According to the Interfax-Ukraine Culture project, the novel “Null” (“Zero”) by Polish writer Szczepan Twardoch, dedicated to the war in Ukraine, won in the “Fiction” category of the Książka Roku 2025 reader poll on the Polish platform Lubimyczytać, as reported on the platform’s website .
“The novel ‘Null’ is a story about war, memory, and what war does to a person,” note the organizers of the Książka Roku poll on the Lubimyczytać platform
The Lubimyczytać announcement notes that this year, readers cast 277,259 votes across 16 categories, and the winners were announced during a ceremony at the International Book Fair in Poznań.
In the fiction category, Twardoch’s novel beat out Valérie Perrin’s “Colette” and Jakub Malecki’s “Obiekty głębokiego nieba.” The “Null” platform describes it as a painfully contemporary story about the war in Ukraine, which was initially conceived as an essay for a German publisher but later evolved into a full-fledged novel.
As the poll organizers note, the book combines themes of war, historical memory, and the human experience of history, and raises questions about what war does to a person. This is not Twardoch’s first such recognition: last year, his novel “Korowód” won in this same category. In addition, “Null” previously also received an award as an Empik network bestseller.
The novel was published in February 2025 by Marginesy. Translations into German, Slovak, and Belarusian have since appeared, and the Ukrainian translation is being prepared by the publishing house “Fabula.”
Szczepan Twardoch is one of the most famous contemporary Polish writers, and his books have already been published in Ukrainian in Ukraine. In 2024, the writer was honored with the Stand with Ukraine Award for his support of Ukraine: following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, he has been involved in humanitarian and volunteer aid, and he refused permission to publish his novel *The King* in Russia until the war ends.
As reported, on March 16, the DTEK photo exhibition “Do Svitla / Into the Light” will open at the “Sens” bookstore on Khreshchatyk in Kyiv. The exhibition is dedicated to one of the harshest winters Ukraine has endured during the war, as well as to the people who helped the country survive, according to the bookstore’s press service.
https://interfax.com.ua/news/culture/1151986.html
According to the Interfax-Ukraine Culture project, photos of the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles after the conclusion of the 98th Academy Awards ceremony have been shared on social media, showing a large amount of trash, film journalist and editor of the Next Best Picture website Matt Neglia reported on social media platform X.
“Clean up on aisle ALL,” Neglia wrote, posting a photo of the auditorium after the ceremony.
The photo quickly went viral and sparked a wave of discussion. Users noted the contrast between the glamorous atmosphere of the Oscars, the red carpet, and the guests’ evening attire—and what the auditorium looked like after the event ended.
The photo shows snack wrappers, cups, bottles, and other trash scattered on the floor and between the rows of seats. In the comments, some users criticized this scene, noting that public talk about the environment and responsible consumption seems contradictory against the backdrop of such images.
The 98th Academy Awards ceremony took place on the night of March 16 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
As reported, Sean Penn missed the 2026 Oscars: his absence is linked to a trip to Ukraine. The host of the 2026 Oscars, Conan O’Brien, opened the ceremony with a series of sharp jokes about Hollywood, politics, and streaming platforms. The documentary film “Mr. Nobody Against Putin”, which explores Russian propaganda regarding the war against Ukraine and its impact on schoolchildren, won the Academy Award in the category of “Best Documentary Feature.”
https://interfax.com.ua/news/culture/1152008.html
According to Serbian Economist, Montenegro is entering 2026 with relatively stable GDP growth, but with significant external imbalances and a growing role for fiscal policy as the main instrument of macroeconomic regulation. The country uses the euro as legal tender and is effectively deprived of standard monetary policy tools, so the key challenges for the economy lie in the budget, debt management, and structural reforms.
According to preliminary statistical data, Montenegro’s real GDP grew by 3.1% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2025. Estimates from international organizations generally fall within a range of around 3%: the IMF mission, for example, indicated a baseline growth forecast of 3.2% for 2025, attributing this, in particular, to a moderate tourism season.
Prices rose moderately in 2025, but inflationary pressures intensified by the fall. According to MONSTAT, consumer prices in January–November 2025 were on average 3.9% higher than in the same period a year earlier, and in December 2025, inflation stood at 4.0% year-on-year.
According to MONSTAT’s labor force survey, the unemployment rate in the third quarter of 2025 stood at 10.1% (with an employment rate of 56.0%). For an economy with a high share of services, this indicates a persistent structural gap between seasonal employment and stable jobs outside the tourist peak.
The IMF expected the general government deficit to widen to 3.6% of GDP in 2025 (after 2.9% of GDP in 2024). At the same time, the debt trajectory appeared manageable throughout the year: according to the Ministry of Finance, total public debt stood at €4.76 billion, or 58.59% of GDP, as of the end of September (compared to 61% of GDP at the end of 2024, according to the same source).
Tourism once again confirmed its status as a key generator of foreign exchange revenue.
The Central Bank reported that in January–November 2025, the number of tourist arrivals rose by 5% year-on-year to 2.67 million, and revenue from foreign tourists over the nine-month period reached €1.328 billion, slightly above the level of the previous year.
But it is the external environment that remains the main source of risk: the IMF expected the current account deficit to widen to approximately 18% of GDP in 2025, attributing this to a decline in electricity exports, signs of a weaker tourist season, and rising import demand.
