ukraine presentation

Russia’s war in Ukraine: complete guide in maps, video and pictures

Where is fighting happening and how did we get here?

• Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates

What is happening?

Hundreds of Ukrainian fighters, including wounded men carried out on stretchers, left the vast steel plant in Mariupol where they had mounted a dogged last stand and turned themselves over to Russian hands.

More than 260 fighters left the Azovstal plant — their last redoubt in the southern port city — on Monday and were transported to two towns controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, officials on both sides said. Other fighters — their precise numbers unknown — remain inside the ruins of the fortified mill that sprawls over 4 square mile in the otherwise now Russian-held city.

Azovstal’s fall marks the complete capture of Mariupol, a significant milestone in one of the bloodiest battles of the war.

Footage published over the weekend showed the steelworks being bombarded.

Wrapping up Mariupol’s capture would give Russia an unbroken land bridge to the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and also deprives Ukraine of a vital port. It could also free up Russian forces for fighting elsewhere in the industrial heartland of eastern Ukraine.

Severodonetsk

Fighting is increasingly focusing on the Severodonetsk, the easternmost city still held by Ukrainian forces after more than 11 weeks of war, and an a effort to complete a wider encirclement of Ukraine’s defending forces in the Donbas appears to have failed.

A smaller-scale encirclement of Severodonetsk also failed last week after Russian forces were defeated with heavy losses in a series of unsuccessful attempts to cross the Siverskyi Donets River at Bilohorivka.

The river is increasingly becoming a dividing line between the two sides in the Donbas – the name given collectively to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions – and around Kharkiv to the north.

What happened in first three weeks of the invasion?

How did we get here.

In the months before its invasion, Russia deployed hundreds of tanks, self-propelled artillery and short-range ballistic missiles from as far away as Siberia to within striking range of Ukraine.

Moscow’s rhetoric grew more belligerent. Putin demanded legal guarantees that Ukraine would never join Nato or host its missile strike systems , concessions he was unlikely to receive. A flurry of diplomatic activity did little to ease tensions.

The second half of February was long considered the most likely period for a potential offensive. Russian soldiers stayed on in Belarus beyond the end of planned military exercises , and the Winter Olympics, hosted by Russia’s ally China, concluded .

The invasion was preceded on 22 February by Putin saying Russia would recognise the territorial claims of self-proclaimed republics in Luhansk and Donetsk. He had already ordered his forces into Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.

What do we know about Russia’s deployments?

Scores of battalion tactical groups – the smallest operational unit in Russia’s army, consisting of about 800-1,000 troops – were put in place near the borders of Ukraine in Russia and Belarus before the invasion.

As of 18 February, the US estimated that Russia had 169,000-190,000 personnel in and around Ukraine.

An estimated 32,000 separatist forces were already operating in the breakaway areas in Donetsk and Luhansk – some of whom were likely to be unacknowledged Russian forces – before the invasion.

Many of the heavy weapons stationed near Ukraine arrived as far back as spring 2021. Over the new year Russia also began to move tanks, artillery, air-defence systems and fighter jets to Belarus for joint exercises in February. That deployment then grew.

These satellite image composites show the buildup of troops in Yelnya and Pogonovo over the new year.

Satellite photographs also showed increased deployments in Novoozernoye, in western Crimea.

The US estimates that 10,000 troops moved into Crimea in late January and early February .

Satellite images taken on 20 February showed troops and equipment being moved from holding areas to potential launch locations.

How do the militaries compare?

Russia’s invasion pits the Kremlin’s large, recently modernised military against an adversary largely using older versions of the same or similar equipment, dating back to the Soviet era.

Russia has significant numerical advantages on land, and in particular in the air and at sea, although Ukrainians are defending their homeland.

What is the historical context?

In 2014 Putin sent troops to annex Crimea , a mainly Russian-speaking region of Ukraine. Russia also incited a separatist uprising in Ukraine’s south-east, clandestinely sending soldiers and weapons to provoke a conflict that grew into a full-blown war.

A 2015 peace deal established a line of demarcation and called on both sides to make concessions. After that, low-level fighting continued along the front, and each side accused the other of violating the agreement.

Going back further, Russia has long opposed any attempts by Ukraine to move towards the EU and Nato .

One of Putin’s oft-repeated demands was a guarantee that Ukraine would never join Nato, the alliance of 30 countries that has expanded eastwards since the end of the cold war.

What was the role of Nord Stream 2?

On 22 February, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, stopped the certification process for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in response to Russia’s recognition of the two self-proclaimed republics.

First announced in 2015, the $11bn (£8.3bn) pipeline owned by Russia’s state-backed energy firm Gazprom was built to carry gas from western Siberia to Lubmin in Germany’s north-east, doubling the existing capacity of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline and keeping 26m German homes warm at an affordable price.

Nord Stream 2, Europe’s most divisive energy project, bypassed the traditional gas transit nation of Ukraine by running along the bed of the Baltic Sea.

It faced resistance within the EU, and from the US as well as Ukraine, on the grounds that it increased Europe’s energy dependence on Russia, denied Ukraine transit fees, and made it more vulnerable to Russian invasion.

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Editor’s note, Wednesday, February 23 : In a Wednesday night speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a “special military operation” would begin in Ukraine. Multiple news organizations reported explosions in multiple cities and evidence of large-scale military operations happening across Ukraine. Find the latest here .

Russia has built up tens of thousands of troops along the Ukrainian border, an act of aggression that could spiral into the largest military conflict on European soil in decades.

The Kremlin appears to be making all the preparations for war: moving military equipment , medical units , even blood , to the front lines. President Joe Biden said this week that Russia had amassed some 150,000 troops near Ukraine . Against this backdrop, diplomatic talks between Russia and the United States and its allies have not yet yielded any solutions.

On February 15, Russia had said it planned “ to partially pull back troops ,” a possible signal that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be willing to deescalate. But the situation hasn’t improved in the subsequent days. The US alleged Putin has in fact added more troops since that pronouncement, and on Friday US President Joe Biden told reporters that he’s “convinced” that Russia had decided to invade Ukraine in the coming days or weeks. “We believe that they will target Ukraine’s capital Kyiv,” Biden said.

Get in-depth coverage about Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Why Ukraine? 

Learn the history behind the conflict and what Russian President Vladimir Putin has said about his war aims .

The stakes of Putin’s war

Russia’s invasion has the potential to set up a clash of nuclear world powers . It’s destabilizing the region and terrorizing Ukrainian citizens . It could also impact inflation , gas prices , and the global economy. 

