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Iranian prince in exile Reza Pahlavi spoke at the Black Sea Security Forum in Odessa on May 30, 2026, linking Russia’s war against Ukraine with the repressions and foreign policy of the regime in Tehran. His main thesis was harsh: Russian aggression and Iranian dictatorship can no longer be considered separate crises.

Pahlavi, the son of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, stated that Ukraine and the Iranian people are effectively confronting the same logic of violence. According to him, the Shahed drones, which Russia uses to attack Ukrainian cities, were created by the same regime that suppressed protests in Iran and continues to hold power through fear.

Odessa as a meeting point of Ukrainian and Iranian pain

Pahlavi’s speech took place in Odessa — a city that, since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, has become one of the key targets of Russian attacks in the south of the country. That is why his words about the city that ‘looks aggression in the eye’ and does not surrender sounded not like a diplomatic formula, but as a political signal.

For the Israeli audience, this speech has a separate meaning. Iranian Shahed drones have long become not only a Ukrainian topic. The Iranian regime simultaneously threatens Israel, supports anti-Western and anti-Israeli forces in the Middle East, and helps Russia wage war against Ukraine.

Pahlavi formulated this through a simple and strong phrase: ‘Shahed sees no difference between a house in Kharkiv, a commercial office in Dubai, or a square in Tehran.’ In this logic, Ukrainian Kharkiv, the Iranian capital, and regional centers of the Middle East find themselves in the same risk zone.

Why Pahlavi’s words are important for Israel

Israel knows well what the Iranian threat is. But the speech in Odessa added a Ukrainian dimension to this topic: Tehran acts not only through proxy networks and missile programs but also through the export of war technologies that Russia uses against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure.

This makes Russian-Iranian cooperation not an abstract alliance of regimes, but a practical mechanism of pressure on democratic states. Ukraine faces this on its territory. Israel — through regional security, threats from Iran, and the consequences of instability in the Middle East.

Moscow and Tehran as ‘co-architects of chaos’

Pahlavi called Russia and the regime in Tehran not just partners, but ‘co-architects of chaos.’ According to him, both regimes operate in a similar pattern: first suppressing their own citizens, then transferring this model of power outward — against neighbors, democratic societies, and international order.

He reminded that the Russian regime is fighting not only against Ukraine. In a broader context, Moscow acts against democracy, against Georgia, and together with the Islamic Republic — against Syria and Ukraine. Such an alliance, according to Pahlavi, tests the reaction of the free world and calculates the next steps based on how weak or decisive the West’s response will be.

It is here that Pahlavi’s position intersects with the Ukrainian and Israeli experience. Nikk.Agency — Israel News | Nikk.Agency considers this topic not as a distant foreign policy, but as part of a common security line: Iran, Russia, drones, proxy wars, and pressure on the civilian population are much more closely connected than often stated in official declarations.

Sanctions, drones, and the infrastructure of aggression

Pahlavi specifically emphasized that sanctions should be directed not only against political symbols but also against the real mechanisms of aggression. This concerns armies, drone production factories, logistical structures, financial channels, and networks that allow regimes to continue the war.

Such an approach is important for both Ukraine and Israel. If Iran’s drone industry continues to operate, its products may appear on different fronts — from Ukrainian cities to regions where Iranian influence directly affects Israeli security.

Pahlavi also warned the West against negotiations with authoritarian regimes as a universal path to peace. His formula was crystal clear: negotiations with tyrants do not lead to peace, they lead to tyranny.

What lies behind the call not to negotiate with dictators

Reza Pahlavi cited the example of the Soviet Union, stating that previous compromises rather postponed confrontation than resolved it. In his logic, weakness in the face of dictatorships does not reduce the risk of war, but only postpones it to the next stage — often with more severe consequences.

This thesis is especially sensitive for Ukraine, which has been facing the consequences of attempts to ‘freeze’ Russian aggression for many years instead of stopping it. For Israel, it also does not seem theoretical: every round of concessions and underestimation of Iran’s strategy in the region sooner or later returns with new threats.

Pahlavi urged the West to support not only Ukraine but also the democratic opposition in Iran. According to him, the Russian-Iranian threat should be considered as a single problem, not as a set of separate crises.

Who is Reza Pahlavi

Reza Pahlavi is the son of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. As a child, he was proclaimed heir to the throne, but after the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the monarchy in Iran was overthrown, and the Pahlavi family went into exile.

Today he remains one of the most famous figures of the Iranian opposition. His public position is built around the idea of democratic change in Iran, support for civil resistance, and pressure on the regime, which he considers a threat not only to Iranians but to the entire free world.

The speech in Odessa showed that the Ukrainian war is increasingly becoming a place where different lines of global confrontation converge. Russia, Iran, Shahed drones, Black Sea security, the Middle East, and the fate of democratic movements can no longer be considered separately.

For Israel, this conversation also has direct significance. When Iranian technology is used against Ukraine, and Moscow and Tehran strengthen each other, it is not about a foreign war, but about a system of threats that in various forms affects Kharkiv, Odessa, Tel Aviv, and the entire region.

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In Ukraine, the construction of a network of underground schools for children who continue to live and study in frontline regions is ongoing. According to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, 113 such facilities are currently at various stages of construction, and more than 60% of them are planned to be completed by September 1, 2026 — by the start of the new academic year.

This is not just an infrastructure project. For a country that has been living under Russian attacks for four years, an underground school becomes the answer to the question of how to preserve education where a regular school building no longer guarantees safety.

What exactly is Ukraine building and why is it important

The Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Oksen Lisovyi, reported that more than 100 underground schools are already operating in the country. Another 113 are currently under construction, with facilities at various stages of readiness.

Each such school is designed for approximately 500–1000 children. According to the plan, the system of protected educational spaces should provide the opportunity for about 100,000 students to study offline. Primarily, this concerns frontline communities where, due to Russian missile and drone attacks, children often remain in a remote format for years.

The cost of safety

Such projects are expensive. According to Lisovyi, one facility for 500–1000 children can cost approximately 80–120 million hryvnias. This depends on the content, technical requirements, depth of protection, engineering solutions, and conditions of the specific community.

But in the Ukrainian context, this price is no longer perceived as a luxury, but as a new reality of war. An underground school is not a bomb shelter with desks, but an attempt to return children to a normal school day: lessons, live communication, teachers nearby, breaks, the feeling of a class and school, and not just a laptop screen at home.

In 2026, the state allocated 5 billion hryvnias for the construction of such schools. Separately, for the first time, 1 billion hryvnias is allocated for underground kindergartens. Currently, according to the minister, 18 such kindergartens are being built.

Russian strikes have changed the very model of education

Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, Ukraine’s education system has suffered enormous damage. According to data announced by Oksen Lisovyi, more than 400 educational institutions were completely destroyed, and over 4,000 were damaged. Among the affected facilities are higher education institutions: 153 university buildings were damaged, and three university buildings were completely destroyed.

For the Israeli audience, this topic is understandable not only as news from Ukraine. Israelis know well what it means to have a school near the threat of shelling, sirens, shelters, and the need to build civilian life around safety. But the Ukrainian scale is different: it involves hundreds of kilometers of the front, destroyed cities, mass migration, and children growing up in conditions of war.

NAnews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency considers this topic not only as Ukrainian educational news but as part of a broader picture: Ukraine, like Israel, is forced to find ways to maintain normal life under the constant threat from the aggressor. In both cases, the school becomes not just a place of study, but a symbol of societal resilience.

Why this concerns the Ukrainian community in Israel

For repatriates from Ukraine, the Ukrainian community in Israel, and families with relatives remaining in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Mykolaiv, or other dangerous regions, this news has a personal dimension. An underground school is a chance for children to return to face-to-face learning where a regular school building may be too vulnerable.

It is also a signal: Ukraine is not abandoning frontline territories. If the state is building schools, kindergartens, and protected spaces, it means it plans for life in these communities not only during the war but also after it.

What will change by September 1, 2026

If the stated plans are fulfilled, by the start of the new academic year, a significant portion of the 113 underground schools under construction will be able to accept students. More than 60% of the facilities should be ready by September 1. This will not solve the entire problem of education during the war, but it will provide tens of thousands of children access to safer face-to-face learning.

Several difficult questions remain: will the pace of construction be sufficient, will communities be able to maintain such facilities, how will logistics be organized, and how many children will actually return to desks? Especially in cities and towns where families have already become accustomed to living between evacuation, remote learning, and constant anxiety.

The main meaning of the project

Underground schools show how war changes basic notions of normalcy. Previously, a school was associated with an open yard, a bell, bright corridors, and classrooms. Now, in parts of Ukraine, normalcy has to be built underground — with ventilation, protection, autonomous systems, and a plan for alarms.

But the meaning remains the same: children must learn, see teachers, communicate with peers, and not fall out of life just because Russia continues to attack civilian infrastructure.

For Ukraine, this is a question not only of education but also of demographics, the future of frontline regions, and people’s trust that their cities are not abandoned. For Israel, it is another reminder that the safety of children in the 21st century has become a common theme for societies living near war and terror.

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The Publishing House of “Dukh i Litera” is one of the oldest Ukrainian publishers of humanitarian literature, founded in 1992 at the Kyiv Mogilyan Academy. It specializes in the release of books on philosophy, sociology, cultural studies, theology and, above all, on Judaic.

For a Jewish audience in Israel, this publishing house is of particular interest, since it unites the traditions of the two peoples and helps to strengthen interethnic ties.

History and Mission of the Publishing House

The publishing house was created in 1992 on the basis of several research centers of the Kyiv Mogilyan Academy. His mission is to make high -quality humanitarian literature accessible to a wide range of readers, to preserve and convey the spiritual and cultural heritage, as well as stimulate a dialogue between Ukrainian and Israeli cultures.

Buying books is available on the publishing house – https://duh-i-litera.com/

The main achievements of the publishing house:

• Over more than 25 years of work, over 1000 items have been released.
• The most complete series of books on Judaic in Ukraine has been formed.
• Active cooperation with the center of Judaic of the Kyiv Mogilyansk Academy has been established.

As the director of the publishing house noted, Konstantin Sigov:

“We are sure that high-quality non-fiction should be available to everyone, and books are able to open new worlds and unite peoples.”

The main areas of activity

The Publishing House “Dukh i Litera” covers a wide range of humanitarian topics:

• Philosophy and theology:The release of classical works of European thought and Christian theology, contributing to spiritual enlightenment.
• History and culture:The publication of books on the history of the Jewish people, the study of the Holocaust and the analysis of Ukrainian-Jewish relations.
• Judaika:A special series of scientific and artistic works on the study of Jewish culture, religion, traditions and art.

A selection of books on the Judaic of the Publishing House “Dukh i Litera” in Ukrainian – https://duh-i-litera.com/bookstore/mfp/3f-kategoriya.judaka

What is Judaic?
Judaic is an interdisciplinary area of ​​research, covering history, religious studies, philosophy, literature and art of the Jewish people. It helps to understand the spiritual heritage, traditions, rites and intellectual achievements that have formed the identity of the Jewish community for centuries.

• Fiction:The publication of collections of prose and poetry, reflecting both classical and modern views on life, culture and national identity.

Particular attention is paid to Judaic books, since they are a unique contribution to the study and preservation of Jewish cultural heritage in Ukraine.

Significant projects and publications

The publishing house implements a number of key projects in cooperation with the center of Judaic of the Kyiv Mogilyansk Academy. Among the iconic publications can be distinguished:

• “Tegilim – Psalms” (Tom 1 and 2):Detailed comments on psalms that combine traditional interpretations with modern research.
• “Jewish addresses of Ukraine”:Guide to historical places related to Jewish culture in Ukraine.
• “Black Book”:A collection of materials dedicated to the Holocaust and the history of the Jewish people.
• “Culture by the Yiddish language”:The study of the traditions of Jewish culture through the prism of Yiddish.
• “Prayer for power”:Historical work on revolutionary processes in the relations of Ukrainians and Jews.
• “Jewish civilization. Oxford Judaic Textbook “:A fundamental textbook revealing the basics of Judaic.

Impact on intercultural dialogue

The Publishing House “Dukh i Litera” plays a key role in the development of interethnic dialogue. It not only issues books, but also organizes lectures, presentations and discussions, contributing to the meetings of scientists and readers. Such interaction is especially important for the Jewish audience in Israel, since it helps to deepen the understanding of the cultural heritage of Ukraine and helps to strengthen ties between peoples.

In analytical materials NAnews – Israeli News Repeatedly emphasized that cooperation in the field of humanities is a powerful tool for creating cultural bridges between Ukraine and Israel.

Founders

Konstantin Sigov

Co -founder, director

The philosopher and public figure, director of the Center for European Humanitarian Studies of the National University of the Kiev-Mogilyansk Academy, organizer of the annual international conference “Assumption Readings” and the Kyiv summer theological institute. It has rich experience in leading universities in the world (Sorbonne, Oxford, Stanford, Geneva, Luven, etc.). The author of the course “European culture: conflict of interpretations” in the science. Cavalier of the Order of Academic Palm (France).

Leonid Finberg

Co -founder, editor -in -chief

Sociologist, editor -in -chief of Spirit and Literal, Director of the Center for Research on History and Culture of Eastern European Hebrew Science. He edited a number of books of the publishing house, including “Jewish civilization. Oxford textbook on Judaic ”(in 2 volumes),“ Jews and Slavs ”,“ Maidan. Certificates ”(in 2 volumes) and others. The author of the book “On different and a little about yourself.” The editor-in-chief of the Almanac “Egupets”, a member of the Presidium of the Ukrainian Department of the International Pen-Club, the host of the UKRLIFETV program-“Spirit and Litecture: Dialogs about culture”.

Basic challenges and recommendations

Despite successes, the following tasks are faced with the publishing house:

• Financing and modernization:It is necessary to attract investments to update publishing infrastructure and implement modern technologies.
• Expansion of the audience:Active promotion of books and cultural projects both in Ukraine and abroad.
• Preservation of cultural heritage:Adaptation of classic texts for a modern reader without loss of original meaning.

We recommend to readers:

• Familiarize yourself with key publications (for example, “Tegilim – Psalms”, “Jewish addresses of Ukraine”).
• Participate in cultural events, lectures and presentations organized by the publishing house.
• Support projects, contributing to the strengthening of the interethnic dialogue between Ukraine and Israel.

International cooperation and prospects

The prospects of the publishing house are closely related to international cooperation. The expansion of partnerships with leading universities and cultural centers will not only increase the circulation of publications, but also provide access to high -quality humanitarian literature for a wide audience. This is especially true for Israel, where interest in research in Judaic is constantly growing.

Strategic tasks include:

• Innovative development of publishing Using modern digital technologies.
• Active involvement of investments for modernization of production.
• Strengthening cultural ties Through the organization of joint international projects.

Conclusion

The Publishing House “Dukh i Litera” is a unique cultural project uniting the Ukrainian and Israeli traditions through the prism of literature on Judaic. For more than 25 years, it has been a bridge between peoples, helps to maintain historical memory and develop a dialogue between cultures. High -quality literature is able not only to enlighten, but also to unite peoples, contributing to mutual understanding and cultural exchange.

We, the team NAnews sincerely recommend that you familiarize yourself with the work of the Publishing House “Spirit and Litera”. Support for such initiatives plays a decisive role in strengthening cultural ties between Ukraine and Israel, expanding the horizons of knowledge for all interested.

A selection of books on the Judaic of the Publishing House “Dukh i Litera” in Ukrainian – https://duh-i-litera.com/bookstore/mfp/3f-kategoriya.judaka

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Tamara Gverdtsiteli: great Georgian singer with Jewish roots. Category 🔯 — Jews from Ukraine #jewsukraine

“It was Putin who killed my mother” – “My Odessa, Odessa my mother is being bombed – we say goodbye to Russia.”

But besides her creativity, her life and story are associated with deep personal dramas and difficult decisions, especially after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

Tamara (Tamriko) Gverdtsiteli – a name well known in the post-Soviet space. This talented singer, actress and composer, People’s Artist of Georgia and other countries, won the hearts of millions with her voice and soulful music.

Tamara’s mother, Inna Volfovna Kofman, was Jewish and originally from Odessa, where her family was known for its Jewish heritage. Moreover, Tamara’s grandfather was an Odessa rabbi, which deeply connects her with Jewish culture and history.

After the start of Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the artist canceled her performance in Moscow at a festive concert dedicated to March 8th. According to Gverdtsiteli, she wanted to be close to her mother, who was born in Odessa and was very worried about Putin’s aggression.

“She cries often. All my ancestors are from Odessa. For my mother, all the streets there are native. It’s very hard for me to talk about this,” the singer said in an interview.

Tamara herself has mentioned more than once that with age she feels more and more her Jewish identity. In an interview she said:

“My father is Georgian, I was born and lived most of my life in Georgia, naturally, its culture had a tremendous influence on my life and work. But I was born and raised by a Jewish mother, and over the years I feel more and more my Jewish genes.”

This connection with the Jewish people was also evident in her work: she sang songs in Hebrew, emphasizing that for her it was “the call of the blood.”

The work of Tamara Gverdtsiteli: hits and achievements

Tamara Gverdtsiteli is not only a talented vocalist, but also an extensive creative heritage that spans several decades. Her musical career began in childhood: in the 1970s she became a soloist in the children’s ensemble “Mziuri”, with which she traveled to many cities of the Soviet Union.

After graduating from the music school at the Tbilisi Conservatory, her solo career rapidly gained momentum. In 1989, she received the title of People’s Artist of the Georgian SSR, and in 2004 – People’s Artist of Russia.

Among her most famous hits:

• “Vivat, king!” – a song written by Ukrainian poet Yuriy Rybchinsky became the singer’s calling card.
• “Mom’s eyes” – one of the most lyrical and touching compositions in her repertoire.
• “Children of War” – a song dedicated to the memory of the generation that survived the horrors of World War II.
• “Are you here” – a popular composition in Georgian.
• “How many years, how many winters” – a duet with Alexander Malinin, which occupied the top lines of the charts for a long time.

Her work was enriched with songs on Hebrewwhich have become an integral part of her repertoire. Among the most popular:

• “Jerusalem Shel Zahav” (“Jerusalem Golden”) – a legendary Israeli song performed with soulful depth.
• “Hallelujah” – a symbol of optimism and faith in a bright future, which won the hearts of her listeners.
• “Shir LaShalom” (“Song of Peace”) – a heartfelt hymn of hope, which she performed with special trepidation.

Tamara performs songs in eight languages, including Georgian, Ukrainian, Russian, French, English and Hebrew. Particularly notable are her performances in French, which have been compared to the traditions of Edith Piaf.

Tamara Gverdtsiteli actively collaborated with artists from different countries, including Ukraine and Israel, creating unique creative duets and projects.

Ukrainian artists

• Yuri Rybchinsky – legendary Ukrainian songwriter, author of many of Tamara’s songs, including her famous hit “Vivat, king!”which became one of her most famous works.
• Vladimir Grishko – world famous opera tenor. Tamara performed with him on the stage of the Dnepropetrovsk Opera House in 2011–2012, performing the role of Carmen in the opera by Georges Bizet. Their duet became a striking example of the synergy of pop and opera art.
• Nina Matvienko – cult Ukrainian singer. Their joint performances emphasized the deep connection between Georgian and Ukrainian musical cultures.

Israeli artists

• Itzhak Perelman – world famous violinist. Tamara performed with him at one of the charity concerts in Israel, performing traditional Jewish melodies.
• Shlomo Artzi – Israeli singer and composer. Singing Hebrew songs together, such as “Hallelujah” And “Shir LaShalom”has become an important part of Tamara’s repertoire.
• Noah (Achinoam Nini) – Israeli singer of Yemeni origin. Their joint concert included performances of traditional songs in Hebrew, Georgian and French, which emphasized Tamara’s multicultural approach to music.

These duets not only enriched Tamara Gverdtsiteli’s repertoire, but also strengthened cultural ties between Ukraine, Israel and Georgia, creating bridges between peoples through music.

One of the highlights of her career was the role of Carmen in the opera by Georges Bizet, which she performed on the stage of the Dnepropetrovsk Opera House in 2011–2012.

The richness of her repertoire and ability to interpret songs from different cultures have made Tamara Gverdtsiteli a true legend, whose work is valued all over the world.

Israel and Georgian singer

Tamara first visited Israel in 1988 and has performed here several times since then. She sang songs in Hebrew, Georgian, Ukrainian and other languages, emphasizing the richness of the cultures with which her life is connected.

