Yellow Blue has put together a selection of videos spotlighting Ukraine’s lesser-known corners, age-old customs, and the people keeping local traditions alive. They feature landscapes missing from standard travel guides, remote Carpathian villages, authentic folk songs, and personal stories from across the country’s regions. The videos can be watched with YouTube's auto-generated English dubbing or with original subtitles provided by the creators.
Ukraїner
What the project is about: Since 2016, the Ukraїner team has been setting out on expeditions across Ukraine to uncover lesser-known stories from its regions, introduce Ukrainian culture to the world, and promote domestic tourism.
Following the full-scale invasion, the team expanded its mission to cover life in frontline towns and document Russian war crimes in temporarily occupied territories. Beyond its YouTube channel, Ukraїner runs a website featuring text reportages and interviews, alongside its own publishing imprint. Their photo albums—capturing Ukrainian landscapes and scenes of everyday life—make ideal gifts for friends and colleagues.
Why it’s worth watching: Over a decade of work, the Ukraїner team has produced more than 1,300 videos and seven feature documentaries. Many focus on Ukraine’s natural world—its national parks, forests, steppes, mountains, seas, and lakes. Others spotlight locals reviving traditional crafts, preserving heritage, developing their communities, and building artisanal businesses.
Most videos on Ukraїner’s YouTube channel feature subtitles in English and several other languages, while their main site is available in 11 languages, including English and French.
- Watch their stories on YouTube, read full features on the website, or order visual books directly from their press
Thickets
What the project is about: A series of video dispatches from Ukraine’s off-the-beaten-path regions. The founders of Thickets are a group of friends who have been setting out on expeditions through semi-abandoned villages since the late 2000s. In 2019, they began documenting their journeys, capturing Ukrainian landscapes, historic architecture, and the everyday lives of locals who share regional lore, folk songs, and fairy tales. Since the full-scale invasion, the crew has also turned its lens toward life in frontline communities.
Why it’s worth watching: Thickets charts Ukraine far beyond conventional tourist circuits, visiting corners overlooked or bypassed by typical travel vloggers. Their episodes pair striking scenery and historic structures with intimate personal stories, revealing a side of the country missing from traditional guidebooks.
Their videos feature subtitles in English, German, and Polish. A portion of the project’s proceeds goes directly toward supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The Polyphony Project
What the project is about: A team of musicologists travels through rural Ukraine to record traditional songs passed down through generations. Performed by local elders, each vocal part is captured with its own dedicated microphone. On Polyphony’s YouTube channel, viewers can watch live performance recordings. On their website, users can search tracks by theme and motif, read lyrics in both Ukrainian and Latin transliteration, and track song origins on an interactive map. The site also features a multi-track audio player that allows users to isolate individual voices or mix them in any combination.
Why it’s worth watching: Polyphony serves as a digital archive of Ukrainian musical heritage, preserving dozens of songs recorded for the very first time. Its thematic and geographical search functions make it easy to explore regional traditions and discover authentic folk music from every corner of the country.
YouTube videos include English subtitles, and the project team is actively translating song lyrics into both English and Hungarian.
- Listen to authentic Ukrainian folk songs on YouTube or stream them on the official Polyphony website
Ivanka Diachuk
What the project is about: Vlogger Ivanka travels across the country to visit city dwellers who swapped urban life for villages and remote homesteads. Her guests share what drew them closer to nature, how they restored old cottages or built homes from the ground up, the renovation mistakes they made along the way, and the unexpected twists of rural living. Each home tour is framed by scenic shots of the countryside.
Why it’s worth watching: These heartwarming episodes offer an intimate look into the lives of people who chose the countryside, each following their own unique path. Some finally realized a lifelong dream of starting a homestead, others restored a family home rooted in childhood summer memories, while some arrived as tourists and simply never left. Every house is a direct reflection of its owners’ character, tastes, and lifestyle.
Gutsulandia
What the project is about: A travel vlog following a group of friends who hit the trail every week to explore the Ukrainian Carpathians and document life in remote, roadless mountain villages. In every hamlet they visit, the creators seek out elders, traditional artisans, and molfars to capture age-old customs, festive rituals, and folklore. Along the way, they also gather authentic recipes featuring wild mountain mushrooms, herbs, and berries.
Why it’s worth watching: These episodes weave together breathtaking mountain scenery with intimate oral histories and living traditions preserved in isolated highland communities. As some of these villages gradually fade away, Gutsulandia serves as a vital visual record—safeguarding their history, culture, and people for future generations.
