{"id":17217,"date":"2025-11-11T21:35:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T05:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=17217"},"modified":"2025-11-11T21:35:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T05:35:18","slug":"compared-to-bakhmut-this-is-already-a-different-war-novelist-myroslav-laiuk-on-his-wartime-reporting-the-kyiv-independent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=17217","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;\u2018Compared to Bakhmut, this is already a different war\u2019 \u2014 novelist Myroslav Laiuk on his wartime reporting&#8221;, The Kyiv Independent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/author\/kate-tsurkan\/\">Kate Tsurkan<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>November 11, 2025 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ukrainian writer Myroslav Laiuk poses for a photo in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Nov. 5, 2025. (Viacheslav Ratynskyi \/ The Kyiv Independent)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the full-scale war enters into its fourth year, novelist and poet Myroslav Laiuk has found himself drawn to front-line reporting. He has traveled everywhere, from Bakhmut to Pokrovsk and Kherson, <a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/compared-to-bakhmut-this-is-already-a-different-war-novelist-myroslav-laiuk-on-his-wartime-reporting\/\">documenting the war and those living through it.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.kyivindependent.com%2Fcontent%2Fimages%2F2025%2F11%2Fupd_DSC_5753.jpg&amp;w=1536&amp;q=75\" alt=\"Ukrainian writer Myroslav Laiuk poses for a photo in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Nov. 5, 2025. \"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>His novel \u201cThe World Is Not Yet Made\u201d is forthcoming in English translation from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/publishing-house-of-harvards-ukrainian-research-institute-latest-target-of-trumps-federal-budget-cuts\/\">Harvard\u2019s Ukrainian Research Institute<\/a>, and his wartime reportage \u201cBakhmut\u201d was published in English translation by Ukrainer earlier this year. (Kate Tsurkan, who conducted this interview, was involved in the English translation of \u201cBakhmut.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the Ukrainian edition of \u201cBakhmut,\u201d Laiuk was awarded the prestigious George Shevelov Prize in 2024 and shortlisted for BBC Ukraine\u2019s Book of the Year award. The book was also shortlisted for the Peterson Literary Prize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this interview with the Kyiv Independent, Laiuk reflects on the moral and creative weight of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/war-up-close-ukraines-soldier-photographers-document-their-fight\/\">bearing witness during wartime<\/a>. He speaks about the limits of language in the face of horror, the writer\u2019s duty to record what might otherwise vanish, and the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/is-it-ok-to-have-to-have-fun-during-war-we-asked-ukrainians\/\">cognitive dissonance of returning from the front<\/a>&nbsp;to the safety of Kyiv or abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Drawing on literature and his own encounters with soldiers and civilians, Laiuk talks about how this war is reshaping not only Ukraine but the very language through which humanity understands loss, love, and dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Kyiv Independent: What compelled you, as a novelist, to travel to some of the most dangerous places on the front line and report from there?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Myroslav Laiuk:&nbsp;<\/strong>The past three years feel like one solid block \u2014 closed off and self-contained. Of course, I sometimes look back on how I used to work before the full-scale invasion, what I wrote about&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/russias-war-against-ukraine-timeline\/\">the start of the war in 2014<\/a>, and the person I was then. But what\u2019s happening now feels so completely different \u2014 it\u2019s changed and transformed everything. Even within this period of the invasion itself, I can see so many shifts, so many layers of change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I remember sitting in a basement&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/tag\/pokrovsk\/\">in Pokrovsk earlier<\/a>&nbsp;this spring. I was talking with one of the soldiers \u2014 they were from the 93rd Brigade, the same unit that had fought in Bakhmut in 2023 \u2014 and he said something that stayed with me: \u201cCompared to Bakhmut, this is already a different war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And indeed, what I felt in Bakhmut and what I felt in Pokrovsk are completely different approaches to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/we-had-only-a-few-seconds-before-it-hit-russian-drones-force-journalists-farther-from-ukraines-front-lines\/\">questions of safety and awareness<\/a>, to what you pay attention to or don\u2019t. When in Bakhmut, there were just arbitrary artillery shells \u2014 where you understood they were firing at some abstract Ukrainians \u2014 in Pokrovsk, it already felt like they were hunting you personally with drones. And, figuratively speaking, these are such concentrated, significant things, where everything has completely changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I could never have imagined that Ukraine would become a place where so many new meanings are created for the whole world, where reality, language itself, is reinterpreted, much like what&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/the-language-of-war-is-that-of-rage-but-also-love\/\">Oleksandr Mykhed discusses in his book<\/a>&nbsp;\u2018The Language of War.