“The first time I sang in Hebrew, I felt as if I was speaking to my ancestors,” – she shared.

Her concerts in Israel invariably attracted full houses, especially among those who knew her work in Ukrainian and Russian.

Ukrainian influence: music and tragedy

Tamara’s connection to Ukraine was especially strong thanks to her mother and collaborations with Ukrainian authors and artists. For example, Yuri Rybchinsky wrote the hit “Vivat, King!” for her, which became one of the symbols of her career.

Tamara performed with outstanding Ukrainian musicians, including the famous tenor Vladimir Grishko, with whom she performed the role of Carmen in the opera by Georges Bizet.

However, the war in Ukraine in 2022 changed her life forever. After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, her mother, Inna Volfovna, left Moscow with her daughter and returned to Georgia. But the events in her mother’s native land, especially the bombing of Odessa, turned out to be tragic for Inna Volfovna.

Yuri Rybchinsky told:

“When the war began, her mother said: “My Odessa, my mother’s Odessa is being bombed. We say goodbye to Russia.” But this pain turned out to be unbearable for her, and she soon passed away. Tamara says that Putin killed her mother.”

Principled position: rejection of Russia

After the death of her mother, Tamara Gverdtsiteli no longer performs in Russia. She canceled all concerts in the aggressor country and excluded songs in Russian from her repertoire.

For the singer it was a painful but important step. She stated that she could not forgive those who destroy her native Odessa region and kill innocent people.

Today Tamara Gverdtsiteli lives in Georgia and continues to perform on the international stage, but her work now emphasizes the themes of peace, love and tragedies that befell her homeland.

Jewish and Ukrainian identity

Tamara Gverdtsiteli is a symbol of the cultural unity of the Georgian, Jewish and Ukrainian peoples. Her life and career show how closely these cultures are intertwined.

The singer, who has been surrounded by Georgian and Jewish culture since childhood, shows through her music how important it is to preserve your roots and remember your ancestors.

Why is this important to Israelis?

For Israelis, the story of Tamara Gverdtsiteli is a reminder of how important it is not to stand aside from the tragedies that happen to the Jewish people around the world.

On the website NAnews – Israel News you can find more materials about Jews from Ukraine, their influence on world culture and the tragedies caused by Russian aggression.

The story of Tamara Gverdtsiteli is an example of fortitude and cultural unity, which helps to overcome the most difficult trials.

This article was prepared specifically for the “Jews from Ukraine” section of the site NAnews — Israel News, where you will find even more interesting stories about prominent Jews from Ukraine, such as Tamara Gverdtsiteli.

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The first chief architect of Tel Aviv – a city destined to become one of the most influential capitals in the world, was a native of Uman, Yehuda Magidovich, the son of Uman women’s hat designer Binyamin Zvi and Uman housewife named Rachel. When one of the founders of the State of Israel and its first prime minister David Ben-Gurion in 1925 organized a ceremonial reception for the most respected guest, Baron Rothschild – he did it in the Great Synagogue of Tel Aviv, built by a man from Uman…

In the section “Jews from Ukraine” – Yehuda Magidovich (January 21, 1886, Uman, Ukraine — January 5, 1961, Tel Aviv, Israel).

From Uman to the White City: The Story of Yehuda Magidovich

In the mid-19th century, the family of hatter Binyamin-Zvi Magidovich lived in Uman. His workshop smelled of steam, pressed felt and fresh ribbons — it was there, in 1886, that a boy named Leib was born, who later all of Tel Aviv knew as Yehuda Magidovich.

His mother, Rachel Sadovaya, was the keeper of the home, and his father was a master who made hats for both officials and young dandies. Studying in a cheder in a small town was the natural beginning for a Jewish boy of that time. But Leib, in addition to prayers and the Pentateuch, was drawn to drawings and unusual shapes. Years later, this passion would lead him in 1903 to Odessa.

Odessa years: brush, pencil and architecture

At the beginning of the 20th century, Odessa was a city where art and commerce mixed in the noisy port. Magidovich studied fine arts in Odessa, then in Kyiv, and then returned to Odessa to study architecture — essentially combining aesthetics with engineering calculation. By 1910 he already had a diploma and his first commissions. Yes, Yehuda Magidovich studied in Odessa, including at an art educational institution.

Most likely (there are no reliable sources of information about exactly where he studied), it was the Odessa Art School with an architectural department, where he received artistic training, and then probably continued his studies at the “Odessa Academy of Arts”, graduating around 1910. This is confirmed by both English- and Hebrew-language sources. In Odessa, he did not just draw facades. Magidovich designed houses that carried echoes of Italian villas and French resort mansions — adapted, of course, to the Odessa climate and local habits. In 1911 he married Atil, née Vogel, and the couple had two sons: Rafael Megiddo and Avshalom Megidovich.

But life in the city was restless. Pogroms, revolutionary rallies and street shootouts forced Jewish communities to self-organize. Magidovich did not stand aside — he took part in Jewish self-defense, and some sources even call him the district commander of one of these units.

1919: Odessa says goodbye

The Civil War was tearing the empire to pieces. In Odessa, families with bundles crowded near the port docks, waiting for permission to leave. Magidovich obtained a forged ID to leave the city, and in the autumn of 1919 he was among the passengers of the steamship “Ruslan”.

With a forged Odessa ID – to the shores of Palestine…

In the autumn of 1919, from Odessa to Palestine, on a journey that made him legendary, the ship “Ruslan” set sail with six hundred Jews on board. Modern Israelis call the “Ruslan” nothing less than “the Mayflower of Zionism, which opened the period of the Third Aliyah”. (The “Mayflower” was the ship that brought the first settlers from England to the shores of the USA). The name “Ruslan” became equally symbolic for Jews — although it was not the first since the beginning of the return of Jews to the Promised Land, its six hundred passengers were the elite of the future state, which was rising from the ashes…

Across the territory of the former Russian Empire, war was raging when in Odessa in all the port houses and even right on the bundles of belongings in the middle of the square, Jewish refugees had gathered. 170 of them were refugees from Safed and Tiberias – subjects of Great Britain, who wanted to return to their native Palestine. The British consul appealed to the Soviet Odessa authorities – and they gave permission to leave. But Odessa would not be Odessa if to those 170 foreigners they did not add another half thousand Jews from Ukraine, Poland and Russia.

They hastily studied the geography of Palestine so as not to “slip up” during the conversation in the Odessa Cheka, and as for the necessary languages — Hebrew and English — each of them already spoke them without extra training. In addition, Odessa professionals made each one a repatriate certificate (“teudat oleh”) with the stamp “Committee of Refugees from Eretz Israel for their return home”.

In the end, “Ruslan” was given the green light — on the journey to distant Palestine, the resident of Uman Yehuda Magidovich went together with future Israeli celebrities — historian Klausner, future editor of the famous newspaper “Haaretz” Glikson, poet Ratosh, doctor of medicine Yassky, artists Konstantinovsky, Frenkel, Navon and Litvinovsky, sculptor Ziffer, future Minister of Education Dinur, future Knesset member Rachel Cohen-Kagan, the mother of future Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin — Rosa Cohen…

This was not just a voyage — Israelis would later call it “the Mayflower of Zionism”. On board were about six hundred people: historians, artists, future politicians, poets. On December 19, 1919, “Ruslan” docked in Jaffa, and Magidovich, along with the others, set foot on the land that would become his new home.

The beginning in Tel Aviv: drawings from Odessa

He did not arrive empty-handed — in his luggage were hundreds of Odessa projects that he had managed to save from the archives. Most of these were plans for villas in the spirit of the Italian and French Riviera, reworked “in the Odessa style.”

Now they were to be transformed into houses on Montefiore Street, Nachlat Binyamin, and in new neighborhoods. Many of these mansions were built in Tel Aviv, reinterpreted already in a Jewish manner. In 1920, he was appointed the first chief architect of Tel Aviv. He was responsible for planning and approving projects, and at the same time designed himself — sometimes in eclecticism with elements of the Moorish style, sometimes in strict Art Deco.

He held this position until 1923, after which he opened his own office.

Friend of the mayor and bold projects

He had known Mayor Meir Dizengoff since the days of Uman. The friendship helped — not in terms of privileges, but in terms of boldness of decisions. Thus, “Galei Aviv Casino” — a building on stilts right above the water — became the city’s calling card. The creative bohemia gathered here, and even Winston Churchill visited. The casino survived the storm of 1936 but was demolished after Dizengoff’s death — during his lifetime the mayor “kept a hand” over his friend’s project. In 1923, Yehuda Magidovich opened his own architectural firm and began to build residential and administrative buildings in the city, which at that time were especially in demand in the young city. To this day, the construction company “Rafael Megido,” named after Magidovich’s son, is well known.

Magidovich worked in the Art Nouveau style — this is what the local version of the modern style is called in Israel. Many interesting buildings were destroyed, for example, the “Kovalkin House” in the Dizengoff Square area, and the casino — “an amazing, spacious, light building, in the spirit of people in high spirits.” But many, fortunately, have survived, including the Great Synagogue on Allenby, the “Levin House,” the “Nordau” hotel, the “Ben Nahum” hotel, and the “Beit Carousel” on Rothschild Boulevard. In the central part of the “Carousel House” there was a fireplace, and inside the windows was suspended a second row of colored stained glass windows.

They hung on rings, and when the air heated by the fire in the fireplace caused them to move slightly, the reflections of the fire played in the glass pieces of the stained glass, and then bright colored spots danced around the room — hence the name of the house. The “House with Columns” on Rambam Street is decorated with columns and arches — elements of the classical style. It was built in 1924 and is now included in the list of houses subject to restoration. The square where this building is located bears the name of Yehuda Magidovich.

The Levin House: terrorist attack and secret mechanism

In 1923, wealthy merchant Yaakov Levin commissioned Magidovich to build a mansion on Rothschild Boulevard. The architect designed a Tuscan villa with a tower whose roof could be retracted, opening a view of the starry sky during the Sukkot holiday. Over the years, the building housed a bank, a British school, the headquarters of the “Hagana,” and later the Soviet embassy. In 1953, fighters from “Etzel” and “Lehi” threw a grenade into the building — a protest against the antisemitic “Doctors’ Plot” in the USSR. People were injured, including the ambassador’s wife. Three days later, the USSR broke off diplomatic relations with Israel — until Stalin’s death.

In 1991, the Levin House, the work of the native of Uman, was declared “an object of special architectural value” and underwent an extremely expensive restoration — with the involvement of the best specialists and equipment specially brought from South Africa. When restorers worked on the tower, they discovered in its highest part a pile of old newspapers and an amazing mechanism, the purpose of which no one knew. They tried to set it in motion — and were shocked when the roof above their heads retracted: the mechanism, invented by the man from Uman, worked perfectly even after 70 years!

After the restoration, the Levin House housed exhibition halls and the office of the famous antique auction house Sotheby’s. In 2006, for 35 million shekels (comparable to the cost of the nearby “Beit Alrov” tower), the villa was purchased by Canadian billionaire Gerry Schwartz. The house, built by a native of Uman, still remains one of the main architectural gems of the capital’s tourist routes.

Architectural style

Over his career he designed more than 500 buildings. The Great Synagogue, villas with columns and domes, houses in Art Deco and in the International Style — all these are works by Magidovich. Even when moving toward modernism, he retained the habit of adding details — arches, small towers, decorative grilles — that referred to his European and Ukrainian experience.

Ukraine in memory and in works

After emigration, he could not return to Ukraine — the Soviet authorities did not allow such contacts. But in his projects one could always find echoes of the “Ukrainian period”: the proportions of the facades, planning techniques, decorative solutions. Israeli guidebooks invariably call him “a native of Uman.” In recent years Ukrainian local historians have also remembered him: publications were issued in the Cherkasy region, and in the Odesa museum in 2024 they even held a review of his Odesa years.

Final and legacy

In 1954, Magidovich suffered a stroke and stopped working. He died in 1961 in Tel Aviv and was buried in the Kiryat Shaul cemetery. He left behind not only buildings, but also an example of how a person from a provincial Ukrainian town can influence the appearance of one of the most famous cities in the world. He was survived by sons and descendants. The family house on Mogiliver Street, which was not included in the list of city heritage sites, was demolished in 2016, and a modern residential building was constructed on its ruins.

In 1993, architect Gilad Dovshni published an extensive book devoted to Magidovich’s work and his contribution to the development of Tel Aviv and Israel’s construction industry. In 2019, a memorial in his honor was installed on the pedestrian Nachalat Binyamin Street.

… The section “Jews from Ukraine” on NAnews — News of Israel tells about people whose roots are in Ukraine and whose contribution is in the history of the Jewish people and Israel. These are stories where Ukrainian experience and Israeli destiny are intertwined in one life path. The biography of Yehuda Magidovich is a vivid example of this connection, from Uman and Odessa to hundreds of buildings in the White City.

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Thirty years of one figure at the center of Israeli politics

Benjamin Netanyahu has long ceased to be just a prime minister, a party leader, or a participant in another Israeli political crisis. For millions of Israelis, he has become a separate era — with its fears, victories, divisions, habits, and language.

He can be supported, sharply rejected, considered an outstanding strategist, or a person who has kept the country in his personal political orbit for too long. But one thing is hard to deny: modern Israel cannot be explained without Netanyahu.

This is exactly what Dr. Baruch Leshem, a researcher of political communication and author of a book about Netanyahu as a “school of political marketing,” says on May 30, 2026. According to him, Netanyahu’s secret is not limited to a beautiful speech, television confidence, or successful slogans. Behind this lies a more complex structure — a combination of personal charisma, discipline, the ability to work with the image of strength, and an almost instinctive ability to survive political catastrophes.

In the late 1990s, Leshem saw Netanyahu differently. At that time, it seemed to him that he was facing a politician with exceptional communication skills but without a deep internal foundation. Later, studying his career, he changed his assessment: behind the external technique was real political energy.

The story of the “future prime minister”

One of the key episodes Leshem cites is related to advertiser Aryeh Rothenberg. He met the young Netanyahu even before he became the main political symbol of Israel. After talking with him, Rothenberg returned to the office and told colleagues that he had met the future prime minister of Israel.

This phrase is important not only as a beautiful detail of biography.

It shows that from an early age, Netanyahu gave the impression of a person who not only wants power but looks as if power naturally belongs to him. In politics, this is of great importance. The voter often chooses not a set of program points but a feeling: can this person lead the state in a moment of fear, war, pressure, and uncertainty.

Leshem compares Netanyahu with leaders of the world league of political communication — Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Not because their views are similar, but because each of them was able to create a space of leadership around themselves. A person steps up to the microphone — and the audience understands that they are not facing an ordinary politician.

For Netanyahu, this was especially noticeable during his rise. English language, American manner, suits, confidence, gestures, timbre, preparedness — everything worked for one image: a modern, strong, international leader who speaks to Israel and the world in the language of power.

How Netanyahu built the image of “Mr. Security”

Netanyahu’s main political capital did not arise by itself. He consistently built himself as a person who understands terror, Iran, security threats, and the international arena better than others.

Military biography in Sayeret Matkal, the memory of his brother Yoni Netanyahu, who died after the Entebbe operation, international conferences on terrorism, connections in the USA, speeches at the UN — all this formed a single political package. Netanyahu was not the most titled military among Israeli leaders, but he managed to turn the topic of security into a central element of his legitimacy.

That is why the blow on October 7 became not just a management crisis for him.

It hit the core of the image. The man who for decades convinced Israel that such a thing would not happen under him found himself as prime minister at the moment of the largest security failure. After this, even the strongest political machine began to crack.

Iran as the main political storyline

The Iranian theme became one of Netanyahu’s main tools. For years, he spoke about the threat of the Iranian nuclear program, warned the world, pressured international platforms, and built around this the image of a leader who sees danger earlier than others.

Iran indeed remains an enemy of Israel and an ally of forces threatening regional security. For the Israeli audience, this topic is not abstract: it concerns missiles, proxy groups, war, the future of the Middle East, and the personal safety of citizens.

But it is here, according to Leshem, that a new problem arose for Netanyahu. If after strikes on Iran, the military and experts continue to say that the nuclear threat has not been completely eliminated, then Netanyahu’s central thesis about his unique ability to neutralize this threat becomes weaker. Previously, he could explain this as a partial success, as time won, as the destruction of infrastructure. Today, Leshem believes, he has less of the former energy for such a convincing turnaround.

Why he survives where others would have disappeared

Netanyahu’s strongest trait is not only eloquence. His main quality is the ability to return after defeats.

After the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, he could consider his career over. After losing to Ehud Barak in 1999, many were sure that Netanyahu was going into the past. After October 7, his political position looked extremely difficult. But each time he did not so much say goodbye to power as he began to calculate the way back.

This is not improvisation.

Leshem describes Netanyahu as an extremely organized politician. He checks texts, prepares for speeches, analyzes data, studies audience moods, and looks at every step through the prism of political survival. In this sense, he is not an adventurer but a systematic player who knows how to wait, retreat, change formulations, and return to the attack.

NANews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency in this context is important to consider not only as a news platform but as a space where the Israeli audience in Russian can analyze such processes without simplifications: not “for” or “against” one figure, but through understanding how a political image becomes part of the country’s life.

Finkelstein, emotions, and “enemy” as a technology

One of the key influences on Netanyahu was the American political strategist Arthur Finkelstein. It is with him that Netanyahu’s transition to a tough emotional policy is associated, where not only ideas are important but also the image of the opponent.

The campaign must have a “bad hero” — the one against whom they mobilize their own. In Israeli politics, this image has long been “the left,” “elites,” “media,” “judicial system,” “deep state,” and later any political opponents, even if they themselves came from the right camp.

Thus, the very structure of Israeli politics changed.

Previously, the confrontation was more often described as a dispute between right and left, security and peace, economy and social policy. Under Netanyahu, another divide gained more significance: the camp that sees him as the only possible leader and the camp that considers his departure a condition for the restoration of the state.

This is no longer an ordinary party struggle. This is a personal architecture of power.

Judicial reform and October 7 as two blows to the old model

According to Leshem, two events especially weakened Netanyahu in recent years.

The first is judicial reform. It did not become the same emotional symbol for his electorate as security, Iran, or the fight against the left. Moreover, within his own support, there are liberal elements that did not accept the attempt to radically change the balance between power, courts, and legal institutions.

The second is October 7. This day hit the image of “Mr. Security” harder than any electoral defeat. When the country experiences trauma of such magnitude, old slogans begin to sound different. The formula of “complete victory” mobilizes part of society but simultaneously raises questions: where are its boundaries, who pays the price, what is considered a result, and why does the war last so long.

Netanyahu remains a powerful communicator. But, according to Leshem, his physical and emotional delivery has changed. The texts remain strong, the technique remains professional, but the former sense of natural strength has weakened. Sometimes, as the researcher says, it looks not like Netanyahu of previous years, but like an actor reproducing the familiar image of Netanyahu.

Likud after Netanyahu: the main question of the future

Another problem is succession.

Over many years, Netanyahu not only held Likud but also effectively rebuilt it around himself. His strength as a leader became both the strength and weakness of the party. As long as he won, it worked. But if the figure around which the entire system is built leaves or sharply weakens, the question arises: who can evoke the same sense of power, confidence, and inevitability in the right-wing voter?

Leshem believes that such a figure is not visible in Likud now.

This means that the day after Netanyahu may become not just a change of leader for the party but a crisis of identity. There is an electoral base, there are ideological habits, there is an alliance with ultra-Orthodox parties, there is an apparatus. But there is no obvious person who could tell society: now I am the natural center of this system.

That is why Netanyahu continues to remain the main question of Israel even when it seems not to be about him. The draft law, war, judicial system, relations with the army, protests, economy, religion, and state — almost all these topics pass through his personal political fate.

What will remain in history

Netanyahu’s legacy cannot fit into a simple formula. He is not only the longest-serving leader in Israel’s history. He is a politician who changed the language of power, the structure of camps, the role of media, the style of campaigns, and the very perception of leadership.

His supporters see him as a person who defended Israel for decades, held the right-wing camp, spoke to the world harshly and confidently, did not yield to pressure, and was not afraid of elites.

His opponents see him as a leader who tied the state too closely to his own fate, deepened the divide, attacked institutions, turned personal legal problems into political mobilization, and made constant crisis a method of governance.

History is unlikely to be neutral towards him. But it is also impossible to erase him.

Netanyahu has become not just a politician who was in power for a long time. He has become a coordinate system within which Israel argues with itself: about security, democracy, law, religion, national memory, war, power, and the price of personal leadership.

And the main question now is not only whether Netanyahu can survive politically again.

