Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content The governor of Ukraine's Sumy region says Russian forces launched 70 missiles at four communities in the latest in a series of reported attacks on the border area Zhyvytskyi said in the post that the attacks began when Russian forces fired nine mortar shells on Khotyn Russians also fired another nine mortar shells on Myropol that Zhyvytskyi said exploded without inflicting damage the Russian military opened fire on two unspecified villages on the border using self-propelled artillery that ignited 15 explosions Russian forces fired on the Bilopolsk community for nearly an hour and launched 28 missiles causing damage to three residential buildings and four commercial structures "There were direct hits into the residence," he said The Znob-Novgorod community was hit with another four mortars launched by Russian forces who also fired on it with grenades and firearms think tank concluded that Sumy poses little threat to Russia The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported in research published late last month that Roman Starovoit governor of the Kursk Russian region that borders Sumy announced that the construction of two reinforced defense lines on the border with Ukraine had been completed and a third was in the works The ISW said in its report that the defense lines are "likely an act of security theater designed to target a domestic Russian audience." "Creating such defensive lines does not serve a practical military purpose and would be a waste of Russian resources," the ISW said in its report "Ukrainian forces in Sumy Oblast do not pose and never have posed a military threat to Kursk Oblast." Despite Sumy again being struck with Russian artillery Zhyvytskyi noted in a followup post that the heaviest fighting in the war at the moment is in Bakhmut and Soledar in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region where a counteroffensive is underway Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground Newsletters in your inbox See all Medievalists.net The Russian invasion of Ukraine is having repercussions all through the medieval Internet and travel between East and West for events has become increasingly more common thanks to their high degree of skill and favorable exchange rates craftspeople in both Russia and Ukraine have become the preeminent suppliers of handmade armor and reenactment goods to the rest of the world Political scientists such as Francis Fukuyama have pointed to the power of free trade to foster peace: As societies grow more financially interconnected violent conflict becomes economically irrational Medieval reenactment hobbies have made this manifest at an individual level: they are affinity groups where trade All of that has gone out the window in the current crisis “We are very sorry, some time we won’t have opportunity to work. But for sure we will find the opportunity to make our obligations,” one armorer posted in what must be the understatement of the year. “Dear our customers,” Kyiv-based Gothic Cast Medieval Accessories similarly posted: “We are from Ukraine And one short bustard is bombing our towns and villages we will survive and we shall make you orders.” recognize that they can do little to stop Putin’s war effort: In response to an Australian Facebook commenter demand that she take more positive action Yefimova commented “would you like i cancel the post go to meeting and arrive in jail quickly?”; the post was later edited to remove criticism of Putin’s government anti-Russian sanctions are hurting both the plutocrats and ordinary Russians – but arguably have more effect on the latter as Russian merchants are unable to either receive payments or ship finished goods A post shared by Pavel Burlakov (@paveliuss) Medieval hobbies have brought people the world over together in the pursuit of a romantic vision of the Middle Ages that if not completely eschewing modern politics compartmentalized them in the name of friendship we can say that the wars fought by medieval recreationists have been bloodless and in the name of friendship and sport led by a leader nursing very modern grudges has divided friends and plunged those who play at being warriors into a very real Ken Mondschein is a scholar, writer, college professor, fencing master, and occasional jouster. Ken’s latest book is On Time: A History of Western Timekeeping. Click here to visit his website Top Image: Kharkiv downtown street destroyed by Russian bombardment Photo by Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine / mvs.gov.ua We've created a Patreon for Medievalists.net as we want to transition to a more community-funded model We aim to be the leading content provider about all things medieval podcast and Youtube page offers news and resources about the Middle Ages We hope that are our audience wants to support us so that we can further develop our podcast and remove the advertising on our platforms This will also allow our fans to get more involved in what content we do produce Member Login This was reported by the Sumy Regional Military Administration (RMA) on Facebook the Russians carried out 44 attacks on the border areas and settlements of Sumy region and Seredyno-Buda communities came under fire," the statement reads Krasnopillia community was hit by guided aerial bombs causing 15 explosions Sumy and Myropillia communities were also shelled with guided aerial bombs residents experienced six explosions form guided aerial bombs and 10 explosions from MLRS shelling and in both Seredyno-Buda and Khotyn communities Seredyno-Buda community sustained damage to a residential building Velykopysarivka community was targeted with mortar fire (10 explosions) and FPV drones (two explosions) damaging a residential house Yunakivka community