Publications

What stays with you
Wars.Ukrainians.Humanity

What stays with you

War separates you from what’s always been with you, what’s always been you. It leaves you alone with some scant remains of you. Because you are not you without the color of your walls.

Land
Wars.Ukrainians.Humanity

Land

This is our land. The land into which you grow roots — knee-deep, waist-deep, shoulder-deep. The land where you stand your ground and which you will never leave.

The Land Hugs Us
Wars.Ukrainians.Humanity

The Land Hugs Us

This land, it is embodied in voices. It’s embodied in bodies, souls, and eyes wet from rain and tears. In the steps you take, measuring the space you will never give away.

Wars.Ukrainians.Humanity

The Festival of Stolen Culture

Why would a Russian ensemble choose a Belarusian or Ukrainian name if they were representing an authentic Russian culture? Why do they think that a Dagestani dance can represent their culture? Why is cultural appropriation a core of Russian culture at all?

My Uzbek Uber Driver
Wars.Ukrainians.Humanity

My Uzbek Uber Driver

I recently visited Krakow in Poland for a couple of days and had an interesting encounter with one of the Uber drivers. In Krakow, just like in other Polish cities, your driver would most probably be a Ukrainian.

Can You Kill the Past
Wars.Ukrainians.Humanity

Can You Kill the Past?

On the 17th of October 2022, a Russian bomb fell on a building in Kyiv downtown, not only taking the lives of innocent people but also ruining a 120-year-old architectural monument.

Psychotherapy and Soviet Tanks
Wars.Ukrainians.Humanity

Psychotherapy and Soviet Tanks

When the first Russian missiles hit the airports in Ukraine in the small hours on the 24th of February, we all (and I am talking on behalf of my generation of Ukrainians) shared the same emotion.

Nuclear Anxiety in a Poem
Wars.Ukrainians.Humanity

Nuclear Anxiety in a Poem

Ukraine is a multicultural nation. In this sense, it has never been a monolithic one, and any attempts to accuse it of being nationalistic just make no sense.

Our Daily Bread
Wars.Ukrainians.Humanity

Our Daily Bread

In Western Ukraine, we are Greek Catholics, and we are very religious. Every Sunday, every church in Lviv, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Volyn regions is packed with believers for a morning mass.

Wars.Ukrainians.Humanity

When a Murderer Becomes a Judge

The Russians are waging war not against Ukraine. And not even against Europe. They are waging war against the reality.

Wars.Ukrainians.Humanity

Don’t get me wrong

For people to trust you — you have to speak the same language with them. For people to trust you — you have to tell about your emotions, but not to be an “overly emotional interlocutor”, you have to meet the expectations of being a victim.