The question is broader: can Israel emerge from an era in which one person was simultaneously a leader, a symbol, an irritant, a protector for his supporters, and the main fear for his opponents for too long.

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On October 17, 1880, Vladimir (Zeev) Jabotinsky, an outstanding Jewish public figure, writer, journalist, translator and founder of the Revisionist Zionist movement, was born in Odessa (Ukraine).

Jabotinsky fought for the creation of the state of Israel and favorably viewed the idea of ​​free national and cultural development of any people within a sovereign state.

From an early age he stood out as a gifted student with an interest in languages, literature and social issues. Jabotinsky graduated from educational institutions in Italy and Switzerland, where he studied law and journalism, which later determined his professional career.

Jabotinsky became a famous publicist and writer, whose articles and works attracted the attention of the world community. From an early age, he was actively involved in the political life of the Jewish diaspora and soon became one of the main ideologists of Zionism, a movement that sought to create an independent Jewish state in Palestine.

Revisionist Zionism: Jabotinsky’s Political Struggle

In 1925, Jabotinsky founded the Revisionist Zionist movement, which became a key movement in Jewish political thought at the time. The main ideas of Jabotinsky’s revisionist Zionism included the following principles:

1. Creation of a Jewish majority on both banks of the Jordan River.
2. The establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, built on the principles of justice and morality.
3. Complete restoration of the Jewish nation in the historical territory of Palestine.
4. Liquidation of the Jewish Diaspora and repatriation of all Jews wishing to return to their homeland.

Jabotinsky steadfastly defended the view that the national interests of the Jewish people stood above any other personal or group ambitions. He believed that “Palestine” should become the center of Jewish civilization and state.

“Jabotinsky was a man whose ideas fundamentally changed the course of Jewish history, and his legacy remains an integral part of the Israeli political system today.”

Jabotinsky and the Ukrainian national movement

One of the most important episodes of Jabotinsky’s life was his collaboration with Ukrainian nationalists and figures such as Pyotr Struve and Maxim Slavinsky. At the beginning of the 20th century, Jabotinsky actively interacted with representatives of the Ukrainian intelligentsia, supporting the ideas of national self-determination of Ukraine.

Jabotinsky believed that every people has the right to national self-determination, including Ukrainians. In response to Struve’s ideas about a “united Russian nation”, Jabotinsky strongly defended the Ukrainian national movement and published several articles supporting the right of Ukrainians to independence.

Quote from Jabotinsky about Shevchenko:

“He (Shevchenko) gave both his people and the world clear, unshakable proof that the Ukrainian soul is capable of the highest heights of original cultural creativity… Shevchenko will always remain what nature created him: a dazzling precedent that does not allow Ukrainians to deviate from the national path revival.”

Alliance with Maxim Slavinsky: Defense of the Jewish Population

Jabotinsky and Maxim Slavinsky, the UPR ambassador to Czechoslovakia, had a long history of friendship and political cooperation. One of the striking examples of their interaction was the agreement on the creation of the Jewish gendarmerie, concluded in 1921 in Carlsbad. This alliance was aimed at protecting the Jewish population from possible pogroms in territories controlled by the Ukrainian People’s Republic (UNR).

Quote:

“Zhabotinsky’s cooperation with Ukrainian political figures emphasizes his commitment to the ideas of national freedom and mutual support of peoples.”

Jabotinsky and the State of Israel

Jabotinsky played a vital role in the creation of the State of Israel. His ideology formed the basis for the formation of modern right-wing parties in Israel, such as the Likud party. In 1948, Menachem Begin, a student of Jabotinsky, founded the Herut movement, which became a continuation of his teacher’s political program. Subsequently, Herut turned into Likud, a party that still remains one of the leading political forces in Israel.

The Jabotinsky Institute in Tel Aviv is dedicated to perpetuating the memory and ideas of the great thinker. Also in the building where the Jabotinsky Institute is located is the headquarters of the Likud party. This is a symbolic reminder that Jabotinsky’s ideas are still alive and relevant.

Memory of Jabotinsky:

• In Israel, streets in Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva and other cities are named after him.
• There is also a street in Kyiv named after Vladimir Zhabotinsky.
• Jabotinsky’s ashes were transferred to Jerusalem in 1964, according to his will, and buried on Mount Herzl, which symbolized his deep commitment to the creation of a Jewish state.

Political struggle and confrontation with Nazi Germany

With Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Germany in 1933, Jabotinsky became one of the main supporters of the idea of ​​a worldwide boycott of German goods. He categorically opposed cooperation with the Nazi regime and criticized the agreement between the Jewish Agency and the German government, which concerned the repatriation of German Jews to Palestine.

Quote from Jabotinsky about Petlyura:

“I grew up with them, together with them I fought against anti-Semites and Russifiers – Jewish and Ukrainian. Neither I nor the rest of the thinking Zionists in the south of Russia will be convinced that people of this type can be considered anti-Semitic.”

Personal legacy of Jabotinsky

The personality of Vladimir Jabotinsky has become an important part of not only Jewish, but also world history. His works and ideas had a profound influence on the development of both Israeli and Ukrainian culture and politics. His biography reflects the struggle for freedom, equality and independence that continues to inspire generations of politicians and public figures.

Key points in Jabotinsky’s biography:

Jabotinsky in modern culture

The name of Vladimir Jabotinsky is widely immortalized in Israel and beyond. Streets, institutions, and many monuments are named after him, highlighting his enormous contribution to the creation and development of the State of Israel.

Jabotinsky remains a symbol of the struggle for national interests, freedom and dignity of all peoples with whom he interacted throughout his life.

Quote from NAnews:

“Jabotinsky was not only the creator of revisionist Zionism, but also a passionate supporter of the ideas of freedom and justice that continue to inspire modern politicians.”

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Russian ‘Shahed’ in Romania: an incident that Moscow tries to turn upside down

After reports of a Russian drone hitting a residential building in the Romanian city of Galati, the Kremlin did what it almost always does after dangerous incidents near NATO borders: it began not to explain, but to accuse.

First, the usual formula about the ‘need for expertise’ was voiced. Then Russian diplomacy moved to a more aggressive version: allegedly NATO and the EU are using the incident to escalate confrontation with Russia. That is, Moscow’s logic is again built not around the fact of the attack itself, but around the attempt to present the aggressor as a victim.

For Israel, this story is also clear without unnecessary explanations. When a country lives next to threats of drones, missiles, and proxy forces, it knows well the value of such formulations. If a strike means flies into the territory of another state, it is no longer ‘noise’, not a ‘provocation’, and not an ‘information campaign’. It is a matter of security, responsibility, and the risk of further escalation.

Romania is not a random point on the map. It is a NATO country, a neighbor of Ukraine, an important element of the eastern flank of Europe, and a participant in the regional deterrence system. Therefore, every Russian drone that ends up on its territory automatically goes beyond the Ukrainian front.

What was stated at the Russian embassy

The Russian embassy in Bucharest accused NATO and the European Union of allegedly using the incident to promote a foreign policy line aimed at confrontation with Moscow.

The wording is indicative.

Russia first wages war against Ukraine, launches strike drones, creates a threat to neighboring countries, and then claims that it is the West’s reaction that is the problem. This is a long-familiar scheme: not to discuss the action, but to attack the one who points it out.

The Russian ambassador to Romania, Vladimir Lipaev, went even further. He claimed that the fall of the drone in Galati was allegedly ‘not accidental’ and supposedly ‘pre-planned’.

Such a turn no longer resembles a diplomatic explanation. It is an attempt to pre-create an alternative reality where responsibility is shifted to Ukraine, NATO, and the EU, and Russia itself again portrays itself as the side being ‘provoked’.

Why the Kremlin reacts so nervously to the Romanian episode

Romania is inconvenient for Moscow precisely because it is not Ukraine. The Kremlin has been trying for years to present strikes on Ukrainian cities as an internal matter of war, a ‘response’, ‘military necessity’, or another invented threat.

But when a Russian drone ends up in a NATO country, the situation becomes different.

Moscow understands that each such episode can increase pressure on allies: from demands to more strictly protect airspace to talks about new air defense systems, expanding military aid to Ukraine, and more active protection of the alliance’s eastern flank. Therefore, Russian rhetoric becomes sharper, more nervous, and rougher.

In this logic, Lipaev’s threats that ‘retaliatory measures’ from Russia will allegedly follow do not look like confidence, but like an attempt to intimidate Romania before it and its allies formulate a tougher response.

Moscow wants to impose a simple idea: do not react, otherwise it will be worse.

For the Israeli reader, there is an important parallel here. Terrorist and authoritarian regimes often test the limits of the permissible not with one big strike, but with a series of incidents. First, a drone ‘accidentally’ flew in. Then debris of ‘unknown origin’. Then the ‘provocation’ is to blame. Then pressure begins on those who demand an investigation.

NANews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency considers such plots precisely in this logic: not as a separate diplomatic noise, but as part of a big war of nerves, where Moscow tests the reaction of Europe, NATO, and Ukraine’s neighbors.

Zakharova, Peskov, and Medvedev: one choir, different roles

Dmitry Peskov stated that Putin is informed about the Russian drone that ended up in Romania. At the same time, the Kremlin again hid behind the phrase that until the official expertise is completed, it is allegedly impossible to talk about the origin of the drone.

This is a convenient position: while the expertise is not completed, Moscow demands not to draw conclusions. When conclusions appear, the Kremlin declares them politically motivated.

Maria Zakharova, in turn, threatened Romania with a response due to the closure of the Russian consulate general in Constanta. She called the situation around the incident ‘noise’, although it is about a drone that ended up on the territory of a NATO state.

Dmitry Medvedev spoke separately. He again threatened EU countries with strikes and stated that they are allegedly direct participants in the war against Russia. In the Russian system, Medvedev has long played the role of the official mouthpiece of extreme threats: he says what the Kremlin wants to throw into the public field but is not always ready to formalize as the position of the president or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This three-level reaction — Peskov, Zakharova, Medvedev — shows not strength, but nervousness. One softens the wording, another attacks diplomatically, the third intimidates. As a result, it turns out not a single version, but a hysterical set of signals for different audiences.

What this incident changes for NATO, Ukraine, and the region

The main danger of such episodes is that they gradually accustom Europe to the idea: Russian drones near NATO borders are almost a new norm. This cannot be allowed.

If a drone ends up in Romania and the reaction is limited only to statements, the Kremlin draws conclusions. If after each such case air defense is strengthened, coordination with Ukraine, control of airspace, and political pressure on Moscow, the conclusions will be different.

Ukraine in this story finds itself in its usual role of a country that warns neighbors: the Russian war does not remain within Ukrainian borders. It spreads further — through drones, missiles, cyberattacks, disinformation, energy pressure, and threats to diplomats.

Romania faces a question that has long been before Poland, the Baltic countries, and all of Eastern Europe: how to respond to Russian actions so as not to allow Moscow to expand the zone of impunity.

Why accusations against Ukraine sound especially cynical

Statements by the Russian ambassador about a ‘staged provocation’ and Kyiv’s desire to draw NATO into the war look like an attempt to pre-destroy trust in the Ukrainian version of events.

But the logic of war itself says otherwise.

Ukraine is interested in protecting its territory and strengthening the support of allies, but it is Russia that launches strike drones, hits cities, ports, energy, and civilian infrastructure. It is Russian attacks that regularly create a threat to neighboring states. Therefore, blaming Kyiv for the consequences of Russian strikes is not diplomacy, but a propagandistic inversion.

For Israel, this mechanism is also familiar. When an aggressor launches missiles or drones and then accuses the attacked side of ‘escalation’, the meaning of what is happening is deliberately blurred. The goal of such rhetoric is to make the external audience argue not about facts, but about ‘versions’.

What is important for the Israeli audience to understand

The incident in Romania is not just a European news story. It is part of a general international security crisis in which drones become an instrument of pressure, provocation, and testing boundaries.

Israel lives in a region where such threats have long been a reality. Therefore, the story with the Russian drone in Romania should be read not as a distant European episode, but as a warning: if aggressive regimes see a weak reaction, they expand the field of risk.

Moscow is now trying to do three things at once. Remove responsibility from itself. Intimidate Romania and the EU. Accuse Ukraine of what has become a consequence of the Russian war.

But the louder these statements sound, the more obvious another thing becomes: the Kremlin is nervous precisely because a strike on the territory of a NATO country cannot be completely hidden behind the usual words about ‘provocation’, ‘expertise’, and ‘anti-Russian campaign’.

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A youth football delegation from Nahariya returned from Berlin with silver, but the story itself turned out to be broader than the usual sports result. The Israeli city represented the country at the II International Youth Football Tournament of City Partnerships in the Berlin district of Tempelhof-Schöneberg, where teams from Germany, France, Poland, and Ukraine played alongside the Israelis.

The main thing here is not just the score and not just the second place. This tournament was part of Berlin’s network of municipal connections with partner cities, and therefore a platform where sports, memory, youth diplomacy, and international relations were part of the same story.

For the Israeli audience, two lines are especially important: Nahariya has been connected with Tempelhof-Schöneberg since 1970, and Ukrainian Mykolaiv joined the district’s partnership network during the great war — after signing a solidarity partnership agreement in 2025. That is why the participation of Ukraine and Israel in the same tournament did not look like a random detail, but part of a broader European map of connections.

What kind of tournament was this and why is it connected with twin cities

Officially, it is about the II International Youth Football Tournament of City Partnerships of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. In German, the name is formulated as Internationales Jugendfußballturnier der Städtepartnerschaften von Tempelhof-Schöneberg.

Simply put, this is not a national team championship and not an ordinary club tournament. Youth teams from cities and regions connected with the Tempelhof-Schöneberg district through partnership relations were invited to Berlin.

And here it is important not to confuse: Nahariya is not a twin city of Mykolaiv, and Mykolaiv is not a twin city of Nahariya. They are united by another connection — both cities are part of the partnership relations orbit with the Berlin district of Tempelhof-Schöneberg.

According to the German side, more than 150 girls and boys participated in the tournament. Among the teams were representatives from Charenton-le-Pont from France, Paderborn and Penzberg from Germany, Koszalin from Poland, Levallois-Perret from France, Werra-Meißner-Kreis from Germany, Nahariya from Israel, and a team from the Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv.

Ukrainian sources specify that the tournament took place in Berlin from May 22 to 24, 2026. The competitions involved 14 teams from Germany, Israel, France, Ukraine, Poland, and Nigeria, and Ukraine was represented by students from Youth Sports School No. 5 from the Korabelny district of Mykolaiv.

Who is officially connected with whom

The key connection for the Israeli story is:

Tempelhof-Schöneberg — Nahariya, Israel.

This partnership has special historical significance. The official website of the district states that the municipal connection between Nahariya and the then district of Tempelhof was established in 1970 and became the first such partnership connection between a German and an Israeli community.

For Israel, this is not a minor archival detail. Twenty-five years after the end of World War II and the Holocaust, the German district and the Israeli city established direct municipal contact. Since then, this connection has been maintained through official delegations, youth exchanges, and professional visits.

The second important line:

Tempelhof-Schöneberg — Mykolaiv, Ukraine.

The connection with Mykolaiv is new and was born in a different historical reality. In May 2025, the Tempelhof-Schöneberg district and Mykolaiv signed a solidarity partnership agreement. The German side separately notes that the Ukrainian port city participated in this football tournament for the first time, and the partnership was supposed to develop further.

This makes Ukrainian participation particularly noticeable. Mykolaiv is a city that has been experiencing the consequences of the Russian war since 2022, with strikes on infrastructure, alarms, and constant pressure on civilian life. When teenagers from such a city come to Berlin to play football, it is no longer just about sports.

It is a way to return a space of normalcy to children.

Nahariya reached the final: sports, city honor, and Israeli representation

The Nahariya team performed strongly and reached the final. In the decisive match, the Israeli delegation lost to the Polish team with a score of 0:1 and took second place.

Such a result for a youth team from the northern Israeli city is a significant achievement. But in Nahariya itself, the emphasis was not only on the sports side. The city delegation represented Israel, Nahariya, and the local football school on an international platform, where each match was simultaneously a competition and a meeting with teenagers from other countries.

For Nahariya, this is an important step beyond the internal Israeli agenda. The city in the north of the country is often perceived through the geography of the border, the sea, security, and life away from the center. But in Berlin, it became part of the European municipal network — alongside Poland, France, Germany, Ukraine, and other participants.

Why Ukraine’s participation changes the meaning of the story

The Ukrainian team in this tournament is not a background. Mykolaiv’s Youth Sports School No. 5 from the Korabelny district represented a city that itself became part of the Tempelhof-Schöneberg partnership network after the start of the full-scale war. The tournament involved partner cities of the Berlin district, and Mykolaiv was represented by football players from the Korabelny district.

For the Israeli reader, this is an understandable parallel.

Israel knows well what it is like for teenagers growing up near war, alarms, shelling, evacuations, political pressure, and international disputes. Ukraine today lives in a similar logic of constant testing, only in a different geography and with a different scale of war.

Therefore, the joint tournament in Berlin became a platform where Ukrainian and Israeli teenagers could be not objects of news about the war, but participants in normal international life.

This does not cancel the tragedy and threat. But it shows something else: even in difficult times, cities continue to build connections, send children to competitions, support sports, and create a space where the future is not reduced only to survival.

Berlin, memory, and diplomacy from below

The program of the Israeli delegation was not limited to football matches. According to a publication from Nahariya, participants also visited the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, got acquainted with city institutions, met with the leadership of the Tempelhof district, and studied the history of Berlin and the Jewish community of the city.

For teenagers from Israel, such a route has special significance. Berlin is not just the capital of Germany and the venue of the tournament. It is a city connected with one of the most difficult pages of Jewish history, but at the same time with the post-war attempt of Germany to build a new culture of memory, responsibility, and partnership.

That is why Nahariya’s participation in the partner cities tournament looks deeper than an ordinary football news.

NANews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency considers such stories not as “light city chronicles,” but as part of a broader picture: Israel and Ukraine today are going through questions of war, memory, international support, and the right to their own voice in different but very acute ways.

Partner cities as an alternative to cold diplomacy

Big diplomacy often sounds harsh: statements, votes, sanctions, crises, accusations, official visits. Municipal diplomacy works differently.

It does not solve the war with one tournament.

But it creates connections between people before politicians have time to spoil the language of conversation. Teenagers from Nahariya, Mykolaiv, Koszalin, Levallois-Perret, Paderborn, Penzberg, and other cities meet not in the format of press releases, but on the field, in buses, on excursions, at memorials, and in ordinary conversations.

This is the meaning of such tournaments.

For Germany — to continue the network of partnerships and show that cities can take responsibility for international connections. For Israel — to represent the country not only through war and politics, but also through youth, sports, respect, and memory. For Ukraine — to show that even during Russian aggression, its children remain part of Europe, and Ukrainian cities do not fall out of international life.

Why Nahariya ended up on the international map

Nahariya returned from Berlin with second place, but the main achievement is broader than medals. The city reminded of its long-standing connection with Tempelhof-Schöneberg, which began back in 1970 and became the first municipal connection between a German and an Israeli community.

Mykolaiv, in turn, entered this story as a Ukrainian city that, through solidarity partnership with Berlin, gets the opportunity for youth exchanges even in wartime conditions.

In one tournament, different historical layers came together: the memory of the Holocaust, German-Israeli reconciliation, Ukrainian resilience during the Russian war, European municipal diplomacy, and ordinary teenage football.

Therefore, this story should not be told as a note that “Nahariya lost the final 0:1.” It is much more accurate to say otherwise: Nahariya reached the final in Berlin, Israel and Ukraine found themselves side by side on the field of partner cities, and youth sports once again showed that international connections often begin not with big speeches, but with a simple match where children from different countries learn to see each other as people.

…
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The Kishinev pogrom: In 1903, the central authorities in Russia wanted Jewish blood to be shed, and that is exactly what happened. - June 5, 2026 - Новости Израиля

The Ukrainian family fantasy “Khreshchatyk 48/2” / “Office of Magical Powers” (original in Ukrainian – “Офіс магічних сил”) is coming to audiences in Israel not just as a film screening, but as a children’s festival of magic, adventures, and Kyiv mysteries. In June, the film will be shown in Tel Aviv and Haifa, and before the screenings, guests will enjoy an entertainment program.

This event is aimed at families with children, the Ukrainian community in Israel, repatriates from Ukraine, and everyone who wants to introduce their child to modern Ukrainian cinema — lively, adventurous, magical, and connected with Kyiv.