suffered from FPV drone strikes (seven explosions) two private houses and a non-residential building were damaged While citing and using any materials on the Internet links to the website ukrinform.net not lower than the first paragraph are mandatory citing the translated materials of foreign media outlets is possible only if there is a link to the website ukrinform.net and the website of a foreign media outlet Materials marked as "Advertisement" or with a disclaimer reading "The material has been posted in accordance with Part 3 of Article 9 of the Law of Ukraine "On Advertising" No 1996 and the Law of Ukraine "On the Media" No 2023 and on the basis of an agreement/invoice Online media entity; Media identifier - R40-01421 May 7, 2024 | Culture, History A Polish coin from 1621 has been sold for €1.3 million (5.6 million zloty) at an auction in Monaco that also featured two other Polish coins from the same period Described by the auction house as “exceptional” and “almost uncirculated” the 80-ducate coin depicts King Sigismund III Vasa – who was king of Poland from 1587 to 1632 – and was probably issued to commemorate a military victory against the Ottoman Empire It dates from the time of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Sigismund was also grand duke of Lithuania and for a time king of Sweden and grand duke of Finland The coin, which was minted in 1621 in Bydgoszcz, was likely issued to mark the victory of Polish-Lithuanian forces against the invading Ottoman army at the Battle of Khotyn in what is today Ukraine Today for the first time, Lithuanian, Polish and Ukrainian post offices issue a common postage stamp – dedicated to the Battle of Khotyn (1621) between a Polish-Lithuanian army with Cossack allies and an invading Ottoman Imperial army.https://t.co/9s4Bc4qi2L pic.twitter.com/7TNKc6nhVf — Eitvydas Bajarūnas (@EitvydasB) September 3, 2021 it features a bust and the Latin inscription “SIGISMVNDVS III D G POLONIÆ ET SVECIÆ REX” By God’s Grace King of Poland and Sweden” On the other appears the coat of arms of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the words “MAGNVS DVX LITVAN RVSS PRVSS MAS SAM LIVON ZC” The coin was sold at the starting price of €1.3 million while two others – one from 1596 depicting Sigismund III Vasa and the other from 1650-1658 featuring his son King John II Casimir Vasa – were sold for €24,000 (103,434 zloty) and €44,000 (189,629 zloty) respectively The most expensive Polish coins ever sold at auction also came from 1621 and depict Sigismund III Vasa when a 100-ducat coin went for $2.16 million in New York The record in Poland itself came last year when a 50-ducat coin sold for 2.7 million zloty In the latest episode of our Brief History of Poland podcast series, we look at the war-torn seventeenth century.@StanleySBill talks about the Polish-Russian wars, Ukrainian uprising, conflict with the Turks, and Sarmatian culture https://t.co/RlK0vpluwe — Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) April 1, 2021 Agata Pyka is an assistant editor at Notes from Poland She is a journalist and a political communication student at the University of Amsterdam She specialises in Polish and European politics as well as investigative journalism and has previously written for Euractiv and The European Correspondent , , The proportion of Poles saying the US has a positive influence on the world has also fallen to its lowest recorded level , , Poland has recorded the strongest rise in consumer sentiment across the EU this year , , , The stunt has also been criticised by Ukraine’s ambassador to Poland as well as politicians from Poland’s main ruling party Apr 30, 2025 | , , , That response will include “large Polish and NATO exercises in Poland” Apr 29, 2025 | , , , Those employed in Poland work on average the third-longest hours in the European Union Apr 28, 2025 | , , , , Westinghouse and Bechtel were first chosen in 2022 as partners on the 192 billion zloty ($51 billion) project please consider helping us to continue and expand it [email protected] Copyright © 2025 Notes From Poland | Design jurko studio | Code by 2sides.pl Senior Research Fellow at the Global Europe Centre ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Weronika Strzyżyńska is currently studying journalism at Goldsmiths as a Scott Trust Bursary recipient She  has written on issues immigration and Brexit for New Statesman and Prospect Agnieszka Wądołowska is managing editor of Notes from Poland She has previously worked for Gazeta.pl and Tokfm.pl and contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland and assistant professor of history at the Pedagogical University of Krakow He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications The Independent and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Stanley Bill is the founder and editor-at-large of Notes from Poland.He is also Senior Lecturer in Polish Studies and Director of the Polish Studies Programme at the University of Cambridge Stanley has spent more than ten years living in Poland He founded Notes from Poland in 2014 as a blog dedicated to personal impressions cultural analysis and political commentary He is committed to the promotion of deeper knowledge and understanding of Poland He is the Chair of the Board of the Notes from Poland Foundation ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Professor of European Studies at Oxford University ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Professor at the Institute of History of the Jagiellonian University ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Executive Director of Taube Family Foundation ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Associate Professor at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Science ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR (WHAM) - For the second time in less than two years Rochester Police are investigating headstones being toppled inside a Jewish cemetery At least seven headstones were toppled or vandalized inside Waad Hakolel Cemetery late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning Officers were called to the cemetery by a neighbor around 1:10 a.m The cemetery was also vandalized in March 2017 when vandals toppled or damaged 17 headstones Governor Cuomo directed New York State Police's Hate Crimes Task Force to investigate the incident at the time It remains unclear if anything was determined in the investigation a non-profit organization that runs the cemetery President Michael Phillips described the actions as hooliganism and mischief rather than something more sinister "The good thing that really keeps us from classifying this as anything different is the candy wrappers," Phillips said Phillips said there were also cigarette butts on the way to every headstone that was toppled The Rochester Police Department Technical Service Unit took pictures of the damage and are continuing their investigation The event was attended by the Minister of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk public and military from three regions — Ternopil The meeting began to commemorate the dead fighters for the will of the Ukrainian people “Bird” from “Azovstal” performed the anthem of Ukrainian nationalists “We have become a great hour” the participants took part in the festive procession to the monument to Peter Sahaidachny near the Khotyn fortress Recall that the Day of Unity of Ukraine is a holiday that is celebrated every year on the day of proclamation of the Act of Reunification of the UNR and the ZUNR We use cookies to provide you with better navigation on our website you automatically agree to the use of these technologies This was reported on Facebook by the Sumy Regional Military Administration “At night and in the morning, Russians fired 9 times at the border areas and settlements of Sumy region Seredyno-Buda and Znob-Novgorod communities were shelled,” the statement said It is noted that 6 mines were dropped by the Russians on the territory of the Bilopilia community; an enemy aircraft launched a guided aerial bombs (4 explosions) at the Khotyn community from the territory of the Russian Federation; in the Seredyno-Buda community launches of guided aerial bombs were recorded (2 explosions); the Znob-Novgorod community was attacked by a guided aerial bombs (2 explosions) As reported by Ukrinform, on January 23, four private houses, a car, a power line and a cafe building were damaged in Kyiv region due to the fall of debris from downed Russian drones Most Ukrainian castles have been preserved as ruins but some strongholds will amaze our descendants for centuries Castles are one of the most interesting objects left by Ukraine's turbulent history but some still look great and attract thousands of tourists and author of the Ukraine Incognita project tells in his column for RBC-Ukraine which castles are worth seeing first and what interesting stories they can tell The walls and towers that have protected Ukrainians from enemies for centuries now serve as museums but there are few left that correspond to the idea of a castle - the rest are in ruins Some of them fell in the course of military battles while others were spared by people and time How many foundations of rural houses in Podillia are made of rubble from majestic fortresses How many roads have been paved and fences built Some castles are so damaged that it is difficult to guess what they once looked like without a reconstructed image there are also castles and fortresses in Ukraine that one can admire and be proud of whose powerful walls have withstood more than one century and will continue to amaze our descendants for centuries to come This rating is a kind of recommendation on which castles and fortresses in Ukraine are worth seeing in the first place No other region of Ukraine has more castles than Ternopil others have been rebuilt and do not look like castles at all: psychiatric hospitals The castle in Zbarazh is undoubtedly the best preserved and restored castle in the region Although the bastions of Zbarazh Castle are still mostly "headless," in addition to the moats and walls and the castle was designed by the world-famous Italian architect Vincenzo Scamozzi when the Hungarian horde defeated the local Slavic rulers Although it does not have tall walls and towers it remains one of the most visited tourist attractions in Zakarpattia People come here to feel the spirit of the centuries-old traditions of the white Croats What an incredible collection of Carpathian musical instruments is presented here The fabulous painting of the house church will also not leave anyone indifferent Photo: Uzhhorod Castle (facebook.com/Uzhhorodcastle) Berdychiv also has a spectacular fortification Medzhybizh Castle was included in the historical and cultural reserve although this did not help save the side wall of the castle palace multiplied by its color (perhaps due to the peeling walls) already made this historical stronghold between the Pivdennyi Buh and Buzhok rivers a great tourist attraction Photo: Medzhybizh Castle (courtesy of RBC-Ukraine) Especially given that Medzhybizh is a world center of Hasidism restoration work in the castle has gained momentum Every year the Medzhybizh stronghold becomes more beautiful and interesting it became a famous location for film shoots Many scenes from the movie D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers were filmed there and it was here that the unfortunate Constance Bonacieux Photo: Svirzh Castle (facebook.com/Yulia Kiryanova) and the bastion of Saint-Germain in La Rochelle - four roles were given to