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Culture

The Hidden Canon: Discover Ukrainian literary classics

A Kyiv Independent project backed by the Ukrainian Institute

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“This Cursed Beautiful Land” by Gershkovich, and charred trees in Voronezh, Russia, on Aug. 1, 2010.
Culture

The trouble with loving Russia: Evan Gershkovich's memoir seeks sentimentality in a lost country

by Kate Tsurkan

By the end of his pre-trial detention at Moscow's infamous Lefortovo Prison, American journalist Evan Gershkovich had developed a curious rapport with the FSB investigator tasked with proving he was a spy. "Most people break after four months or so, but you're still holding strong — a year in," the investigator told him, and the two raised their cigarettes in a toast to "having tried to find common ground." Gershkovich writes about many such moments in "This Cursed Beautiful Land: A Russian-Am

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Analysis: No Elon Musk, Russian soldiers in Ukraine are not 'kids' who have 'no choice but to fight and die'

"We should (have) some sympathy for the poor Russian conscripts too. Those kids have no choice but to fight and die in drone strikes." For anyone watching and understanding Ukraine's years-long struggle for survival, the words of SpaceX founder and world's richest man Elon Musk ring with deep moral bankruptcy. But more importantly, Musk's post on Oct. 25 — made in the middle of a hurricane scandal around Musk's throttling of Starlink internet terminals used by the Ukrainian military — badly mi

Musk's meddling in Ukraine's Starlink is a warning to every country relying on private tech

In the midst of Donald Trump's attempt to turn Russian diesel into a political asset to help him avoid disaster in November's midterm elections, the internet went out on the front lines. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian forces have relied on Starlink to communicate, and essentially to manage the battlefield of the 21st century. When its service was cut to Ukraine this October, there were big questions about who was responsible for pulling that particular lever. The Wal

Elon Musk looks on as Trump speaks at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Sept. 29, 2026.

About Culture

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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