Richard Coombes
@richtranslator.bsky.social
Ukrainian and Russian speaker, translator of verse, lyrics and literary prose. Out now: Disbelief, Dislocation, Someone Else’s Life, The Food Block. https://richardcoombeslanguageservices.com
It's kind of frustrating when world leaders have to take days out of their schedules to discuss a Russian wish list that's been run through Google Translate by a real estate broker working for a convicted criminal.
November 23, 2025 at 7:06 AM
It's kind of frustrating when world leaders have to take days out of their schedules to discuss a Russian wish list that's been run through Google Translate by a real estate broker working for a convicted criminal.
Well, this is an extract from an email I wrote to my Member of Parliament on 17 February 2025, a few months after he had been elected:
November 22, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Well, this is an extract from an email I wrote to my Member of Parliament on 17 February 2025, a few months after he had been elected:
Today is День пам’яті жертв Голодомору (Holodomor Remembrance Day). The USA has finally stopped pretending to help you and the lights are going off all over Ukraine, but Ukrainians: there are many people in many parts of the world who remember you and are on your side. You are not alone.
#ukraine
#ukraine
November 22, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Today is День пам’яті жертв Голодомору (Holodomor Remembrance Day). The USA has finally stopped pretending to help you and the lights are going off all over Ukraine, but Ukrainians: there are many people in many parts of the world who remember you and are on your side. You are not alone.
#ukraine
#ukraine
This is a bit more like it
Speaking at the UN Security Council, Kyiv’s envoy warned that any settlement linked to the reported 28-point peace plan must not undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty.
www.kyivpost.com/post/64691
www.kyivpost.com/post/64691
Ukraine Sets Red Lines on US Peace Draft: ‘Our Land Is Not for Sale‘
Speaking at the UN Security Council, Kyiv’s envoy warned that any settlement linked to the reported 28-point peace plan must not undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty.
www.kyivpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:13 PM
This is a bit more like it
“This is a Russian-led settlement translated into English by Americans …”
We have a US administration trying to bully Ukrainians into accepting Russia’s proposal that their sovereignty be undone. Aside from the naked injustice of this, there are five basic practical reasons why it would make the world far more dangerous.
(video)
snyder.substack.com/p/the-putin-...
(video)
snyder.substack.com/p/the-putin-...
The Putin-Witkoff Plan Worsens the War
Five Reasons the US should not help Russia subjugate Ukraine
snyder.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:03 PM
“This is a Russian-led settlement translated into English by Americans …”
Wow! Witkoff is actually good at something! Taking dictation.
November 21, 2025 at 3:23 AM
Wow! Witkoff is actually good at something! Taking dictation.
The whole absorbing interview (you'll need to understand Ukrainian, however)
youtu.be/2m5Ns_wgjI8?...
youtu.be/2m5Ns_wgjI8?...
November 20, 2025 at 2:09 PM
The whole absorbing interview (you'll need to understand Ukrainian, however)
youtu.be/2m5Ns_wgjI8?...
youtu.be/2m5Ns_wgjI8?...
In this episode of 'I hear others', Maksym Butkevych and Daria Bura discuss with Iryna Fedorovych discrimination in Ukraine. Against whom, in what forms, who to turn to for help and redress. And is stereotyping discrimination, and is all selectivity banned?
Дискримінація в Україні: тебе можуть не взяти на роботу через стать, вік або погляди
Дискримінація в Україні. Як добитися справедливості? Про це у епізоді правозахисного подкасту «Я чую інших» говоримо з Іриною Федорович.
buff.ly
November 19, 2025 at 11:39 AM
In this episode of 'I hear others', Maksym Butkevych and Daria Bura discuss with Iryna Fedorovych discrimination in Ukraine. Against whom, in what forms, who to turn to for help and redress. And is stereotyping discrimination, and is all selectivity banned?
In the final story in this collection, 'The Mary Figurine' by Bohdana Matiiash, a family Christmas is darkened by a long-running feud.
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
Електронна книга «Таке різне Різдво» – Богдана Матіяш – купити за ціною 150 грн. на YAKABOO
ᐉ Купити та скачати електронну книгу «Таке різне Різдво», автор – Богдана Матіяш ⚡, в інтернет-магазині YAKABOO 👈. Купити електронну книжку у форматі: epub, fb2, mobi, pdf за ціною 150 грн. &
www.yakaboo.ua
November 18, 2025 at 7:50 AM
In the final story in this collection, 'The Mary Figurine' by Bohdana Matiiash, a family Christmas is darkened by a long-running feud.