At the center of the story is a city known to adults, and another Kyiv that only children can see.

What will be shown in Israel

The film “Khreshchatyk 48/2” is a Ukrainian family fantasy comedy of 2026. It is also presented under the title “Офіс магічних сил”.

According to the plot, 11-year-olds Yurko and Mia accidentally find a mysterious entrance to the Otherworldly Kyiv — a parallel world existing since 482. This is not the Kyiv you can see in tourist guides. It’s a hidden reality beneath the modern metropolis, accessible only to children.

What follows is a story with humor, mystical creatures, Ukrainian mythology, and real adventures. Funny magical characters come to life in the center of the modern city, and the main characters find themselves in a whirlwind of events where children’s curiosity can change a lot.

The film’s formula is understandable to both children and adults: there is a door that the elders cannot see; there is a city not described in ordinary descriptions; and there are children capable of going where the adult world has long forgotten to look.

Main information about the film

Title: “Khreshchatyk 48/2” / “Офіс магічних сил”

Genre: family fantasy, comedy, adventure film

Country: Ukraine

Year: 2026

Language: Ukrainian

Subtitles: English

Duration: 1 hour 31 minutes

Age recommendation: 6+

World premiere: May 28, 2026

The Ukrainian version of the film retains the natural language environment, and English subtitles make the screening understandable for those viewers in Israel who want to come with friends or family members who do not speak Ukrainian.

When and where the screenings will take place

Two screenings are planned in Israel — in Tel Aviv and Haifa. Both events are announced as a children’s festival plus a film screening, so it’s not just about a session, but a family evening with a festive atmosphere.

Tel Aviv

Date: June 17, 2026, Wednesday

Time: 18:30

Place: Ennis Auditorium

Address: Paamonit St 9, Tel Aviv

Ticket price: 76–106 ₪

Program:

17:30 — entertainment program

18:30 — film start

Before the screening in Tel Aviv, guests will enjoy a photo zone, a children’s entertainment program, and the encounter with the world of Ukrainian fantasy on the big screen.

Tickets – available on the Showman website

Haifa

Date: June 18, 2026, Thursday

Time: 18:15

Place: Planet, Hall 2, CineMall

Address: Sderot HaHistadrut 55, Haifa

Ticket price: 76–96 ₪

Program:

18:00 — entertainment program

18:15 — film screening

The screening in Haifa will take place at CineMall, in Planet 2 Hall. For families in northern Israel, this is a convenient opportunity to come with children to a Ukrainian film without traveling to the center of the country.

Tickets – available on the Showman website

Why this screening is important for the Ukrainian community in Israel

For repatriates from Ukraine, the Ukrainian community in Israel, and families who found themselves far from their usual cultural environment after 2022, such events are significant not only as children’s entertainment.

It’s a way to maintain a connection with the language, cities, images, and tales that make up a child’s memory. Especially when it comes to Kyiv — a city shown in the film not only as a capital but as a space of legends, mythology, power, and imagination.

Against the backdrop of war, separation, relocations, and constant news, it’s important for children to see Ukraine not only through a lens of anxiety. They need a Ukraine of adventures, humor, magic, heroes, and a living future.

That’s why such screenings become part of the cultural life of Ukrainians in Israel. NANovosti — Israel News | Nikk.Agency considers this event an important listing for the family audience: here, Ukrainian cinema, Israeli cities, children, language, and a shared need for normal joy come together.

Who created the film

“Khreshchatyk 48/2” was created by film producer Oleksiy Komarovskyi. The director is Dmytro Avdeyev, and the screenplay was written by Yuriy Mikulenko.

The film was produced by Komarovskyi Films with the support of the State Agency of Ukraine for Cinema. Worldwide distribution is handled by Ukrainian Producers Hub / UPHub.

The main roles were played by young actors Ivan Novinsky and Kira Sayapina. The cast also includes Lyubomyr Valivots, Iryna Kudashova, Daniel Salem, Volodymyr Rashchuk, Oleksandr Yarema, Natalka Denysenko, TAYANNA, Hryhoriy Reshetnyk, Khrystyna Reshetnyk, Oleksiy Komarovskyi, and others.

The official teaser of the film was released on September 4, 2025, and the official trailer on April 8, 2026.

Event organizer in Israel

Organizer of the screenings in Israel: “Znyato v Ukraini” / Created in Ukraine.

The event is declared public.

For Israel, this is an especially important format: Ukrainian cinema is released not in a closed circle but in an open urban space — in Tel Aviv and Haifa, where thousands of families connected with Ukraine live.

What awaits the audience

Guests are invited to a warm, bright, and lively evening — with laughter, adventures, a children’s holiday, and the magic of Ukrainian cinema.

This event can be perceived as a family outing: come with children, friends, nephews, younger brothers, and sisters. For children, it will be a fantastic world on the big screen, for adults — an opportunity to feel the adventure with them for an hour and a half.

Organizers suggest bringing not only children but also your own inner spirit of adventure.

Because for a few hours, Israel can indeed become a bit more magical.

Tickets

What: children’s festival + screening of the Ukrainian film “Khreshchatyk 48/2” / “Офіс магічних сил”

For whom: families with children, recommended age 6+

Where: Tel Aviv and Haifa

When:

June 17, 2026 — Tel Aviv

June 18, 2026 — Haifa

Language: Ukrainian

Subtitles: English

Duration: 1 hour 31 minutes

Tickets:

Tel Aviv — 76–106 ₪

Haifa — 76–96 ₪

Organizer: “Znyato v Ukraini” / Created in Ukraine

Tickets – available on the Showman website

…
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The dollar sharply fell against the shekel again and on the morning of May 29, 2026, it dropped below the psychological mark of 2.80 shekels. For the Israeli market, this is no longer just currency statistics, but an indicator of how the war, negotiations between Washington and Tehran, the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, the policy of the Bank of Israel, and the growth of American markets simultaneously pressure the exchange rate.

Currently, the dollar is trading at around 2.81 shekels, the euro is also weakening against the Israeli currency and is around 3.27 shekels. For consumers, this sounds like good news: imports, purchases abroad, airline tickets, and orders on international websites may become more affordable.

But for exporters, high-tech companies, startups, and institutions that receive money in dollars, the picture is much more complicated.

Why the dollar fell against the shekel

Several factors on the local currency market are working in favor of the shekel.

The first is the absence of strict intervention by the Bank of Israel. The regulator has not yet shown a willingness to aggressively buy dollars to stop the strengthening of the shekel. The reason is clear: a strong national currency helps contain inflation, and rising prices remain one of the key problems for the Israeli economy.

For the market, this is a signal. If the Bank of Israel is not in a hurry to reverse the trend, participants continue to sell dollars and buy shekels.

The second factor is related to Israeli pension funds, insurance companies, and other institutional investors. A significant portion of their assets is located abroad, including in the American market. When stocks in the US rise, the dollar value of these assets increases. To maintain the balance of currency exposure, such structures sell part of the dollars and buy shekels.

This technical operation looks dry, but its effect is very noticeable: additional demand for the shekel appears on the market.

The role of high-tech and currency inflow

This is complemented by a steady inflow of foreign currency into Israel. The export of high-tech services, investments, deals, placements, and international payments continue to bring dollars into the country.

Even in wartime conditions, the Israeli economy maintains strong sectors that earn abroad. This supports confidence in the shekel and reduces the sense of panic around the Israeli market.

Another important element is the foreign exchange reserves of the Bank of Israel, which are estimated at more than 220 billion dollars. For investors, this is a kind of safety cushion. It does not eliminate risks but shows that the country has a margin of safety.

Washington, Tehran, and Hormuz: why the market looks beyond the economy

The sharp movement of the exchange rate does not occur in a vacuum. Investors are following reports of a possible 60-day pause in hostilities and contacts between the US and Iran.

According to reports from Washington, the parties have mostly agreed on the terms of a memorandum on a 60-day ceasefire, which should provide space for longer-term agreements. However, final approval from US President Donald Trump, according to published data, has not yet been given.

And here the market remains cautious.

During the months of war, similar reports of possible breakthroughs have already appeared, but they have not always led to a real agreement. Therefore, investors react to hope but do not forget about the risk of a new breakdown.

A separate nerve is the Strait of Hormuz. Reports of escalation in this area, including claims of actions by Iranian forces against American ships, immediately increase the significance of the oil, transport, and military factor. For Israel, this is not distant geography, but part of the overall security picture: Iran, sea routes, energy, American presence, and regional stability are interconnected.

Against this background, the currency market is actually assessing not only the economy of Israel but also the likelihood of a broader regional turnaround.

Why global markets are reacting more calmly than expected

Despite the uncertainty, global markets positively perceive the chance of an agreement between the US and Iran. Additional support is provided by investor interest in artificial intelligence companies and especially in chip manufacturers, where demand remains high.

For the Israeli reader, the simple connection is important here: if American markets grow, Israeli institutional investors more often sell dollars to balance portfolios. And this again strengthens the shekel.

That is why the dollar exchange rate in Israel today depends not only on decisions in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. It reacts to Wall Street, Tehran, Washington, the Strait of Hormuz, and expectations for the global economy.

Who benefits from a weak dollar — and who is already losing money

For the average consumer, a strong shekel looks almost like a gift.

Imported goods become cheaper. Overseas trips become more affordable. Purchases on international websites look more attractive. If importers really pass on part of the currency benefit to buyers, this may ease the pressure on prices within Israel.

But it’s too early to rejoice automatically.

Not all currency benefits immediately reach the cash register in the supermarket, the tourist package, or the bill for equipment. Part of the difference may be taken by supply chains, distributors, logistics, and retail. Therefore, for the consumer, the effect will depend not only on the exchange rate but also on competition in the specific market.

For exporters, the situation is the opposite. Israeli companies that receive revenue in dollars but pay salaries, rent, taxes, and operating expenses in shekels face a direct squeeze on income. The lower the dollar, the fewer shekels they receive for the same contract.

This is especially painful for companies with low margins.

High-tech is also not fully protected. Startups and service companies often attract money or receive payments in dollars, while most of their expenses are incurred in Israel. At an exchange rate of about 2.80 shekels, financial plans calculated for a higher dollar start to look different.

In the middle of such a story, it is important to look not only at the beautiful headline “the dollar fell” but also at the consequences for different groups. That is why NAnews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency considers the exchange rate as part of a broader picture: economy, security, international politics, and real expenses of Israeli families go hand in hand here.

A separate blow to the world of donations

There is another sector that is rarely mentioned in the first lines of economic news — educational, religious, charitable, and community institutions that depend on donations from abroad.

For yeshivas, kollels, schools, aid funds, and non-profit organizations, a weak dollar can become a serious problem. If a donor from the US transfers 10 thousand dollars, the institution receives noticeably fewer shekels than it received at a higher exchange rate.

On paper, the amount in dollars is the same.

In reality — less money for salaries, scholarships, rent, food, educational programs, and ongoing assistance to families. To maintain the previous level of activity, such structures need to collect more dollars, which is not always possible.

Therefore, a weak dollar is not only a topic of bank charts. For part of Israeli society, it is a question of the sustainability of entire support systems.

What the Bank of Israel can do

The main question now is where the red line for the regulator lies.

As long as a strong shekel helps fight inflation, the Bank of Israel may not intervene sharply. But if the blow to exporters, employment, high-tech, and structures dependent on foreign currency becomes too noticeable, pressure on the regulator will increase.

The Bank of Israel has tools. It can buy currency, give market signals, change the tone of comments, and influence expectations. But any such action has a price: supporting the dollar can weaken the anti-inflationary effect of a strong shekel.

That is why the decision does not look simple.

If the dollar remains around 2.80 shekels or goes lower, Israel will get cheaper imports and some relief on prices. But at the same time, anxiety will increase among those who earn in currency but live and pay expenses in shekels.

In the coming days, the market will be looking in several directions at once: at US-Iran negotiations, at the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, at Wall Street dynamics, at the behavior of institutional investors, and at signals from the Bank of Israel.

The dollar exchange rate has become not just a number on the screen. It has turned into an indicator of how much Israel now depends on the balance between war and diplomacy, global markets and domestic prices, consumer interests, and the survival of those who bring currency into the country.

…
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The Kishinev pogrom: In 1903, the central authorities in Russia wanted Jewish blood to be shed, and that is exactly what happened. - June 5, 2026 - Новости Израиля

The dream of returning to the Soviet Union in modern Russia is increasingly ceasing to be nostalgia and more often becoming a political program. But the problem is that it is not about the romanticized image of a ‘great power’ from television myths, but about recreating the darkest model of coercion, control, and suppression. For the Israeli audience, this process is especially important because it shows how a state waging an aggressive war against Ukraine is simultaneously restructuring its own society according to the logic of fear, isolation, and controlled disenfranchisement.

Today in Russia, the features of a system where dissent is declared a threat, freedom of speech becomes a crime, and citizens are offered to exchange personal autonomy for the television illusion of stability are becoming more pronounced. And if earlier talks about a ‘new USSR’ could sound like propagandistic bravado, now more signs point to a much harsher scenario — a return not to the late Soviet lifestyle, but to the model of conditional 1937 with modern digital stuffing.

This is no longer a metaphor.

This is a political construction being assembled before our eyes.

How Russia approaches the model of total submission

Not Soviet nostalgia, but a system of fear and forced loyalty

One of the main features of the current Russian course is the attempt to restore a state where a person exists primarily as a resource. Not as a citizen with rights, not as a participant in public life, but as a controlled unit obliged to work, remain silent, obey, and not ask unnecessary questions. In such a model, war is needed not only for external aggression but also for internal discipline. It justifies censorship, strengthens repression, allows for demands of sacrifice, and simultaneously accustoms society to the idea that the norm is not freedom, but mobilization obedience.

Against this backdrop, ideas that would have recently seemed like political grotesque are increasingly being voiced. Discussions of a six-day workweek, a twelve-hour workday, and the actual expansion of the workload to 72 hours a week fit into the general trend. If such proposals are promoted by people from the pro-government elite, it means that the very idea of turning the country into a huge production barracks is no longer marginal. It is being tested in the public field and gradually introduced into public consciousness as an acceptable future option.

For the authorities, this is convenient. An overworked, intimidated, and economically dependent person resists worse, protests less often, and more easily accepts any new restrictions.

From internet shutdowns to a new serfdom logic

Recent years have shown that the Kremlin closely monitors the limits of its own population’s patience. First, society is accustomed to censorship. Then — to blockages, internet filtering, criminal cases for words, and demonstrative punishments for dissent. After this, the next stage becomes possible: presenting labor coercion, total control, and restriction of personal choice as supposedly necessary measures for the sake of the state, the front, or ‘stability.’

That is why talks about digital isolation, the analogue of ‘CheburNet,’ and the gradual transformation of the country into a controlled information camp cannot be considered an exaggeration. When society agrees to live under conditions of shutdowns, bans, and an increasingly narrow field of the permissible, the authorities draw a logical conclusion: the limit of resistance is lowered. And that means they can go further.

It’s not just the economy being tested.

It’s a test of obedience.

Why the myth of ‘returning to the USSR’ turns into a trap for the Russians themselves

Television romance versus the real model of 1937

A significant part of Russian society has indeed lived for many years with the myth of ‘returning to greatness.’ In this picture, the USSR was presented as a space of strength, military power, large industry, strict discipline, and global fear that supposedly commanded respect from the world. But such a myth always had one fundamental substitution. People dreaming of a ‘great era’ almost never imagine themselves as its victims. They mentally place themselves on the side of the authorities, security forces, party nomenclature, special services, or the punitive system.

Reality is arranged differently. In any system built on coercion, the majority of the population finds itself not in the boss’s chair, but in the role of subordinate material. Not the master of the repressive mechanism, but its raw material. And if modern Russia is indeed moving towards a version of USSR 2.0, then for millions of its citizens, this will mean not a return to the ’empire of winners,’ but a slide into a world where rights are replaced by orders, salary — by a form of dependence, and personal freedom — by the obligation to survive in a state that considers a person an expendable resource.

This paradox is especially noticeable today. Those who have supported the cult of a strong hand, repression, and militarization for years risk being the first to face the same system not as spectators, but as objects of management.

War as a way to gather the country into one big labor camp

For the Israeli reader, another aspect is important here. Russian aggression against Ukraine does not exist separately from internal processes in Russia itself. External war and internal unfreedom feed each other. The deeper the country goes into a military economy, the easier it is for the authorities to explain to society new sacrifices, new restrictions, and new forms of forced labor. The more resources go to the front, the stronger the temptation to tighten the screws inside the country and present it as an inevitability.

That is why the rhetoric about the need to work more, endure longer, and not ask questions does not look like a random set of propaganda theses, but part of the overall architecture. A country living in a state of endless war gradually adjusts civilian life to the military standard. Hence the attempt to turn society into a huge mobilization mechanism, where the factory, barracks, propaganda, and fear begin to work as a single system.

In this context, НАновости — Новости Израиля | Nikk.Agency records not just another ideological shift in Russia, but a more dangerous process: a state destroying Ukrainian cities and lives is simultaneously building within itself a model where repression, overwork, and disenfranchisement are presented as the new norm of national existence.

What this means for Ukraine and the region

Russia is becoming less predictable and more totalitarian

For Ukraine, the conclusion from this picture is quite harsh but understandable. The deeper Russia goes into the model of internal coercion, the less reason there is to expect rational evolution, humanization, or renunciation of aggression from it in the foreseeable future. A country that shapes its own society according to the laws of a camp does not become safer for its neighbors. On the contrary, it more often seeks an external enemy, strengthens militarism, and turns violence into a universal language of internal and external politics.

For Israel, this is also an important signal. The history of the 20th century has too clearly shown how quickly the cult of strength, repression, and total submission can grow into a threat not only to its own population but also to the surrounding world. When unfreedom, labor coercion, suppression, and the cult of the enemy are normalized in a state, it always ceases to be only the internal affair of such a country.

That is why the current transformation of Russia is important not only for the Ukrainian front.

It is important for understanding what type of regime the world will have to deal with in the future.

If the current trajectory continues, Russia will look less and less like an ordinary authoritarian state and more like a closed system of the late imperial type, where the population is held by a mixture of fear, propaganda, war, and social dependence. And in such a case, the conversation is no longer about beautiful myths about ‘returning to the USSR,’ but about a real slide into a model where the state demands not participation from a person, but submission.

…
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Israel and Ukraine have started their performance at the 2026 European Mini-Football Championship in Bratislava — a tournament that gathers 24 European teams from May 27 to June 4, 2026. For both teams, this is not just a short sports trip to Slovakia, but a chance to showcase themselves on the European stage, where the stakes of each match are particularly high.

Ukraine started in Group C with a match against Belgium. Israel began its journey in Group B, where its opponents are Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Portugal. Both routes differ in the composition of opponents, but the logic of the tournament is the same: quickly gain points, preserve goal difference, and not leave the fate of advancing to the playoffs to other results.

Israel and Ukraine: two starts in Bratislava

Ukraine entered Euro-2026 in Group C along with Serbia, Belgium, and Turkey. The first match against Belgium was already an important test for the team: the short group stage does not allow for a slow start in the tournament, so the initial result immediately affects the psychology and the standings.

Israel found itself in Group B, alongside Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Portugal. This is a group without a simple scenario: there are teams with different football schools, different paces, and different styles of play. For Israel, such a tournament is an opportunity not only to fight for advancement but also to confirm its place in European mini-football.

According to the European Mini-Football Federation ranking before the tournament, Ukraine was ranked higher than Israel: Ukraine was 11th, Israel was 19th. But in mini-football, such a distance does not always determine the outcome of a match. The format is faster, the field is more compact, and one mistake or one successful segment can change the entire course of the match.

Why this is important for the Israeli audience

For Israel, participation in Euro-2026 is part of a broader sports picture. Israeli teams and clubs often perform in an international environment where sports are not separated from the political and social background. Therefore, even mini-football becomes a platform where not only goals are important, but also the very fact of the team’s presence among European teams.

For Ukraine, the tournament has a similar significance, but with a different emphasis. In the conditions of ongoing war, Ukrainian sports remain one of the ways to maintain the country’s international visibility. Each team, each match, and each victory work as a reminder: Ukraine remains part of the European sports space.

Groups, opponents, and the value of each point

Euro-2026 features 24 teams divided into six groups of four teams each. The top two teams from each group, as well as the four best third-placed teams, advance to the round of 16. Therefore, for Israel and Ukraine, not only victories are important, but also draws, goal difference, the number of goals scored, and the results of direct competitors.