How other countries are responding

The US and its European allies have responded to Putin’s aggression with unprecedented sanctions , but have no plans to send troops to Ukraine , for good reason . 

How to help

Where to donate if you want to assist refugees and people in Ukraine.

And the larger issues driving this standoff remain unresolved.

The conflict is about the future of Ukraine. But Ukraine is also a larger stage for Russia to try to reassert its influence in Europe and the world, and for Putin to cement his legacy . These are no small things for Putin, and he may decide that the only way to achieve them is to launch another incursion into Ukraine — an act that, at its most aggressive, could lead to tens of thousands of civilian deaths, a European refugee crisis, and a response from Western allies that includes tough sanctions affecting the global economy.

The US and Russia have drawn firm red lines that help explain what’s at stake. Russia presented the US with a list of demands , some of which were nonstarters for the United States and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Putin demanded that NATO stop its eastward expansion and deny membership to Ukraine, and that NATO roll back troop deployment in countries that had joined after 1997, which would turn back the clock decades on Europe’s security and geopolitical alignment .

These ultimatums are “a Russian attempt not only to secure interest in Ukraine but essentially relitigate the security architecture in Europe,” said Michael Kofman, research director in the Russia studies program at CNA, a research and analysis organization in Arlington, Virginia.

As expected, the US and NATO rejected those demands . Both the US and Russia know Ukraine is not going to become a NATO member anytime soon.

Some preeminent American foreign policy thinkers argued at the end of the Cold War that NATO never should have moved close to Russia’s borders in the first place. But NATO’s open-door policy says sovereign countries can choose their own security alliances. Giving in to Putin’s demands would hand the Kremlin veto power over NATO’s decision-making, and through it, the continent’s security.

Now the world is watching and waiting to see what Putin will do next. An invasion isn’t a foregone conclusion. Moscow continues to deny that it has any plans to invade , even as it warns of a “ military-technical response ” to stagnating negotiations. But war, if it happened, could be devastating to Ukraine, with unpredictable fallout for the rest of Europe and the West. Which is why, imminent or not, the world is on edge.

The roots of the current crisis grew from the breakup of the Soviet Union

When the Soviet Union broke up in the early ’90s, Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, had the third largest atomic arsenal in the world. The United States and Russia worked with Ukraine to denuclearize the country, and in a series of diplomatic agreements , Kyiv gave its hundreds of nuclear warheads back to Russia in exchange for security assurances that protected it from a potential Russian attack.

Those assurances were put to the test in 2014, when Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula and backed a rebellion led by pro-Russia separatists in the eastern Donbas region. ( The conflict in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 14,000 people to date .)

Russia’s assault grew out of mass protests in Ukraine that toppled the country’s pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych (partially over his abandonment of a trade agreement with the European Union). US diplomats visited the demonstrations, in symbolic gestures that further agitated Putin.

President Barack Obama, hesitant to escalate tensions with Russia any further, was slow to mobilize a diplomatic response in Europe and did not immediately provide Ukrainians with offensive weapons.

“A lot of us were really appalled that not more was done for the violation of that [post-Soviet] agreement,” said Ian Kelly, a career diplomat who served as ambassador to Georgia from 2015 to 2018. “It just basically showed that if you have nuclear weapons” — as Russia does — “you’re inoculated against strong measures by the international community.”

But the very premise of a post-Soviet Europe is also helping to fuel today’s conflict. Putin has been fixated on reclaiming some semblance of empire, lost with the fall of the Soviet Union. Ukraine is central to this vision. Putin has said Ukrainians and Russians “ were one people — a single whole ,” or at least would be if not for the meddling from outside forces (as in, the West) that has created a “wall” between the two.

Ukraine isn’t joining NATO in the near future, and President Joe Biden has said as much. The core of the NATO treaty is Article 5, a commitment that an attack on any NATO country is treated as an attack on the entire alliance — meaning any Russian military engagement of a hypothetical NATO-member Ukraine would theoretically bring Moscow into conflict with the US, the UK, France, and the 27 other NATO members.

But the country is the fourth largest recipient of military funding from the US, and the intelligence cooperation between the two countries has deepened in response to threats from Russia.

“Putin and the Kremlin understand that Ukraine will not be a part of NATO,” Ruslan Bortnik, director of the Ukrainian Institute of Politics, said. “But Ukraine became an informal member of NATO without a formal decision.”

Which is why Putin finds Ukraine’s orientation toward the EU and NATO (despite Russian aggression having quite a lot to do with that) untenable to Russia’s national security.

The prospect of Ukraine and Georgia joining NATO has antagonized Putin at least since President George W. Bush expressed support for the idea in 2008. “That was a real mistake,” said Steven Pifer, who from 1998 to 2000 was ambassador to Ukraine under President Bill Clinton. “It drove the Russians nuts. It created expectations in Ukraine and Georgia, which then were never met. And so that just made that whole issue of enlargement a complicated one.”

No country can join the alliance without the unanimous buy-in of all 30 member countries, and many have opposed Ukraine’s membership, in part because it doesn’t meet the conditions on democracy and rule of law.

All of this has put Ukraine in an impossible position: an applicant for an alliance that wasn’t going to accept it, while irritating a potential opponent next door, without having any degree of NATO protection.

Why Russia is threatening Ukraine now

The Russia-Ukraine crisis is a continuation of the one that began in 2014. But recent political developments within Ukraine, the US, Europe, and Russia help explain why Putin may feel now is the time to act.

Among those developments are the 2019 election of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian who played a president on TV and then became the actual president. In addition to the other thing you might remember Zelensky for , he promised during his campaign that he would “reboot” peace talks to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine , including dealing with Putin directly to resolve the conflict. Russia, too, likely thought it could get something out of this: It saw Zelensky, a political novice, as someone who might be more open to Russia’s point of view.

What Russia wants is for Zelensky to implement the 2014 and ’15 Minsk agreements, deals that would bring the pro-Russian regions back into Ukraine but would amount to, as one expert said, a “Trojan horse” for Moscow to wield influence and control. No Ukrainian president could accept those terms, and so Zelensky, under continued Russian pressure, has turned to the West for help, talking openly about wanting to join NATO .

Public opinion in Ukraine has also strongly swayed to support for ascension into Western bodies like the EU and NATO . That may have left Russia feeling as though it has exhausted all of its political and diplomatic tools to bring Ukraine back into the fold. “Moscow security elites feel that they have to act now because if they don’t, military cooperation between NATO and Ukraine will become even more intense and even more sophisticated,” Sarah Pagung, of the German Council on Foreign Relations, said.

