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The Hidden Canon: Discover Ukrainian literary classics

A Kyiv Independent project backed by the Ukrainian Institute

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'Hemingway Knows Nothing': Ukraine's writers are redefining literature of war
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'Hemingway Knows Nothing': Ukraine's writers are redefining literature of war

by Kate Tsurkan

When war, loss, and unimaginable suffering become routine, a book can offer a kind of lifeline — especially one by a writer who has lived through such an ordeal and tried to make sense of it. At the start of Russia’s full-scale war, some Ukrainians speculated if they’d see the rise of their own Ernest Hemingway: a writer whose books would not only capture the experience of a generation but come to define it. Yet it soon became clear that the old paradigms of war literature no longer spoke to t

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Traveling to Kyiv during war: What you need to know

Booking spontaneous trips within minutes using a single platform is a distant memory for those wanting to come home or visit Ukraine. Over 20 million people have passed through the Ukrainian border in the first half of 2026, the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service revealed on Aug. 5, setting the year on track to be the busiest since the beginning of the full-scale war. Yet reaching Ukrainian cities remains a complicated task since the complete shutdown of the country's airspace in February 20

US House to take up Graham's Russia sanctions bill next week

The legislation passed with overwhelming support in the Senate in August but is expected to face stronger opposition in the House, with some House Democrats fearing it would grant U.S. President Donald Trump too much authority over tariffs.

Investigation: Inside Russia's FSB prison system in Crimea

Two new Russian pretrial detention centers in occupied Crimea form part of a system in which Ukrainian civilians are held for months without formal charges, access to lawyers, or family contact, and detainees report torture and abuse under the watch of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), a new investigation by the Kyiv Independent reveals. Former detainees told the Kyiv Independent that their relatives sometimes did not know whether their abducted loved ones were still alive. Russia's Fed

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Our reporting on literature, films, art, and traditions from Ukraine and the latest news on culture in Eastern Europe.

Ukrainian culture
Ukrainian culture has survived centuries of Russian attempts to appropriate Ukrainian art, silence Ukrainian artists, and erase the Ukrainian language. Modern Ukrainian writers, filmmakers, and musicians — some of whom are serving on the front lines — continue to develop Ukrainian culture and fight for Ukraine’s future.

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Russia's total military losses in Ukraine have reached 1,500,870, Ukraine's General Staff said on Sept. 9, marking another grim milestone in the war for the Kremlin. It took roughly two years and three months for the Russian Armed Forces to incur their first 500,000 casualties. Moscow has now suffered roughly the same number in just the past 15 months, as technology increasingly shapes the battlefield and drones expand the kill zone almost daily. The Kremlin's total personnel losses in Ukraine

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