This program explores Ukraine’s struggle to escape Russia’s embrace, leave its Soviet past behind, and become a truly independent country. Ukrainian-American journalist, Katya Soldak, of Forbes Magazine, tells the story of her home country as it exits the USSR, works through two revolutions, and endures a war with Russia — all through the eyes of her family and friends in Kharkiv, a large Ukrainian city only 18 miles from the Russian border. The program takes viewers on an intimate journey that illustrates how big geopolitical changes affect people on a personal level, and explores what happens when democracy slips away and a nation must fight for the right to choose its future. Filmed over the course of a decade, it offers insight into what it’s like for an immigrant to watch her country go through crises from afar and offers an intimate portrait of life in the young, former Soviet country.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in the 1990s Ukraine was one of the largest new nations to emerge. It held its first elections in 1991.
Ukrainian forces battle Russian invaders after Moscow unleashed the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two, prompting tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. What is happening in Ukraine?