Svirzh Castle at once the current status of this fabulous building does not match its beauty and grandeur although they were going to open a rest home for the Union of Architects More than six centuries have passed since a castle appeared on a high hill in Olesko It was probably built by Prince Yuriy Danylovych What can be said for sure is that it is one of the most famous castles in the Lviv region and also one of the smallest but best maintained castles in Ukraine there is a very prestigious restaurant with recreated medieval interiors designed not only for Ukrainian but also for foreign guests A big bonus when visiting Olesko Castle is the Capuchin monastery with a sculpture park This stronghold was built on the site of the wooden fortifications of the Russian princes The construction was started by Lithuanian Prince Lubart (that is why the castle is named after him) and continued by Witold and Svydryhailo Perhaps the most striking representative of medieval defense architecture in Ukraine once consisted of two parts: Upper and Lower castles dissolved among the later buildings - only some sections of the walls and one tower remain But the Upper Castle is quite well preserved The towering towers and walls of Lubart's castle hide interesting museums and dungeons you can see two more impressive Lutsk sights - a Jesuit monastery and a church was founded by the Genoese in the 13th century and the castle that later served as a citadel remains The main part of the largest medieval fortress in Ukraine was built by Moldovans the city was called Chetiata Albă (White Fortress) and it was one of the main trading policies of the Northern Black Sea region The fortress then had thirty-four towers and was an impregnable stronghold but it still could not resist the huge army of Turks and Tatars they became the masters of the city and named it Akkerman (also the White Fortress It was during the Ottoman period that the fortress acquired an almost modern appearance which is the valley of the Latorytsia River a mountain rises in the southwestern part of Mukachevo Its top is crowned by the towers of an ancient castle There are few monuments in Ukraine like this one and other peoples shed sweat and blood within the fortress's mighty walls for almost a thousand years of its history Palanok has survived hundreds of assaults and sieges It changed hands many times and was completed and rebuilt Photo: Palanok Castle in Mukachevo (wikipedia.org) it is one of the most famous Ukrainian castles - well-maintained Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle (Kamianets-Podilskyi The most famous castle in Ukraine is located in the city that got its name from it - Kamianets-Podilskyi (although the second half of the name should have been dropped long ago given the absence of other "Kamianets" in Ukraine) located on a steep rocky hill above the Smotrych River canyon fascinates with its scale and fabulousness This is the standard of the castle we draw in our imagination And if you look at the castle and fortress from the Smotrych Canyon you won't believe that this is Ukraine at all Photo: Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle (pixabay.com) This is a movie star castle - the main medieval castle of Soviet films Soviet filmmaker Bortko decided to make it the Dubno Castle because the real Dubno Castle is not so cinematic That's why the Cossacks in Taras Bulba stormed a "Polish" castle The Cossacks never stormed Khotyn but defended it heroically Photo: Khotyn Fortress - a movie location (gettyimages.com) the Khotyn Fortress was built by Moldovans who used it as their residence for two centuries made Khotyn Fortress an incredibly impregnable stronghold Video: Top 10 castles in Ukraine (youtube.com/Ukraine Incognita) Around 700 service members will take part in the parade on St Georges Day which is the Day of Valour and the Bulgarian Armed Forces no military equipment will be included in the parade The parade will include soldiers from the. George's Day and Bulgarian Armed Forces Day the Presidential Administration opens its doors to visitors interested in learning more about the institution’s work a ceremonial changing of the honor guard will take. minimum temperatures will be between 10 and 15°C The day will be mostly sunny with showers in the afternoon and evening In western and northern Bulgaria there will be thunderstorms with the possibility of heavy rain and. people will be able to withdraw money  from ATMs only in the new currency according to the website of the Bulgarian. helicopters of the Bulgarian Air Force will fly at low altitude over Sofia in preparation for a military parade marking the Day. There will be no military equipment at the festive parade on May 6— The Day of Valor and the Bulgarian Armed Forces english@bnr.bg The border guard of the Mukachevo detachment won another victory in the competition for the Ukrainian Cup in hand-to-hand combat The border guard officer won in the weight category up to 90 kg leaving behind his rivals from Khmelnitsky It is pleasant to note that the athlete confidently goes to his dream of becoming the Honored Master of Sports of Ukraine Eugene was credited with winning the 2017 European Championship in the weight category up to 80 kg in 2018 he won the title of world champion in hand-to-hand combat in the weight category up to 70 kg the border guard became the winner of the championship of Ukraine So we congratulate our colleague on another victory and wish you inspiration and new achievements It is worth noting that the winners of the Cup of Ukraine will take part in the world championship in hand-to-hand combat which will be held in Kiev in the fall of this year Press service of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine you automatically agree to the use of these technologies.