Ukraine in Group C plays against Belgium, Serbia, and Turkey. This is a group where you can quickly gain an advantage, but just as quickly lose it. Serbia is traditionally strong in mini-football, Turkey can impose a tough pace, and Belgium does not appear to be an opponent to underestimate.

Israel in Group B faces Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Portugal. Bulgaria is ranked higher than Israel in the EMF ranking, Czech Republic is also in a higher ranking zone, and Portugal remains a team that is dangerous to evaluate only by its position in the table. For Israel, this means a simple thing: advancing further is possible, but it requires the most focused play in all rounds.

All Euro-2026 groups

Group A: Slovakia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece.

Group B: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Portugal, Israel.

Group C: Serbia, Ukraine, Belgium, Turkey.

Group D: Romania, Georgia, England, Spain.

Group E: Kazakhstan, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia.

Group F: Azerbaijan, France, Italy, Austria.

What this tournament shows Ukraine and Israel

Mini-football does not have the same media weight as big football, but precisely because of this, it often more honestly shows the state of the team. There is less room for long pauses, less time for restructuring, and higher importance of team discipline. For Ukraine, this is a chance to confirm sports resilience. For Israel, it is a chance to use the European tournament as a platform for growth and international results.

An important point: Israel and Ukraine do not compete directly in the same group at this Euro, but their stories run parallel. Both teams are in the European tournament, both go through a tight schedule, both depend on quickly gaining points, and both play for the right to remain in the playoff bracket.

For NANews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency such a storyline is important precisely in the connection between Israel and Ukraine. There is no need to artificially oppose the teams. On the contrary, the tournament in Bratislava provides a reason to view the two teams equally: as participants on the same European sports stage, where each defends its country, its form, and its right to continue the fight.

What’s next

Ukraine needs to go through a tight stretch against Group C opponents and not lose the advantage if the opening match provides a good lead. Israel needs to seek points in Group B, where each game can be decisive for advancing to the round of 16.

The main intrigue for both teams is the same: who will be able to adapt faster to the pace of the tournament and withstand the short distance without failures. In mini-football, Euros are often won not by those who look louder before the start, but by those who play more accurately at the right moment.

That is why it is worth following Israel and Ukraine at Euro-2026 in parallel. For one audience, these are two different teams. For Israeli readers connected to the Ukrainian theme, it is also a common sports context — Bratislava, Europe, mini-football, and several days in which much is decided very quickly.

…
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The Kishinev pogrom: In 1903, the central authorities in Russia wanted Jewish blood to be shed, and that is exactly what happened. - June 5, 2026 - Новости Израиля

In October 2025, the documentary film “Second Wind” by director Maria Kondakova was released in Ukraine — a story about people who have gone through war, loss, and rehabilitation but have not lost the ability to dream. The film tells the story of five Ukrainian defenders who climbed to the summit of Kilimanjaro — despite amputations, prosthetics, and chronic pain.

Film about overcoming and returning to life

The project was initiated by Gennady Gazin — a Jewish-Ukrainian-American businessman and philanthropist, founder of the fund “If Not Now Then When”. He served as the idea author, producer, and financier of the film.

“This project is a natural continuation of my interests. Love for the mountains has become an important part of life, and I am glad to combine mountaineering with charitable initiatives. The experience of challenging climbs and dangerous situations has made me appreciate every moment even more and support those who bravely defend their land,” noted Gennady Gazin.

According to Gennady Gazin, the idea for the film was born in Israel. It was there that he saw a soldier with a prosthetic who, despite the amputation, lived an active, full life. This moment became the starting point for the idea to show the strength, dignity, and ability of Ukrainian veterans to overcome. This is mentioned in a review by the publication “Ukrainian Truth. Culture”, which notes that it was in Israel that the idea for the film and the eponymous veteran movement arose.

Alexander Pedan, a well-known TV presenter and athlete, became the host and co-producer of the film.

“This project became personal for me. Mountaineering always teaches respect for life and gratitude for the opportunity to move forward. I am glad that I could combine this experience with a cause that has meaning,” says Pedan.

Cinematographer — Sergey Mikhalsky, a recognized master of Ukrainian cinema, whose works “Dovbush”, “The Guide”, and “Mamay” have been noted at international festivals. His visual solution gave the film depth and expressiveness — each frame conveys real effort, breath, step, light, and shadow on the faces of the heroes.

Filming took place in Ukraine and Tanzania. The crew worked at an altitude of over five thousand meters with sharp temperature fluctuations — from heat to night frosts. The film was shot without staged scenes: the camera captures the real steps of the participants, their fatigue, pain, jokes, and joy, at times becoming a participant in the climb.

“Ukrainian defenders and a defender climbed Kilimanjaro to show other servicemen who have experienced injuries or amputations that life does not lose its meaning after this. After an injury, it changes, but you can still live fully, engage in sports, and even conquer peaks,” says the project description.

Heroes of the film: what was found out from open sources

The film “Second Wind” features five Ukrainian defenders who, after injuries and amputations, climbed Kilimanjaro. Here’s what was established about them based on public sources:

Names and general information

Project participants (according to reviews and press materials) —
Roman “Dobryak” Kolesnik, Vladislav “Shatya” Shatilo, Mikhail “Grizzly” Matviev, Alexander “Ragnar” Mikhov, and Olga “Height” Yegorova.

The review in UP.Culture states that four out of five men have lower limb amputations and use prosthetics.

Roman “Dobryak” Kolesnik

• Veteran of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade (3 OShBr).
• Injured in May 2022, leg amputation.
• Completed a series of climbs in the Carpathians — Petros, Hoverla, Nesamovyte, Shpytsi.
• Covered more than 50 km with a 20 kg backpack on a prosthetic.
• Raised 1,000,000 UAH for the needs of the Armed Forces units.
  (RBC-Ukraine, NV Life, Life.Pravda.com.ua).

Olga “Height” Yegorova

• Servicewoman who received a wound during combat operations.
• The only woman among the film’s participants.
• Some publications mention a possible connection with Surma Team (not officially confirmed).
  (UNIAN, Ukr.net, Rubryka).

Vladislav “Shatya” Shatilo

• Veteran with a lower limb amputation.
• One of four men climbing on a prosthetic.
  (UP.Culture, Interfax-Ukraine).

Mikhail “Grizzly” Matviev

• Combat veteran.
• Has a lower limb amputation.
  (Interfax-Ukraine, Cinema.in.ua).

Alexander “Ragnar” Mikhov

• Special forces unit fighter.
• One of the participants who climbed Kilimanjaro with a prosthetic.
  (Rubryka, UNIAN).

How the idea for the film was born

The plot of the film grew out of Gennady Gazin’s personal initiative.

“Then Gazin, an American of Ukrainian-Jewish descent, feeling the war of his two peoples against terror, came up with a veteran movement and a way to promote it — creating a film of the same name, and then a support fund ‘If Not Now Then When’,” notes the review in UP.Culture.

Gazin proposed the script basis: veterans with amputations storm the mountain, proving that physical limitations do not set limits on human capabilities.

To realize the idea, he invited Maria Kondakova, whose previous documentary film “My War” (2020) told about women on the front line and was noted by critics for its sincerity and accuracy of observation.

The team decided to focus on real stories, without actors, without staging, and without pathos.
The result is an honest and powerful film in which each hero speaks in their own voice, and the camera does not hide weakness or pain.

Perception

The film “Second Wind” received positive reviews from film critics and viewers.
Reviewers from UP.Culture call it a “story of overcoming, rehabilitation, and inner rebirth”, noting that “the strength visualized in the dynamics of light and sound is understandable to every viewer, regardless of language and citizenship.”

The film became not just a cinematic work but part of a humanitarian project that combines culture, volunteering, and psychological support for veterans.

Gennady Gazin: biography and international activities

Gennady Gazin was born in Zhitomir, in a Jewish family. As a child, he emigrated with his parents to the USA.
Education: Cornell University (engineering), Stanford (master’s), Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (MBA).

Professional path:

• Engineer at Bell Communications Research and General Dynamics;
• Partner at McKinsey & Company, head of the technology and telecommunications practice;
• CEO of EastOne Group (2007–2012);
• Chairman of the Supervisory Board of “Kyivstar” (since 2022).

In recent years, Gazin is primarily known as a philanthropist and public figure.
He heads the Genesis Philanthropy Group (GPG) — an international fund supporting Jewish educational and cultural initiatives in Israel, the USA, and Europe.

Under his leadership, GPG funds programs:

• Yad Vashem (the national Holocaust memorial),
• Jewish Agency for Israel,
• Taglit–Birthright Israel,
• JDC (Joint Distribution Committee),
• Cultural and youth projects of the Jewish diaspora.

Gazin is a member of the planning committee of Taglit–Birthright Israel, regularly participates in events in the Knesset, at forums in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
He is known as a supporter of bringing Ukrainian and Israeli societies closer through education, culture, and humanitarian initiatives.

Fund “If Not Now Then When” and connection with Israel

The fund If Not Now Then When was created before the film’s release as a humanitarian and cultural platform to help Ukraine.
It implements programs in the fields of medicine, psychological rehabilitation, and veteran support.

Main areas of work:

• Providing hospitals and military units with first aid kits, equipment, and transport;
• Assistance in rehabilitating servicemen with amputations;
• Cooperation with Israeli organizations, adopting experience in working with veterans;
• Cultural initiatives aimed at strengthening humanistic values.

One of the fund’s projects was supporting the Ukrainian premiere of the film “Golda”, dedicated to Golda Meir, a native of Kyiv and Prime Minister of Israel.
The screening was held in conjunction with the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine and the Babi Yar Memorial Center, symbolizing the cultural unification of the two countries.

The source of inspiration for the fund was precisely Israel. Gazin emphasizes that the Israeli system of social integration of veterans is one of the best in the world:
society perceives wounded soldiers not as disabled but as people deserving respect and support.

The fund If Not Now Then When applies this approach in Ukraine, implementing projects that combine Israeli experience in medical and psychological rehabilitation with Ukrainian volunteer self-organization practices.

“Every person has the right to their second wind. The question is who will be there when they seek it,” said Gennady Gazin, explaining the project’s philosophy.

Conclusion

The film “Second Wind” became part of a larger process — a social and humanitarian movement inspired by Israel’s experience and implemented in Ukraine.
It combines personal history, professional cinema, and real aid programs supported by Gennady Gazin’s fund.

This is not just a film about veterans — it is proof that culture, charity, and international cooperation can restore meaning and self-belief to people.

Main sources of material

• Review of the film “Second Wind” — UP.Culture
  
• Review of the film “Second Wind” — UNIAN
  
• Veteran with a prosthetic raises a million for the army — RBC Ukraine
  
• Film “Second Wind” — Cinema.in.ua
  
• Official website of the fund “If Not Now Then When”
  
• Genesis Philanthropy Group — official website
  

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Ukraine is looking for workers, Israel shows a model: migrants cover only 0.1% of market needs - June 5, 2026 - Новости Израиля

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The Kishinev pogrom: In 1903, the central authorities in Russia wanted Jewish blood to be shed, and that is exactly what happened. - June 5, 2026 - Новости Израиля

On May 28, 2026, the Russian state agency RIA Novosti, citing a new report from the Russian Foreign Ministry “On the Situation of Human Rights in Ukraine“, disseminated the thesis that Ukrainian children are allegedly being “illegally” taken to EU countries and the USA. In the same logic, it was claimed that “children’s documents may be destroyed,” and the minors themselves are allegedly “given up for adoption, including to LGBT families.”

It sounds like another propaganda absurdity. But in reality, it’s not just a wild phrase.

It’s an attempt to turn one of the most serious accusations against Russia itself.

Because it is Russia, not the West, that is already at the center of an international case concerning the illegal deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children. It was against Vladimir Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova that the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on March 17, 2023.

And now the state, against whose leadership there is an ICC warrant in the case of children, is trying to tell the world: it’s not us, it’s the West.

What the Russian Foreign Ministry stated on May 28, 2026

In the Russian version, the story looks like this: Ukrainian children are allegedly being massively taken from Ukraine to Europe and the USA, after which their fate becomes opaque. Separately, the thesis about the alleged destruction of documents and the possible transfer of children to LGBT families was thrown in.

This is an important detail.

The LGBT theme here is needed not for facts, but for emotion. Russian propaganda has long used the image of the “LGBT West” as a fear button: press it — and the audience no longer asks where the evidence is, who checked the data, and why they are talking about it now.

The formula is simple: children + West + destroyed documents + LGBT = ready-made moral panic.

But if you remove the emotion, there is an empty space left.

In the public presentation of the Russian Foreign Ministry, there is no transparent international verification, no independent lists, no clear mechanism for confirming these accusations, no data comparable to the materials of the ICC, UN, or European structures.

But there is another, well-known scheme: mirror accusation.

Russia takes a topic on which it itself has become the object of international criminal prosecution and throws it back towards Ukraine, the EU, and the USA. The question “where did Russia take Ukrainian children?” is replaced with the question “what is the West doing with Ukrainian children?”

This is not accidental rhetoric.

It’s a way to blur responsibility.

March 17, 2023: ICC warrant that Moscow cannot cancel with propaganda

The main date in this story is March 17, 2023.

On this day, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova. The basis is the alleged responsibility for the war crime of illegal deportation of the population, namely children, and the illegal transfer of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia.

This is not a social media post. Not a Ukrainian political remark. Not a journalistic assessment.

This is a decision of the International Criminal Court.

That is why all subsequent Russian statements about “saving children,” “evacuation,” “humanitarian aid,” or now about “theft of children by the West” do not sound in an empty field. They sound against the backdrop of a case where the Russian leadership is directly linked to accusations regarding Ukrainian children.

Here it is important to distinguish between evacuation and deportation.

Evacuation in wartime conditions implies temporary protection, preservation of the child’s identity, connection with parents or legal guardians, accounting, transparency, and the possibility of returning home.

Deportation and forced transfer is another story: removal from the familiar legal and family environment, concealment of location, change of documents, transfer to foreign institutions or families, imposition of a new identity.

International accusations against Russia are built precisely around the second scenario.

March 12, 2026: UN commission speaks of crimes against humanity

Another key date is March 12, 2026.

On this day, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine stated that Russian authorities committed crimes against humanity related to the deportation and forced transfer of Ukrainian children.

The commission did not speak in general terms. Its findings included verified cases of 1,205 children from five regions of Ukraine.

It was separately noted that Russian authorities concealed the location of children from parents, legal guardians, and Ukrainian authorities.

This is one of the most severe elements of the whole story.

Because it’s not just about physically moving a child from one point to another. It’s about breaking the connection: with family, documents, citizenship, language, home, country.

This is where the essence of the accusation lies.

If a child is taken away, but their location is transparent, documents are preserved, relatives know where they are, and returning home remains the goal — that’s one situation.

If a child is taken away, hidden, transferred to another system, changed environment, and effectively integrated into the state machinery of another country — that’s a completely different legal and moral reality.

May 11, 2026: EU sanctions for removal, assimilation, and militarization of children

On May 11, 2026, the EU Council imposed additional sanctions against 16 individuals and 7 organizations associated with the illegal deportation, forced transfer, forced assimilation, indoctrination, and militarized upbringing of Ukrainian children.

This is an important formulation.

The European Union was not only talking about removal as such. It was about a whole chain: transfer, assimilation, ideological influence, militarized upbringing.

That is, the problem is not reduced to a single moment of crossing the border.

International structures see a system: children are taken out of the Ukrainian context, placed in the Russian environment, influenced on their identity, and in some cases prepared to perceive war already from the Russian side.

Against this background, the Russian Foreign Ministry on May 28, 2026, comes out with the thesis that the real threat to Ukrainian children is allegedly not in Russia, but in the West.

Coincidence? Hardly.

The stronger the international pressure around the topic of Ukrainian children, the more actively Moscow tries to build an alternative version of events.

Why the Russian version is built on fear

It was important for the Russian Foreign Ministry not just to say: “Ukraine mistreats children.”

That would not be enough.

A plot was needed that would instantly hit the emotions of the Russian audience. Therefore, the report includes the West. Then the USA and Europe. Then destroyed documents. Then LGBT families.

This is not a legal construct.

This is a propaganda picture.

It is designed so that a person does not ask: where is the evidence, which children, which families, which court decisions, which guardianship authorities, which international observers confirmed this?

He is offered to be outraged immediately.

This is how moral panic works. It replaces fact-checking with a sense of horror.

But in the topic of Ukrainian children, feelings are not enough. There are specific dates, documents, and international decisions.

March 17, 2023 — International Criminal Court warrants.

March 12, 2026 — UN commission’s conclusion on crimes against humanity.

May 11, 2026 — EU sanctions against individuals and organizations associated with the deportation and assimilation of Ukrainian children.

May 28, 2026 — the Russian Foreign Ministry tries to turn the plot and accuse the West.

This sequence itself explains a lot.

Why this is important for Israel

For the Israeli audience, this story should not seem distant.

It’s not just about Ukraine. It’s about how an aggressor state works with the topic of children, war, memory, and identity.

First, children are called “evacuated.” Then their transfer is explained as “rescue.” Then, when international accusations appear, the aggressor begins to accuse others of “child theft.” And then everything sinks into words about morality, the West, family, and “traditional values.”

Israel understands well that war is waged not only with weapons. It is waged with documents, names, language, family stories, and the right of a person to remain part of their people.

With Ukrainian children, this is precisely the main question.

Not only where they are physically located.

But who decides who they will be tomorrow.

That is why NAnews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency considers the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry not as a separate propaganda oddity, but as part of a broader campaign. Moscow is trying to rewrite the meaning of the case of the deportation of Ukrainian children even before international justice reaches a final legal assessment.

The main question Moscow avoids

In this story, there is one simple question.

Where are the Ukrainian children?

Not in a TV horror story about Europe. Not in a slogan about the “decaying West.” Not in a Russian report written to provoke anger rather than provide verifiable facts.

Where are the specific children taken from the occupied territories of Ukraine? Who made the decisions about their transfer? Who processed the documents? Who transferred them to Russian institutions or families? Why couldn’t parents, guardians, and Ukrainian authorities always get information about their whereabouts?

These are the questions around which the international agenda is built.

And the Russian Foreign Ministry tries to replace them with another set of questions — noisy, convenient, and emotional.

But noise does not cancel facts.

Russia can tell as much as it wants about the “abduction of children by the West,” but the ICC warrant from March 17, 2023, does not disappear. The UN commission’s conclusion from March 12, 2026, does not disappear. The EU sanctions from May 11, 2026, also remain part of the official international reaction.

That is why the new Russian report looks not like the protection of children, but like an attempt to hide its own trail behind someone else’s invented threat.

The more the world talks about the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, the louder Moscow shouts about the “West.” But the main trail in this story still leads not to Brussels and not to Washington.

It leads to the Kremlin.

…
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The Kishinev pogrom: In 1903, the central authorities in Russia wanted Jewish blood to be shed, and that is exactly what happened. - June 5, 2026 - Новости Израиля

Heading ‘Jews from Ukraine’ on the website NAnews #JewsofUkraine reveals inspiring stories of outstanding Jews whose destinies and achievements connect Ukraine and Israel

In Ukraine, a memorial sign was installed on the facade of the house in Odessa at 9 Malaya Arnautskaya Street, where Chaim Bialik lived in 1907.

The Jewish community of Ukraine shaped the personality and work of the poet and Zionist Chaim Nachman Bialik, who became the national poet of Israel. His life is the story of the unification of the Jewish culture of Ukraine and Israel.

Chaim Nachman Bialik was born on January 9, 1873 in the village of Ivnitsa, near Zhitomir, in the Volyn province (now Ukraine).

Ukraine at the end of the 19th century was the center of Jewish culture and traditions. It was in this environment that Bialik’s personality was formed, who drew inspiration from the shtetls and the rich spiritual life of the local Jewish communities.

His father, Isaac Joseph, was engaged in the timber trade and mill business, but died when Chaim was only 7 years old. After this, he was raised by his grandfather Yakov Moshe Bialik, who became for him a symbol of Jewish wisdom and spirituality.

Bialik began his education in cheder, and in his youth he independently studied literature and philosophy. He later studied at the famous Volozhin Yeshiva in Lithuania, where he delved into the study of Jewish traditions.

In the 1890s, Bialik began publishing his first poems and poems, which quickly brought him recognition. In Odessa, he became an active participant in the cultural life of the Jewish community and founded a publishing house “Moriah”which contributed to the development of Hebrew literature.