Putin tested the West on Ukraine again in the spring of 2021, gathering forces and equipment near parts of the border . The troop buildup got the attention of the new Biden administration, which led to an announced summit between the two leaders . Days later, Russia began drawing down some of the troops on the border.

Putin’s perspective on the US has also shifted, experts said. To Putin, the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal (which Moscow would know something about) and the US’s domestic turmoil are signs of weakness.

Putin may also see the West divided on the US’s role in the world. Biden is still trying to put the transatlantic alliance back together after the distrust that built up during the Trump administration. Some of Biden’s diplomatic blunders have alienated European partners, specifically that aforementioned messy Afghanistan withdrawal and the nuclear submarine deal that Biden rolled out with the UK and Australia that caught France off guard.

Europe has its own internal fractures, too. The EU and the UK are still dealing with the fallout from Brexit . Everyone is grappling with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Germany has a new chancellor , Olaf Scholz, after 16 years of Angela Merkel, and the new coalition government is still trying to establish its foreign policy. Germany, along with other European countries, imports Russian natural gas, and energy prices are spiking right now . France has elections in April , and French President Emmanuel Macron is trying to carve out a spot for himself in these negotiations.

Those divisions — which Washington is trying very hard to keep contained — may embolden Putin. Some experts noted Putin has his own domestic pressures to deal with, including the coronavirus and a struggling economy, and he may think such an adventure will boost his standing at home, just like it did in 2014 .

Diplomacy hasn’t produced any breakthroughs so far

A few months into office, the Biden administration spoke about a “stable, predictable” relationship with Russia . That now seems out of the realm of possibility.

The White House is holding out the hope of a diplomatic resolution, even as it’s preparing for sanctions against Russia, sending money and weapons to Ukraine, and boosting America’s military presence in Eastern Europe. (Meanwhile, European heads of state have been meeting one-on-one with Putin in the last several weeks.)

Late last year, the White House started intensifying its diplomatic efforts with Russia . In December, Russia handed Washington its list of “legally binding security guarantees ,” including those nonstarters like a ban on Ukrainian NATO membership, and demanded answers in writing. In January, US and Russian officials tried to negotiate a breakthrough in Geneva , with no success. The US directly responded to Russia’s ultimatums at the end of January .

In that response, the US and NATO rejected any deal on NATO membership, but leaked documents suggest the potential for new arms control agreements and increased transparency in terms of where NATO weapons and troops are stationed in Eastern Europe.

Russia wasn’t pleased. On February 17, Moscow issued its own response , saying the US ignored its key demands and escalating with new ones .

One thing Biden’s team has internalized — perhaps in response to the failures of the US response in 2014 — is that it needed European allies to check Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. The Biden administration has put a huge emphasis on working with NATO, the European Union, and individual European partners to counter Putin. “Europeans are utterly dependent on us for their security. They know it, they engage with us about it all the time, we have an alliance in which we’re at the epicenter,” said Max Bergmann of the Center for American Progress.

What happens if Russia invades?

In 2014, Putin deployed unconventional tactics against Ukraine that have come to be known as “hybrid” warfare, such as irregular militias, cyber hacks, and disinformation.

These tactics surprised the West, including those within the Obama administration. It also allowed Russia to deny its direct involvement. In 2014, in the Donbas region, military units of “ little green men ” — soldiers in uniform but without official insignia — moved in with equipment. Moscow has fueled unrest since , and has continued to destabilize and undermine Ukraine through cyberattacks on critical infrastructure and disinformation campaigns .

It is possible that Moscow will take aggressive steps in all sorts of ways that don’t involve moving Russian troops across the border. It could escalate its proxy war, and launch sweeping disinformation campaigns and hacking operations. (It will also probably do these things if it does move troops into Ukraine.)

But this route looks a lot like the one Russia has already taken, and it hasn’t gotten Moscow closer to its objectives. “How much more can you destabilize? It doesn’t seem to have had a massive damaging impact on Ukraine’s pursuit of democracy, or even its tilt toward the West,” said Margarita Konaev, associate director of analysis and research fellow at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology.

And that might prompt Moscow to see more force as the solution.

There are plenty of possible scenarios for a Russian invasion, including sending more troops into the breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine, seizing strategic regions and blockading Ukraine’s access to waterways , and even a full-on war, with Moscow marching on Kyiv in an attempt to retake the entire country. Any of it could be devastating, though the more expansive the operation, the more catastrophic.

A full-on invasion to seize all of Ukraine would be something Europe hasn’t seen in decades. It could involve urban warfare, including on the streets of Kyiv, and airstrikes on urban centers. It would cause astounding humanitarian consequences, including a refugee crisis. The US has estimated the civilian death toll could exceed 50,000 , with somewhere between 1 million and 5 million refugees. Konaev noted that all urban warfare is harsh, but Russia’s fighting — witnessed in places like Syria — has been “particularly devastating, with very little regard for civilian protection.”

The colossal scale of such an offensive also makes it the least likely, experts say, and it would carry tremendous costs for Russia. “I think Putin himself knows that the stakes are really high,” Natia Seskuria, a fellow at the UK think tank Royal United Services Institute, said. “That’s why I think a full-scale invasion is a riskier option for Moscow in terms of potential political and economic causes — but also due to the number of casualties. Because if we compare Ukraine in 2014 to the Ukrainian army and its capabilities right now, they are much more capable.” (Western training and arms sales have something to do with those increased capabilities, to be sure.)

Such an invasion would force Russia to move into areas that are bitterly hostile toward it. That increases the likelihood of a prolonged resistance (possibly even one backed by the US ) — and an invasion could turn into an occupation. “The sad reality is that Russia could take as much of Ukraine as it wants, but it can’t hold it,” said Melinda Haring, deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.

What happens now?

Ukraine has derailed the grand plans of the Biden administration — China, climate change, the pandemic — and become a top-level priority for the US, at least for the near term.

“One thing we’ve seen in common between the Obama administration and the Biden administration: They don’t view Russia as a geopolitical event-shaper, but we see Russia again and again shaping geopolitical events,” said Rachel Rizzo, a researcher at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center.

The United States has deployed 3,000 troops to Europe in a show of solidarity for NATO and will reportedly send another 3,000 to Poland , though the Biden administration has been firm that US soldiers will not fight in Ukraine if war breaks out. The United States, along with other allies including the United Kingdom, have been warning citizens to leave Ukraine immediately. The US shuttered its embassy in Kyiv this week , temporarily moving operations to western Ukraine.

