🇺🇦 The best podcasts for learning Ukrainian

Mihalis Eleftheriou records real lessons with a real student and walks you through constructing the language yourself using cognates and logic — Spanish, French, Italian, German, Greek, Turkish, Arabic and Swahili are covered. Completely free, no ads, no sign-up, funded by donations. The Spanish course in particular is one of the most recommended free resources anywhere; the trade-off is small vocabulary and no reading or writing practice.

Viktoriia works through practical topics and grammar in short episodes, using enough English early on that a near-beginner can follow, then shifting toward Ukrainian as the levels climb. With 100+ episodes released through mid-2026 it is one of the more substantial actively-produced Ukrainian learner podcasts. Free to listen. Audio is home-studio quality and episode ordering is loose, so browse rather than starting at episode one.

Comprehensible-input done properly: Yevhen narrates short, genuinely interesting stories at a deliberately reduced pace, with on-screen subtitles so you can read along when your ear falls behind. Over 200 episodes exist across YouTube and the podcast feed, with new ones through August 2026. It becomes usable earlier than most immersion channels — roughly A2 — and stays worthwhile into B1. Free on both platforms; there is no structured grammar teaching here by design.

Tutor Larissa's show grades every episode so you can pick material that sits just above your current level instead of guessing — the thing most learner podcasts fail to do. Around 30 episodes exist, with the most recent from late 2025, so it is a compact archive rather than a weekly habit. Free on the usual podcast apps. Best used to bridge the gap between beginner phrase courses and full-speed comprehensible input.

The gentler sibling of the main Ukrainian Lessons podcast: 60 short lessons, each built around a single practical exchange with plenty of repetition and pauses for you to speak. It works well as a first contact with the language or as a low-effort daily habit alongside a heavier course. The series completed in 2021, so nothing new is coming, but beginner phrasebook material dates slowly. Free to listen; the lesson notes are part of the Premium membership.

Mark Pentleton teaches a genuine student while you listen in, across French, Spanish, German, Italian, Chinese, Swedish, Portuguese, Japanese and Gaelic. The podcast seasons are free on any podcast app and are structured as a real curriculum rather than scattered episodes; the Academy sells premium lesson notes, video and bonus audio. Ideal commuting material for beginners through B1, and the Spanish and French series are the strongest.

Six seasons that climb from the alphabet to B2 discussion, each episode pairing a dialogue with grammar and cultural commentary — it is the closest thing Ukrainian has to a complete free audio curriculum. The final episode landed in July 2024, so treat it as a finished archive rather than an ongoing show; that also means the whole arc is available to binge in order. All 240 episodes are free; transcripts, translations and flashcards sit behind the paid Premium membership. If you only pick one Ukrainian resource, this is the usual answer.

The usual Pod101 formula: hundreds of recorded dialogues with line-by-line breakdowns, vocabulary lists, flashcards and PDF notes, plus a YouTube arm that posted through August 2026. Its strength is sheer volume of listening material at the lower levels and the polish of the audio. The weakness is structure — lessons are organised into pathways but the sequencing is loose, so it suits topping up an existing plan better than being your only course. Free tier is limited and the site pushes hard on discounted subscriptions.