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Kate Tsurkan

Culture Reporter

Kate Tsurkan is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent who writes mostly about culture-related topics. Her newsletter Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan, which focuses specifically on Ukrainian culture, is published weekly by the Kyiv Independent and is partially supported by a generous grant from the Nadia Sophie Seiler Fund. Kate co-translated Oleh Sentsov’s “Diary of a Hunger Striker,” Myroslav Laiuk’s “Bakhmut,” Andriy Lyubka’s “War from the Rear,” and Khrystia Vengryniuk’s “Long Eyes,” among other books. Some of her previous writing and translations have appeared in the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Harpers, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. She is the co-founder of Apofenie Magazine and, in addition to Ukrainian and Russian, also knows French.

k.tsurkan@kyivindependent.com
For media & speaking inquiries:
press@kyivindependent.com

Articles

Iuliia Mendel during a briefing at the Presidential Administration in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 6, 2019.
Politics

How Iuliia Mendel went from defending Zelensky to echoing Kremlin-friendly narratives

by Kate Tsurkan
Iuliia Mendel has been all-in in her attempt to discredit her former boss, President Volodymyr Zelensky, calling him "a dictator" and "the greatest obstacle to peace" in Ukraine. Mendel's transformation is mesmerizing. Just four years after publishing a book heaping praise on Zelensky, the former press secretary appeared on right-wing U.S. podcaster Tucker Carlson's show on May 11, speaking on how her home country is corrupt, the president may be a drug addict, and speculated that he was willi
Culture

Khamzat Chimaev and the UFC's Kadyrov problem

by Kate Tsurkan
MMA star Khamzat Chimaev’s first defeat at UFC 328 on May 10 wasn’t just a blow to his 15-0 undefeated record — it was a rare moment of silence from the Chechen fighter. After the judges declared American Sean Strickland the winner of the match, Chimaev placed the championship belt around his opponent’s waist and left the ring without addressing the crowd. It was a radically different end compared to his usual post-match displays of bravado, which have included the slogan “Akhmat — sila” (“Akhm
Culture Minister Tetyana Berezhna in Kyiv, Ukraine on April 21, 2026.
Culture

Ukraine's culture minister on why culture 'needs KPIs' to succeed

by Kate Tsurkan
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the country's culture has finally received the attention it had previously lacked. But Culture Minister Tetyana Berezhna aims for more than mere survival — she envisions a cultural sphere that thrives and becomes a major economic driver for Ukraine. In a conversation with the Kyiv Independent, Berezhna explains why culture needs measurable goals to succeed both nationally and internationally, how her experience in law, economics, and go
Russia

Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova on Navalny, Russian culture, and supporting Ukraine’s military

by Kate Tsurkan
“We don't just oppose Putin anymore, we're at war with him,” Nadya Tolokonnikova told the Kyiv Independent during a meeting in Kyiv. “To me, (saying) anything less bold is insufficient to meet the moment.” Tolokonnikova has never shied away from speaking truth to power. As a founding member of Pussy Riot, the Russian feminist and performance art collective, she quickly became a global symbol of creative resistance and unwavering defiance against authoritarianism in Russia. She’s been using her
Culture

On the 40 year anniversary, here are 5 books to better understand Chornobyl nuclear disaster

by Kate Tsurkan
On April 26, 1986, the explosion at Reactor No. 4 of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant forever changed the lives of millions in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. Although Communist authorities initially tried to suppress news of the disaster even within the Soviet Union, radioactive fallout was soon thereafter detected by neighboring European countries, and the entire world took notice. The catastrophe became a critical turning point, exposing the flaws in the Soviet system and hastening the Soviet
Culture

Gender-bending Bulgarian novel takes literature world by storm

by Kate Tsurkan
In the shadow of Albania’s Accursed Mountains, where the centuries-old laws of Kanun dictate people’s fate, Bekija publicly renounces her womanhood to live socially as a man after her father is shot dead in a blood feud and her younger brother flees home. This feverish dynamic is at the heart of Bulgarian author Rene Karabash’s novel “She Who Remains.” Now, thanks to Izidora Angel’s evocative and bold English translation — co-published by Sandorf Passage in the U.S. and Peirene in the U.K. and
Culture

The adventures of Sofia Yablonska, fearless Ukrainian travel writer of the 1930s

by Kate Tsurkan
Editor's Note: This story is part of the "Hidden Canon"  – a special series celebrating Ukrainian classic literature and aiming to bring it to a wider international audience. The series is supported by the Ukrainian Institute. The photographs featured in this article are shared with the permission of the Sofia Yablonska Foundation, which is tasked with preserving her legacy. All photographs are subject to copyright. As the opium smoke curled around her in a dim-lit room in China, the writer

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