The baseline scenario for 2026 is sustained moderate growth, provided that fiscal policy offsets external shocks and the economy begins to gradually shift from consumption to investment and diversification. Risks center on the external deficit and fiscal commitments, while opportunities lie in infrastructure projects, the energy sector, and the reforms necessary for European integration.
https://t.me/relocationrs/2441
According to the Interfax-Ukraine Culture project, the 98th Academy Awards ceremony—the world’s premier film industry award, which annually recognizes the best films, actors, and filmmakers—took place in Los Angeles on the night of March 16. The ceremony was broadcast for Ukrainian viewers with commentary by theater and film actor Oleksiy Hnatkovsky. This article compiles the main results of the awards, the most notable wins, key moments of the ceremony, and details that are being actively discussed by international media. The full list of winners of the 98th Academy Awards has been published on the awards’ official website.
“Today we celebrate cinema—stories that remind us of who we are, what we fear, and what we still believe in,” said ceremony host Conan O’Brien as he opened the 98th Academy Awards.
Ukrainian viewers watched the ceremony all night alongside theater and film actor Oleksiy Geatkovsky, who provided commentary on the Oscar broadcast for the Suspilne Kultura TV channel. Throughout the broadcast, he explained the context of the nominations, shared stories about the making of the films, and highlighted symbolic moments of the ceremony, noting that the Oscars remain not only a celebration of cinema but also a mirror of what global cinema is discussing today.
Meanwhile, the main intrigue of the evening traditionally lay in determining the ceremony’s top winner. After several hours of nominations, performances, and emotional speeches, it became clear that this year the Academy had placed its bet on auteur cinema—the film by director Paul Thomas Anderson “One Battle after Another,” which became the main winner of the 98th Academy Awards ceremony, taking home six statuettes, including in the top categories—“Best Picture” and “Best Director.” The gala ceremony took place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and, as is tradition, brought together leading figures from the global film industry.
“This is a film about struggle—and about how history repeats itself if we don’t learn from it,” said Paul Thomas Anderson as he accepted his first Best Director Oscar after numerous nominations throughout his career.
The night’s top winners
The film “One Battle after Another,” based on Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, was the Academy’s clear favorite. In addition to the top prize, the film won Oscars for:
This film became a symbol of the return of auteur Hollywood cinema, which dominated this year’s ceremony.
The second big winner was the film “Sinners” by director Ryan Coogler—a gothic thriller with horror elements that received 16 nominations and won four statuettes.
Among them:
Historic Wins
This year’s ceremony will be remembered for several significant historic milestones.
In particular, cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman in the history of the “Oscars” to win the award for cinematography, a category that has existed for nearly a century and has traditionally been a male-dominated field.
Another historic win was the award for Jesse Buckley for her role in the film “Hamnet”. She became the first Irish actress to win an Oscar in the “Best Actress” category.
Meanwhile, Michael B. Jordan won his first Oscar for his role as twin brothers in the film “Sinners.” The actor became the sixth Black winner of the award in the “Best Actor” category in the Academy’s history.
International Film Wins
In the “Best International Feature Film” category, the Norwegian film “Sentimental Value” won, bringing the country its first such award in history.
The award for Best Documentary Feature went to the political film “Mr. Nobody Against Putin”, which explores the mechanisms of Russian propaganda and contemporary political processes around the world.
Animation, Music, and Technical Categories
In the “Best Animated Feature Film” category, the international hit “KPop Demon Hunters” won, also taking home the award for Best Original Song for “Golden,” which became the first K-pop track to win an “Oscar.”
The film “Frankenstein” directed by Guillermo del Toro won three technical awards at once:
Meanwhile, the award for Best Sound went to the film “F1,” and for Best Visual Effects — to the film “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”
A surprise of the ceremony
One of the most unusual events of the evening was a tie in the Best Live Action Short Film category, where the award was shared by “The Singers” and “Two People Exchanging Saliva.” Such a situation is extremely rare in Oscar history.
The atmosphere of the ceremony
American comedian Conan O’Brien hosted the ceremony for the second year in a row, opening the show with a satirical monologue about politics, the film industry, and artificial intelligence in Hollywood.
Certain segments of the ceremony were dedicated to the memory of legendary figures in cinema—notably Robert Redford and Rob Reiner—which elicited one of the most emotional reactions from the audience in the hall.
Trends at the “2026 Oscars”
Film critics note that this year’s ceremony highlighted several new trends in global cinema:
“The 2026 Oscars” became not only a celebration of Hollywood but also a demonstration of how global cinema is gradually changing the rules of the game in the industry.
https://interfax.com.ua/news/culture/1151933.html
Geographical structure of Ukraine’s foreign trade (surplus) in January-September 2025, million usd
The number of Green Card contracts concluded in January-February 2026 decreased by 2.02% compared to the same months of 2025—to 187,500, according to the website of the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine (MTIBU).
At the same time, premiums written under such policies during these months also decreased by 5.11%—to 792.7 million UAH.
The amount of claims paid increased by 3.23% to €7.361 million, while the number of claims settled decreased by 4.98% to 2,099.
The MTIBU is the sole association of insurers providing mandatory civil liability insurance for owners of land vehicles against damage caused to third parties.
The “Green Card” is a system of insurance protection for victims of road traffic accidents, regardless of their country of residence or the country where the vehicle is registered. It covers 45 countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa.
According to a decision adopted by the General Assembly of the Council of the International Motor Insurance Bureau “Green Card” in Luxembourg in May 2004, Ukraine has been a full member of this system since January 1, 2005.
