Urszula Sidoruk, 19, from the paramilitary group SJS Strzelec (Shooters Association), trains her workout at a gym in Siedlce, eastern Poland March 18, 2014. Inspired by the war in Ukraine, growing numbers of Poles are joining volunteer paramilitary groups, where they receive basic army training and prepare to defend their homeland. (Photo by Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

Wrocław has been selected as European Capital of Culture for 2016. The Wrocław area has many popular professional sports teams. The most popular sport today is football, thanks to Śląsk Wrocław. Some matches of the 2012 UEFA European Football Championships in Poland and Ukraine are scheduled to take place in Wrocław on The Municipal Stadium.

Photo by: penny_7b ; Source: Flickr

A girl with Russian national flags painted on her cheeks takes part in celebrations marking the first anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea, in central Simferopol March 16, 2015. Russia marks one year anniversary of annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula this week. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Nikolay Skidan, a hunter, carries the skin of a wolf in the village of Khrapkovo, Belarus February 1, 2017. Wolf fur grows thickest in winter, so Belarussian hunter Vladimir Krivenchik only sets his traps once snow is on the ground. He and his wife live on the edge of the Chernobyl exclusion zone – 2,600 square km of land on the Belarus-Ukraine border that was contaminated by a nuclear disaster in 1986. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

Born in 1958 in Kiev, Ukraine, artist Mark Khaisman studied Art and Architecture at the Moscow Architectural Institute in Russia. Now living in Philadelphia, USA, Khaisman uses rolls of brown packaging tape to create incredible works of art. Mark characterizes his work as ‘pictorial illusions formed by light and shadow’. The three key elements are: translucent packing tape, clear acrylic or film panels, and light. By superimposing layers of packaging tape Mark can ‘play on degrees of opacity that produces transparencies highlighted by the color, shading, and embossment’.

Russian policemen detain a participant taking part in an unauthorized protest against Russia's partial military mobilization due to the conflict in Ukraine, in downtown of Moscow, Russia, 24 September 2022. Russian President Putin announced in a televised address to the nation on 21 September, that he signed a decree on partial mobilization in the Russian Federation. Russian citizens who are in the reserve will be called up for military service. On 24 February 2022 Russian troops entered the Ukrainian territory in what the Russian president declared a “Special Military Operation”, starting an armed conflict that has provoked destruction and a humanitarian crisis. (Photo by Maxim Shipenkov/EPA/EFE)

Russian policemen detain a person taking part in an unauthorized protest against Russia's partial military mobilization due to the conflict in Ukraine, in downtown Moscow, Russia on 24 September 2022. Russian President Putin announced in a televised address to the nation on 21 September, that he signed a decree on partial mobilization in the Russian Federation. Russian citizens who are in the reserve will be called up for military service. On 24 February 2022 Russian troops entered the Ukrainian territory in what the Russian president declared a “Special Military Operation”, starting an armed conflict that has provoked destruction and a humanitarian crisis. (Photo by Maxim Shipenkov/EPA/EFE)

Looking for a reason to visit the Philippines? This mermaid school should do the trick. No, seriously, there’s an actual school that will teach you how to be a mermaid. It’s called the Philippines Mermaid Swimming Academy. (Photo by Philippine Mermaid Swimming Academy/Exclusivepix Media)