Happy St Patrick's Day!

 

Today, St Patrick's Day 2026, Ukraine received great news from the EU. 

Trifolium dubium or Irish shamrock

Yulia Svyrydenko

@Svyrydenko_Y

4h

Today, the Ukrainian delegation in Brussels received the European Union’s accession benchmarks for the final three negotiating clusters. This means Ukraine now has the full set of requirements to meet for EU membership.

Ukraine is moving confidently along its path to European integration. The swift completion of the official screening of Ukrainian legislation for compliance with EU law demonstrates the country’s institutional capacity and readiness to move to the next stage.

The next steps are successful closure of the clusters and signing of the Accession Treaty, the final step toward Ukraine’s full membership in the European Union.

Today, Ukraine received the details for Cluster 3 “Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth,” Cluster 4 “Green Agenda and Sustainable Connectivity,” and Cluster 5 “Resources, Agriculture and Cohesion Policy.”

In December, the Ukrainian side received the benchmarks for three other clusters: Cluster 1 “Fundamentals of the EU Accession Process,” Cluster 2 “Internal Market,” and Cluster 6 “External Relations.”

The Ukrainian government will continue to fulfill the accession requirements, implement the necessary reforms and measures, and report to the EU on progress. Moving forward together!

Comparison of Viking longboats with Ukrainian Chaika

Chaika design 

Longboat design

Viking longboats and Ukrainian Chaikas (чайки) were both remarkable examples of early naval engineering — each optimized for its cultural, geographic, and military context. Though they shared certain similarities, they differed significantly in design, function, and historical circumstances. AI helped me research them. 

⚓️ Origins and Use

Viking Longboats 

Origin: Scandinavia (8th–11th centuries).
Used by: Norse seafarers (Vikings) for exploration, trade, and raiding.
Operating area: North Atlantic, North Sea, Baltic Sea, and European river systems.
Purpose: Both open-sea voyages and river travel — designed for quick raids and long-distance journeys.

Ukrainian Chaikas 

Origin: Zaporizhian Cossacks of Ukraine (16th–18th centuries).
Used by: Cossack fleets on the Dnipro River and the Black Sea.
Operating area: Rivers and coastal waters of the Black Sea.
Purpose: Fast attacks against Ottoman ships and coastal towns; defense and reconnaissance.
🚤 Design and Construction

Viking Longboats 

Materials: Primarily oak or pine, clinker-built (overlapping planks).
Propulsion: Combination of sail (square woolen sail) and oars.
Hull form: Long, narrow, and shallow — allowed both speed and river access.
Size: Often 20–30 meters long; could carry 40–60 men.
Distinctive features: Symmetrical bow and stern; carved figureheads; single mast.

Ukrainian Chaikas 

Materials: A combination of wood (often willow) and sometimes animal hides or reeds for buoyancy.
Propulsion: Mainly oars; sometimes equipped with small sails.
Hull form: Wide and flat-bottomed — ideal for river navigation and stealthy approach.
Size: About 15–20 meters long; carried 50–70 men.
Distinctive features: Reinforced sides (often double-planked), two rudders (fore and aft), and sometimes protective shields around the deck.
⚔️ Military Characteristics

Viking Longboats Advantage: Speed, shock impact, and amphibious capability — could land anywhere with a beach.
Weapons: Carried warriors armed with swords, axes, and bows.
Strategy: Surprise coastal raids, fast retreats.

Ukrainian Chaikas Advantage: Stealth, manoeuvrability, and ability to navigate shallow or narrow waters.
Weapons: Small cannons, muskets, sabres, and bows.
Strategy: Hit-and-run naval raids, often at night, against larger Ottoman galleys.

Symbolic and Cultural Role

Viking longboats became symbols of Norse exploration and maritime dominance — icons of the Viking Age.

Cossack Chaikas became emblems of Cossack freedom, ingenuity, and resistance against imperial powers.

---

🧭 Summary Table

Feature	Viking Longboat	Ukrainian Chaika
Period	8th–11th century	16th–18th century
Users	Vikings	Zaporizhian Cossacks
Construction	Clinker-built wood	Flat-bottomed, double-planked
Propulsion	Sail + Oars	Oars + Optional sail
Length	20–30 m	15–20 m
Crew	40–60	50–70
Waters	Sea & rivers	Rivers & coastal sea
Role	Raiding, exploration	Raiding, naval warfare
Symbolism	Exploration & conquest	Freedom & resistance

---

The Viking longboat was a masterpiece of early medieval seafaring —
a versatile vessel for both ocean and river.