After the revolution and difficult years in Soviet Russia, Bialik emigrated to Palestine, where he devoted himself to the development of Jewish culture. He actively participated in the work of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the theater “Habima” and other key projects.

Bialik died on July 4, 1934 in Vienna, but his legacy lives on today, inspiring millions of people.

Jewish Ukraine: cradle of inspiration

Ukraine at the end of the 19th century was the center of Jewish culture and traditions. It was in this environment that Bialik’s personality was formed, who drew inspiration from the shtetls and the rich spiritual life of the local Jewish communities.

• Ivnitsa and Zhytomyr:

  Here Bialik absorbed the atmosphere of Jewish family life, which became the foundation of his worldview.

• Odessa as a cultural center:

  Odessa was the place where Bialik not only developed his creativity, but also participated in educational and publishing projects. It was here that he finally established himself as a poet and thinker.

Chaim Nachman Bialik in Odessa: creativity and cultural influence

Odessa became a real center of inspiration and intellectual growth for Chaim Nachman Bialik. This city, with a thriving Jewish community in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, provided him with opportunities for literary, publishing and social activities.

Literary environment

Odessa was home to many prominent Jewish writers and thinkers, with whom Bialik actively collaborated:

• Mendele Moyher-Sforim – “the grandfather of Jewish literature”, whose work inspired Bialik.
• Sholom Aleichem – a famous author who created works in Yiddish.
• Yehuda Leib Peretz – one of the leaders of the Jewish Enlightenment.

These connections helped Bialik deepen his understanding of Jewish culture and enrich his own creativity.

Publishing house “Moriya”

One of Bialik’s most important projects in Odessa was the founding of a publishing house “Moriah”.

• Purpose of the publishing house: popularization of Hebrew and creation of educational literature.
• Books: publication of textbooks, works of art and translations.

Bialik saw Moriah as a tool for the revival of Jewish culture through literature and education.

Literary activity

In Odessa, Bialik wrote many of his significant works:

• Poems that reflected the suffering and hopes of the Jewish people.
• An essay on the revival of Hebrew as a literary language.
• Translations including Cervantes’ Don Quixote and Schiller’s poems, which he adapted for Jewish audiences.

Odessa as a center of Zionism

Odessa was a key center of the Zionist movement, and Bialik actively participated in its activities.

• He supported the idea of ​​​​the return of Jews to Eretz Israel.
• Participated in discussions on issues of Jewish education and culture.
• He was part of the preparations for the Zionist congresses, where issues of national revival were raised.

Departure from Odessa

After the 1917 revolution, increased anti-Semitism and restrictions on the Jewish intelligentsia made staying in Odessa dangerous. In 1921, thanks to the petition of Maxim Gorky, Bialik emigrated.

“Odessa will forever remain the place where I found the voice of my people,” – he wrote.

Heritage of Odessa

Odessa became for Bialik a place where he was able to combine Jewish traditions and modern ideas, laying the foundation for the revival of Hebrew literature. Today, his activities in this city remain a symbol of the unity of the cultures of Ukraine and Israel.

Zionism and the work of Bialik

Chaim Nachman Bialik was not only a poet, but also a staunch Zionist. He actively participated in the Zionist congresses (1907 and 1913) and believed that the revival of the Jewish people was possible only through the return to the homeland of their ancestors – Eretz Israel.

“Jewish culture is a bridge between the past and the future. We must revive our identity to gain strength.” – he wrote.

Bialik celebrated Jewish life, the ideals of the Enlightenment and Zionism, and his work became an important part of the cultural heritage of the Jewish people.

Jewish culture of Ukraine in the works of Bialik

In his poems and poems, Bialik reflected the life and traditions of Jewish Ukraine. His works are filled with shtetl motifs, Jewish wisdom and pain for the suffering of the people.

• In a poem “Violinist” he celebrates the spirit of Jewish music heard in the shtetls.
• In the poem “Dead Trees” Memories of village life, full of difficulties and hopes, are conveyed.
• His essays talk about the need for spiritual revival and preservation of traditions.

Moving to Palestine: a dream come true

In 1921, Bialik moved to Palestine, where he continued his cultural and literary heritage.

• He initiated the creation Technion and participated in the theater “Habima”.
• His poems were included in school curricula, and his songs became the anthems of the Yishuv.

Bialik’s legacy

1. House Museum in Tel Aviv:

   His works, letters and documents are collected here.

2. Bialik Prize:

   Awarded annually for outstanding achievements in literature.

3. Memory in Ukraine:

   Bialik’s grandfather’s house in Zhitomir has been preserved as a symbol of his connection with his homeland.

Conclusion

Chaim Nachman Bialik is a symbol of Jewish culture who connected Ukraine and Israel in his work. His life inspires us to preserve traditions and build a bright future for the Jewish people.

Read more about great Jews from Ukraine at NAnews – Israel Newswhere we talk about what unites our peoples.

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The Kishinev pogrom: In 1903, the central authorities in Russia wanted Jewish blood to be shed, and that is exactly what happened. - June 5, 2026 - Новости Израиля

What happened: Ukraine brings its historical heroes home

The reburial of Andriy Melnyk and Sofiya Fedak-Melnyk is not a separate ceremony around one historical figure. It is part of Ukraine’s broader state policy to create its own national military pantheon.

On May 31, 2022, the Verkhovna Rada passed a law on the National Military Memorial Cemetery. The document established the legal framework for creating a place where Ukraine will commemorate those who defended its independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. Later, the state made additional decisions related to the construction and operation of this memorial complex.

The National Military Memorial Cemetery is located in the Kyiv region, within the Hatne community of the Fastiv district, near the village of Markhalivka. It is not just a cemetery but a large state memorial complex: with burial fields, columbaria, religious structures, museum space, and infrastructure for the honorable burial of Ukrainian defenders and fighters for independence.

The first burials at the National Military Memorial Cemetery took place on August 29, 2025, on the Day of Remembrance of Ukraine’s Defenders. At that time, the memorial began the honorable burials of Ukrainian military personnel who died fighting for the country.

In 2026, Ukraine began returning not only modern defenders but also historical figures of the national liberation movement of the 20th century.

On May 19, 2026, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the process of reburial of Andriy Melnyk and his wife Sofiya Fedak-Melnyk had begun. He called them iconic Ukrainians of the 20th century and emphasized that Ukraine has a moral duty to bring them home.

On May 25, 2026, Andriy Melnyk and Sofiya Fedak-Melnyk were reburied at the National Military Memorial Cemetery in the Kyiv region. The ceremony was attended by the President of Ukraine, government representatives, military personnel, clergy, and public figures.

Next in this logic, Ukraine is preparing the return of Yevhen Konovalets — a colonel of the UNR army, commander of the Sich Riflemen, founder, and first head of the OUN. He is currently buried at the Crooswijk Cemetery in Rotterdam, and the Ukrainian side has already received permission for his reburial.

This is not about a random political gesture. Ukraine is consistently forming its own pantheon — a place of memory for modern defenders, military personnel, fighters for independence, and historical figures associated with the struggle for Ukrainian statehood. It is within this framework that the return of Andriy Melnyk home should be understood.

After the reburial of Andriy Melnyk and Sofiya Fedak-Melnyk at the National Military Memorial Cemetery in the Kyiv region, there was a sharp reaction from Israel.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry expressed “regret” over the official state reburial of Melnyk and stated that “historical truth and the memory of the victims killed by the Nazis and their accomplices cannot be ignored.”

Yad Vashem also criticized the move. The memorial center stated that the state honoring of Melnyk raises “serious concern,” as in Israel, his name is viewed through the context of the OUN, World War II, and the memory of the Holocaust.

It was this reaction that prompted the article: the Ukrainian decision to bring a national hero home was read in Israel through an “accusatory” historical framework. Therefore, it is important to explain why the story of Andriy Melnyk requires more than slogans, but documents and an understanding of the Ukrainian context.

The reburial of Andriy Melnyk in Ukraine once again brought to the public sphere a question that has long required a more mature conversation. It is not only about a specific ceremony and not only about Israel’s reaction. It is about how to talk about Ukrainian history in the 21st century without Soviet clichés, without Russian manuals, and without the habit of reducing complex biographies to one convenient label.

Andriy Melnyk is a national hero of Ukraine, a military and political figure, a participant in the struggle for Ukrainian statehood, a senior officer of the Sich Riflemen, a representative of a generation that tried to maintain the idea of an independent Ukraine in an era of empires’ collapse, wars, emigration, and totalitarian pressure.

His biography cannot be summed up in one sentence.

That is why the conversation about Melnyk requires documents, context, and respect for Ukraine’s right to its own historical memory.

Not slogans.
Not automatic accusations.
Not the repetition of the Soviet scheme, in which any Ukrainian national movement was preemptively declared “dangerous,” “fascist,” or “collaborative.”

For Ukraine, Melnyk is part of the national historical pantheon. His name is associated with the UNR, the Sich Riflemen, the struggle for statehood, emigration, the anti-Soviet line, and the preservation of the idea of independence in years when Ukrainian political subjectivity was being erased from the map of Europe.

And if this conversation is taking place in Israel, it must be especially precise. Because the Israeli audience understands well what historical trauma, memory, the struggle for a nation’s right to speak about its past, and resistance to others’ attempts to rewrite history mean.

Melnyk during the UNR: order against pogrom agitation

One of the important facts that should be mentioned in any honest conversation about Melnyk relates to January 1919.

Ukrainian sources mention Andriy Melnyk’s order No. 22 dated January 13, 1919. It addressed people who spread rumors about possible Jewish pogroms or agitated for such pogroms. Such provocateurs were to be handed over to a military field court.

This is a fundamental episode.

It shows Melnyk not through later propagandistic accusations but through a specific document from his early military period. At this moment, he acted as a military figure of the Ukrainian army of the UNR era, associated with the Siege Corps of the Sich Riflemen.

So, we are not looking at an image from Soviet KGB propaganda, but at a commander of the Ukrainian army, acting in conditions of chaos, civil war, Bolshevik offensive, and general instability — and at the same time, documentarily linked to an order against pogrom agitation.

This is important to state directly.

Melnyk should not be viewed through the presumption of anti-Semitism. There is a specific early document that shows the opposite line: the prosecution of those who spread rumors about Jewish pogroms or incited them.

This fact should not be hidden in a footnote. It should be at the center of the discussion.

UNR, OUN, and Soviet propaganda

The main mistake in the conversation about Melnyk is mechanically connecting different eras and different political contexts.

Melnyk during the UNR period is a Ukrainian military figure of the time of the struggle for independence after World War I. It is the Sich Riflemen, the UNR army, the attempt to create a state on the ruins of empires, resistance to the Bolsheviks, and the search for Ukrainian subjectivity at a time when the future of Eastern Europe was still undefined.

Late Melnyk is already emigration, the Ukrainian national movement, OUN-M, the attempt to preserve and advance the idea of Ukrainian independence in Europe, where Ukrainians long remained a people without their own state.

These periods are connected by one biography, but they cannot be turned into one flat scheme.

Soviet propaganda did exactly that for decades: erased differences, mixed the UNR, OUN, different currents of the Ukrainian movement, different years, different documents, and different political decisions. Everything was reduced to one label, convenient for Moscow: Ukrainian nationalism as supposedly “innate evil.”

After the collapse of the USSR, this scheme did not disappear. Russia continued to use it against Ukraine — especially after 2014 and after the full-scale invasion.

Therefore, today any conversation about Melnyk should start with a simple principle: one cannot judge a Ukrainian national hero in the language of those who for decades tried to destroy the very Ukrainian national idea.

Late period of Melnyk: political context

Melnyk as the leader of OUN-M also requires a normal historical analysis.

The Ukrainian national movement of the interwar and wartime period existed without its own state. Ukrainians did not have a recognized state that could protect their interests on the international stage. There was no equal place among the great powers. There was no security. There were no guarantees.

There were empires, occupations, Soviet terror, Polish policy, German pressure, emigration, war, and a constant attempt by Ukrainians to return the issue of independence to the European agenda.

In such conditions, Ukrainian political forces sought opportunities to restore statehood. This was not a simple story. But it was not the propaganda that Moscow painted for decades.

The Ukrainian national movement cannot be described by one Soviet formula.

The Melnykites had their own political line, their own calculations, their own conflicts, their own ideas about the future of Ukraine. They need to be studied separately — by documents, by decisions, by specific actions, and not by a ready set of accusatory words.

This is especially important for the Israeli conversation. Israel knows what the struggle for a nation’s right to statehood is. Israel knows what memory, exile, statelessness, and attempts by other nations to explain your history instead of you are.

Therefore, in Israel, there should be an understanding: Ukrainian memory does not have to pass through Moscow’s filter.

Why Melnyk is not a figure for a Soviet label

Andriy Melnyk was a man of the Ukrainian national idea. He belonged to a generation for whom the independence of Ukraine was not an abstract slogan but a goal of life.

His path went through service in the Ukrainian army, participation in the Sich Riflemen movement, work in Ukrainian political emigration, leadership of OUN-M, and the preservation of the idea of Ukrainian statehood in conditions when the Soviet Union tried to destroy this idea physically, politically, and culturally.

That is why he is a national hero for Ukraine.

One can study his decisions. One can argue about different stages of his activity. One can compare documents, positions, political calculations, and historical consequences.

But one cannot start a conversation with a ready-made verdict created in the tradition of Soviet anti-Ukrainian propaganda.

This is not a historical approach.

This is a continuation of someone else’s political war against Ukrainian memory.

Ukrainian memory and the Israeli conversation: where precision is needed

The Israeli reaction to Ukrainian historical figures often goes through the memory of World War II and the Holocaust. This is understandable. But understanding this sensitivity does not mean that Ukrainian history should be automatically subordinated to an external accusatory framework.

Ukraine has the right to its own national pantheon.

Ukraine has the right to bury its heroes.

Ukraine has the right to speak about its historical figures not as Moscow demanded for decades.

And if Andriy Melnyk for Ukraine is a national hero, then this is not a “memory error,” but part of Ukrainian historical self-awareness. His figure is associated with the struggle for statehood, with the UNR, with the Sich Riflemen, with emigration political work, and with the anti-Soviet line of the Ukrainian movement.

For NAnovosti — News of Israel | Nikk.Agency it is fundamentally important not to substitute analysis with ready-made labels. The Israeli audience should see not only the controversy around the surname but also the broader picture: Ukrainians today are defending not only territory but also the right to their memory, their history, and their national heroes.

This right is especially important now when Russia is waging war not only against the Ukrainian army but also against Ukrainian identity.

Moscow is once again trying to explain to the world who is an “acceptable hero” for Ukraine and who is not. Once again imposing its vocabulary. Once again turning history into a weapon. Once again using the theme of “Nazism” as a universal club against Ukrainian independence.

Israel should not become part of this scheme.

Documents instead of slogans

The history of Melnyk requires a calm and strong approach.

There is the 1919 order against pogrom agitation — it needs to be taken into account.

There is the Ukrainian struggle for statehood — it cannot be erased.

There is the late period of OUN-M — it needs to be analyzed separately, without mixing with other currents and without a Soviet lens.

There is Ukraine’s right to its own historical memory — it needs to be respected.

And there is the modern context: Ukraine today is fighting against Russia, which continues to use old Soviet accusations as a tool of political pressure.

Therefore, the main question is not whether Israel should agree with every Ukrainian historical accent.

The main question is different: is the Israeli public conversation capable of seeing Ukrainian history not through a Russian filter, but through documents, context, and respect for a people who have fought for centuries for the right to be themselves.

Andriy Melnyk is not a character from a Soviet manual.

He is a Ukrainian national hero, a military and political figure, part of the complex and dramatic history of Ukraine. And if we are to talk about him seriously, we must start not with labels, but with facts.

With the 1919 order.

With the UNR.

With the Sich Riflemen.

With OUN-M as a separate political direction.

With Ukrainian statelessness.

With the struggle against Soviet erasure of memory.

And with the understanding that Ukraine itself has the right to decide how to honor its heroes.

Andriy Melnyk: briefly

Andriy Atanasovych Melnyk was born on December 12, 1890, in the village of Volya Yakubova near Drohobych, in what was then Austria-Hungary. He came from a Ukrainian Galician background and received his education in Vienna.

In 1914, after the start of World War I, Melnyk joined the Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen. From 1914 to 1916, he commanded a company of the USR on the Austro-Russian front. In 1916, he was captured by the Russians and held in a camp near Tsaritsyn. On January 6, 1917, he escaped from captivity with a group of Galician Ukrainians and soon reached Kyiv.

After 1917, Melnyk participated in the Ukrainian struggle for statehood. He was associated with the Sich Riflemen Corps of Yevhen Konovalets, served in the army of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, and attained the rank of colonel of the UNR army. In January 1919, he became the chief of staff of the UNR army.

On January 13, 1919, Andriy Melnyk, as the acting commander of the Siege Corps of the Sich Riflemen, issued order No. 22. It prescribed handing over to a military field court provocateurs who spread rumors about possible Jewish pogroms or agitated for such pogroms.

After the defeat of the UNR, Melnyk remained in the Ukrainian national movement. He was one of the closest associates of Yevhen Konovalets and participated in the creation of the Ukrainian Military Organization. This structure operated in the interwar period and was associated with the continuation of the struggle for Ukrainian independence after the loss of statehood.

After the assassination of Yevhen Konovalets by an NKVD agent in 1938, Melnyk became one of the key figures of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. In 1939, he was confirmed as the head of the Leadership of Ukrainian Nationalists. After the split of the OUN, he led the Melnyk faction — OUN-M.

The ideological line of Melnyk and OUN-M included Ukrainian statehood, anti-Sovietism, national discipline, continuity with the UNR tradition, and the struggle for an independent Ukraine. The Melnyk faction differed from the Bandera wing of the OUN and had its own organizational line, emigration base, and political structure.

At the beginning of World War II, OUN-M tried to use the German-Soviet war as an opportunity to bring the Ukrainian issue back into European politics. Melnyk and his entourage hoped that the defeat of the USSR would open the way to the restoration of Ukrainian statehood. In 1939–1941, representatives of the Ukrainian national movement maintained contacts with German structures, including the Abwehr, but German promises regarding Ukrainian independence were not realized.

Nazi Germany did not recognize an independent Ukraine. In 1941–1943, German authorities restricted and suppressed Ukrainian political structures, and representatives of the Ukrainian national movement were arrested and executed. During this period, OUN-M lost several active figures, including Oleh Olzhych, who effectively led the activities of the Melnyk faction in the occupied territories.

At the end of 1943, Melnyk and his wife moved to Vienna, trying to restore contact with members of OUN-M in the occupied Ukrainian territories. At the end of January 1944, he and his wife were arrested by the Vienna Gestapo. After this, Melnyk was transferred to Berlin, interrogated by Gestapo representatives, and then held as a special prisoner.

In 1944, Melnyk and his wife were sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. There, Melnyk was held as a political prisoner; in September 1944, he was transferred to the isolation cell Zellenbau. On October 18, 1944, he was released along with several other Ukrainian nationalists when Germany tried to use Ukrainian emigration forces amid military defeat.

After his release, Melnyk remained in emigration. From 1945, he lived in Germany and Luxembourg. In 1946, he participated in the creation of the Ukrainian Coordination Committee, and in 1947 — the Ukrainian National Council. In the same 1947, at the Third Great Assembly of Ukrainian Nationalists, he was elected the lifelong head of the Leadership of Ukrainian Nationalists.

In the post-war period, Melnyk continued anti-Soviet political activity in Ukrainian emigration. He supported the idea of restoring an independent Ukraine, participated in the coordination of Ukrainian organizations abroad, and wrote historical materials about the struggle for Ukrainian statehood.

In 1957, Andriy Melnyk proposed the idea of creating a worldwide organization of Ukrainians. This idea was realized after his death: in 1967, the World Congress of Free Ukrainians was established, later known as the World Congress of Ukrainians.

Andriy Melnyk died on November 1, 1964, in Luxembourg. He was buried in a cemetery in the city of Luxembourg. In 2026, the remains of Andriy Melnyk and his wife Sofiya Fedak-Melnyk were returned to Ukraine and reburied at the National Military Memorial Cemetery in the Kyiv region.

In the modern Ukrainian framework, Andriy Melnyk is a national hero, a colonel of the UNR army, the head of OUN-M, and a fighter for Ukraine’s independence. His biography includes several different stages: Sich Riflemen, UNR army, the 1919 order against pogrom agitation, emigration, leadership of OUN-M, anti-Soviet political line, and post-war activities of the Ukrainian diaspora.

