Ukrainian historian and author Olena Stiazhkina, whose two recently translated works examine the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict, argues that the war with Russia began long before the west acknowledges—and hopes her work will serve as a testament and a warning.
"This war started not in February 2022, but in 2014," Stiazhkina said. "The world gave us three days, maybe one week, but we survived, and we are fighting."
A former professor at Donetsk National University, where she taught Slavic history for over twenty years until the 2014 Russian invasion, Stiazhkina has emerged as a crucial voice documenting Ukraine's transformation through both fiction and nonfiction. Her latest works, Ukraine, War, Love: A Donetsk Diary and Cecil the Lion Had to Die, both published by Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute and Harvard University Press, offer distinct perspectives on the conflict. The titles are part of Harvard UP's Harvard Library of Ukrainian Literature series, an initiative to broaden understanding of Ukrainian culture and history, and were supported by Razom, a Ukrainian advocacy organization.
The diary, translated by Anne O. Fisher, provides a firsthand account of the initial Russian invasion of Donetsk in 2014. "We are still living in the world of last words," Stiazhkina said, describing the constant threat of Russian attacks. "Every day we think about what would be our last words, because it could be at any moment in any town, village, library, or school."
Yet Stiazhkina emphasizes that Ukrainian literature aims to portray more than just suffering. "We are not victims, we don't want to be remembered as victims," Stiazhkina said. "We would like to be remembered as fighters—as funny, strong fighters for freedom." She added, "Ukraine now is both place and concept," drawing a parallel to Abraham Lincoln's description of America. "The concept of freedom is central to our identity and that is why, if we will have last words, they will be about freedom.”
Her novel Cecil the Lion Had to Die, translated by Dominique Hoffman, explores Ukrainian identity through four families in Donetsk. Written in 2020 before the full-scale invasion, the work demonstrates what Stiazhkina calls "not a prediction, but a prognosis," of escalating tensions.
The novel's unique bilingual format reflects the author’s own linguistic journey. Stiazhkina, a Russian native speaker, transitioned to writing in Ukrainian, and her linguistic shift is visually represented in the novel's design, with Russian text appearing as white on black pages and Ukrainian as black on white—a creative decision that mirrors Ukraine's cultural transformation.
"I will be the last person in my family who can dream in Russian," Stiazhkina said. "It is my choice."
Stiazhkina believes writing serves as a means to counter propaganda and misinformation, and that individual stories are an effective way to begin understanding larger conflicts: "Personal experience is a great way to explain something true," she said.
As an example, her warnings about Russian aggression carry particular weight, given her observations from the conflict's early days.
"In 2014, there were many inscriptions on Russian tanks saying 'On to Kiev, on to Lviv,' " Stiazhkina said. "Many people told us that it is bullshit, nothing happened, nothing will happen. But in 2022, it happened." Now, she said, new inscriptions on Russian tanks read, “On to Warsaw, on to Berlin, on to Washington."
"These inscriptions are not bullshit," Stiazhkina added. "It is a strategy of Russia, and I want to warn people about it."