The Cossack chaika was a fast, stealthy warboat —
tailored for guerrilla naval warfare in rivers and shallow seas.

The Danish-Ukrainian connections

A thousand years ago, a Norse warrior named Thorald died in battle near today's Vytachiv in the Kyiv region. Now, his story returned to the banks of the Dnipro 🇺🇦🇳🇴

In Vytachiv, the Foreign Ministers of Ukraine and Norway unveiled a replica of the Alstad runestone brought from Oslo. The inscription tells of a father who raised the stone in memory of his son – a Viking who fell while serving in the lands of Kyivan Rus during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise.

This monument reminds us that ties between Ukraine and Norway stretch back centuries – from shared history to today's partnership in the face of Russian aggression. From Viking-age links to modern diplomacy, these connections are real and enduring.

Cultural diplomacy matters. It protects historical truth – and it shows that Ukraine has always been part of Europe's shared story.

The last Norwegian Viking king, Harald Hardrade, went to Kyiv at a young age to serve Prince Yaroslav of Kyiv.

Many Vikings settled in Kyiv.

It’s easy for Norwegians to identify with the Ukrainian spirit. And so difficult to identify with the ruzzian.

The Byzantine pope's Varangian guard, led by Viking Harald Hardrada, used to navigate the Dniepro River. They would stop at an island in the river (Kortytsia, I think, or another island near that) to tap an ancient stone with their spears for luck. This stone is still there and is said to protect the area.

If anyone is interested in more information about the original stone in Norway, including the full rune text and its interpretations, there is a very good description of it in section N 62 in this English Wikipedia article.  

Orthodox Christianity began in Ukraine with Prince Volodymyr of Kyiv’s conversion in 988 AD, and the subsequent baptism of the 'Kyivan Rus’. Rus was first used to describe the vast territory and the first churches with cupolas were created in Ukraine. Here’s a map of Kievan Rus with Kyiv as its capital. Note: no Moscow.

The Norse made it to Ukraine and Constantinople down the rivers of Europe, the Dnipro and Volga. The Ukrainian Chaika boats are rather reminiscent of Viking longboats. 

The name "Ukraine" first appeared in 1187 in chronicles, meaning "land" or "region," used for various territories such as Pereyaslavl and Galicia, long before Moscow's imperial claims, with usage shifting to the entire Ukrainian territory by the 17th century and solidifying as the name of the nation.

Early Uses (12th-15th Centuries)

Chronicles: The name "Ukraine" (or Ukraina) is first recorded in the 1187 Hypatian Codex, mourning the Prince of Pereyaslavl, a region within 'Kyivan Rus'.  It was Catherine II who took the Codex from Ukraine to St Petersburg as she was obsessed with learning about Kyivan Rus. 

Synonymous with Principality: It referred to specific lands, like "Galician Ukraine," "Chernihiv Ukraine," or "Kyiv Ukraine," meaning a principality or country, not merely a peripheral area.

Slavic Roots: The word derives from the common Slavic kray, meaning "land," "region," or "country," similar to modern Ukrainian krayina (country) and Polish kraj (country/region).

Shifting Meanings (17th Century Onward)

Cossack Era: During the rise of the Cossack Hetmanate, the name "Ukraine" was increasingly used for the entire territory inhabited by Ukrainians.

Beauplan Map (1648): The term "Ukraine" was used on maps by Guillaume de Beauplan to denote the entire Cossack lands, solidifying its meaning as a geographical and political entity. These geograpgical regions were called voivodstva. The voivod (literal translation: "the one who leads the warriors") was usually the military commander next to the ruler.

By Vasseur de Beauplan - Description de l'Ukrainie, qui sont plusieurs provinces du Royaume de Pologne, Contenuës depuis les confins de la Moscovie, jusques aux limites de la Transilvanie. Ensemble leurs moeurs, façcons de vivres et de faire la Guerre. Par le Sieur de Beauplan, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12793762

Beauplans map of the Podilia and Kyiv voivodeships (1647)

A legend for all time!

 

I haven't written much in this blog for some time. Every day, there is news of more strikes across Ukraine, more deaths, more suffering. It's unbearable. Unbearable also to think that the greedy bastards that want only to take, and we all know who they are, are perpetrating atrocities on Ukrainian soil, whether they are there physically or not. 

