What to do while in Ukraine

Ukrainian girls from the city of Odessa keep making the news for altering their appearance in dramatic fashion. The story of a girl who turned herself into a real life Barbie doll has spread across the globe and the saga continues. Two more girls, Anime and Dominika, have become  living dolls  and received publicity for their disturbing looks. Anime, 19-year-old Anastasiya Shpagina, transformed herself into an anime character and never leaves the house without makeup. Applying the makeup takes Anime a few hours to accomplish so she wakes up at 5 a.m. to make it to work on time. When she walks down the street in a fairy-like outfit, with long purplish hair, looking at the world with her raccoon-like eyes, it doesn’t go unnoticed. “I don’t pay attention to reactions, the most important thing for me is my comfort,” Anime said during a  talk show  on a Ukrainian TV channel. In interviews with Anime, which appeared on mainstream television in Ukraine and Russi...

  Vitali Klitschko , the world heavyweight boxing champion, stood on an outdoor stage — gloves off, sport coat on — pounding away, oratorically, in his bid to win a large number of seats for his party in Ukraine’s parliamentary elections on Sunday. Mr. Klitschko, the leader of an opposition party, the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform, has injected an element of unpredictability into an election that from the outset has seemed heavily tilted in favor of the Party of Regions of President Viktor F. Yanukovich. Critics here and in the West say the race is distorted by the continued imprisonment of prominent opposition leaders, government manipulation of media outlets and other malfeasance. But where others see a fixed fight, Mr. Klitschko sees opportunity. With one giant hand wrapped around a microphone, the other occasionally chopping the air, he landed blow after blow against the status quo, lamenting that Ukraine has lagged behind its Eastern European neighb...

In Kiev, some sports nuts prefer to use salvaged tank chains and tires instead of barbells to beef up. At a unique open-air fitness park in the heart of the Ukrainian capital, body builders are still getting pumped up Soviet-style. A new photography book documents their efforts. For many people, getting in shape entails heading to a members-only gym, complete with digital exercise machines and a luxurious sauna. But at a popular sports park in Kiev , things a far more hardcore. In his latest photography book, Ukrainian photographer Kirill Golovchenko documents how people pump iron at a special place in his home country. "Kachalka: Muscle Beach" explores a Soviet-era open-air fitness area covering ten square kilometers (6.2 square miles) on the island of Tuhev in the heart of Ukraine's capital. There, entry has been free to anyone who wants to stay fit for the last 40 years. The Ukrainian word  Kachat  means   "to pump," and looking at...

After a long break, the mifielder of Manchester United  Darren Fletcher (28), according to the rumors of  Gazeta.ru , is observed by Dynamo Kyiv. He has a deal with Man. Unit. until June 2015.

The correct pronunciation of the word Cossack in Ukrainian. In plural - Kozaky - Kozaks are the famous Ukrainian rebel fighters - Kozak soldier is a romantic and a violent medieval hero of Ukraine - To be called a Kozak in Ukraine is a grand compliment At the start of the 16th century Ukrainian peasants runaway from their masters to the uninhabited southern steppes of Ukraine and set up their infamous gangs and the Kozak State. Those guys were crazy fighters and big time party animals. Quickly the glory about the wild and fearless rebels had spread around the Europe. In the 1648-54 war against Poland, now the kozak army supported by the Ukrainian peasants had defeated the Polish King and took control of Ukraine and the capital Kyiv (Kiev). Unfortunately Hetman Khmelnycky decided to ally with the Mowscow Kingdom, and as a result the Kozak statehood was finished off by the Russian Queen in 1775 and the whole country suffered from the Russian rule for three centuries. Wel...

Jazz in Kiev will star on Oct.26 in Kiev’s October Palace. The fest will bring together modern jazz musicians from the Japan, USA,  Sweden, Poland, Norway, Mexico and of course Ukraine. For more details please visit web site: http://fest.jazzinkiev.com/en/ http://www.youtube.com/user/jazzinkiev

In the runup to Ukraine’s October 28 parliamentary election, polls show that the majority of Ukrainians want change, a break from the autocratic rule of President Viktor Yanukovich. They aren’t alone. Ukraine is heading into its second recession in four years. Businesses and investors on the ground see the investment climate getting much worse for everyone – except Yanukovich’s billionaire oligarch backers. Next week’s election is for parliament only – the presidency won’t be contended until 2015. But by voting in large numbers for the opposition, Ukrainians are expected to voice a deepening dissatisfaction with the Yanukovich regime. “In 3Q Ukraine went into a recession. We downgrade our real GDP forecast for 2012 to 0%. GDP dynamics in 3Q and 4Q will be negative,” Austria’s Erste Bank said in a note to investors this week. Source: IMF, Bloomberg, Erste Group Research “[Economic] activity is sluggish as foreign demand remains weak and maintaining the UAH:USD [curren...