The Biden administration, along with its European allies, is trying to come up with an aggressive plan to punish Russia , should it invade again. The so-called nuclear options — such as an oil and gas embargo, or cutting Russia off from SWIFT, the electronic messaging service that makes global financial transactions possible — seem unlikely, in part because of the ways it could hurt the global economy. Russia isn’t an Iran or North Korea; it is a major economy that does a lot of trade, especially in raw materials and gas and oil.

“Types of sanctions that hurt your target also hurt the sender. Ultimately, it comes down to the price the populations in the United States and Europe are prepared to pay,” said Richard Connolly, a lecturer in political economy at the Centre for Russian and East European Studies at the University of Birmingham.

Right now, the toughest sanctions the Biden administration is reportedly considering are some level of financial sanctions on Russia’s biggest banks — a step the Obama administration didn’t take in 2014 — and an export ban on advanced technologies. Penalties on Russian oligarchs and others close to the regime are likely also on the table, as are some other forms of targeted sanctions. Nord Stream 2 , the completed but not yet open gas pipeline between Germany and Russia, may also be killed if Russia escalates tensions.

Putin himself has to decide what he wants. “He has two options,” said Olga Lautman, senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis. One is “to say, ‘Never mind, just kidding,’ which will show his weakness and shows that he was intimidated by US and Europe standing together — and that creates weakness for him at home and with countries he’s attempting to influence.”

“Or he goes full forward with an attack,” she said. “At this point, we don’t know where it’s going, but the prospects are very grim.”

This is the corner Putin has put himself in, which makes a walk-back from Russia seem difficult to fathom. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen, and it doesn’t eliminate the possibility of some sort of diplomatic solution that gives Putin enough cover to declare victory without the West meeting all of his demands. It also doesn’t eliminate the possibility that Russia and the US will be stuck in this standoff for months longer, with Ukraine caught in the middle and under sustained threat from Russia.

But it also means the prospect of war remains. In Ukraine, though, that is everyday life.

“For many Ukrainians, we’re accustomed to war,” said Oleksiy Sorokin , the political editor and chief operating officer of the English-language Kyiv Independent publication.

“Having Russia on our tail,” he added, “having this constant threat of Russia going further — I think many Ukrainians are used to it.”

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Ukraine’s Bold Biennale Show, Two Years Into the Invasion

At the art world’s seminal event, national pavilions offer a place to make a strong statement. Ukraine’s message? “The war is still going on.”

By Farah Nayeri

It’s Day 17 of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A mother hurries back to her underground shelter after a trip to a nearby store. From her shopping bag, she pulls out two ice cream cones, and watches her young son and daughter squeal in jubilation as they tear open the wrapping.

This is one of the early scenes in “Civilians. Invasion,” a 56-minute film having its international premiere at the Ukraine Pavilion during the Venice Biennale. Twenty-six months after the start of the war with Russia, it is one of four works being presented by Ukraine.

Made by the artists Daniil Revkovskyi and Andrii Rachynskyi, the film is a compilation of some 200 videos posted on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok in the first few months of the invasion. They show the war not as you see it on the evening news, but as you would experience it firsthand, from the inside.

You witness the moments when bombs fall on apartment buildings, blow off rooftops, crash into moving cars. You see desperate people crowd into dingy shelters. You watch footage of citizens looting in the local mall, and carting away shopping bags stuffed with goods. From a distance, you see an older woman hold up a painting of a religious icon, and, every few steps, kneel, pray and kiss the ground.

As the film draws to a close, there are bodies everywhere: on the streets, in bus shelters or piled up in shell craters. The bodies are unclaimed, and there’s no one to bury them.

What does the film aim to communicate?

“The main message is to show that the war is still going on,” said Rachynskyi in a video interview from Venice, as his wife, the illustrator Iryna Rachynska, translated his words from Ukrainian. He said the film presented “the collective experience of Ukrainians,” and was “not just art: it’s evidence of the war and of the Russian aggression against Ukraine.”

When the invasion began, Rachynskyi said, he and his co-director plugged the name of each new territory that came under attack into social media search boxes to track down corresponding posts. He said they had sourced as many as 2,000 videos, which they downloaded and whittled to the 200 in the film.

The Venice Biennale was established in 1895 as an exhibition of new and recent art from around the world. It ranks as the world’s oldest international art exhibition.

Soon after its creation, organizers invited countries to build their own pavilions. Belgium constructed the first one in 1907. Today, 87 countries have official exhibitions in Venice, either at the Biennale’s dedicated sites — the Giardini, the public gardens located in the east of the city, and the Arsenale (Venice’s former shipbuilding compound) — or in Venice’s city center.

Ukraine is one of them. Its pavilion is in the Arsenale, inside the Sale d’Armi. This year, the pavilion is supported by the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Information Policy and by the Open Eye gallery in Liverpool, as well as by the United States Agency for International Development, the European Union, Germany’s Goethe Institut, the British Council and PEN America’s Artists at Risk Connection program.

The pavilion’s public programming is also receiving financial support from Museums for Ukraine, an initiative set up by the patron and philanthropist Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza at the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine to protect, preserve and celebrate Ukraine’s collections of art and culture. Thyssen-Bornemisza is collaborating with the Ukraine Pavilion on its public program, which will be hosted at Ocean Space, the headquarters of TBA21-Academy (Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary) in Venice.

Pavilions serve as cultural outposts for their countries, so in times of conflict, a pavilion can draw attention to its nation’s plight. The Ukraine Pavilion this year is no exception: During its official opening on Thursday, it planned to feature a live video message from Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska.

The pavilion’s co-curator, Viktoria Bavykina, said in a video interview from Venice that this year’s artists had been selected based on their sensitivity and empathy toward the plight of the Ukrainian people, because the pavilion “is not only about the artistic community: It’s about all Ukrainians.”

She gave the example of her own parents, who lived “in total fear” in the war-torn city of Kharkiv, where “you don’t know what will happen in the next few seconds.” They still went to work, paid their taxes, and took care of their families, she said, as did all Ukrainians, because war was now “our normal life.”

Her fellow curator (and husband), Max Gorbatskyi, said that the artists this year “focus on something which is outside their artistic bubble,” meaning “real stories, real people,” and that they “challenge the conventions of artistic representation.”

The Ukraine Pavilion presentation is titled “Net Making,” referring to a widespread practice in present-day Ukraine: People gather in net-making workshops to assemble and weave camouflage nets, which are then used by the armed forces to conceal tanks and other weapons, as well as hide-outs, from enemy eyes.