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Apartment painting in Haifa, Krayot, Nesher, and Tirat Carmel has long ceased to be a simple household service in Israel from the series “a master came and refreshed the walls.” Today, the market is arranged differently: the client buys not a can of paint and not a few passes with a roller, but a predictable result, quick deadlines, neat work in a residential apartment, and no unpleasant surprises in price. For the Israeli audience, this is especially important because the price of a mistake is higher here: a tight rhythm of life, expensive rent, constant lack of time, the need to quickly prepare an apartment for moving in, selling, or re-renting.

https://renovation.nikk.co.il/

That is why the topic of apartment painting goes far beyond repair as such.

In northern Israel, it is closely linked with trust, local housing specifics, humidity by the sea, old housing stock, apartments after tenants, and the owner’s desire to put the property in order without heavy capital intervention. For NAnews readers, this story is also interesting because it very accurately shows how client behavior is changing in Israel: people are less and less reacting to the loud ‘cheap’, and more and more looking for peace of mind, a clear estimate, and normal human organization of the process.

Why apartment painting has become a separate topic for the Israeli housing market

In theory, painting seems like one of the simplest services. But in reality, it often becomes decisive for the perception of an apartment. Old traces from fixtures, stains on the ceiling, scuffs, unevenly painted areas, traces of dampness, darkened corners, visual fatigue of the walls — all this makes the housing less attractive, even if otherwise it is quite suitable for living.

For Haifa and the entire Krayot belt, this is especially noticeable. Humidity, the age of some buildings, an active rental market, and constant tenant turnover lead to the fact that it is the walls and ceilings that begin to show the apartment’s fatigue the fastest. Therefore, painting in the local reality is not a cosmetic trifle, but a full-fledged tool for preparing real estate.

Where this is especially felt

The most typical scenarios for northern Israel look like this:

• the apartment is being prepared for a new family to move in;
• the housing needs to be quickly refreshed after tenants;
• the owner wants to make the property visually tidier before selling;
• after dampness, stains, or a local leak, the room needs to be returned to a normal appearance;
• the family does not want to start a major renovation but wants to remove the feeling of neglect.

In all these cases, the client is looking not for ‘the cheapest painting’, but for a solution that will relieve household and financial anxiety.

Why the Israeli client looks at such a service differently

In Israel, there is a very strong sensitivity to time and predictability of expenses. People are willing to pay not only for manual work but also for the absence of chaos. That is why for Haifa, Kiryat Ata, Kiryat Bialik, Kiryat Motzkin, Kiryat Yam, Kiryat Haim, Nesher, and Tirat Carmel, not abstract promises of quality work best, but specific and understandable formulations: a predetermined volume, agreed deadlines, the ability to work in a residential apartment, neatness, help with damp walls, and no sudden additional charges.

What exactly the apartment painting market in Haifa and nearby sells

If you look at how the topic of apartment painting is presented in Israel, it quickly becomes clear: the market sells not just a master. It sells peace of mind, speed, a clear price, and no surprises. This is the key logic that today cannot be ignored by either business or the editorial office if it wants to honestly explain to the audience why some offers work better than others.

The main triggers that the client responds to

Urgency

One of the strongest motivators is the ability to do it quickly. Before moving in, after tenants, before holidays, before selling — in these situations, it is important for a person not in a month, but now. Therefore, the promise of quick deadlines and a predetermined schedule has become one of the strongest market arguments.

Work in a residential or furnished apartment

This is no longer an additional bonus, but a full-fledged competitive advantage. Not every family can move out furniture, vacate the apartment, and turn off normal life for several days. The ability to paint housing without moving and without completely freeing up space is a serious factor in choice.

Dampness, mold, and problematic walls

For coastal Haifa and parts of the northern regions of Israel, this is a separate topic. The client often looks not just for painting, but for a solution to a more painful problem: traces of moisture, mold, peeling old paint, and tired ceilings. Where the contractor can not just ‘paint over’, but honestly assess the condition of the surface and prepare it, trust is higher.

Clear estimate before starting

The Israeli client is extremely sensitive to an inflating price. Therefore, the strongest offers are those where the estimate is discussed in advance, the volume is fixed before the start, and does not spread during the process.

Cleanliness and neatness

For a residential apartment, this is one of the main factors. People are not afraid of the painting itself, but of turning the house into a mess. Where neat work, furniture protection, and normal handover of the object are promised, conversion is higher.

Why a cheap offer is not always the best for the northern Israel market

At first glance, it may seem that the one who promises a lower price wins. But in reality, too aggressive cheap offers often attract not the highest quality leads. The client comes for the price ‘from…’, and then faces the fact that in reality, everything is more expensive, more complicated, and more unpleasant. As a result, both sides are dissatisfied.

For Haifa and Krayot, a different model works stronger. Not ‘from 400 ₪ and then we’ll see’, but a calm bundle:

• fix the volume in advance;
• work neatly even in a residential apartment;
• help with mold, dampness, and problematic walls;
• do not impose unnecessary;
• discuss deadlines in advance;
• do not create sudden additional charges out of thin air.

This logic is perceived today as mature and reliable. For the Israeli audience, this is much closer to the real request than the loud ‘cheapness at any cost’.

How this is related to the real estate market and the psychology of the apartment owner

Painting is also about control. When an apartment is being prepared for rent, sale, or occupancy, the owner wants to quickly regain a sense of manageability. He is not always ready for large-scale repairs, but wants to remove obvious visual problems.

Here the practical power of the service is manifested. Well-organized painting allows:

• quickly change the first impression of the apartment;
• make the property visually brighter and tidier;
• reduce the feeling of ‘fatigue’ without heavy investments;
• prepare the housing for the next stage of use.

For the Israeli reality, this is especially relevant in cities where the rental market is active, and apartments often work as an investment asset. And here NAnews — Israel News can look at the issue more broadly than the household level: painting becomes part of a real estate management strategy, not just a household trifle. That is why NAnews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency considers this topic not only as a service but also as socio-economic: it is about how Israelis reduce costs, speed up housing preparation, and try to minimize stress around property.

What is especially important for Haifa, Krayot, Nesher, and Tirat Carmel

The local context is critical here. You cannot talk about painting an apartment in a conditionally new residential complex and in an old house with a history of dampness, dozens of traces of previous rentals, and walls that have not been updated for years in the same way.

Local specifics of the area

For this zone, the following are characteristic:

• old housing stock;
• coastal humidity;
• apartments after long-term rentals;
• the need to quickly prepare housing for re-renting;
• high sensitivity to deadlines and price.

That is why a separate service page, separate advertising, and a separate presentation of the topic work better than general texts ‘about repairing everything in the world’.

Why it is important to list cities, not hide behind the word ‘Krayot’

For trust and SEO, it is very important to say not only ‘Krayot’, but specifically: Kiryat Ata, Kiryat Bialik, Kiryat Motzkin, Kiryat Yam, Kiryat Haim, plus Nesher and Tirat Carmel. When a person sees their place directly, the text is perceived as a response to their real situation, not as a universal template.

Which offers really work best

Below is a short table of what most effectively removes client fear and better sells the service in this market.

What apartment owners should consider before ordering painting

Before choosing a contractor, it is useful for the owner to check not only the price but also the logic of the offer itself.

What to look at first

Is there a clear explanation of the scope of work

If it is unclear what exactly is included in the price, there will almost always be problems later.

Are they ready to work in a furnished apartment

For families and busy people, this is often one of the main questions.

Is there an honest conversation about problem areas

If there are traces of moisture on the ceiling or mold on the walls, it is important not the promise ‘everything will disappear’, but a real assessment.

Do they understand the local specifics

Haifa and northern Israel are not an abstract market. Here, humidity, old stock, and quick housing preparation scenarios are important.

Where you can view services on the topic

Russian version:

https://renovation.nikk.co.il/

Hebrew:

https://renovation.nikk.co.il/he/

English version:

https://renovation.nikk.co.il/en/

Conclusion

Apartment painting in Haifa, Kiryat Ata, Kiryat Bialik, Kiryat Motzkin, Kiryat Yam, Kiryat Haim, Nesher, and Tirat Carmel is no longer a story about ‘finding a painter and refreshing the walls’. Today it is a full-fledged service where peace of mind, speed, a clear estimate, neatness, work in a residential apartment, and no unpleasant surprises are sold.

For the Israeli audience, this is especially sensitive because an apartment here is not only a place of life but also an expensive asset, a rental object, family security, and a constant source of household solutions. That is why the market is increasingly moving away from cheap loud promises and moving towards normal, clear, and predictable service.

For business, this means one thing: the winner is not the one who shouts the loudest about the price, but the one who best alleviates the client’s fears. And for the reader, it means something else: when choosing a painting service, it’s important not to look at the attractive number in the first line, but at how well the scope, deadlines, limitations, and real results were explained to you in advance.

NANovosti believes that it is precisely such local topics that today form the true picture of everyday Israel: where decisions are made not at the level of advertising, but at the level of trust, practicality, and the ability to save a person time, money, and nerves.

…
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The Kishinev pogrom: In 1903, the central authorities in Russia wanted Jewish blood to be shed, and that is exactly what happened. - June 5, 2026 - Новости Израиля

Jewish embroidery in the territory of modern Ukraine is not a myth and not an attempt to “invent a Jewish vyshyvanka.” It is a complex layer of culture where synagogue textiles, home rituals, women’s headwear, kippahs, bibs, belts, and festive clothing were intertwined with the history of Galicia, Podolia, Volhynia, Kyiv, Bukovina, and other regions.

Every year on the third Thursday of May, Ukraine and the world celebrate World Vyshyvanka Day. The history of Vyshyvanka Day began in 2006 at the Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University.  

Today, Vyshyvanka Day is celebrated not only in Ukraine. Ukrainian communities abroad, embassies, cultural centers, volunteers, schools, universities, public organizations, and people who cherish Ukrainian tradition join in. Vyshyvankas are worn in Europe, North America, Australia, Israel, and other countries.

After 2014, and especially after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, this day gained even deeper meaning. For many people, the vyshyvanka became not just beautiful clothing but a symbol of dignity, resistance, memory, and the right of a people to remain themselves.

Why this issue is important right now

When in Ukraine they talk about embroidery, the first thing that comes to mind is the vyshyvanka. A shirt, ornament, regional patterns, family memory, festive clothing, symbolism of the land, kin, and resistance. In recent years, the Ukrainian vyshyvanka has become not only a cultural symbol but also a public language of identity.

However, on the same lands, Jewish communities lived for centuries. They existed in cities, shtetls, craft quarters, near fairs, synagogues, fabric markets, workshops, and houses of learning. Galicia, Podolia, Volhynia, Kyiv region, Bukovina, southern Ukraine — all these regions were not only Ukrainian but also Jewish spaces of memory.

And here arises a question that usually remains in the shadows: did embroidery exist in Jewish traditional art in the territory of modern Ukraine?

The answer is yes, it did exist. But precision is important.

It was not a “Jewish vyshyvanka” in the simple and direct sense, as a separate national shirt, completely analogous to the Ukrainian shirt. Jewish embroidery more often lived in another space: in synagogue textiles, Judaica items, home rituals, festive fabrics, headwear, bibs, belts, kippahs, dress trims, skirts, vests, and separate costume elements.

It must be honestly stated right away: this text is not an academic monograph and not a museum inventory catalog. NAnovosti writes in a popular science format, understandable to a wide audience. Therefore, one should not demand from such an article the language of a closed dissertation. But a beautiful legend instead of facts cannot be created here. The task is different: to carefully gather the picture and show that Jewish embroidery on Ukrainian lands was a real cultural phenomenon.

How Ukrainian and Jewish embroidery traditions influenced each other

When talking about Jewish embroidery on Ukrainian lands, it is important not to imagine the two traditions as completely isolated worlds. Jewish communities lived alongside Ukrainian, Polish, Romanian, Armenian, and other populations of the region. They bought fabrics at the same markets, ordered work from local craftsmen, traded materials, saw neighboring costumes, festive items, church and home textiles.

Therefore, influence was almost inevitable. But it needs to be understood carefully.

The Ukrainian vyshyvanka was primarily a clothing tradition: shirt, sleeves, collar, chest part, hem, regional ornament, connection with the village, family, ritual, and local identity. Jewish embroidery more often concentrated in another space — in the synagogue, prayer textiles, festive accessories, women’s bibs, kippahs, ataras, belts, and decorative costume details. So the contact was not in one tradition completely copying another, but in them living side by side and partially using a common craft environment.

What the Jewish tradition could take from the local environment

In regions like Galicia, Podolia, and Volhynia, Jewish craftsmen and craftswomen did not exist outside the local visual culture. They saw Ukrainian geometric ornaments, plant motifs, color combinations, embroidered shirts, rushnyks, festive fabrics. Through the market, neighborhood, orders, and craft contacts, these elements could influence the taste, composition, and technique of Jewish textile items.

But this does not mean that Jewish embroidery simply “became Ukrainian.” It adapted external forms to its own tasks. If in the Ukrainian vyshyvanka the ornament often lived on the shirt and denoted regional, family, or ritual affiliation, then in the Jewish environment a similar decorative energy could transition into a parochet, atara, women’s bib, kippah, festive cap, or belt.

Thus, not a copy was created, but a translation of the ornamental language into another cultural system.

What the Jewish tradition added to the overall textile culture of Ukraine

Jewish embroidery brought its own symbols and meanings into the overall Ukrainian cultural landscape: the crown of the Torah, lions of Judah, menorah, Magen David, Tablets of the Covenant, Hebrew letters, dedicatory inscriptions, dates according to the Jewish calendar, names of donors.

Even when similar materials or similar techniques were used — velvet, brocade, gold embroidery, appliqués, beads, pearls, metallic threads — the meaning of the item remained Jewish. A parochet did not become just a beautiful curtain. An atara was not just a decorative strip. A women’s bib was not a direct analogue of the Ukrainian vyshyvanka. These items lived within the Jewish religious, family, and communal logic.

Here the main point is visible: Ukrainian and Jewish traditions could intersect at the level of fabric, technique, color, market, and craft, but they retained different functions.

Why it is impossible to talk about simple borrowing

The phrase “Jews adopted the Ukrainian vyshyvanka” sounds too crude. It simplifies the complex history of neighborhood.

It is more accurate to say this: Jewish communities on Ukrainian lands existed within a common decorative-applied environment. They could perceive local ornamental solutions, use the same materials, turn to similar techniques, and work alongside Ukrainian craftsmen. But the result was not a “Jewish vyshyvanka” in the direct sense, but a Jewish textile language: synagogue fabrics, Judaica, ataras, kippahs, bibs, belts, festive caps, and costume elements.

That is, the influence was not mechanical, but cultural. Not “copying the shirt,” but the neighborhood of traditions, exchange of craft techniques, and adaptation of the visible world to one’s own memory, faith, and ritual.

Modern reverse process

Today, there is also a reverse movement. Ukrainian craftsmen and designers can turn to Jewish symbolism, combining the silhouette of the Ukrainian vyshyvanka with the Magen David, menorah, lions, grapevine, Hebrew letters, or motifs of Jerusalem.

But this is no longer a historical reconstruction of an ancient “Jewish vyshyvanka.” It is a modern cultural gesture — an attempt to show that Jewish history was part of Ukraine, not an external addition to it.

Therefore, the correct conclusion is this: Ukrainian embroidery and Jewish embroidery on Ukrainian lands were not the same tradition, but they existed in a common space. They could influence each other through materials, craftsmen, markets, ornaments, and festive culture. At the same time, each retained its own meaning: the Ukrainian vyshyvanka as a sign of folk and regional identity, Jewish embroidery as a language of Judaica, prayer, family memory, and communal textiles.

Two lines of Jewish embroidery: Judaica and everyday life

Jewish embroidery in the territory of Ukraine is conveniently viewed through two large lines.

The first is decorative-religious, that is, Judaica. These are synagogue and home-ritual items associated with the Torah, prayer, holidays, Shabbat, Passover, weddings, family memory, and communal gifts.

The second is everyday and clothing. These are costume elements, headwear, accessories, bib inserts, belts, kippahs, festive caps, collars, dress trims, skirts, corsets, men’s and children’s vests.

The most reliable field is precisely Judaica. Here we are talking about items that are better preserved in museum collections and more often appear in descriptions: parochets, Torah mantles, kaporets, ataras, tefillin cases, matzah bags, covers, chuppah, tallits, and kippahs.

The clothing line also exists, but it is more complex. There are fewer sources, attributions are more subtle, and the temptation to call all this “Jewish vyshyvanka” is too great. Therefore, caution is needed here: Jewish embroidered clothing existed, but a separate canonical type of “Jewish vyshyvanka” does not yet have such strong evidence.

Synagogue textiles: the heart of Jewish embroidery

The most vivid and best-documented manifestation of Jewish embroidery is synagogue textiles.

In the Jewish tradition, fabric could be more than just decoration. It became part of the sacred space. A parochet covered the Torah ark. A mantle protected the scroll. A cover on the bimah accompanied the reading of the Torah. An atara adorned the tallit. A case or bag for tefillin was associated with personal prayer practice. A matzah bag was part of the festive world of Passover.

In this sense, embroidery was not a decorative trifle, but a way to express respect for the sacred.

What items were used

In the synagogue and home-ritual tradition, various types of textiles were encountered:

• parochet — curtain before the Torah ark;
• kaporet — upper decorative part or valance of the synagogue curtain;
• mantle / torah mantle — cover or mantle for the Torah scroll;
• cover on the bimah;
• atara — decorative strip for the tallit;
• cases and bags for tefillin;
• matzah bags;
• festive covers;
• chuppah;
• Sabbath fabrics, including covers for challah;
• kippahs and separate elements of prayer clothing.

In different regional and museum descriptions, names may differ, and some terms are sometimes conveyed differently. But the system itself is clear: embroidered and decorated textiles served the synagogue, home, holiday, and prayer.

The creation of such items was often done by women, especially in the home and communal environment. At the same time, for individual items, authorship is far from always known: museum cards more often preserve the date, place, type of item, or name of the donor than the name of the craftswoman.

Techniques and materials

Jewish ritual textiles on Ukrainian lands could be very rich in execution. Velvet, silk, brocade, gold and silver embroidery, metallic threads, appliqués, passementerie, beads, pearls, sequins, fringe, decorative patches were used.

In Kyiv and Galician items, brocade, velvet, gold and silver thread, sequins, paper backing under embroidery, strips of complex metallic thread work are recorded.

Sometimes expensive fabrics received a second life. Old fragments of brocade, elite clothing, imported fabrics, or decorative strips could be reassembled into a synagogue item. This did not diminish its significance. On the contrary, in the Jewish tradition, the beauty of the item could become part of fulfilling the commandment — a respectful adornment of the sacred.

Symbolism: crown, lions, menorah, birds

On Jewish embroidered fabrics, stable motifs were found: the crown of the Torah, Tablets of the Covenant, lions of Judah, deer, birds, menorah, Magen David, hands of the kohanim, plant garlands, vases with flowers, pomegranates, rosettes, palmettes, wreaths, paschal lamb.

Equally important are inscriptions. These could be Hebrew letters, dedications, names of donors, dates according to the Jewish calendar, biblical or liturgical formulas.

Here the ornament was not “just a pattern.” It combined beauty, faith, memory, communal status, family donation, and connection with the text.

Galicia, Podolia, and Volhynia: space of cultural contact

Jewish embroidery in the territory of Ukraine was not formed in isolation.

It was a layer of culture at the intersection of Jewish canons and the decorative-applied art of Ukrainian lands.

Galicia, Podolia, and Volhynia are especially important. In these regions, large Jewish communities lived, craftsmen worked, fabric markets existed, fairs were held, fashions changed, techniques spread, different visual languages met.

Galicia provides the richest and most noticeable corpus. Lviv, Sasyv / Sasov, Zolochiv, and other shtetls are associated with parochets, torah mantles, ataras, tefillin cases, kippahs, brusttukh, Yom Kippur belts, and other items.

Podolia and Volhynia are important as regions of dense Jewish life. Here the topic requires further work with museum funds, photo archives, family albums, and local collections. Weak digital visibility does not mean the absence of tradition. Many items may not have been preserved, not digitized, or listed under too general names.

That is why in a popular science text, one can speak confidently about the tradition itself, but cautiously about the details of specific regional costumes.

Sasyv and the technique of shpanyer arbet

A special place is occupied by Sasyv in the Lviv region. It is associated with the technique of shpanyer arbet / spanier arbeit — a special metallic thread work where gold and silver threads, lace strips, decorative modules, plant and geometric motifs were used.