\u2019 Here in Ukraine, I feel that this language of concepts is truly being formed: a new way of speaking about the oldest things \u2014 about love, about home, about the land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One man in Huliaipole asked me: \u201cHow could I renounce my (ancestor\u2019s) graves?\u201d Such a phrase \u2014 \u201cto renounce one\u2019s graves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And this can only be tested in extreme situations. There\u2019s also a heavy shadow here \u2014 the native land as a place where countless traumas linger. Relatives lie buried here \u2014 those who died in World War II,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/holodomor-soviet-unions-man-made-famine-in-ukraine\/\">during the Holodomor<\/a>, and so on. Things that might seem simple at first glance are, in fact, far deeper and more complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What I\u2019m getting to is this: a writer is someone who explores themselves, their society, and their time. Right now, for me, documentary work is the most relevant way to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The state of the world is at its most extreme point. I want to document&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/the-counteroffensive-people-arent-evacuating-ukraines-front-line-towns-why\/\">why people do not leave their homes<\/a>&nbsp;even when they are shelled every day, why people are willing to risk their lives for others, why near Pokrovsk I met a mother with two children who had been evacuated recently, but returned \u2014 all these \u2018whys\u2019 that may be difficult to understand for a future researcher of our time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Kyiv Independent: Given the growing number of Ukrainian books translated into English, do you think the world has gained a deeper understanding of Ukraine and its people, or is there still a significant journey ahead in shaping that understanding?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Myroslav Laiuk:&nbsp;<\/strong>I think a lot has been done. Ukrainian authors and a select number of foreigners have been working selflessly on this, and they have accomplished a lot. But truly, we run into considerable barriers abroad because we don\u2019t understand how those systems function.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s quite hard to trust the world. The world supports us and promises us weapons one day \u2014 and the next day we realize that&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/zelensky-meets-trump-in-washington-as-leaders-set-to-discuss-tomahawk-supply\/\">no one is going to provide<\/a>&nbsp;those weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Again, it\u2019s a question of distance and of understanding whether danger threatens you personally. I like a thought that was expressed recently \u2014 I don\u2019t remember by whom \u2014 but that democracy is not something that is given. Freedom is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/praise-is-not-practice-snyders-new-book-challenges-americas-understanding-of-freedom-through-comparison-with-ukraine\/\">not something that is given<\/a>. It\u2019s something you have to fight for. And indeed, the ancestors of many Europeans truly fought for it \u2014 they fought against (Adolf) Hitler, against other threats. They truly fought for this freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But for the new generations, that was long ago. They no longer have that reflex to fight. As for how books are perceived abroad \u2014 five months ago my book \u201cBakhmut\u201d was published in Polish. And there were a lot of reviews in Polish. I have to say, there were more of those reviews than there have been in Ukrainian since 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those reviews are very, very interesting, though. However, when it comes to social media one of the most common excerpts in those reviews is the question \u201cWhy should Poles read this?\u201d The comments section is always pure hell. They write things like, \u201cThis isn\u2019t our war\u201d and all those familiar arguments&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/tag\/polish-ukrainian-relations\/\">we now hear in Poland<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, that\u2019s a major reason why these books either aren\u2019t translated or are translated too late. Ukrainian books&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/in-2014-one-ukrainian-writer-kept-a-diary-during-russias-occupation-of-donetsk\/\">serve as warnings<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Kyiv Independent: What about Ukrainians? Do you think they understand each other better after nearly four years of full-scale war?