The Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine has impacted every aspect of life for Ukrainians, even the date they celebrate Christmas. What hasn’t changed is the tradition of serving 12 dishes on Christmas Eve, known as Svyata Vecherya or the Holy Supper. Earlier this year, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine
Even amid the full-scale Russian invasion, Ukrainian entrepreneurs remain resilient. October set a new record for the number of new small and medium-sized businesses being registered, while hundreds of enterprises have relocated away from front-line regions so that they can continue their operations. Buying a gift this Christmas from a
There’s nothing sweeter than home, unless you’re a Kyivan — because then you have Kyiv Cake. While many foreigners associate the city with the butter-filled chicken cutlet known as Chicken Kyiv, which is likely of French origin, the layers of nutty meringue and buttercream coated with crushed hazelnuts that
One of the key insights I’ve gained about myself during this war has been that I held onto preconceived notions not only about foreigners but my fellow Ukrainian citizens. As a filmmaker and writer, I recognize the significance of the optics we rely on to perceive certain things. That's
When the expert committee at the Ukrainian Society of the Deaf was working on de-Russifying the word “thank you” after the start of the full-scale war, there was the suggestion to leave it be, Tetiana Kryvko, the society’s deputy head, tells the Kyiv Independent. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion,
It was at Kyiv’s Independence Square on Dec. 1, 2013, when Ukrainians gathered during the Revolution of Dignity to express their outrage over violent police crackdowns against protestors the day prior, that author Lyuba Yakimchuk’s then three-year-old son first learned the patriotic national slogan “Glory to Ukraine!” “I
As a Harvard historian, Serhii Plokhy comfortably analyzes timelines that span centuries. But in his work on the war in Ukraine, keeping up with monthly developments has been a challenge. After finishing his latest book “The Russo-Ukrainian War” early this year, Plokhy wrote a new afterword at the end of
When Belarusian author Hanna Komar brought the manuscript for her poetry collection “Ribwort” to a publisher in Belarus in the summer of 2021, she was told that their business would be shut down if they published her work. Komar, like thousands of her fellow Belarusians, took part in the 2020-2021
Russia's war against Ukraine did not start on Feb. 24, 2022. The illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula and the invasion of Donbas in 2014 were also not isolated incidents and had many historical precedents: Russian Tsar Peter I ordered the Baturyn Massacre in 1708 as “revenge” against Ukrainian Hetman
Ihor Kozlovskyi (1954-2023) was a renowned Ukrainian writer, scholar, and theologian from Donetsk Oblast. He was captured by Russian proxies in occupied Donetsk in 2016 for his pro-Ukrainian views and subsequently subjected to torture for nearly two years in Russian captivity. He was released in December 2017. One of Ukraine's
"My worst fear is coming true: I'm inside a new Executed Renaissance. As in the 1930s, Ukrainian artists are killed, their manuscripts disappear, and their memory is erased," Ukrainian writer Viktoriia Amelina penned in the foreword to the published diary of another author, Volodymyr Vakulenko, murdered during the Russian occupation
At a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, amidst the joyous remarks of the other presenters on the unification of the European continent, Ukrainian writer Yuri Andrukhovych conveyed his skepticism about the success of the “New Europe.” For Andrukhoych, 2009 was marked by the
A little over three months after a Russian missile strike in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk killed writer Victoria Amelina, her colleagues and readers gathered at the 30th annual Lviv BookForum festival to honor her memory. British journalist Christina Lamb moderated the event titled “Women, War, and Justice: In
Svitlana Oslavska and Anna Ilchenko embarked on a mission in 2020 to document Ukraine’s villages before they were lost to time and war. Traversing across Ukraine’s vast landscape, the sisters started speaking to people from villages about topics as diverse as the best construction method of a house
When Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, the world struggled to understand how it was possible that war had once again returned to Europe in the 21st century. Eighteen months later, the world wants to know how it will all end. In both cases, historians are
Less than a month into the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian shelling destroyed a popular bookstore on Kharkiv’s main street. Ukrainian writer and Kharkiv local Serhiy Zhadan uploaded a photo of the bookstore’s ruins onto social media on March 15 and asked, “Does anyone still want to talk
For many people worldwide, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine appeared unprecedented and unthinkable. However, for those familiar with Ukrainian history, it unfortunately represented a familiar pattern. In his latest book, "The Russo-Ukrainian War: A Return to History," the historian Serhii Plokhy explores how the myths deeply intertwined with Russian statehood
The writers' association PEN Ukraine reported on Aug. 8 that 25,000 English-language books will be donated to libraries across Ukraine, including those located near the front line or in recently-liberated territories.
Launched in February last year, Russia’s war against Ukraine has taken a toll on Ukraine’s culture. Russia has razed to the ground many museums and churches, destroying priceless works of art.
Episode #19 of our weekly video podcast “This Week in Ukraine” is dedicated to Ukraine's national decommunization policy.
ANCHORAGE – Russian President Vladimir Putin has been particularly angry lately, and the Ukrainian port city of Odesa has been suffering the consequences. In the Kremlin’s neo-imperial view, Odesa has long been a symbol of the Russian character of Ukraine’s south, because its initial development was led by Catherine
Back when he was a young Peace Corps volunteer, the American journalist Christopher Miller was looking to get stationed somewhere on the African continent, but instead, he was sent to the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, known then as Artemivsk. The once-prosperous industrial city in Donetsk Oblast – which has become
On July 27, Ukraine's Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, dismissed Oleksandr Tkachenko from the post of minister of culture and information policy in a vote of 321 to 2. The issue came to a vote after the Parliamentary Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy rejected Tkachenko's resignation on July 26. On
While Belarusian is one of the two official state languages in Belarus, the decision to speak, read, and write it can be a dangerous choice for Belarusians. Growing up, the Belarusian poet and translator Valzhyna Mort was aware of how the Belarusian language was perceived in her country. “Belarusian was
The prominent Belarusian artist Ales Pushkin died in prison in Belarus "under unclear circumstances," his wife Janina Demuch reported on July 11.
Episode #15 of our weekly video podcast “This Week in Ukraine” is dedicated to Ukrainian culture, the important role it plays in war, and why it has been a target of Russian dictators for decades.
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many in the West, and in the Kremlin too, expected the Ukrainian state to crumble in weeks, if not days. The government would flee, the state would be carved up – some lands absorbed by Russia, the rest perhaps being made into a
The writers' association PEN Ukraine said in a statement that Ukrainian writer and war crimes researcher Victoria Amelina died on July 1 after she was critically injured in a Russian missile strike on Kramatorsk.
The 90s is an overlooked period in contemporary Ukrainian literature – unlike Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine – and the setting alone makes Oksana Lutsyshyna’s award-winning novel “Ivan and Phoebe” an achievement. Now available in Nina Murray's English translation from the U.S. publisher Deep Vellum, Lutsyshyna’s novel is
American author Elizabeth Gilbert ignited a heated online debate when she decided to postpone the release of her new novel, “The Snow Forest,” which is set in Russia. Many Ukrainians (and not only) thought that it was insensitive for a bestselling author to choose Russia as the backdrop to their
Appropriating and rewriting foreign history has been a key aspect of Russia's imperialist narratives. This is especially true about the history of Ukraine, which Russia has sought to subjugate for centuries. Crediting Russia as being the sole successor of the medieval Kyivan Rus and laying claims to all of the
BERKELEY/KYIV – When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, few expected resistance to last longer than a few days. In both Russia and the West, Russian troops were expected to sweep into Kyiv, parade uniforms in hand, install a proxy government, and effectively end Ukrainian statehood.
