Sky Above Kharkiv: Dispatches from the Ukranian Front

Poet and novelist Zhadan (The Orphanage) delivers a wrenching, nearly day-by-day account of the first four months of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In slightly edited versions of his Facebook posts, Zhadan reflects on the stark choices faced by Ukrainians (“withstand this war or be annihilated”); documents his travels around Kharkiv, “a city of universities” that withstood heavy shelling in the war’s first weeks; reports on clashes between Ukrainian and Russian forces; and issues full-throated rallying cries: “The Russians are barbarians. They’ve come here to destroy our history, our culture, and our education, because all those things are alien and hostile to them. We have to protect all that, restore it, keep developing it.” There are also poignant snapshots of life returning to some semblance of normalcy during breaks in the bombardment, stories of delivering food and supplies to civilians and volunteer army units, flashes of gallows humor, calls for military aid from other countries, descriptions of concerts Zhadan and his ska band held for people bunkering in the Kharkiv metro, and pained reflections on the destruction of the Skovoroda Museum and other heritage sites. Intimate, resolute, and occasionally profound, this is an inspiring account of life during wartime. Photos. (May)