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
Even if there is an element of wishful thinking or “reaching” here, I want to amplify this piece, because it’s critical that the brainless regurgitation of the Russian narrative is stopped and that the baseless Russian narrative itself is replaced.
A hidden power struggle inside Putin’s inner circle is fracturing the Russian state. As elites battle for control, infighting – not Ukraine – poses the regime’s greatest threat.
www.kyivpost.com/videos/64394
www.kyivpost.com/videos/64394
Putin’s Power Bloc Is Cracking: A Hidden Fight Inside Moscow
A hidden power struggle inside Putin’s inner circle is fracturing the Russian state. As elites battle for control, infighting – not Ukraine – poses the regime’s greatest threat.
www.kyivpost.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Even if there is an element of wishful thinking or “reaching” here, I want to amplify this piece, because it’s critical that the brainless regurgitation of the Russian narrative is stopped and that the baseless Russian narrative itself is replaced.
In this episode of 'I hear others', Yuliia Sachuk talks with Maksym Butkevych and Darya Bura about problems faced by Ukrainians with disabilities - problems exacerbated by Russia's war, with so many requiring evacuation, and disabling injuries being suffered by new people every day.
Евакуація, укриття, доступність: очільниця Fight For Right про життя людей з інвалідністю під час війни
Про права людей з інвалідністю в Україні під час війни говоримо з головою правозахисної організації Fight For Right Юлією Сачук.
buff.ly
November 17, 2025 at 11:39 AM
In this episode of 'I hear others', Yuliia Sachuk talks with Maksym Butkevych and Darya Bura about problems faced by Ukrainians with disabilities - problems exacerbated by Russia's war, with so many requiring evacuation, and disabling injuries being suffered by new people every day.
So the publisher Anetta Antonenko, who asked me to translate extracts of Liubko Deresh's novel "Medusa's Gaze", has now asked me to translate an extract of Yevhenia Kononenko's literary non-fiction book "Той божевільний рік".
November 16, 2025 at 3:14 PM
So the publisher Anetta Antonenko, who asked me to translate extracts of Liubko Deresh's novel "Medusa's Gaze", has now asked me to translate an extract of Yevhenia Kononenko's literary non-fiction book "Той божевільний рік".
In 'Three Christmases for Vera', by Kateryna Mikhalitsyna, Vera twists her ankle fetching Christmas decorations from the attic. While she is stuck up there, she looks back over her life, particularly at her marriage to Karpo, who drank, then contracted cancer ...
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
Електронна книга «Таке різне Різдво» – Богдана Матіяш – купити за ціною 150 грн. на YAKABOO
ᐉ Купити та скачати електронну книгу «Таке різне Різдво», автор – Богдана Матіяш ⚡, в інтернет-магазині YAKABOO 👈. Купити електронну книжку у форматі: epub, fb2, mobi, pdf за ціною 150 грн. &
www.yakaboo.ua
November 16, 2025 at 10:42 AM
In 'Three Christmases for Vera', by Kateryna Mikhalitsyna, Vera twists her ankle fetching Christmas decorations from the attic. While she is stuck up there, she looks back over her life, particularly at her marriage to Karpo, who drank, then contracted cancer ...
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
In this episode of the podcast 'I hear others', Serhii Danylov talks with Maksym Butkevich and Darya Bura about the three areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia: Crimea, Ordlo, and the newly-occupied. Differences between them. Who is still there. Collaboration. Irreversible changes.
Страх, виживання і спротив: Сергій Данилов про реальність на ТОТ півдня України
Понад три роки під російською окупацією перебуває український південь — частини Херсонської, Запорізької областей і донецьке Приазов’я. З чим стикаються українські громадяни?
buff.ly
November 15, 2025 at 11:39 AM
In this episode of the podcast 'I hear others', Serhii Danylov talks with Maksym Butkevich and Darya Bura about the three areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia: Crimea, Ordlo, and the newly-occupied. Differences between them. Who is still there. Collaboration. Irreversible changes.
In this special episode of the podcast 'I hear others', Maksym Butkevich and Darya Bura talk with the former Mayor of Kherson, Volodymyr Mykolaienko, who spent over three years imprisoned by the Russians after Kherson was initially overrun by Russia in April 2022.
