Ukrainian Scholars, EU History and Cartoons Against Dictators: What Bloggers Created with EU Support

In 2025, the International Renaissance Foundation and the EU supported eight Ukrainian bloggers who create educational content about history, culture, science, and fascinating stories about Ukraine and the world. Thanks to scholarships from the Foundation and the European Union, they produced videos to suit every taste and interest. In this article, we introduce the fellows and their content.

The “Panorama Stori” project

A channel about artists, art movements, and intriguing news from the world of creativity. Or, as the project’s author Anastasiia Vitvitska calls it, “a space where art speaks a simple language.” So if you would like to look at familiar things from a different angle, “Panorama Stori” does exactly that through short, dynamic stories. The channel combines storytelling and analysis, explaining cultural phenomena, media, and internet trends.

As part of the fellowship, three videos were released on the channel about lesser-known Ukrainian women artists and one male artist.

Universe Code

What if you could grasp the complex laws of the Universe in just a few videos? The channel “Universe Code” opens up space, physics, and fundamental phenomena in simple language. Its author, Yehor Slupytskyi, created the channel to help viewers dive into topics that usually feel unreachable — from black holes to the nature of time — and to bring science closer to everyday life. “Universe Code” also shares stories of Ukrainian scientists whose contributions have transformed dozens of fields in our understanding of the Universe.

As part of the fellowship, four videos were released on the channel: about Ukrainian programmer Kateryna Yushchenko, mathematician Heorhii Voronoi, biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky, and architect Afanasy Seredin-Sabatin.

Darka Buntarka

A channel that makes people fall in love with history and fashion — even the skeptical ones. It is for those who are not looking for neutrality but want an honest conversation. The channel’s author, Daria Anisimova, talks in her videos about society, culture, and lived experience — directly, sometimes sharply, but always taking a clear stance.

Daria weaves personal stories together with a critical view of social phenomena, creating content that provokes reflection and helps viewers form their own opinions.

As part of the fellowship, two videos were released on the channel: one about artist Sonia Delaunay, the first woman born in Ukraine to have an exhibition at the Louvre and to appear on the cover of French Vogue, and one about Mykola Miklouho-Maclay, a Ukrainian traveler and scientist who was the first to introduce the world to the Papuans of New Guinea and became one of the most active opponents of colonialism and the slave trade.

Kut Channel

How do you make sense of what is really happening around you? The channel “Kut” does more than just talk about history, culture, and politics. It offers structured breakdowns of social processes, media, and trends in the Ukrainian context.

As part of the fellowship, the channel’s author, Oksana Peredniankina, created a powerful animated video about the history of Donbas in the 19th century, when the region opened up to foreign investment. Back then, this resource-rich land began to develop at a tremendous pace. British, Belgian, and French investors built factories and entire towns here. So why do so few people know about this today? The video has the answer!

Dovkolabotanika

Who hasn’t heard of biologist and science popularizer Oleksii Kovalenko? What, you haven’t? Then you urgently need to subscribe to “Dovkolabotanika” — a channel about the natural sciences: botany, palaeontology, zoology, and sometimes geology. Its author Oleksii works at the National Museum of Natural History in Kyiv, so he definitely knows how to amaze you.

As part of the fellowship, the channel released a series of videos about Ukrainian scientists: archaeologist and palaeontologist Valentyna Bibikova; Danylo Zabolotnyi, a scientist who fought deadly diseases around the world, carried out risky experiments on himself, laid the foundations of modern epidemiology, and proved the existence of natural reservoirs of infections; and Mykola Kholodny, an outstanding Ukrainian scientist best known for his research on plant hormones.

Batat-TV

Batat-TV is an ambassador of Ukrainian animation. Its creator, Olena Ushakova, explores hidden symbolism and visual codes, develops the “DNA” of national cartoons, and helps shape the mindset of future animation artists.

As part of the fellowship, three videos were produced:

• “How did cartoons stand up to dictators? Anti-fascist films of Europe and Ukraine”
• “What do we have in common? Iconic European fairy tales and Ukrainian cartoons”
• “‘Pagan’ riddles in animation: What have we borrowed — and what has been taken from us?”

Bazovana Istoriia (Based History)

“Bazovana Istoriia” is more than just a history channel. The team created it to bring Ukrainians back to their real history — free from Russian myths, imperial distortions, and the colonial lens. “We’re a team that got tired of boring textbooks where Ukrainian history is treated as an appendix to someone else’s story,” they say.

Within the fellowship, they produced two project films: “Ukraine and Europe | Does our history unite us?”, which explores the history of Ukrainian–European relations and our shared values with Europe, and a video on the history of interaction between the European Union and Ukraine. It covers the history of the EU, how and why it was founded, the evolution of EU–Ukraine cooperation, and has a closer look at the future of both the EU and Ukraine within it.

Postscript

On this channel, Maksym Novosyletskyi covers key historical and political events in world history, as well as the biographies of prominent figures. Its style and attention to detail are carried over from his first channel, which focuses on Ukrainian politics.

As part of the fellowship, he created a video that explains the history of the European Union, its ideological foundations, the challenges of integrating member states, and the Union’s future prospects.

The videos were produced under scholarships for video bloggers provided by the International Renaissance Foundation and the European Union.

Source: https://www.irf.ua/ukrayinski-naukovczi-istoriya-yes-ta-multfilmy-proty-dyktatoriv-pro-shho-znimaly-blogery-za-pidtrymky-yes/