The Sunday Show: Armenia Protests, US Assistance to Ukraine, Learning from the Balkans

✅Armenian Anti-PM Protests Enter Day 10

Students, pensioners, hipsters, tax collectors, community activists – the protests in Armenia have united tens of thousands of people from all walks of life, all of them with a fierce desire for political change. Their slogan is "Take a step against Serzh!" and they demand the resignation of former President and newly appointed Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan. Hromadske journalist Ostap Yarysh has been on the ground in Yerevan for a few days now and he will join us in the studio via Skype to explain the moods in the city. While two experts from Armenia, Grigor Yeritsyan and Nvard Margaryan, will speak with us in the studio.

Grigor Yeritsyan

Executive Director, Armenian Progressive Youth

Nvard Margaryan

President, Public Information Need of Knowledge (PINK)

Ostap Yarysh

Hromadske journalist

✅ How US Helps Ukraine Fight Russian Aggression

Sanctions, diplomatic expulsions and airstrikes in Syria – over the past few months the relationship between the United States and Russia has become increasingly fragile. The US-led airstrikes on Syrian chemical weapon facilities last week were expected to push tensions between Moscow and Washington to breaking point, but the response from Russia has been restrained. Hromadske sat down with the director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center and former US ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst to discuss where the US-Russia relationship is headed and how Washington was helping Kyiv fight the Moscow-led conflict in the Donbas.

John Herbst

Director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, US ambassador to Ukraine (2003-2006)

✅ Can Ukraine Learn from the Balkans?

Ukraine and the Balkans have more in common than meets the eye. Not only have both regions been torn by war, they also have had a considerable amount of corruption to fight. Ivan Vejvoda is currently theDirector of Europe's Future Project at the Institute for Human Science. Heis also a former Senior Vice President of Programs at the German Marshall Fund in the United States (GMF). The GMF was one of the co-founders of The Balkan Trust for Democracy (BTD) initiative. Vejvoda spoke to Hromadske about his experience working on the region and the role of civil society in there and in Ukraine.

Ivan Vejvoda

Director of Europe's Future Project, Institute for Human Science

✅ The Birds That Fly Over Both Sides of Donbas’ Contact Line

Meotyda National Park, located in the war-torn Donbas region, is a unique nature complex for Ukraine and a national treasure. But its nature is not the only exceptional thing about Meotyda today. Since the start of the war in Donbas in 2014, half of the area, near currently occupied Novoazovsk, ended up in the territory not controlled by the Ukrainian government. The other half, near Mariupol, is officially part of Ukraine’s military actions zone. Hromadske went to Meotyda to find out why it’s important to protect nature in a place where it’s difficult to protect the peace.