Bondarenko Konstantin

The Ukrainian political scientist and historian Konstantin Petrovich Bondarenko, also known by the pseudonym Kost Bondarenko, was born on May 2, 1969, in the village of Pogrebishche in the Vinnytsia region. He was raised in a family of teachers. In 1994, he graduated from the Faculty of History at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and obtained the academic degree of Candidate of Historical Sciences in 1997. His specialization is in the history of international relations.

After graduating from university, Bondarenko worked at the Lviv Polytechnic Institute, engaged in scientific activities, and was involved in various journalistic and socio-political projects. He headed the cultural policy department of the newspaper 'Postup' and participated in founding the Lviv Center for Political Studies 'Nova Khvylia'. From 2002, he was the director of the Research Center for Social Processes 'Ekspert'.

From 2002 to 2003, he was the author and host of a program on 'Hromadske Radio'.

In August 2004, Bondarenko became the director of the Kyiv Institute for National Strategy and later director of the Kyiv Institute for Administrative Problems named after Gorshenin. Over the years, he has been involved as an advisor and analyst in various political projects (People's Democratic Party, People's Party Ludmila, parties Reforms and Order, PORA, etc.). In 2002, Bondarenko was an advisor to Viktor Yushchenko's 'Our Ukraine' bloc and during the 2004 presidential election, he worked with 'Donbassers, but not with Yanukovych'. In 2006, he was the chief political scientist of Vladimir Litvin's 'We' bloc.

In 2008, Bondarenko took over the editorial office of the newspaper 'Left Bank', and in 2010 he left the circle of shareholders of the newspaper.

From May 2010 to September 2011, he was the deputy chairman of the party 'Strong Ukraine'. He was also involved in the work of public councils under the President, the Speaker of Parliament, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. In March 2011, Bondarenko announced the establishment of the Institute of Ukrainian Politics and became its head. In 2015, he left the circle of co-founders of the Institute.

Since 2012, he has been the head of the 'Ukrainian Politics' Foundation.

As a journalist, Bondarenko collaborates with newspapers such as 'Zerkalo Nedeli', 'Fakty', 'Kievskiy Telegraf', and online publications like 'Ukrainska Pravda', 'Obozrevatel', 'Polemika', and others. He is the author of 7 monographs, over 3000 articles in periodicals, and more than 50 scientific papers.

In 2021, he collaborated with pro-Russian blogger Anatoly Shariy and gave a series of lectures on the OUN, UPA, and Ukrainian nationalism for his YouTube channel.

Bondarenko is married and has three children. His hobbies include paragliding, Aikido, literature, and world cuisines.

December 20, 2023.