On the night of March 7, domain name registrar Network Solutions blocked the ukr.net domain without any warning. From 01:35 to 17 hours Kyiv time, the UKR.NET news feed and @UKR.NET email were unavailable.
According to the registrar, the blocking took place due to the presence on the UKR.NET portal of three materials, the publication of which is prohibited by the decision of the Superior Court for the State of California for the County of Los Angeles of January 23, 2024, at the suit of Stanislav Kondrashov and Telf AG.
Since two in the morning, the UKRNET team has been trying to find out the circumstances of the blocking. One of the business owners, an entrepreneur from Silicon Valley, immediately got involved. Until 05:30 a.m. Kyiv time, he was communicating with the registrar’s support service from his office in Tokyo. Later, he found and involved the company’s management in resolving the issue, trying to convey the most important thing: the problem is national in scope and affects strategic Internet services for Ukraine.
At the end of the day in Florida, the company informed us that the blocking of the UKR.NET domain had legal grounds. Therefore, a legal team was needed to get involved the next business day.
Realizing that in the morning, millions of users, including many military and defenders of our country, would not be able to work with their email and read the news, the company’s owner began to look for help among his friends. At the same time, two of his friends, an experienced diplomat and former Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine for Digital Development, Digital Transformation and Digitalization, advised him to contact Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the United States Oksana Markarova. Ms. Markarova responded with lightning speed – she immediately requested all the information and began to act.
At the same time, many people supported UKRNET. Someone tagged those who could help. Someone called the registrar’s support service and expressed wishes for a speedy recovery. The incident was reported to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The National Security and Defense Council, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, the .UA domain administrator, Hostmaster, the Internet Association of Ukraine, Internet providers, the Security Service of Ukraine, and the Ukrainian media actively attracted the attention of people, governmental, industry, and public organizations in Ukraine and the United States.
At the beginning of a new working day in the United States, at 16:15 Kyiv time, a representative of the registrar informed that they were looking into the problem. Half an hour later, the blocking was lifted. The Ukrainian Embassy in the United States did not stop there: Oksana Markarova said that they are waiting for a second response from the company to analyze the reasons for blocking the UKR.NET domain in order to avoid a repeat of this in the future.
The UKRNET team is confident that the result was achieved through joint efforts. We are grateful to everyone who joined, helped, and supported us. Our strength has always been and will be in unity! This inspires us to continue working for millions of Internet users, creating Ukrainian Internet services with great love.
Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Istanbul to meet with Turkish head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The airplane with the Ukrainian leader and his accompanying delegation on board landed at Ataturk Airport, Turkish media reported.
As part of the visit of the Ukrainian delegation, Zelensky will meet with President Erdogan. A joint statement of the two leaders is expected to be signed following the talks.
INFLUENCE TALKS FORUM, a forum of top influencers, will be held at Stereo Plaza. To ensure that the conference is of high quality and useful, the project creators decided to postpone the event and take more time for thorough preparation. So, on March 10, everyone will be able to meet with top influencers, hear interesting success stories, and make new acquaintances. The event will be organized by Kristina Golovinova and Karina Tsyganok, who have repeatedly gathered speakers to talk about the digital world.
The organizers of the INFLUENCE TALKS FORUM were the first to popularize Ukrainian bloggers, experts, and the digital sphere in general during the full-scale invasion. They have already organized more than one successful forum that brought together ambitious and motivated professionals.
Influence Talks Forum aims to take the Ukrainian market to a new level. This is the first event of this scale in Ukraine, which will bring together 2000 people to learn from the experience of the top influencers of our country. Today, influencers have more influence and an important mission than ever before, as they motivate the development of the country and popularize the Ukrainian digital sphere by their example.
“We understand that the digital sphere is a large segment that will create jobs for young people, inspire them to stay in Ukraine and try their hand at it. That’s why we are creating a forum so that people can learn from the speakers’ experience and get inspired,” say the organizers of Influence Talks Forum.
The event will also be held to support fundraising for the hospital. The Charitable Foundation for Reconstruction and Development of Ukraine is a regular partner of the event.
The media partners are the Experts Club think tank and the Open4business portal.
Skylum, a Ukrainian developer of AI-based photo editors with an audience of more than 1 million users worldwide, has introduced an application for tablets for the first time. In particular, Luminar for iPad offers comprehensive photo editing capabilities – from basic settings and filters to AI functions. In addition, the program has an innovative and playful design with interactive controls, providing users with a brand new mobile editing experience.
As with the development of any photo editing software, Skylum has made Luminar for iPad feature-rich and intuitive to use for photographers of all levels.
Key features of the program:
Development tools, i.e., basic settings for color correction, including exposure, temperature, hue, contrast, highlights, shadows, white and black, saturation, brightness, and vignetting.
Basic tools include details, curves, crop, erase, landscape (including background removal), and monochrome mode.
AI-based tools such as Enhance AI (automatic photo enhancement), Sky AI (sky replacement), Structure AI (detail and texture enhancement), and Relight AI (lighting and contrast balancing).
A collection of filters that not only provides reliable color correction, but also pays tribute to the nostalgia of film cameras, beloved by many in the world of photography.
Three editing modes that allow users to easily switch between Development, Filters, and Sky modes, depending on their own editing preferences and desired results.
Apple Pencil support, which includes integration with the Apple Pencil for more precise editing and better control of settings.
According to Skylum, the main goal of Luminar for iPad is to completely redefine mobile photo editing by making it more interactive and entertaining for the user. For example, while browsing through the LUT collection in search of the perfect filter for their photo, users of the app will hear the nostalgic click of a film changer. This element, designed with a love of analog photography, will add a playful dimension to the processing process.
