Ukrainian publishers stand strong despite enormous financial losses from Russian attacks

The moment Svitlana Paveletska, co-founder of Knyholav, received the news that the mass attack on July 19 had wiped out her publishing house's warehouse in Kyiv, she felt an overwhelming wave of grief...

kyivindependent.com

'One of the holiest places' — Why Kyiv's ancient Pechersk monastery is so important for Ukraine

The Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, one of Orthodox Christianity's oldest and most sacred monasteries, was among the targets in Russia's latest overnight attack on June 15. Images of ...

kyivindependent.com

Russia's latest assault on Kyiv turns Ukraine's cultural heritage into another front line

In one of the most devastating attacks on Kyiv since the start of the full-scale war, Russia’s missiles and drones targeted some of the city’s most treasured cultural landmarks. The National Art Muse...

kyivindependent.com

‘Shameful story’ — How Ukraine’s iconic 89-year-old painter got scammed out of rights to his own work

At nearly 90, the Ukrainian painter Ivan Marchuk — widely regarded as one of the country's most important living artists — has found himself fighting in court to maintain the full creative rights to h...

kyivindependent.com

Loss and loneliness in a contemporary Moldovan classic

From the early pages of "The Summer My Mother Had Green Eyes," we are swimming in the protagonist Aleksy's grief. The story begins at a point in his late teenage years when he "hated (his mother) more...

kyivindependent.com

Loss and loneliness in a contemporary Moldovan classic

From the early pages of "The Summer My Mother Had Green Eyes," we are swimming in the protagonist Aleksy's grief. The story begins at a point in his late teenage years when he "hated (his mother) more...

kyivindependent.com

‘A cult of death’ — Former Soviet dissident on Russia and authoritarianism's global rise

In an authoritarian society, it’s free thinkers who are targeted by those in power. A book, a social media post, a private conversation — anything can be used against those who refuse to conform in a ...

kyivindependent.com

Bringing art to the cemetery — How 'The Invisible Gallery' reclaims legacy overshadowed by Russian imperialism

In Ukraine's cemeteries, some graves are more than symbols of memory. They hold the truth about the country's enduring place in European culture, testifying to centuries of creative achievement and in...

kyivindependent.com

Rediscovering Ukraine’s literary heritage: Ukrainian Institute and Kyiv Independent launch 'The Hidden Canon'

At the initiative of the Ukrainian Institute, the Kyiv Independent announces the launch of "The Hidden Canon: Ukraine's Literary Iconoclasts," a new series celebrating Ukrainian classic literature wit...

kyivindependent.com

In the middle of war, Ukraine's top university reimagines Russian Studies

Eleven years into Russia’s war, a Ukrainian university is forging ahead with an unexpected academic pursuit: launching a Russian Studies program to study the country that had imposed itself on Ukraine...

kyivindependent.com

Slavoj Žižek: There is no humanity without our small, everyday, seemingly meaningless rituals

Exclusive! From Maternal Tyranny to Collective Spiritual Suicide: Žižek on AI, Europe, and Our Growing Unwillingness to Face Reality

dailyhumanitydispatch.substack.com

The Soviets tried to silence Ukrainian poet Vasyl Stus. A new exhibition honors his legacy

While the Soviet authorities promoted their vision of ideological "universalism" — a homogenized identity that suppressed national cultures — dissenting voices were silenced through arrests, intimidat...

kyivindependent.com

Slavoj Žižek: There is no humanity without our small, everyday, seemingly meaningless rituals

Exclusive! From Maternal Tyranny to Collective Spiritual Suicide: Žižek on AI, Europe, and Our Growing Unwillingness to Face Reality

dailyhumanitydispatch.substack.com

'Bring Ukraine more weapons' — author Andriy Lyubka on cultural diplomacy's main wartime role

When the full-scale invasion began, Andriy Lyubka struggled to write. A celebrated Ukrainian writer and translator, he turned instead to fundraising, logistics, and delivering used cars to the front f...

kyivindependent.com

New book exposes Russia’s ecocide as a war against Ukraine’s land – and memory

When Russia destroyed Ukraine’s Kakhovka Hydroelectric Dam in June 2023, unleashing catastrophic floods across the country’s south, it seemed like such a blatant act of environmental and humanitarian ...

kyivindependent.com

One of the greatest 20th century Ukrainian novels, now in English translation

Overwhelmed by the buzzing nightlife of Khreshchatyk Street in central Kyiv, Stepan Radchenko, the despondent protagonist of Valerian Pidmohylnyi’s novel “The City,” looks up at the moon for solace an...

kyivindependent.com

La Piccioletta Barca | Iron-jawed beasts - by Kate Tsurkan

In the hush of the grass, they coil and keep watch. Before, I would slip through the ...

picciolettabarca.com

La Piccioletta Barca | Iron-jawed beasts - by Kate Tsurkan

In the hush of the grass, they coil and keep watch. Before, I would slip through the ...

picciolettabarca.com

Art after apocalypse — opera spurred by Russia’s ecocide in Ukraine to return to Kyiv

Editor's Note: The Kyiv Independent is a media partner of the "Gaia-24" performance on Nov. 27 in Kyiv. Even in the midst of Russia’s ecocide against Ukraine — where forests are scorched, rivers are ...

kyivindependent.com

‘A word fallen out of language’ and other poems — APOFENIE

by Milena Findeis In the mouth, the word to taste to chew It hums in the ears is rolled by the eyes cut apart by grimaces Spread with hashtags processed in the news stream until it ends, checked o...

apofenie.com

APOFENIE

apofenie.com

‘A word fallen out of language’ and other poems — APOFENIE

by Milena Findeis In the mouth, the word to taste to chew It hums in the ears is rolled by the eyes cut apart by grimaces Spread with hashtags processed in the news stream until it ends, checked o...

apofenie.com

‘The Mother’ and other poems — APOFENIE

by Ema Dumitriu In fleeing me, my wrath, my fear a female rat is giving birth on the hot sidewalk, steadily, trailing behind a streak of blood with child

apofenie.com

Spies among us? Shaun Walker's new book details Russia’s decades-long international espionage program

It could be a scene from a thriller — watching the FBI arrest your own parents for being Russian spies. But for Alexander and Timothy Vavilov, who had known their parents all their lives as Donald Hea...

kyivindependent.com

“True freedom is to live with dignity in your own land”

Gaza survivor Plestia Alaqad on recognition without justice; Europe’s shifting conflict dynamics; and Trump’s U-turn on Ukraine policy

dailyhumanitydispatch.substack.com