Though no actual nets are woven inside the pavilion, one installation — “Work” by Oleksandr Burlaka — symbolizes collaborative projects. It consists of an oval-shaped three-meter (about 10 feet) high structure arrayed with woven linen fabrics that date back to the 1950s or earlier and have been kept by Ukrainian families across generations for use in various domestic functions. These have been sourced from families all over the country, as well as purchased online.

“Best Wishes” by Katya Buchatska is an installation composed of videos, paintings, postcards and textiles produced by neurodivergent artists. They demonstrate how everyday language has changed since the invasion, and taken on different meanings: how war transforms the most basic words and greetings we use to communicate.

“Comfort Work” by Andrii Dostliev and Lia Dostlieva is a set of filmed portraits of five people (played by professional European actors) who sit silently in front of the camera, dressed in ways that represent stereotypes of how Ukrainian refugees look and behave.

One is a recent escapee from her homeland; she has dirt on her face and a shining foil blanket that people are wrapped in during emergencies. Another is a Barbie-doll-like Ukrainian — a young blonde wearing lots of makeup.

Gorbatskyi, the pavilion’s co-curator, said the theme of the Pavilion worked well with that of the 2024 Biennale’s central exhibition, “Foreigners Everywhere,” because the sense of foreignness and otherness was familiar.

He said he hoped visitors would “become more sensitive to understanding the various experiences of otherness.”

“Ukrainians living in Ukraine, those who experience war, can also be seen as ‘others,’ because their life is different,” he added.

Inside the Venice Biennale

The 2024 venice biennale features work by more than 330 participating artists from some 90 countries scattered throughout the city..

Photos:  Our photographer is on the ground covering the spectacle that makes the Biennale  one of the premier events in the art world’s global calendar.

Critiquing and Representing the U.S.:  Jeffrey Gibson’s history-making turn at the Biennale  brings the gay and Native American artist center stage with works of struggle and freedom.

Protests Go On:  Israel’s exhibition was already closed after its artist refused to display her work  until there was a cease-fire and hostage deal in Gaza. But that didn’t calm the discontent .

Can Adriano Pedrosa Save the Biennale?:  Balancing diplomacy and geopolitics is hardly new for the first Biennale curator from Latin America. He isn’t scared to make a strong statement  on contemporary art.

A Match Made in Venice:  An American institution is sponsoring an exhibition by a Chinese artist in collaboration with a Japanese architect at a centuries-old Venetian building. Here’s how Tadao Ando and Zeng Fanzhi came together .

Criticism Meets Optimism:  The group show “Nigeria Imaginary” will be one of the most ambitious African presentations  ever at the Biennale.

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315 Best Ukraine-Themed Templates for PowerPoint & Google Slides

With over 6 million presentation templates available for you to choose from, crystalgraphics is the award-winning provider of the world’s largest collection of templates for powerpoint and google slides. so, take your time and look around. you’ll like what you see whether you want 1 great template or an ongoing subscription, we've got affordable purchasing options and 24/7 download access to fit your needs. thanks to our unbeatable combination of quality, selection and unique customization options, crystalgraphics is the company you can count on for your presentation enhancement needs. just ask any of our thousands of satisfied customers from virtually every leading company around the world. they love our products. we think you will, too" id="category_description">crystalgraphics creates templates designed to make even average presentations look incredible. below you’ll see thumbnail sized previews of the title slides of a few of our 315 best ukraine templates for powerpoint and google slides. the text you’ll see in in those slides is just example text. the ukraine-related image or video you’ll see in the background of each title slide is designed to help you set the stage for your ukraine-related topics and it is included with that template. in addition to the title slides, each of our templates comes with 17 additional slide layouts that you can use to create an unlimited number of presentation slides with your own added text and images. and every template is available in both widescreen and standard formats. with over 6 million presentation templates available for you to choose from, crystalgraphics is the award-winning provider of the world’s largest collection of templates for powerpoint and google slides. so, take your time and look around. you’ll like what you see whether you want 1 great template or an ongoing subscription, we've got affordable purchasing options and 24/7 download access to fit your needs. thanks to our unbeatable combination of quality, selection and unique customization options, crystalgraphics is the company you can count on for your presentation enhancement needs. just ask any of our thousands of satisfied customers from virtually every leading company around the world. they love our products. we think you will, too.

Widescreen (16:9) Presentation Templates. Change size...

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More ukraine templates for powerpoint and google slides:.

Company Info

Ukraine, with its area of 603,628 km2, is the largest country on the European continent.It is bordered by the Russian Federation to the east and northeast, Belarus to the northwest, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast respectively.

Independence�

On July 16, 1990, the new parliament adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine. The declaration established the principles of the self-determination of the Ukrainian nation, its democracy, political and economic independence, and the priority of Ukrainian law on the Ukrainian territory over Soviet law. In August 1991, a conservative faction among the Communist leaders of the Soviet Union attempted a coup to remove Mikhail Gorbachev and to restore the Communist party's power. After the attempt failed, on August 24, 1991 the Ukrainian parliament adopted the Act of Independence in which the parliament declared Ukraine as an independent democratic state.

• Ukrainian customs are heavily influenced by Christianity, which is the dominant religion in the country.Gender roles also tend to be more traditional, and grandparents play a greater role in raising children than in the West.The culture of Ukraine has been also influenced by its eastern and western neighbours, which is reflected in its architecture, music and art.
• The Communist era had quite a strong effect on the art and writing of Ukraine.In 1932, Stalin made socialist realism state policy in the Soviet Union when he promulgated the decree "On the Reconstruction of Literary and Art Organisations". This greatly stifled creativity. During the 1980s glasnost (openness) was introduced and Soviet artists and writers again became free to express themselves as they wanted.
• The tradition of the Easter egg, known as pysanky, has long roots in Ukraine. These eggs were drawn on with wax to create a pattern; then, the dye was applied to give the eggs their pleasant colours, the dye did not affect the previously wax-coated parts of the egg. After the entire egg was dyed, the wax was removed leaving only the colourful pattern. This tradition is thousands of years old, and precedes the arrival of Christianity to Ukraine.In the city of Kolomya near the foothills of the Carpathian mountains in 2000 was built the museum of Pysanka which won a nomination as the monument of modern Ukraine in 2007, part of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine action.

Music and Dance �

Music is a major part of Ukrainian culture, with a long history and many influences. From traditional folk music, to classical and modern rock, Ukraine has produced a long list of internationally recognized musical talent including Tchaikovsky and Okean Elzy. Elements from traditional Ukrainian folk music made their way into Western music and even into modern Jazz. In the world of dance, Ukrainian influence is evident from Polka to The Nutcracker.

