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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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Exclusive: Inside the years-long scheme to turn a nationalized bank into Zelensky allies’ 'piggy bank'

Key findings: * A Ukrainian state-owned bank, seized from a Russian owner in 2023, was allegedly turned into a tool for insider corruption. * A senior aide to President  Volodymyr Zelensky, Iryna Mudra, pressed to install a favored, conflicted candidate on the bank's oversight board. * Two officials who vetted him warned he had ties to a previous bank failure and a conflict of interest, but he was appointed anyway. * The bank's rushed, low-scrutiny nationalization made it easier to quietly

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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