention, a landmark treaty against domestic and gendered violence. Ukraine is granted European Union candidate status, paving the way for future membership. It has been the dream of a generation of Ukrainians, but they have paid a heavy cost for it. The pro-Ukraine Bulgarian Prime Minister loses...
Jun 28, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 24
Severodonetsk becomes the centerpiece of the war, as fierce urban fighting claims hundreds of lives. Russian cruise missiles destroy a Kyiv civilian railcar repair plant in the first strike on the city in a month, increasing the difficulty of Ukraine's ability to export grain. Three foreign-born fighters are sentenced to death by the Russian puppet authorities in Donetsk. We go over who these men are and why calling them mercenaries is malicious propaganda. Twitter Anthony: @Bartaway Romeo: @Vag...
Jun 13, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Brief news update: While Russia advances through the streets of Sieverodonetsk, Ukraine breaks through enemy lines in an offensive on the Kherson region. The US agrees to send Ukraine a new type of long-range rocket artillery after some very confusing negotiations. The branch of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine breaks away from Moscow and its future is uncertain. (08:00) We have an interview with Christopher Atwood, a graduate student at the Harriman Institute at Columbia University in New...
Jun 02, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Anthony Bartaway goes over the latest updates from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (1:00) The fears of Russian general mobilization on Victory Day proved to be false. (1:40) The defenders of Mariupol finally surrender, and their future is uncertain. (4:30) The Ukrainian counter-offensive in Kharkiv successfully drives Russian forces away from the city, in some places straight to the border. (7:50) A deep dive into the role played by the Siverskyi Donets River in the Battle for Donbas, and the a...
May 25, 2022•40 min•Season 1Ep. 21
The Russian offensive in Donbas becomes bogged down outside of Izyum and Sievierodonetsk, with only minor forward progress since our last update. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces take the initiative around Kharkiv and score more hits against the Russian Navy and its positions on occupied Snake Island in the Black Sea. Russia's effort to rope Transnistria into a suicidal war is subsiding, but still something to watch. The US lend-lease bill begins to show results in getting much-needed equipment to Uk...
May 09, 2022•1 hr 7 min