The traditional Ukrainian diet includes chicken, pork, beef, fish and mushrooms. Ukrainians also tend to eat a lot of potatoes, grains, fresh and pickled vegetables. Popular traditional dishes include varenyky (boiled dumplings with mushrooms, potatoes, sauerkraut, cottage cheese or cherries), borscht (soup made of beets, cabbage and mushrooms or meat) and holubtsy (stuffed cabbage rolls filled with rice, carrots and meat). Ukrainian specialties also include Chicken Kiev and Kiev Cake. Ukrainians drink stewed fruit, juices, milk, buttermilk (they make cottage cheese from this), mineral water, tea and coffee, beer, wine and horilka.

Kiev Museum of Wax Figures

The idea to establish a museum of such kind in Kiev appeared after its founders familiarized with exposition of famous London museum branch in Amsterdam. After this they questioned themselves - if there are such museums in Moscow and Saint Petersburg why not to create one in the capital of Ukraine. But they've had to face a lot of problems and difficulties, because in Ukraine there were no experienced specialists in waxwork at that time. Also there were no proper specialists in decorative work. So it took three years to arrange the 20 figures exposition, which became the basis of museum's collection. It was first presented to the public on the 12th January of 2000. Nowadays the exposition consists of more than 60 figures and is constantly growing. The museum, one of the best of such kind in Eastern Europe, is by right considered to be one of the most interesting places in Kiev. �

National Museum "Chernobyl"

The Nuclear accident at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant entered the history of the humankind as the most severe radioecological disaster of the XX century. The after-effects of it have no analogy and differ from another natural or manmade catastrophes. These are still the issues of contemporaneity and, unfortunately, of the generation to come. The National museum “Chornobyl” conveys the history of those tragic-events since the 26th of April, 1992.

The mission of the museum is to help the mankind understand the scope of the disaster through the destinies of thousands of those people who witnessed the accident, participated in the mitigation and suffered from the disaster. The aim is to make people realize the necessary of reconciliation between man, science and technology that endanger the existence of the human civilization and Earth, to conceive the lessons of the tragedy in all the spheres of life, lest the world forget the lessons of Chornobyl. The museum is warning for the new millennia generations.

Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev�

Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev is an outstanding architectural monument of Kievan Rus'. Today, it is one of the city's best known landmarks and the first Ukrainian patrimony to be inscribed on the World Heritage List.

In Ukrainian the cathedral is known as Sobor Sviatoyi Sofiyi or Sofiys’kyi sobor .

The complex of the Cathedral is the main component the National Sanctuary "Sophia of Kiev" the state institution responsible for the preservation of the Cathedral complex along with several other historic landmarks of the city.

National museum of art�

The museum exposition displays Ukrainian art from old ages till our days. It was founded in 1899. Originaly exposition enriched owing to Kiev patrons, after the revolution due to nationalization of private collections, and later owing to state assignment provided for buying art works.

Ukrainian decorative art museum �

Museum exposition includes works of folk and professional decorative art from XV century till our days. Among the displays are crockery, «rushnyk»(embroidered ritual towel), church plates, national clothes, Ukrainian Cossacks tobacco pipes, «pysanki» (painted Easter eggs) and many other things. One hall of the museum is devoted totally to the paintings of famous Ukrainian artist Kateryna Bilokur, this gallery is a true pearl of museum’s collection.

Museum of Ukrainian decorative art is situated on the territory of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in the building of former metropolitan house and Blagoveshenskaya church which were built in XVII century. The collection of the museum was started in 1899 as the City museum of antiques and art.

One street museum

Andreevskiy spusk museum is the one and only Kiev private museum. Items of the end of XIX - beginning of XX century were used in interior and exposition design. Due to this you can see woman boudoir with the full set of toilet items, dining room with served table, interiors of workshops and stores of Andreevskiy spusk of past centuries.

Vorontsov's Palace �

The Vorontsovsky Palace is an historic palace located in the town of Alupka, Ukraine. It is situated at the foot of the Crimean Mountains. The Vorontsovsky Palace was constructed from 1830–1848, to be used as a summer residence of the governor-general of the Novorossiysky Krai, Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov.

The palace was built according to a project by English architect Edward Blore (1789–1879). The architect did not visit Alupka, but was well informed about the area's mountainous landscape. When construction began, it was discovered that a foundation and the basement of the first portion of the building was already in position, as the palace was first supposed to be constructed on different plans, by architects Francesco Boffo and Thomas Harrison.

Swallow's Nest �

Swallow's Nest Crimean is a decorative castle near Yalta on the Crimean shore in southern Ukraine. It was built between 1911 and 1912 near Gaspra, on top of 40-metre (130 ft) high Aurora Cliff, to a Neo-Gothic design by the Russian architect Leonid Sherwood.The castle overlooks Ai–Todor cape of the Black Sea and is located near the remnants of the Roman castrum of Charax. Swallow's Nest is one of the most popular visitor attractions in Crimea.

Uchan-su is a waterfall on the river Uchan-su on the southern slopes of the Crimean Mountains. The name translates from the Crimean Tatar language for swift water.

Uchan-su is a popular tourist attraction and is the highest waterfall in Ukraine. Located 7 km from the city of Yalta halfway to Ai-Petri Mountain. The waterfall is 98 metres high at an altitude of 390 metres and is most powerful during the spring when it is fed by snow melt in the mountains.

The National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv

Kyiv University or officially the National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, colloquially known in Ukrainian as KNU is a major research university located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It is the first formally established modern research university in Kiev and the first national university of Ukraine. Currently, its structure consists of fifteen Faculties and five Institutes. It was founded in 1834 as the University of Saint Vladimir, and since then it has changed its name several times. During the Soviet Union era, Kiev University was one of the top three universities in the USSR, along with Moscow State University and Leningrad State University. Today, most national and international rankings place Kiev University as the best university in Ukraine (see below). Throughout its history, the university has distinguished itself from its peers in terms of intellectual freedom and has produced and hosted many top thinkers from Russia and Ukraine including Nikolay Bunge, Mykhailo Drahomanov, Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, Nikolai Berdyaev, Mikhail Bulgakov, Viacheslav Chornovil, Leonid Kravchuk, Oksana Zabuzhko, and many others. Kiev University was influential in the birth of the 1905 Russian Revolution, the Russian Revolution (1917), the Ukrainian People's Republic, the Soviet dissident movement, and many other significant events.

Sports such as Football and Wrestling have been popular in Ukraine since the 19th century.Ukraine has benefited from the Soviet Union's emphasis on sport and physical education and Ukraine was left with hundreds of stadiums, swimming pools, gymnasiums, and other athletic facilities after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ukraine is a regular participant in both summer and winter Olympic Games and is successful on the international arena. The country's top achievement at the Olympics to date was at the 1996 Summer Olympics, when they came 9th.