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Myroslav Laiuk:<\/strong>&nbsp;When I recently went to Kherson, I honestly expected to enter a city where people could only move under camouflage nets, where everyone lived in basements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then you arrive \u2014 and there are 60,000 residents. They\u2019re sitting in cafes, eating wonderful desserts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We went into a cafe called Prostir. We decided to go there because I had been there back in 2023, when the Russians blew up the dam \u2014 and I was amazed then that they had really good coffee. Now, that cafe is very&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/human-safari-kherson-civilians-hunted-down-by-russian-drones\/\">close to the kill zone<\/a>. It has been hit several times. And as you walk through Kherson, you pass the central square, where beautiful roses are in bloom. And then you go a little farther \u2014 and you realize, here the ground is already strewn with debris, with mines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Walk a bit more \u2014 and you see a burned-out minibus, because a few days ago it was hit. But to return to the beginning \u2014 when I was heading to Kherson, I couldn\u2019t imagine there\u2019d even be a minibus there. What kind of minibus in Kherson? It\u2019s just two kilometers from the Russian positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.kyivindependent.com%2Fcontent%2Fimages%2F2025%2F11%2FDSC_6338.jpg&amp;w=1536&amp;q=100\" alt=\"Ukrainian writer Myroslav Laiuk poses for a photo in Kherson, Ukraine, on Oct. 7, 2025. Ukrainian writer Myroslav Laiuk poses for a photo in Kherson, Ukraine, on Oct. 7, 2025. \"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ukrainian writer Myroslav Laiuk poses for a photo in Kherson, Ukraine, on Oct. 7, 2025. (Viacheslav Ratynskyi \/ The Kyiv Independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And yet, there are minibuses running. There are trolleybuses. They\u2019re constantly shelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I spoke with a trolleybus driver \u2014 she had already been wounded several times. She\u2019s in the hospital now, and I don\u2019t know what will happen to her next. Then you go into that cafe \u2014 it\u2019s open at the end of the day. The barista recognizes you, makes excellent coffee, as always, and so on.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then I ask the barista, \u201cHow many people came in today?\u201d And he says, \u201cYou\u2019re the fifth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s what I mean \u2014 I could never have imagined it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>(Editor\u2019s Note: Prostir Kherson &nbsp;paused operations indefinitely on Nov. 11, due to constant Russian shelling)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s why I\u2019m doing documentary work now. One of my professors \u2014 I noticed this about him \u2014 when he needed to understand what had happened to Mykola Zerov&nbsp;<em>(Ukrainian poet killed in 1937)<\/em>, he&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/far-right-group-disrupts-ceremony-honoring-victims-of-stalinist-purges-which-included-ukrainians\/\">went directly to Sandarmokh<\/a>, in northern Russia, to see it with his own eyes. Whenever he needed to know how something actually happened \u2014 he checked it himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have this impression of total openness in today\u2019s world \u2014 that we know everything, that everything is online, that we can just look it up. In part, yes. But&#8230; in reality, the principles of understanding are the same as in ancient times. If you want to understand something \u2014 you have to see it with your own eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Kherson, artillery was landing somewhere nearby, explosions going off \u2014 and a woman was selling figs. And she reacted to it so casually. She said, \u201cTo understand us, you have to live here.\u201d That\u2019s the only way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Very often, I remind myself: you are only ears and eyes. That\u2019s all.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, I went there for a week \u2014 did I understand them? No. But I saw things from my own perspective. And that\u2019s already much more than if I had only looked up the news or social media posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Kyiv Independent: Do you struggle with cognitive dissonance when returning from front-line areas to Kyiv, or especially when you travel abroad for cultural diplomacy efforts?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Myroslav Laiuk:&nbsp;<\/strong>Well, as I was told&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/in-times-of-war-even-books-take-sides\/\">at the Frankfurt Book Fair<\/a>, there\u2019s a very interesting debate in Germany about whether it\u2019s even worth publishing Ukrainians. When Serhiy Zhadan was awarded a prize here in 2022 \u2014 some Peace Prize \u2014 there was a huge debate here about how it\u2019s even possible to give a \u201cpeace prize\u201d to an author who writes about war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think foreigners need things explained \u2014 but explained through their own frames of reference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And when we talk about \u201cforeigners,\u201d we\u2019re talking simultaneously about everyone from Nigerians, Mexicans, and Europeans \u2014 three entirely different ways of explaining what\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Where, for some, you can explain things&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/russian-colonialism-is-not-reformable-says-historian-botakoz-kassymbekova\/\">through the lens of imperialism<\/a>, others won\u2019t understand you at all, or will misunderstand you, because they themselves are from former imperialist nations. And they won\u2019t want to confront that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, I really do feel a huge dissonance. The first time I went abroad after the full-scale invasion was to Denmark. My constant impression was \u2014 I\u2019d travel through Poland, see a beautiful pine forest with