This technique is important because it connects synagogue textiles and clothing.

It was used for ataras, kippahs, women’s bibs, festive caps, collars, cuffs, belts, vests, dress and skirt trims.

Rosettes, flowers, rhombuses, heart-shaped motifs, elements reminiscent of “fish scales,” plant forms were encountered. This is not only the synagogue, but a visible festive culture: what a person could wear, show at a celebration, pass on in the family, preserve as a status item.

Everyday embroidery and clothing: was there a “Jewish vyshyvanka”?

Now the most sensitive question: can we talk about a “Jewish vyshyvanka”?

If by vyshyvanka we mean precisely the Ukrainian national shirt with a stable regional ornament system, then talking about a full Jewish analogue is still risky. In known digital catalogs, there is almost no separate type of “Jewish embroidered shirt” from the territory of modern Ukraine.

But if we speak more broadly — about embroidered clothing and clothing elements — the Jewish tradition is well confirmed.

These were women’s festive caps, kippahs, brusttukh / brustikhl — bib inserts, belts, jacket collars, ataras, caps, dress trims, skirts, corsets, men’s and children’s vests.

In the Ashkenazi tradition of Eastern Europe, the costume often maintained restraint. Decorativeness could concentrate in separate details: headwear, bib, belt, festive insert, metallic thread trim.

Bib instead of shirt

Particularly interesting is the brusttukh / brustikhl — a women’s bib or insert. It could cover the front part of the blouse and become the main decorative element.

The Ukrainian vyshyvanka carries the ornament on the shirt itself. In the Jewish Galician costume, a similar visual function could be transferred to a separate bib. This is a different principle of clothing, but it is also connected with the embroidered surface, body, and public image.

Therefore, it is more accurate to speak not of a direct “Jewish vyshyvanka,” but of Jewish forms of embroidered costume, where the ornament lived in accessories and decorative inserts.

Restrained colors and local influences

There is reason to say that in the clothing of Jewish communities in Eastern Europe, restraint and modesty were valued. Embroidery might not always be bright: monochrome solutions, white on white, black on black, restrained blue-white combinations were encountered.

The question of the influence of Ukrainian ornaments is especially interesting, but it cannot be presented crudely. In regions of dense neighborhood of Jewish and Ukrainian communities, the influence of the local decorative environment was natural: fabrics were bought at the same markets, craftsmen lived nearby, motifs circulated through fairs, clothing, household items, craft.

However, the formula “Jews simply adopted the Ukrainian vyshyvanka” oversimplifies reality.

It is more reliable to say this: the Jewish population could perceive local techniques, geometric ornaments, color solutions, and craft techniques, but adapted them to their own cultural, religious, and everyday needs.

Kyiv trace: museums, seizures, and preserved fragments

Kyiv is the second important node after the Galician massif.

In the museum collections of Kyiv, Jewish fabrics have been preserved, some of which ended up there in the 1920s-1930s after Soviet seizures from synagogues. This is a painful page of history: religious items were torn from the living communal space and turned into museum “cult objects” or “fabrics.”

But it is precisely thanks to museum storage that some items did not disappear completely.

In the Kyiv corpus, parochets, Torah mantles, chuppah, tallit, tefillin, kippahs are mentioned. Parochets with brocade, velvet, gold and silver thread, sequins, and complex embroidery construction are especially important.

The Kyiv trace shows: Jewish embroidery in the territory of Ukraine is not limited only to Western Ukraine. Galicia provides the richest material, but the capital and central lands are also important for understanding the museum fate of Judaica.

Bukovina, Chernivtsi, Sadgora, and southern Ukraine

Bukovina should not be turned into the center of the entire topic, but it cannot be excluded. Chernivtsi, Sadgora, and Bukovinian Jewish communities provide important evidence of synagogue textiles, rich parochets, and a special urban culture.

At the same time, the digital corpus on Bukovina is weaker than on Lviv and Kyiv. This speaks not so much about the lack of tradition as about the problems of preservation, description, and digitization.

The south of Ukraine, including Odessa, also requires a separate discussion. There, Jewish culture developed in a different urban, commercial, and port environment. For the topic of embroidery here, additional museum and archival searches are needed, especially for home textiles, clothing, and family collections.

Museums and modern heritage preservation

Today, traces of Jewish embroidery and Judaica can be sought in museum collections in Ukraine and beyond. Important are the Lviv collections, Kyiv funds, collections on the history of Jewish communities, as well as museums working with Ukrainian folk costumes and decorative arts.

In this topic, the Museum of the History of Jews in Ukraine in Dnipro, the Ivan Honchar Museum in Kyiv, Lviv museum funds, specialized Judaic centers, and projects related to Jewish crafts and memory are often mentioned.

NAnews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency considers this topic not as museum exotica, but as part of the overall Ukrainian-Jewish history. For the Israeli audience, this is especially important: many families in Israel have roots in Ukraine, Galicia, Podolia, Volhynia, Kyiv, Odessa, Chernivtsi, Berdychiv, Medzhybizh, Brody, and dozens of other places where Jewish life was part of the local landscape.

And if today a person in Israel asks whether there was Jewish embroidery on Ukrainian lands, it is not an idle question. It is a question about family memory, about lost items, about what disappeared along with shtetls, synagogues, and pre-war communities.

Modern hybrid vyshyvankas: new memory, not old reconstruction

In modern Ukraine, there is an interest in hybrid forms: Ukrainian vyshyvanka is combined with Jewish symbols — the Star of David, menorah, lions, grapevine, Hebrew letters, motifs of Jerusalem.

This is an important phenomenon, but it needs to be understood correctly.

The modern “Jewish-Ukrainian vyshyvanka” is not necessarily a reconstruction of an ancient Jewish costume. More often, it is a new artistic work with identity. It says: the Jewish history of Ukraine was not an external history. It was an internal part of this land.

Such a synthesis can be very powerful, especially after 2022, when Ukrainian and Jewish memory were again linked through themes of war, destruction, resistance, exile, and return to roots.

But the past and the present need to be separated. Historical Jewish embroidery is primarily Judaica, ritual textiles, and individual clothing elements. The modern hybrid vyshyvanka is a new cultural gesture.

Why this topic does not argue with Ukrainian vyshyvanka

The discussion about Jewish embroidery does not take anything away from Ukrainian vyshyvanka.

On the contrary, it makes the Ukrainian cultural map deeper.

Historically, Ukraine has been a space of many peoples. Ukrainians, Jews, Poles, Romanians, Armenians, Germans, Crimean Tatars, Greeks, and other communities created a complex fabric of the region. Sometimes they lived separately. Sometimes side by side. Sometimes in conflict. Sometimes in close craft and trade contact.

Ukrainian vyshyvanka is a powerful symbol of Ukrainian identity.

Jewish embroidery on Ukrainian lands is another layer. It does not have to resemble vyshyvanka to be important. It speaks of the synagogue, the home, prayer, celebration, the woman-craftswoman, family gift, craft environment, fabric that could be passed on, remade, saved, or lost.

These traditions can be studied side by side, without forcibly mixing them.

What can be confidently asserted

First: Jewish embroidery on the territory of modern Ukraine existed.

Second: it is most reliably confirmed in synagogue and ritual textiles — parochets, Torah mantles, kaporets, ataras, tefillin cases, matzah bags, coverings, chuppahs, festive fabrics.

Third: the clothing line also existed. Embroidery, metal thread trim, beads, pearls, and decorative elements were found in kippahs, women’s caps, brusttukh/brustikhl bibs, belts, collars, dresses, skirts, bodices, men’s and children’s vests.

Fourth: it is premature to speak of a full-fledged “Jewish vyshyvanka” as a separate stable analogue of the Ukrainian national shirt.

Fifth: it is not only possible but necessary to speak about the Jewish culture of embroidered textiles and embroidered clothing elements on Ukrainian lands.

Conclusion: not a myth, but a lost layer of culture

The existence of embroidery in Jewish traditional art on the territory of modern Ukraine can be confidently asserted. This embroidery did not always look as the modern reader, accustomed to the image of Ukrainian vyshyvanka, might expect.

Its main forms are parochets, Torah mantles, ataras, matzah bags, festive coverings, kippahs, bibs, belts, caps, clothing trim. Its materials are velvet, silk, brocade, gold and silver threads, beads, pearls, appliqués, metal thread work. Its symbols are the Torah crown, lions, menorah, Star of David, birds, deer, flowers, pomegranates, Hebrew letters, and dedications.

It was a culture of fabric, memory, and commandment.

It lived in the synagogue, in the home, at celebrations, in women’s needlework, in the workshop, in the shtetl, in the city, in the family. A significant part of this culture was destroyed by the Holocaust, Soviet confiscations, the dispersal of collections, and the loss of communal memory.

But the surviving items and descriptions allow us to see the main thing: Jewish embroidery on Ukrainian lands was not an accidental detail, but part of a large tradition.

It should not be called a “Jewish vyshyvanka” without reservations. But its existence cannot be denied.

The correct formula sounds like this: on the territory of modern Ukraine, there existed a developed Jewish culture of embroidered ritual textiles and embroidered clothing elements, connected with Judaica, everyday life, festive costume, craft, and the multinational history of Ukrainian lands.

It is this formula that restores dignity to the topic: without myth, without simplification, but also without oblivion.

Some interesting links on the topic

Below is not a complete academic list, but a working selection of links that can be used as additional support for the topic of Jewish embroidery, ritual textiles, and clothing elements on the territory of modern Ukraine. URL check: 22.05.2026.

The Lviv corpus is the best documented. It is precisely for Lviv and Eastern Galicia that there are state item cards, scientific publications with illustrations and descriptions of parochets, kaporets, tallits, ataras, women’s bibs, and Sasyv metal lace available in open access. Kyiv is represented differently: not so much by separate museum cards, but by educational-museum PDFs with captions for specific items, including a tefillin case and a Megilat Esther in a silver case. For Dnipro, it is currently easier to find official fund publications and Instagram posts in open access than full inventory cards.

It is important to consider the limitation of sources: the state register of museum funds of Ukraine operates unstably and is unevenly filled. Therefore, the absence of an item in the open catalog does not mean that such an item is not in the funds.

Lviv corpus: parochets, kaporets, tallits, ataras, and bibs

One of the main sources for the topic remains the Museum Fund of Ukraine, where item cards related to Jewish ritual textiles and clothing elements are published.

Parochet — a curtain for the Torah ark. This is one of the key items of synagogue textiles, important for the discussion of Jewish embroidery and decorative Judaica.

https://museum.mcsc.gov.ua/collections/parohet-105179

Kaporets — the upper decorative part or curtain associated with the Aron ha-Kodesh. Such a link is useful for explaining that Jewish embroidery often lived not in clothing, but in the synagogue space.

https://museum.mincult.gov.ua/collections/kaporet-105231

Tallit / talles gadol — a prayer shawl. For our topic, it is important not only as a religious item but also as part of the textile culture where decorative elements and ataras could appear.

https://museum.mincult.gov.ua/collections/talit-tales-gadol-153391

Atara — a decorative part of the tallit. Such items help show the connection between prayer practice, fabric, ornament, and Jewish traditional art.

https://museum.mcsc.gov.ua/collections/atara-skladova-do-talesu-gadolyu

Women’s Jewish bib — a particularly important example for the topic of embroidery on clothing. It shows that the Jewish decorative tradition could manifest not as a separate “Jewish vyshyvanka,” but as an embroidered or decorated costume element.

https://museum.mcsc.gov.ua/collections/nagrudnik-zhinochiy-vreyskiy-107499

Fragment of a women’s Jewish bib — another important card for a careful discussion about women’s clothing, decorative inserts, and Galician Jewish costume.

https://museum.mcsc.gov.ua/collections/nagrudnik-zhinochiy-vreyskiy-fragment-105275

Men’s Jewish kippah from 1990 with a menorah and the inscription FIROU. For the historical part, this is not an early example, but for the section on modern heritage and continuation of tradition, such a link is useful.

https://museum.mincult.gov.ua/collections/ubir-golovniy-cholovichiy-vreyskiy-kipa-1990-r-91659

Scientific publications on the Lviv collection and the Sasyv tradition

For more serious argumentation, not only item cards are important, but also articles where these items are considered in the context of Jewish art in Ukraine.

PDF on Jewish art in Ukraine, where there are parochets, kaporets, and Torah mantles from the Lviv collection. The captions to the illustrations include specific dates: 1690, 1698, 1800, 1808, 1819, 1848, as well as the 19th–20th centuries. This is one of the most useful links for the historical part of the article.

https://www.ksada.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/kotlyar_easternstudies_3_visnyk_hdadm8_jewish-art-in-ukraine1_2010.pdf

Article by Natalia Levkovych in “Visnyk LNAM” about Jewish lace ataras. It is important for the topic of Sasyv and the technique of Sasyv metal lace from the second half of the 19th — first third of the 20th century.

https://visnyk.lnam.edu.ua/visnyk/2022/48/nataliya-levkovych-59-66

Another article by Natalia Levkovych — about women’s bibs of Eastern Galicia from the 19th century from the collection of the Museum of Ethnography and Artistic Crafts in Lviv. This is an especially valuable link for the topic “embroidery on clothing,” because it takes us beyond synagogue textiles.

https://visnyk.lnam.edu.ua/visnyk/2022/49/nataliya-levkovych-15-25

Kyiv block: tefillin case and Megilat Esther

The Kyiv line is still less represented in the form of separate open cards, but there are museum-educational PDFs with specific items and captions.

In the PDF, a tefillin case from the late 19th century and a Megilat Esther in a silver case from the second half of the 19th century are recorded. These items are not necessarily embroidery in the narrow sense, but they are important for a broader discussion of Judaica, ritual items, and the material culture of Jews in Ukraine.

https://lib.iitta.gov.ua/id/eprint/717682/1/2_%D0%84%D0%92%D0%A0-%D0%9C%D0%98%D0%A1%D0%A2%D0%95%D0%A6%D0%A2%D0%92%D0%9E.indd%20FINAL-compressed.pdf

Dnipro: Jewish national costume from the museum’s funds

For Dnipro, more fund publications and social media posts are currently available in open access than full inventory cards.

Publication of the Museum “Memory of the Jewish People and the Holocaust in Ukraine” about the Jewish national costume from the museum’s funds. It is important for the modern reader because it shows: the topic of Jewish clothing in Ukraine is not limited to theory, it is also present in museum communication.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DYmokfrCDKM/

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Ukraine is bringing back to the homeland figures of the national movement of the 20th century, but Israel reminds: the memory of the Holocaust cannot be a secondary topic. The reburial of Andriy Melnyk near Kyiv has become a new test for Ukrainian-Israeli dialogue.

Israel sharply responded to Kyiv: why the reburial of Andriy Melnyk became a dispute over memory

The Israeli Foreign Ministry issued sharp criticism following the official reburial ceremony of OUN leader Andriy Melnyk and his wife Sofia Fedak-Melnyk at the National Military Memorial Cemetery near Kyiv.

For the Ukrainian side, this event was part of bringing back to the homeland historical figures of the national liberation movement. For Israel and the Jewish world, it was a painful reminder of those pages of the 20th century where the national struggle intersected with collaboration with Nazi Germany.

On May 25, 2026, a message was published on the website of the President of Ukraine stating that Volodymyr Zelensky participated in the reburial ceremony of Andriy Melnyk and his wife. In the Ukrainian official framework, the ceremony was presented as the return to Ukrainian soil of people associated with the struggle for independence and the historical memory of the state.

But almost immediately, a reaction followed from Jerusalem. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it regrets the decision to hold a state reburial ceremony for OUN leader Andriy Melnyk, whom the Israeli department called a person “who collaborated with the Nazis.” The statement from the Israeli Foreign Ministry included the formula: “one cannot ignore the historical truth and the memory of the victims killed by the Nazis and their accomplices.”

Why Israel’s reaction was so harsh

For Israel, this topic is not an ordinary diplomatic disagreement.

It is about the memory of the Holocaust, about millions of murdered Jews, and about how modern states deal with figures whose biographies are “connected” with movements that collaborated with Nazi Germany.

The memorial complex Yad Vashem also issued criticism. Its statement said that the state reburial of Andriy Melnyk causes “serious concern.” Yad Vashem emphasized that “honoring the leader of a movement that supported and collaborated with Nazi Germany during the persecution and murder of millions of Jews undermines the moral foundation of Holocaust memory.”

This is an important moment.

The Israeli reaction stems not only from current politics. It is based on historical trauma, which remains part of the national identity of Israel and the Jewish people worldwide.

Ukraine today is waging a war against Russian aggression and trying to restore its own historical pantheon after decades of Soviet pressure. But for Jerusalem, there is a boundary that cannot be removed from the conversation just because Ukraine is at war. The memory of the Holocaust for Israel is not a secondary diplomatic detail but a moral foundation.

Two different frameworks of one biography

Andriy Melnyk is a figure that cannot be explained in one sentence. In Ukrainian historical memory, he is associated with the national movement, the struggle against Soviet power, and a military and political line that considered Ukraine’s independence as the main goal. After the split of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, he led the Melnyk wing of the OUN.

But this is where the conflict of memory begins.

For the Jewish and Israeli perspective, the OUN is not only an anti-Soviet movement. It is also an organization, part of whose history is connected with collaboration with Nazi Germany during World War II. That is why state honors for one of its leaders are perceived in Israel not as an internal Ukrainian matter but as a “question of historical responsibility.”

The Ukrainian side speaks of the struggle for independence. The Israeli side responds: the memory of the struggle for independence cannot “displace the memory of the victims of the Nazis and their accomplices.”

Ukraine, Israel, and the risk of the Russian trap

For the Israeli audience, this story is particularly sensitive. NAnews — Israel News considers such topics not as a foreign historical dispute but as part of a larger conversation about how Ukraine and Israel can maintain allied dialogue without silencing the difficult pages of the past.

It is important here not to fall into the Russian propaganda trap. The Kremlin has been trying for years to use the topic of Ukrainian nationalism to justify aggression against Ukraine, erase the reality of Russian crimes, and replace the conversation about the war with convenient historical clichés. This does not make the Russian position honest. Russia itself is waging a war of conquest, striking Ukrainian cities, destroying homes, and killing civilians.

But Russian propaganda does not negate the complexity of Ukrainian historical memory.

Moscow cannot be allowed to turn any discussion about Ukraine’s past into a weapon against the Ukrainian state. However, one cannot pretend that painful questions do not exist. Especially when it comes to the Holocaust, Jewish memory, and state ceremonies that the whole world sees.

Why this is important right now

Ukraine is in a situation where it needs to strengthen national identity, support the moral front, and restore names that have been displaced by Soviet historical policy for decades.

This is understandable.

But Israel views this process through its own historical trauma. For the Jewish state, the question sounds different: can a leader of a movement be honored at the state level if that movement is associated not only with the struggle against the USSR but also with collaboration with Nazi Germany?

Jerusalem’s answer is now clear: this part of history cannot be ignored.

That is why the reaction of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Yad Vashem was so harsh. It was addressed not only to Kyiv but to everyone who tries to separate the national heroic narrative from the memory of the Holocaust victims. For Israel, such separation is impossible.

What this means for Kyiv and Jerusalem relations

This episode is unlikely to destroy the relations between Ukraine and Israel.

Important ties remain between the two countries: communities, repatriates from Ukraine, the Ukrainian community in Israel, humanitarian contacts, and a shared sensitivity to threats from Russia and Iran.

But the scandal shows that historical memory remains a zone of risk. Even when countries have common interests, even when one of them is defending against aggression, the memory of the Holocaust does not disappear from the diplomatic agenda.

For Kyiv, this is a signal: Ukrainian memory policy requires subtlety, especially where it intersects with Jewish history. For Israel, it is a reminder that Ukraine is experiencing a war for existence and at the same time trying to reassemble its national historical language.

There is no simple compromise between these two realities. But there is a need to speak honestly.

Main conclusion

Ukraine has the right to reclaim its own history after decades of Soviet and Russian pressure. But when state honors concern figures associated with movements that collaborated with Nazi Germany, Israel and Yad Vashem cannot remain silent.

For the Jewish world, the memory of the Holocaust is not a political detail and not a subject of tactical bargaining. It is a moral boundary.

That is why the dispute over Andriy Melnyk has become not just a historical discussion but a test of whether Ukraine and Israel can talk about the past without propaganda, without silence, and without destroying today’s dialogue.

NAnews — Israel News will continue to monitor how this topic develops further because for the Israeli audience, the question of Holocaust memory, Ukraine, and modern political choice remains not archival but alive.

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