“By leveraging the iPad platform and our cutting-edge technology, we are bringing to market an app that delivers both the fun editing experience and the professional-grade results that Luminar is known for,” said Skylum CEO Ivan Kutanin.
Luminar for iPad is already available for download on the website. In addition, the program is available for visionOS, and owners of Apple Vision Pro devices can use the application for free until June 5, 2024.
As a reminder, Skylum is a leading innovator in photo editing software and the company behind the award-winning Luminar Neo app. As a result, the photo editor developed by Ukrainians received the TIPA 2022 and TIPA 2023 awards in the Best Imaging Software for Photography Enthusiasts category.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine officially confirms that the brands of Inditex, one of the world’s largest fashion distribution groups, such as Zara, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, and Zara Home, are returning to Ukraine.
“On the instructions of the President of Ukraine, since 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been systematically working with all the leading international brands that left the Ukrainian market due to the outbreak of a full-scale war by the Russian Federation to resume their work in Ukraine. The return of Inditex is the next step after the resumption of the work of McDonald’s, H&M and others,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
It is noted that the return of large international companies to the Ukrainian market creates new jobs, provides access to quality goods and services, supports Ukraine’s economy during the war and deepens its integration into the world economy, strengthens the confidence of international business and investors in our country and its victory.
“I am grateful to our partners for supporting these efforts. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine continues to work to restore the work of international business in our country and attract new companies,” the ministry added.
Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull&Bear, Stradivarius, ZARA, Zara Home
On March 6, Kyiv hosted the fifth anniversary award ceremony of the annual Women in Arts award. The Resistance award, which UN Women in Ukraine and the Ukrainian Institute recognize the achievements of women in the field of culture and art, and from 2023, their contribution to bringing Ukraine’s victory over the aggressor country Russia closer. The event was supported by the Governments of Sweden and Japan, as well as the United Nations Women’s Fund for Peace and Humanitarian Assistance.
The names of the winners of the Women in Arts. The Resistance 2024:
Women in the Visual Arts – Kateryna Buchatska
Women in Music – Jamala
Women in the Performing Arts – Oksana Dmitrieva
Women in Cinema – Alisa Kovalenko
Women in literature – Yaryna Chornohuz
Women in cultural management – Olga Gonchar
Women in Cultural Journalism, Criticism and Research – Kateryna Yakovlenko
Special mention – Kateryna Pryimak
“The theme of this year’s award is Resistance, the resistance that Ukrainian women are putting up to Russian aggression, amplifying women’s voices and calling for a change in the world’s perception of Ukraine. I am grateful to each and every one of them, who through their tireless work encourages the international community to act. Ukrainian artists are using all their talent and all available means of art to call on the world to act and support Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression,” commented Dmytro Kuleba, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Prize.
The winners of the Prize are determined by an expert council and jury consisting of experts in the field of culture and art, representatives of the public sector and independent institutions. The board and jury consist of 42 members. More information about the experts who selected the winners this year can be found on the award’s website.
“In times of the most difficult challenges, Ukrainian women are proving themselves with exceptional resilience, dignity and determination in every sphere of public life. Their leadership, creativity, and unwavering spirit help to overcome the difficulties of war, and they are the embodiment of true resilience and hope for recovery. Today, we not only admire the unwavering spirit of Ukrainian women in the arts, but also honor the talented women who have died as a result of Russian aggression. This is a moment of great pride, deep sorrow and solidarity with the Ukrainian people,” said Sabine Fraser Günes, UN Women Representative in Ukraine.
Special guests of the ceremony were the multimedia performance project Liniya by Christina Kirik, which combines the worlds of music and theater to create immersive experiences through live performances and sensory installations.
The ceremony was hosted by journalist, presenter, poet and screenwriter Oleksandra Hontar and stand-up comedian and volunteer Vasyl Baidak.
Media partners of the fifth Women in Arts Award ceremony: Starlight Media, Radio Culture and Public Culture and Harper’s BAZAAR.
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the award has acquired a new meaning – recognizing and honoring the resistance and resilience of Ukrainian women artists and the entire Ukrainian people. This idea is reflected both in the name, to which the prefix “The Resistance” was added, and in the symbolic slogan “Until the Storm is Over” chosen for this year’s ceremony.
A minute of silence was observed at the event in memory of the artists who died as a result of Russian aggression.
The winners of the award were presented with the traditional statuettes by sculptor Maria Kulikovska in the form of intertwined female hands. According to the artist, women’s hands symbolize support and protection, as well as women’s labor. This year, the color of the statuettes is a delicate sky blue, symbolizing the light that remains with us in these turbulent times and the hope for a clear and peaceful sky after the war.
Women in Arts is an independent award founded in 2019 by the Ukrainian Institute and UN Women in Ukraine as part of the HeForShe movement for gender equality. The purpose of the award is to draw attention to the achievements of women artists and to popularize Ukrainian culture in the country and around the world. The winners of previous years include Oksana Zabuzhko, Sofia Andrukhovych, Irma Vitovska-Vantsa, Alevtina Kakhidze, Iryna Tsilyk and others.
For reference: The Ukrainian Institute is a state institution under the management of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. The mission of the Ukrainian Institute is to strengthen Ukraine’s international and domestic subjectivity through cultural diplomacy. We establish international cultural ties between people and institutions and create opportunities for Ukrainians to interact with the world.
UN Women is a United Nations entity that focuses on achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women.
HeForShe is a global solidarity movement for gender equality, founded by UN Women, that puts men and boys at the center of change. Since its launch in 2014, the campaign has been joined by heads of state, leading scientists, CEOs of global corporations, athletes, artists, and opinion leaders who share the philosophy of gender equality. The movement was launched in Ukraine in 2018. Support is provided by the Government of Sweden.