houses, and think: Oh, what nice houses! Were they rebuilt? Clearly, a flashback to places like Irpin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I love mushroom picking \u2014 but now that\u2019s limited, because&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/new-book-exposes-russias-ecocide-as-a-war-against-ukraines-land-and-memory\/\">so many forests in Ukraine are mined<\/a>. I remember seeing a beautiful little forest somewhere in Europe and thinking: Oh, there must be good mushrooms there&#8230; but it\u2019s probably all mined \u2014 better not go in. And this is me \u2014 in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the worst thing, of course, was hearing fireworks in Copenhagen. Another time, after coming back from Bakhmut, I went to Trukhaniv Island in Kyiv, and there was a rope swing \u2014 when it whooshed through the air, it made a sound just like a mine does. When a mine goes off, you have a few seconds \u2014 too little time to find cover. You just have to drop to the ground. So I just fell flat on the ground. That was how it started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One can only imagine how all this is unfolding for the people who are under daily shelling. But on the other hand, when you return from the front \u2014 from Yarova, where&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/russian-air-strike-on-donetsk-oblast-village-kills-over-20\/\">twenty people were killed<\/a>, where the cemetery is full of freshly dug graves, and the people left behind are marginalized, and the children have speech disorders \u2014 because no one has worked with them for three years. No school, no kindergarten, no speech therapists, no doctors can get there. It\u2019s total degradation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And you see all that \u2014 and then you come back to Kyiv, and in some restaurants, or bars, you hear music playing several blocks away. Most soldiers generally don\u2019t complain about Ukrainians wanting to relax, celebrate birthdays, and so on \u2014 everyone understands that normal life must go on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But still \u2014 there should be some awareness of that other reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.kyivindependent.com%2Fcontent%2Fimages%2F2025%2F11%2FDSC_5624.jpg&amp;w=1536&amp;q=100\" alt=\"Myroslav Laiuk poses for a photo in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Nov. 5, 2025. \"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Myroslav Laiuk poses for a photo in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Nov. 5, 2025. (Viacheslav Ratynskyi \/ The Kyiv Independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Kyiv Independent: Have you ever had a moment during one of your reporting trips where you thought to yourself, God, how will I ever find the proper words to convey this horror?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Myroslav Laiuk:&nbsp;<\/strong>Quite often, language simply isn\u2019t enough. In my book \u201cBakhmut,\u201d there is an episode with a 19-year-old soldier who is about to go out to the positions. He is asked what he is thinking about at that moment, and he answers: \u201cI don\u2019t want to be in this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I also met two other soldiers at a gas station near the front line. They were getting hot dogs, we started talking, and they asked when my piece would be published. I replied, \u201cProbably in May.\u201d One of the men said, \u201cI think I won\u2019t be around in May.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Language often prepares traps for you: it can aestheticize, romanticize, and exaggerate. Your task is to convey everything as it is. Very often, I remind myself: you are only ears and eyes. That\u2019s all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Kyiv Independent: You are an author by profession, so I want to ask if there is anything from the realm of fiction and poetry writing that aids you as a wartime correspondent?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Myroslav Laiuk:&nbsp;<\/strong>At the beginning of my new book, \u201cThe Lists,\u201d which is about Ukrainian&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/kyiv-holds-farewell-for-huzenko-ukrainian-photographer-and-soldier\/\">losses during the war<\/a>, I devote a great deal of space to ancient literature. This gives rise to two paradoxical feelings. First, it feels as though so much has already happened \u2014 as if humanity is once again reliving the same experiences. Second, this war may bring new shades of meaning to our collective understanding of loss, and it is the task of documentary writers to capture those nuances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The strongest stories in world literature are precisely those about loss. For me, the two most powerful scenes in world literature both come from \u201cThe Iliad.\u201d The first is when Hector goes out to fight Achilles, knowing that he will lose and die. It is a story about dignity and about something greater than yourself. The second is when Achilles kills Hector, and his elderly father, King Priam, goes into the enemy camp, passes through all the checkpoints, risking everything, just to retrieve his son\u2019s body. It is a story about love that is stronger than fear and humiliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of my favorite quotes is from Horace: \u201cBrave men lived before Agamemnon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I like to return to what I read in school and at university. Paradoxically, it gives a sense of reality. It grounds you and reminds you that things have always been this way. And at the same time, it suggests that every generation adds its own, previously unknown layers to this great&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/memorializing-ukraines-fallen-soldiers-one-asked-to-be-cremated-so-future-fighters-dont-dig-trenches-in-our-bones-2\/\">history of loss<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Kyiv Independent: Do you think Ukrainians are deeply drawn to these books about the war, or are they more for posterity?