«Відчуття провини за те, що я тут, а хлопці залишились там»: ексмер Херсона про полон, почуття провини та відновлення
У спецвипуску правозахисного подкасту «Я чую інших» на Громадському радіо говоримо з колишнім міським головою Херсона Володимиром Миколаєнком
buff.ly
November 14, 2025 at 11:39 AM
In this special episode of the podcast 'I hear others', Maksym Butkevich and Darya Bura talk with the former Mayor of Kherson, Volodymyr Mykolaienko, who spent over three years imprisoned by the Russians after Kherson was initially overrun by Russia in April 2022.
This episode of the podcast 'I hear others' features an illuminating interview with Veronika Plotnikov of the 'The Coordination Center for the Support of Victims and Witnesses' - whose work is cut out for the foreseeable future, with 187,000+ Russian war crimes already recorded.
«Працювати з потерпілими маємо вже зараз», — керівниця Координаційного центру підтримки потерпілих і свідків
У новому епізоді правозахисного подкасту «Я чую інших» на Громадському радіо говоримо з керівницею Координаційного...
buff.ly
November 13, 2025 at 11:39 AM
This episode of the podcast 'I hear others' features an illuminating interview with Veronika Plotnikov of the 'The Coordination Center for the Support of Victims and Witnesses' - whose work is cut out for the foreseeable future, with 187,000+ Russian war crimes already recorded.
In “DO YOU KNOW HOW TO SING KOLYADKY?” Dorje Batuu gives us a young postgrad for whom a chance Christmas meeting in Kyiv with two American tourists revolutionises her attitude to her overbearing professor - and does more for her besides!
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
Електронна книга «Таке різне Різдво» – Богдана Матіяш – купити за ціною 150 грн. на YAKABOO
ᐉ Купити та скачати електронну книгу «Таке різне Різдво», автор – Богдана Матіяш ⚡, в інтернет-магазині YAKABOO 👈. Купити електронну книжку у форматі: epub, fb2, mobi, pdf за ціною 150 грн. &
www.yakaboo.ua
November 13, 2025 at 8:07 AM
In “DO YOU KNOW HOW TO SING KOLYADKY?” Dorje Batuu gives us a young postgrad for whom a chance Christmas meeting in Kyiv with two American tourists revolutionises her attitude to her overbearing professor - and does more for her besides!
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
Irina Slavinska's 'The bell' gives us two perspectives on the same unexpected events of one particular Christmas.
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
Електронна книга «Таке різне Різдво» – Богдана Матіяш – купити за ціною 150 грн. на YAKABOO
ᐉ Купити та скачати електронну книгу «Таке різне Різдво», автор – Богдана Матіяш ⚡, в інтернет-магазині YAKABOO 👈. Купити електронну книжку у форматі: epub, fb2, mobi, pdf за ціною 150 грн. &
www.yakaboo.ua
November 12, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Irina Slavinska's 'The bell' gives us two perspectives on the same unexpected events of one particular Christmas.
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
In 'Danko of Chekhov Street', a woman lying in hospital has a chance meeting with someone now living in the very house where her own first love, Danko, once lived. The encounter prompts a sequence of memories.
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
Електронна книга «Таке різне Різдво» – Богдана Матіяш – купити за ціною 150 грн. на YAKABOO
ᐉ Купити та скачати електронну книгу «Таке різне Різдво», автор – Богдана Матіяш ⚡, в інтернет-магазині YAKABOO 👈. Купити електронну книжку у форматі: epub, fb2, mobi, pdf за ціною 150 грн. &
www.yakaboo.ua
November 11, 2025 at 8:40 AM
In 'Danko of Chekhov Street', a woman lying in hospital has a chance meeting with someone now living in the very house where her own first love, Danko, once lived. The encounter prompts a sequence of memories.
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
ТАКЕ РІЗНЕ РІЗДВО (“Such a different Christmas“) is a collection of 14 short stories by contemporary Ukrainian writers. In Nadiika Herbish’s Salam, Bacha, and Merry Christmas a veteran thinks back over time spent in an Afghan prison and a Christmas Eve miracle in Iraq.
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
Електронна книга «Таке різне Різдво» – Богдана Матіяш – купити за ціною 150 грн. на YAKABOO
ᐉ Купити та скачати електронну книгу «Таке різне Різдво», автор – Богдана Матіяш ⚡, в інтернет-магазині YAKABOO 👈. Купити електронну книжку у форматі: epub, fb2, mobi, pdf за ціною 150 грн. &
www.yakaboo.ua
November 10, 2025 at 9:11 AM
ТАКЕ РІЗНЕ РІЗДВО (“Such a different Christmas“) is a collection of 14 short stories by contemporary Ukrainian writers. In Nadiika Herbish’s Salam, Bacha, and Merry Christmas a veteran thinks back over time spent in an Afghan prison and a Christmas Eve miracle in Iraq.
