As Russia launched more than 70 drones at Kyiv on Nov. 25, European leaders were gathering in the capital to participate in the second international “Grain From Ukraine” summit. The timing was no coincidence, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky who likened Russia’s Vladimir Putin to the Soviet dictator Stalin, saying that “if he could arrange another Holodomor for Ukraine, he would do it.” Ukraine created the summit as a way to bring leaders together to find ways to ensure Ukrainian food exports are getting to those who need them most, particularly the Global South.
When the Russian invasion of Ukraine forced urbanists Oleksandra Naryzhna and Anastasiia Palii to leave Kharkiv in March 2022, the Dutch city of Rotterdam was an obvious choice for a temporary home. It’s a place that provides Ukrainian urbanists and architects with “a lot of opportunities,” Palii told the Kyiv Independent.