Porohy #5 (2025)

In this issue, read: the open letter of the European Congress of Ukrainians regarding the adoption of draft law №12414 and its threats to Ukraine’s European course; an analysis of how Czech society has fallen into the trap of its own fragmentation; reflections on the “cancel culture” in a Ukrainian context, with its post-totalitarian echoes and contemporary manifestations; and an examination by Western journalists of the situation surrounding the independence of NABU and SAP, which has triggered the most significant political crisis since 2019.

In the Conversation section, you will meet Ladislav Vrtíš, the head of the well-known Czech brewery Raven. He could remain in a comfortable office chair, yet he chooses the seats of vehicles that he personally drives to frontline cities.

In the Persona section — a historical portrait of Yuriy Shevelyov, an émigré intellectual who defended Ukrainian identity.

We are well aware that some of the materials appearing in the pages of Porohy, including digests and chronicles, may have already lost their “freshness” by the time the issue is published. In a world where information flows change every hour, a print edition inevitably lags behind news feeds and digital platforms. Yet the printed magazine has a different function. We aim to document the chronology of events, give readers the opportunity to trace cause-and-effect connections, and remind them that no story exists in a vacuum.

Our goal is to allow readers to see the continuity of processes, to understand where the present comes from and where it might lead tomorrow. Even when the news has already become the past, it is important for us to present it as part of the broader picture. The printed word is not only for informing — it is a marker of time, enabling memory to be preserved while meaning is sought.