Davos is underway. Mark Carney, the Prime Minister of Canada, delivered a powerful and truthful speech, which was met with a standing ovation. Trump made a complete fool of himself and of the United States. Mark Rutte of NATO has once again shown how to appease Trump's appetite for disaster. President Zelenskyy is en route to Davos to reportedly meet with Trump to discuss a potential deal to end the war with Russia. We all know what the outcome will be. 

I struggle to think of any leader in modern history who has carried the agony of an entire nation on his shoulders with such quiet dignity, such relentless resolve, and such unwavering commitment to pulling his people out of darkness and toward a future with a possibility of peace and joy. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has endured not only the brutality of an indicted war criminal bent on Ukraine’s obliteration, but the betrayal of an indicted president of the most powerful nation on earth, a man willing to pocket his thirty pieces of silver from the Kremlin while abandoning an ally.

Zelenskyy is not just a wartime president. He is a leader who will take his place in the pantheon of history’s greats. You can see it etched into his face, the sleepless nights, the grief, the weight of tens of thousands of innocent Ukrainian lives lost, a pain he carries not as a political burden, but as a moral one. Yet, even as the White House turns its back and contributes to his country’s suffering through complicity, he stands firm and fiercely devoted to his people.

I feel for Olena and their children. Their father has endured more than his fair share. 

Slava Ukraini. Heroyam Slava. 

Happy Christmas all ye Christians

 I don't get why trump would attack Christian villages in Nigeria on Christmas to protect Christians from ISIS. Even the Nazis in wwIl stopped firing on Christmas. How does this qualify him for the peace prize? Anyone? Anyone? And why does he not care about all the Christians in Ukraine?

I wonder what his new year's message will be. 

The true history of Ukraine

 

A map of Kievan Rus' after the death of Yaroslav I in 1054
By Vitaliyf261 - Own work.Compare: Plokhy, Serhii (2006) The Origins of the Slavic Nations: Premodern Identities in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, Category:New York: Cambridge University Press, p. xiv ISBN: 978-0-521-86403-9., CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93773078

Borrowed from Facebook today.  Posted by Robert Pitts.

Robert Pitts

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The idea that Ukraine as a cultural, political, and historical entity predates Russia rests on the fact that the medieval state known as Kyivan Rus (Ки́ївська Русь) was centered in Kyiv centuries before the rise of Moscow or anything called “Russia.”

Here’s the condensed historical backbone, based on primary chronicles and later scholarship:

⸻

1. The Rise of Kyivan Rus (9th–13th centuries)

• Earliest records: The Primary Chronicle (Повість временних літ, c. 1113) describes the foundation of a polity under the Varangian prince Oleg in 882, who moved the capital to Kyiv.

• Kyiv as the center: From roughly 882–1240, Kyiv was the political, cultural, and religious capital of a federation of East Slavic and Finnic peoples.

• Christianization: In 988, Grand Prince Volodymyr the Great adopted Christianity from Byzantium, making Kyiv the heart of Orthodox East Slavic civilization.

• At this time, the territories of present-day Russia (e.g., Moscow) were remote forest frontiers, not yet politically significant.

⸻

2. Moscow’s Late Emergence (13th–14th centuries)

• The city of Moscow was first mentioned in 1147, more than 250 years after Kyiv’s political establishment.

• After the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240, Kyiv was devastated, while northeastern principalities like Vladimir-Suzdal and later Moscow rose under Mongol oversight.

• The “Grand Duchy of Moscow” (Muscovy) became powerful only in the late 14th–15th centuries — nearly 500 years after Kyivan Rus began.

⸻

3. Names and Identity

• The medieval polity was called Rus — not “Russia.”

• After the fall of Kyiv, Muscovy began claiming the heritage of Rus in the 15th–16th centuries, eventually adopting the name “Russia” in 1547 when Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) became “Tsar of All Rus’.”

• Ukraine’s regions (Kyiv, Chernihiv, Volhynia, Galicia) preserved continuous local governance and culture tied to the Kyivan Rus tradition, even under Polish-Lithuanian or Cossack rule.

⸻

4. Key historical sources showing Ukraine’s seniority

• The Primary Chronicle (Повість временних літ, c. 1113) — describes the founding of the Kyivan state, long before Moscow’s existence.

• Byzantine records — Emperor Constantine VII’s De Administrando Imperio (mid-10th century) describes the “Rus” and their capital at Kyiv.

• Arab chronicles (e.g., Ibn Fadlan, al-Masudi) mention the Rus centered along the Dnipro, centuries before Moscow appears in records.

• Western European sources — Medieval Latin chronicles (e.g., Helmold of Bosau) note Kyiv as a major Christian capital in the 12th century.