Amelina, who dug up Vakulenko's notes he had hidden from the Russians in his yard and initiated the diary's publication, was also killed by Russia’s war. Vakulenko and Amelina are among dozens of Ukrainian cultural figures killed by Russian aggression. There is no official record of such losses, but two lists compiled by PEN Ukraine suggest that the full-scale invasion has claimed the lives of at least 65 Ukrainian cultural figures.
In cities such as Odesa and Lviv, composers and players engage in proud and articulate defiance in formal venues and on street corners, their work touching hearts and minds, and bolstering the spirits of citizenry and soldiers
It was after the 1842 publication of Mykola Hohol’s novel Dead Souls, which was in fact a biting satire about the immoral and corrupt institution of serfdom,
On top of his orders to the Russian army to loot, rob, destroy, kill and deport as many Ukrainians as possible, he’s also ordered them to rob our graveyards. The remains of Grigory Potemkin have been stolen from a crypt in St Catherine’s Cathedral.