At the 1996 Summer Olympics, Ukrainian gymnast Lilia Podkopayeva won the All Around title in the Women's Gymnastics competition.

New Year Eve

The New Year Eve is celebrated in Ukraine.Everyone likes the New Year Eve.We usually buy a New Year tree, decorate our house with garlands, send postcards to our relatives and friends, wishing them joy and happiness.

The week before Easter, the Great Week is called the White or Pure Week. During this time an effort is made to finish all field work before Thursday, since from Thursday on work is forbidden. Pure Thursday is connected with ritual of clarification by water.

On Passion Friday-Good Friday-no work is done. In some localities, the Holy Shroud is carried solemnly three times around the church and, after appropriate services, laid out for public veneration.

Speech by Prime Minister Rutte at presentation International Four Freedoms Award

Speech | 11-04-2024

Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands held this speech in Middelburg at the presentation of the International Four Freedoms Award to Save Ukraine.

Ladies and gentlemen,

One of the best-known people in Dutch history is Anne Frank. Just an ordinary Jewish girl. No doubt you’re familiar with her.

Or rather: you’re familiar with her diary, in which she described her life in hiding with her family during the Second World War. Many millions of copies have been sold worldwide. And the reason is that Anne’s story is not simply about the horrors of war. Above all, it’s a story of hope. It’s about seeing light in the darkness. Or, as Anne herself put it: “Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.”

Those words have lost none of their wisdom in the years since they were written. Because today, in our time, there is still darkness in many places around the world. The reason I’m here today, is to shine a light on 1 of the places it is needed most: Ukraine.

Since Russia’s brutal invasion, over 2 years ago now, thousands of Ukrainian children have been abducted and taken to Russia, or to areas occupied by Russia. Thousands of children, ripped away not only from their parents, but from everything that made them who they are. Their language. Their country. Their identity.

With their abduction, their identities have been erased. Or made invisible. After all, the victims are still alive. Physically, at least.

It’s 1 of the worst war crimes we can imagine. Targeting the most vulnerable people: children and their parents. And in this dark reality, Save Ukraine is a candle defying the darkness.

In 2014, when Russia began its aggression against Ukraine, Mykola Kuleba decided that he would not stand idly by. He would not just wait and see what happened. He would do all he could, to fight back. He would give everything he had. With anyone who would join him.

And as so often happens with people who stand up to evil, he was soon joined by others willing to help. To bring kidnapped children back home. To evacuate vulnerable people from the most dangerous areas.

And so, that one flickering candle grew into what it is now: A blazing beacon of hope for Ukrainian parents. A rescuer of vulnerable people on the frontlines of the war.

Already, over 100,000 vulnerable people have been evacuated from combat zones. Thanks to Save Ukraine, 282 children have been safely returned to their homeland. And together with their parents, they can find respite in 1 of the organisation’s 7 Hope and Healing Centers. There, they can heal from their psychological wounds. Or at least, they can start to heal.

But we can all draw hope from these acts of resistance, big and small

Of course, more needs to be done. Unfortunately, the end of this terrible war is not yet in sight. But we can all draw hope from these acts of resistance, big and small. Every child saved, is living proof of Putin’s war crimes. And he knows that.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Where do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home.” Save Ukraine demonstrates the truth of those words. By taking a stand when human rights are violated. By turning despair into hope. But above all, by showing in practice that everyone can be human rights defenders. Everyone. Even when peace and justice seem a long way away. Especially then.

Mykola and James: the importance of defending human rights is a strong thread running through your lives and your families. So let me now ask you both to come to the stage, so that James can present Mykola with the International Four Freedoms Award for Save Ukraine.

News  | Events | People |  Giving

Ukraine Series: Forests and the Frontlines

During Ukraine Series: Forests and the Frontlines, participants will hear from two experts about how the war is damaging forests, forest loss, and how foresters and families are impacted by the war. These unique presentations will be from two award winning Ukrainian foresters, both of whom are shaping forest policy and the future of Ukrainian forests. Dr. Andrii Bilous will be presenting while fighting on the frontlines of the war.

Participate in this informative webinar to gain valuable insights into the impact of the war on forest communities, examining both the immediate effects and long-term repercussions.

Earn Credits

• 1 Society of American Foresters (SAF) Credit
• 1 International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) credit

This webinar series is produced as a partnership between Penn State Extension, Woskob New Century Fund, and Forest Release.

Who is this for?

• Policy makers
• Urban planners
• Urban foresters
• Land managers
• Environmental consultants
• People interested in the war and humanitarian demining

What will you learn?

• A boots on the ground look at the war and impacts on the forest
• An appraisal of what has been lost and hurtles to recovery
• How the Ukrainian forestry community has been impacted by the war
• How modern war impacts forests and the environment

House Democrats help Johnson avoid defeat on foreign aid bills, despite GOP defections

Final votes are set for Saturday, but a third Republican threatened to oust him.

The House on Friday cleared a key procedural hurdle in passing foreign aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, despite dozens of Republican defections, with Democrats helping Speaker Mike Johnson avoid a stinging defeat.

Soon after, a third Republican said he would join a threatened move to oust him.

The chamber voted 316-94 to advance the bills, setting up Saturday votes on final passage of $95 billion in foreign assistance that has been held up in a political fight in Washington for several months.

Procedural votes such as Friday's are typically passed by the House majority alone, but Democrats stepped in to help push the legislation forward after Republican hard-liners collectively opposed the measure. More Democrats voted to advance the bills than Republicans.

"Democrats, once again, will be the adults in the room," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., during debate ahead of the vote.

Leaving the House floor after the vote, Johnson said the four foreign aid bills are “the best possible product” under the circumstances. "We look forward to final passage on the bill tomorrow."

The individual bills provide roughly $26 billion for Israel, $61 billion for Ukraine and $8 billion for the Indo-Pacific. The measures are similar to legislation passed by a bipartisan group in the Senate back in February, which tied all aid together into one measure.

MORE: A TikTok ban is wrapped in Speaker Johnson's foreign aid package: What happens next?

A fourth bill packaged into the foreign aid contains conservative priorities such as a TikTok ban bill, sanctions on Iran and legislation to seize Russian assets to help provide funding to Ukraine.

“Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan are on the frontlines of the struggle to preserve democracy around the world,” said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., during debate. “In the case of Ukraine and Israel, these two nations are quite literally in harm’s way.”