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
www.yakaboo.ua/ua/take-rizn...
In youtu.be/B0m7QLPBUp0?... the Repainted Fox podcasters use Ivan Franko's Для домашнього огнища to launch discussion of the difficulties of a long distance relationship; difficulties faced by women in making ends meet; openness vs sparing the other's feelings; double standards of 19th cent. men.
#102 Для домашнього огнища. Іван Франко
YouTube video by ПереФарбований лис
youtu.be
November 9, 2025 at 1:44 PM
In youtu.be/B0m7QLPBUp0?... the Repainted Fox podcasters use Ivan Franko's Для домашнього огнища to launch discussion of the difficulties of a long distance relationship; difficulties faced by women in making ends meet; openness vs sparing the other's feelings; double standards of 19th cent. men.
Wow this is interesting. And very Stalinist. How many times I heard Markov on Echo of Moscow faithfully advocating putin and putinism, explaining how the British secret services poisoned the Skripals, etc. Suck it up, Sergei. You’ve been had. You’ve all been had. Your Nazi leader is no one’s friend.
“Russia's repressive apparatus has to fill its quotas. The machine must keep feeding itself."
Repressive regimes, well, repress. Once they run out of external enemies they turn on their own. Fascist Russia is no different. From the excellent @PjotrSauer.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Repressive regimes, well, repress. Once they run out of external enemies they turn on their own. Fascist Russia is no different. From the excellent @PjotrSauer.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Putin’s repressive machinery turns inward to target pro-war figures
Analysts say a purge of the Russian regime’s own supporters is under way as rival factions turn on each other
buff.ly
November 6, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Wow this is interesting. And very Stalinist. How many times I heard Markov on Echo of Moscow faithfully advocating putin and putinism, explaining how the British secret services poisoned the Skripals, etc. Suck it up, Sergei. You’ve been had. You’ve all been had. Your Nazi leader is no one’s friend.
The next time we partners of Ukraine have doubts over scrambling against four drones in our airspace, we could have a look at this
Last night, Russia struck Ukraine with over 650 drones and 50 missiles of different types - Zelenskyy
October 30, 2025 at 11:54 AM
The next time we partners of Ukraine have doubts over scrambling against four drones in our airspace, we could have a look at this
This was part of the great terror of the late 1930s which radiated out from Stalin in Moscow, starting in 1929 and peaking in 1937-38. This purge swept away so much talent: Ukraine’s Executed Renaissance, Belarus’s Murdered Poets; so many others. This is the history Russia is so anxious to repeat.
OTD in 1937 the Night of the Murdered Poets in Belarus. Stalin’s NKVD executed 132 members of the Belarusian elite in one night.
Imagine it being state policy to do such a thing in this day and age…
Imagine it being state policy to do such a thing in this day and age…
October 29, 2025 at 11:07 AM
This was part of the great terror of the late 1930s which radiated out from Stalin in Moscow, starting in 1929 and peaking in 1937-38. This purge swept away so much talent: Ukraine’s Executed Renaissance, Belarus’s Murdered Poets; so many others. This is the history Russia is so anxious to repeat.
This is a fascinating interview with Denys Kazanskyi about the situation in the occupied parts of Ukraine. Differences between Luhansk and Donetsk regions, the situation in 2014, over time, and now. And a possible future (spoiler: bleak. These regions are ruined).
hromadske.radio/podcasts/ya-...
hromadske.radio/podcasts/ya-...
«Картина розвалу»: Денис Казанський про життя на Донбасі під окупацією
Що відбувається зараз на Донбасі під окупацією? Про це у епізоді правозахисного подкасту «Я чую інших» говоримо з Денисом Казанським.
hromadske.radio
October 26, 2025 at 2:44 PM
This is a fascinating interview with Denys Kazanskyi about the situation in the occupied parts of Ukraine. Differences between Luhansk and Donetsk regions, the situation in 2014, over time, and now. And a possible future (spoiler: bleak. These regions are ruined).
hromadske.radio/podcasts/ya-...
hromadske.radio/podcasts/ya-...