Culture

The Hidden Canon: Discover Ukrainian literary classics

A Kyiv Independent project backed by the Ukrainian Institute

Ukrainian InstituteLearn more
Symon Petliura, Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian People's Army, photographed in 1919.
Culture

The many deaths of Symon Petliura

by Kate Tsurkan

A century ago, on May 25, 1926, an otherwise ordinary afternoon in Paris’ bohemian Latin Quarter was disrupted by a barrage of gunshots, leaving one of Ukraine’s famous military leaders dead in the street. “I emptied my revolver,” Samuel “Scholem” Schwartzbard, the Jewish-Ukrainian man who killed Symon Petliura, told the court, as quoted by Time magazine in 1927. “A policeman came up quietly and said: ‘Is that enough?’ I answered: ‘Yes.’ He said: ‘Then give me your revolver.’ I gave him the re

News Feed

These Ukrainian drone pilots took out NATO forces during drills

At NATO's Aurora 2026 military exercises in Sweden, a group of Ukrainian drone pilots was tasked with playing the role of attackers. The Kyiv Independent's Francis Farrell spoke with drone pilots from Ukraine's 20th National Guard "Lubart" Brigade, part of the 1st Azov Corps, shortly after they returned from Sweden.

Ukraine's human capital crisis is Europe's threat

During a recent visit to a newly opened underground school in a front-line town, I spoke with the children once again. What is particularly striking is that they usually talk about how happy they are to finally return to classrooms. Some of them are experiencing in-person schooling for the very first time in sixth grade (first due to COVID-19, and then because of Russia's full-scale invasion). Yet online education or learning that is repeatedly interrupted by constant attacks, displacement, bl

Ukraine Business Roundup — After Russian strikes, Kyiv gets back to work

Editor's note: The following is the May 26, 2026 edition of our Ukraine Business Roundup weekly newsletter. To get the biggest news in business and tech from Ukraine directly in your inbox, subscribe here. The city is still reeling from what was one of the biggest attacks — if not the biggest — against Kyiv since the start of the full-scale invasion last Saturday. Russia launched 90 missiles and 600 drones targeting mainly Kyiv and the surrounding region, causing damage to what Mayor Vitali Kli

Telecoms giant Kyivstar wants a seat in Ukraine's driverless car revolution

Ukraine's most popular ride-hailing service wants to conquer the global robotaxi race. Uklon, owned by Ukraine's telecoms giant Kyivstar, gathered journalists, executives, and policymakers at Kyiv's shuttered Boryspil airport on May 27 to showcase the remote-driving technology the company is testing — and one day hopes to bring to the streets of Kyiv. "We want Ukraine to be the best in Europe for self-driving cars," Uklon CEO, Serhiy Hryshkov, told the crowd in a sleek ceremony, during which h

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.

Most Popular

News Feed