Overview

Welcome to Ukraine!

Dear visitors of our blog,
European Championship is on the way and you are probably going to visit Ukraine. That’s why I decided to help you with necessary information for planning your visit to Ukraine. I hope you will find it useful.

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What I always do when I’m going to visit a country for the first time?
(Problems and Solutions)

– I look for some general information about that country =about Ukraine=

– I gather information about cities which I’m planning to visit =For those, who are planning to visit Kiev=

– I think about a place where to stay for a night or two. Usually it is not difficult to cope with this task, since Hotel staff is always ready to help you. But during Euro 2012 period most tourists will probably face this problem and also they will probably find unfairly high prices for apartments, hotel rooms or even for a place in small tent cities. We can offer you the following options:  =APARTMENTS for RENT in KIEV=

    In a couple of days I will write a post about small tent cities that will be settled in Kiev for a period of Euro 2012.

– I look for places that might be interesting for me. I do believe that it is the most important and interesting, but at the same time it is quite a difficult task since there are a lot of interesting places to visit in Kiev (Kyiv) and Ukraine, in general. Below you can find a list of my posts about several places:

=Kiev Pechersk Lavra=
=Dreams come true=
=GOLDEN GATE=

=Kiev Museum of Western and Oriental Art=
=National Museum of Natural History=
=The Ukrainian Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life=
=Museum of Miniatures=
=Museum of the Great Patriotic War=
=Museum of water in Kiev=
=Museum of Historical Treasures of Ukraine=

=Kiev Nightlife & Nightclubs (part 1)=
=Kiev Nightlife & Nightclubs (part 2)=

– When I’m going to a country where people speak the language that I don’t know, I try to find someone who can give me a useful advice or make an excursion for me. I know how to solve this problem in the capital of Ukraine – Kiev (Kyiv)! Please read the article =About us= where you can find a list of our services. If you are looking for Private Guide Services in Kiev or Personal Gide-interpreters just click =HERE=. If you want to know about Kiev Nightlife, just click =Guided Tours to Kiev Nightlife Venues= and you will have nothing to worry about.

    Specially for our clients we have =Delivery services=

=Limousine Rental = is the best option, if you want to have more grandeur tour. There is a number of occasions for renting a car.

   I hope that this overview turned out to be useful and I kindly ask you to share it with your friends. Should you have any questions, do not hesitate to  =contact with us=

Related articles

• Kiev metro map (ukraineview.wordpress.com)

 

Ukraine ‘Death Match’ film hits nerve before Euro 2012

    A Russian film released on the eve of Ukraine’s hosting of Euro 2012 tells the stirring story of the notorious “Match of Death” played between Soviet footballers and Nazi occupiers in Kiev during World War II.

    But the film has reopened still raw wounds in Ukraine and has been accused of anti-Ukrainian bias for its depiction of some locals willingly collaborating with the invading German forces.

     The film, “Match,” is set in the occupied Ukrainian capital in 1941 and 1942. It is based on the true story of a team of Soviet footballers who played a series of matches against the Nazis 70 years ago. It shows the Soviet players irking the occupiers with victory after victory. The Nazis then arrange a showpiece game in a swastika-covered stadium to prove their superiority.

     Under pressure to lose for propaganda purposes, the Soviet side, called Start, refuses to throw the match and wins it, knowing it will lead to their deaths.

— “I can’t decide for everyone, but my vote is for victory,” says the goalkeeper hero, Nikolai Ranevich, in the dressing room at half-time.
— “But they’ll kill us,” objects a teammate.
— “That’s a minus, but we’ll get over it,” he says deadpan.

Shortly after the match, later dubbed the “Match of Death,” the Nazis arrested winning team members and sent them to a concentration camp where a number of them were shot. The sweeping patriotic drama went on release in Russia and Ukraine on May 1, in time for Victory Day celebrations on May 9 and Ukraine’s controversial hosting of the Euro 2012 football championship in June. The film was 70 percent financed by a Kremlin fund set up to promote patriotic cinema and stars one of the country’s most popular actors, Sergei Bezrukov, as Ranevich. Its posters in Russia include a message wishing the national side good luck in the Euro 2012 competition. “We should show this film to our football team,” Bezrukov told journalists after training for the role with former Russia goalkeeper Sergei Ovchninnikov. But it has angered some Ukrainians with its unflattering depiction of local collaborators enthusiastically welcoming the Nazis and carrying out their orders. “Let them do the shooting!” a Nazi commander orders local police wearing armbands in the yellow-and-blue colours of the Ukrainian national flag. And flower-garlanded women hand the traditional welcome of bread and salt to Nazi troops as the new city mayor hangs up a portrait of Hitler. After delays and protests by nationalist groups, Ukraine’s cinema agency finally allowed the release of the film for viewers over 18. The film’s dramatic version of events is also matter of debate, with some historians agreeing that the players were not necessarily pressured to fix the match and were later shot for different reasons. Indeed a German probe that closed in 2005 concluded there was no evidence the men were shot because of their playing the match, a fact mentioned in the film’s final titles with a heavy dose of irony. “It all happened,” said producer Dmitry Kulikov, a history graduate, at a press screening. “There is no legend. These are facts. And yes — there are different interpretations.” The film ends with a dark screen and a brief subtitle that the men only enjoyed “seven happy days” after their victory. One player died under interrogation. The others were taken to the Syrets Nazi concentration camp outside Kiev. Three were shot including goalkeeper Mykola Trusevich, the prototype of Bezrukov’s hero. Five others survived. Kulikov said the film deliberately did not show what happened to the players, instead focusing on their choice to beat the Nazi side at all costs — which he is convinced was a heroic one. “Actually this is the main event — not how they (the Nazis) later took revenge on them. Of course they had a choice,” he insisted. The powerful story featured in a 1962 Soviet film called “Third Time.” It also famously inspired the 1981 US film “Escape to Victory” which starred Sylvester Stallone in the goalkeeper role and moved the action to a German camp for Allied prisoners of war. The film has had mediocre reviews in Russia, however, with critics accusing it of trivialising events. The film “uses the most primitive emotional cliches,” wrote the Kommersant business daily. “The historical plot is very strong and serious … but ‘Match’ is just another pot-boiler with white-teethed and well-groomed media-friendly actors, dressed up in overly glamorous outfits,” wrote Nezavisimaya Gazeta.