Today Ukrainians remember the shock of the air strikes in the early hours of 24 February 2022 that heralded Russia’s full-scale invasion of their country and mark the appalling destruction and loss that continue to this day.  A great deal has been written across the world about Russia’s move from the previous 8 years of conflict to this open war (“special military operation”) but in this post we focus on what has been written specifically by Ukrainians, including new translations into English.

Interest in the Ukrainian language outside the country leapt following Russia’s assault, as awareness of Ukrainian culture and identity grew and as those working with and hosting refugees from the war worked to gain at least basic knowledge of the language.  But the many resources we collect in the UL in Ukrainian to capture Ukrainians’ experience of the devastating war will still have a fairly small audience, so we try to pick up translations into English as much as possible too, so that all our library readers have the chance to hear directly from those facing the attack.

The lists below feature some of the books published over the last year or so that are now in our collections, with a mix of material in the original Ukrainian and in English translation.  You can find lots more books either by searching on iDiscover simply with the subject heading Russian Invasion of Ukraine, 2022 (a search that you can then narrow by language) or by using the same search term in the subject browse function to see the various subdivisions employed in our catalogue records (eg Chronology, Poetry).

Personal narratives

• I︠A︡ peretvori︠u︡i︠u︡sʹ… : shchodennyk okupat︠s︡iï, vybrani virshi / Volodymyr Vakulenko-K. — The diary, with selected poems, of Volodymyr Vakulenko, the author murdered by Russian soldiers in 2022 and whose text was dug up where he had hidden it by the writer Viktorii︠a︡ Amelina who was later herself killed by a Russian missile in 2023.
• Intelektualʹnyĭ sprotyv tryvai︠e︡ (serpenʹ 2022-li︠u︡tyĭ 2023) : notatky vydavt︠s︡i︠a︡ / Oleksandr Krasov.
• Povitri︠a︡na ĭ tryvoz︠h︡na knyz︠h︡ka / Iryna Slavinsʹka.
• Sky above Kharkiv : dispatches from the Ukrainian front / Serhiy Zhadan.
• Slovnyk viĭny / avtor ideï, ukladach i slukhach istoriĭ Ostap Slyvynsʹkyĭ ; ili︠u︡stratorka Kateryna Hordii︠e︡nko.
• War diary of the Ukrainian resistance / The Kyiv Independent.

Poetry, drama, fiction about the 2022- invasion

• A dictionary of emotions in a time of war : 20 short works by Ukrainian playwrights.
• In the hour of war : poetry from Ukraine.
• Li︠u︡tʹ : roman / I︠E︡vhen Steblivsʹkyĭ.
• Pomiz︠h︡ syren : novi virshi viĭny / upori︠a︡dnyk Ostap Slyvynsʹkyĭ.
• The war that changed us : Ukrainian novellas, poems, and essays from 2022 / Kateryna Pylypchuk ; with a foreword by Victor Yushchenko.

The translations currently in Cambridge libraries have been produced by UK or US publishers, but some Ukrainian publishers have also started providing English versions of books they have first published in Ukrainian.  At the time of writing, for example, we have on order the following English ebook editions of the Kyïv-based publisher Folio’s publications about the invasion:

• Chronicle of the War. 2014-2022 : first six months of full-scale aggression (24.02.2022 – 24.08.2022) (Ukrainian original)
• Heroic cities of Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel (Ukrainian original)
• Heroic city of Chernihiv (Ukrainian original)
• Journey to the Beyond. Mariupol (Ukrainian original)

We had hoped for access to the ebooks already but will update this post with links when they come through.  We are also looking forward to receiving in print the English translation (called Invincible) of the book Nezlamni which captures the experiences of Ukrainian women in Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Books are of course not the only route by which the Ukrainian experience of the Russo-Ukrainian war can reach us, and it is worth noting that the newly Oscar-nominated film 20 days in Mariupol is showing in some UK cinemas at the moment.

Charities and other groups helping Ukrainians continue to need support.  The Ukrainian Institute in London has this page about various initiatives.  More locally, the wonderful Cambridge4Ukraine charity continues its work with refugees and their hosts.  They are organising a vigil this evening at 6pm by King’s College to mark the second anniversary of the launch of Russia’s terrible invasion – do come and join if you can.

Mel Bach