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Myroslav Laiuk:&nbsp;<\/strong>Recently, I walked into a bookstore of a Ukrainian publishing house and noticed that sixteen out of the top twenty bestsellers were fantasy. I don\u2019t have access to nationwide sales rankings, so it\u2019s difficult for me to say with certainty&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/ukrainians-find-solace-identity-in-books-amid-russias-war\/\">what Ukrainians are reading<\/a>&nbsp;right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I can say one thing: if we close our eyes, the world around us does not disappear. On the other hand, I believe the victims of the war must do everything necessary not to lose themselves. That\u2019s why I wouldn\u2019t say something to Ukrainians who don\u2019t read&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/10-ukrainian-books-about-russias-war-available-in-english\/\">books about the war<\/a>. The only thing I\u2019d like to remind them is this: Ukrainian books about the war serve as a warning to the world about what may very well happen if we don\u2019t succeed in our fight.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.kyivindependent.com%2Fcontent%2Fimages%2F2025%2F11%2FDSC_5746.jpg&amp;w=1536&amp;q=100\" alt=\"Ukrainian writer Myroslav Laiuk in front of Kyiv, Ukraine skyline on Nov. 5, 2025.\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ukrainian writer Myroslav Laiuk in front of Kyiv, Ukraine skyline on Nov. 5, 2025. (Viacheslav Ratynskyi \/ The Kyiv Independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"note-from-the-author\">Note from the author:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Hi, this is Kate Tsurkan, thanks for reading this interview. &nbsp;When Myroslav started traveling to front-line territories, I was simultaneously worried for his safety but also really intrigued by what stories he would tell both Ukraine and the world. As one of Ukraine&#8217;s most talented young novelists, I do believe that he approaches telling stories about this war in a unique way. I hope you become more interested in his work, and in the work of Ukrainian authors in general, after reading interviews like this.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>If you like reading about this sort of thing,&nbsp;<\/em><strong><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/membership\/?utm_source=authornote-kate-tsurkan&amp;utm_medium=authornote\"><strong>please consider supporting&nbsp;The Kyiv Independent.<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/bring-ukraine-more-weapons-author-andriy-lyubka-on-cultural-diplomacys-main-wartime-role\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u2018Bring Ukraine more weapons\u2019 \u2014 author Andriy Lyubka on cultural diplomacy\u2019s main wartime role<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/tag\/interview\/\">Interview<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/tag\/ukraine\/\">Ukraine<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/tag\/war\/\">War<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/tag\/europe\/\">Europe<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.kyivindependent.com%2Fcontent%2Fimages%2F2025%2F10%2FIMG_0932.jpg&amp;w=640&amp;q=90\" alt=\"Avatar\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/kyivindependent.com\/author\/kate-tsurkan\/\">Kate Tsurkan<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Culture Reporter<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kate Tsurkan is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent who writes mostly about culture-related topics. Her newsletter Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan, which focuses specifically on Ukrainian culture, is published weekly by the Kyiv Independent and is partially supported by a generous grant from the Nadia Sophie Seiler Fund. Kate co-translated Oleh Sentsov\u2019s \u201cDiary of a Hunger Striker,\u201d Myroslav Laiuk\u2019s \u201cBakhmut,\u201d Andriy Lyubka\u2019s \u201cWar from the Rear,\u201d and Khrystia Vengryniuk\u2019s \u201cLong Eyes,\u201d among other books. Some of her previous writing and translations have appeared in the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Harpers, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. She is the co-founder of Apofenie Magazine and, in addition to Ukrainian and Russian, also knows French.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by&nbsp;Kate Tsurkan November 11, 2025 Ukrainian writer Myroslav Laiuk poses for a photo in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Nov. 5, 2025. (Viacheslav Ratynskyi \/ The Kyiv Independent) As the full-scale war enters into its fourth year, novelist and poet Myroslav Laiuk has found himself drawn to front-line reporting. He has traveled everywhere, from Bakhmut to Pokrovsk [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17217"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17217"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17218,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17217\/revisions\/17218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}