Pressure increased on lawmakers to pass aid after Iran's unprecedented attacks on Israel over the weekend.

Johnson has forged ahead with the foreign aid measures, calling them pivotal, despite pushback from the right-flank of his party and looming threats to his job .

A third House Republican, Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, announced after Friday's vote his support for the motion to vacate the speaker's chair first introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene last month. In a statement, Gosar expressed frustration with moving ahead on aid to Ukraine rather than providing resources to the souther border.

"We need a Speaker who puts America first rather than bending to the reckless demands of the warmongers, neo-cons and the military industrial complex making billions from a costly and endless war half a world away,” Gosar said.

Three Republicans supporting a motion to vacate would be enough to remove Johnson, unless Democrats decide to help defend the Republican speaker.

On his way to the House floor for the vote, ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Selina Wang asked Johnson if he was worried about possibly being ousted.

“I don’t worry," Johnson responded. "I just do my job."

But GOP hard-liners aired their frustrations with Johnson and his approach to this issue during debate.

“I’m concerned that the speaker’s cut a deal with the Democrats to fund foreign wars rather than to secure a border,” Rep. Thomas Massie.

Massie, R-Ky., earlier this week called on Johnson to resign and joined Greene's motion to vacate.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, also took issue with "another $100 million to fund war, unpaid for, with zero border security -- under a rule which Republicans should oppose because it is a process predesigned to achieve a desired predetermined outcome, with no border security."

"This was all precooked," Roy said. "It's why President Biden and Chuck Schumer are praising it."

MORE: Johnson says he won't change rules for ousting speakers after warnings from GOP hard-liners

Democrats, meanwhile, criticized Republicans for bringing dysfunction to the chamber.

"I would just say to my colleagues, 'Look at what MAGA extremism has gotten you: nothing. Nothing, not a damn thing,'" Rep. McGovern said, who also told his colleagues,“You don’t get an award when you’re doing your damn job.”

"We are in a divided government. Nobody is going to get everything they want," he added. "I hope today's vote loosens the grip that MAGA extremism has on this body, and especially when it comes to supporting our allies."

Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, also a Democratic member of the House Rules Committee, also condemned the delay in getting aid passed: “Congress is finally going to vote ... Why did it take us this long?"

The White House ahead of the vote released a statement of administration policy backing the bills, calling them "long overdue" and actions that would "send a powerful message about the strength of American leadership at a pivotal moment."

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Microsoft to cease all support for these Office versions: Alternatives revealed

M icrosoft has announced that it would end support for Office 2016 and Office 2019 as of October 14, 2025. Basic support for these products ended in October 2020 and October 2023, respectively. Now comes the end of their extended support.

RBC-Ukraine explains what to do when Microsoft stops supporting Office 2016 and 2019, and what alternatives are available.

Sources used: Microsoft Tech Community, ClickUp, and Lifewire.

What to do after Office support ends

If organizations need a permanent version of Office without access to the Internet, Microsoft reminds you of the availability of Office 2021 LTSC. Support for this version will end on October 13, 2026.

Earlier it was announced that new versions of office suites will be released this year, including both standard and LTSC versions. Office 2024 will be available for purchase as a permanent product without the need to subscribe to Microsoft 365.

Both versions will be supported on Windows 10 and Windows 11 for five years. It is worth noting that Office 2024 LTSC will not have some cloud-based features, such as real-time collaboration and AI-powered process automation.

For organizations using Exchange Server 2016 or 2019, Microsoft will offer an upgrade in the second half of next year.

Free alternatives to Microsoft Office

Google Docs, Sheets, and Presentations

Google Docs, Sheets, and Presentations are online tools for creating and editing text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, respectively. It is part of the Google Workspace cloud office suite.

Google Docs. Allows you to create and edit text documents directly in a web browser. Users can work on a document at the same time, share it with other users for collaboration, add comments, and use various text formatting features.

Google Sheets. Provides the ability to create and edit spreadsheets online. They have powerful features for organizing data, making calculations, and visualizing information. Users can also use formulas, create charts, and work with data in collaboration with other users.

Google Presentations. Allows you to create and edit presentations using built-in tools for adding text, images, graphics, video, and audio. Users can create presentations both independently and in collaboration with other users, share them, and view them online.

Google Docs, Sheets, and Presentations (photo: Udemy)

This is an office suite that provides a set of applications for creating and editing text documents, spreadsheets presentations, and other office tasks.

Key features of WPS Office:

Multi-platform. WPS Office is available for a variety of operating systems, including Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, which ensures ease of use on different devices.

Extensive functionality. WPS Office offers a wide range of features for creating and editing documents, including text formatting, inserting images, tables, and graphs, using templates, animations, and much more.

Cloud services. WPS Office is integrated with cloud services such as WPS Cloud, which allows users to store and synchronize their documents in the cloud for access from any device.

WPS Office offers a free version with all the basic features of office programs, as well as paid subscriptions for additional features and capabilities.

SoftMaker FreeOffice

SoftMaker FreeOffice is a free office suite that includes three main applications for working with documents, spreadsheets, and presentations:

TextMaker. A program for creating and editing text documents. It supports a wide range of text formatting functions, insertion of images and tables, spelling and grammar checking, as well as export and import of files in Microsoft Word (.docx) and other formats.

PlanMaker. An application for creating and editing spreadsheets. It has functionality for working with data, formulas, charts, and graphs, and supports Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) and other file formats.

Presentations. A program for creating and editing presentations. It provides options for adding slides, text, images, animations, and transition effects, and supports exporting and importing files in Microsoft PowerPoint (.pptx) and other formats.

SoftMaker FreeOffice (photo: SoftMaker)

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Stop The War & Pray for Ukraine

Stop the war & pray for ukraine presentation, free google slides theme and powerpoint template.

When a conflict between countries emerges, all help is welcome. In Slidesgo we stand firm against violence in all of its forms and shapes, that’s why we wanted to provide you with this template, so that you can also help by speaking about it and giving voice to those that need it the most. This multi-purpose design includes the design of the Ukrainian flag and lots of editable resources so that your ideas are expressed in the clearest way possible.

Features of this template

• 100% editable and easy to modify
• 35 different slides to impress your audience
• Contains easy-to-edit graphics such as graphs, maps, tables, timelines and mockups
• Includes 500+ icons and Flaticon’s extension for customizing your slides
• Designed to be used in Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint
• 16:9 widescreen format suitable for all types of screens
• Includes information about fonts, colors, and credits of the free resources used

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Am I free to use the templates?

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Attribution required If you are a free user, you must attribute Slidesgo by keeping the slide where the credits appear. How to attribute?

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