While the world is preparing for the holiday season, Ukraine continues fighting for its existence. For over 300 days Russia has continued its genocidal war against Ukrainian people, culture, media, and nature. We continue fighting and ask you for support and military aid for Ukraine.

What’s going on?

• The most intense fighting of the war is taking place in Bakhmut (Donetsk region). The Russians have been trying to capture Bakhmut since the early summer, but Ukrainian defenders are still holding the city. The Ukrainian military is saying that the fighting for Bakhmut is some of the most intense in the war so far.
• Torture chambers for children were uncovered after the liberation of the Kharkiv and Kherson regions. According to Ukraine’s Ombudsman, the Russian military set up torture chambers for children who, in their opinion, offered resistance.
• A significant capacity deficit remains in Ukraine’s energy system. According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, after several waves of Russian missile attacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, all thermal and hydroelectric plants have been damaged. Ukraine is on the edge of a complete blackout. Russians are trying to cause a humanitarian catastrophe to kill more civilians. To spread panic among Ukrainians, they use destruction, mass casualties, electricity and heating cut-offs. To protect itself against Russian terror, Ukraine needs air defense systems.

Losses

• The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has recorded 17,595 civilian casualties in Ukraine since February 24. It is impossible to establish the actual number of dead, wounded, and forcibly displaced people due to the fact that the occupation forces are continuing their assault on Ukraine. Russia’s war against Ukraine has already produced over 7.8 million refugees.
• On November 29, the world learned that historian and associate professor of Kamianets-Podilskyi Ivan Ohienko National University Vadym Stetsyuk was killed on the frontline. He taught history and was a researcher at the Kamianets-Podilskyi State Historical Museum. Author of more than 120 scientific publications.
• On December 7, the news emerged of the death of a famous Ukrainian actor Jaroslav Garkavko. He was killed at the frontline during the war with Russia.
• Find out more in our monitoring of losses among cultural figures.

Visits of solidarity

• In December PEN Ukraine hosted writers from the PEN America and Lithuanian Writers’ Union. Both delegations have visited deoccupied cities of the Kyiv region: Bucha, Irpin, Borodyanka. Together with PEN America writers we visited the Chernihiv region, which was under Russian occupation in February-March. We invite all PEN centres to visit Ukraine as an act of solidarity with us in wartime. We will be happy to help you to organise your visit.

Treasures of Ukraine

• The artbook Treasures of Ukraine: A Nation’s Cultural Heritage has been released by the British publishing company Thames and Hudson. It contains 220 color images of the most significant pieces of art and monuments of architecture from the prehistoric era to today. The introduction to Treasures of Ukraine is written by Andrii Kurkov, authors of eight chapters of the 256-page book are Andrii Puchkov, Christian Raffensperger, Diana Klochko, Maksym Yaremenko, Alisa Lozhkina, Myroslava M. Mudrak, and Oleksandr Solovyov. 
• The book can be purchased on the Thames and Hudson website or via Amazon. All proceeds will be donated to PEN Ukraine Emergency Fund, to help Ukrainian authors in need due to Russia’s war against Ukraine and support Ukrainian museums.

Share materials

• Andrii Kurkov “The Sounds of War” (Kyiv Post);
• Lily Hyde «Culture war: Russia ransacks art to rub out Ukraine’s history» (Politico);
• Charlotte Higgins “For Ukrainians, poetry isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity during war” (The Guardian);
• Tonia Andriichuk “Theatres and museums volunteering during the war” (Ukrainer);
• Halya Coynash «Russian MP promises a child from Kyiv missiles as a “New Year present” (KHPG);
• Iryna Vikyrchak «Collection of poetry in English» (Cultural Hub);
• Irena Karpa “Sometimes it’s necessary to question what is considered “normal” and push boundaries a little” (Tank Magazine);
• Exact Words for Disorientation – An interview with Iya Kiva by Alberto Fraccacreta (The Dreaming Machine); 
• Anastasiia Marushevska “How international media helps Russia and why it is a problem” (Ukrainer);
• Tetyana Ogarkova, Volodymyr Yermolenko «L’Ukraine, face à la guerre« (Anchor in French);
• Andrej Kurkow: «Russland wurde darauf vorbereitet, Ukrainer zu töten» (DW in German);
• Andriy Lyubka “Lufta është kohë e poezisë” (ExLibris in Albanian).

Dialogues on war

We continue our conversation series, #DialoguesOnWar, where Ukrainian and foreign intellectuals talk about the experience of the war and share their own observations:

• Dialogues on War: Sofia Cheliak and Margaret MacMillan (video);
• Dialogues on War: Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta and Dan Ariely (video);
• Dialogues on War: Pascal Bruckner and Iryna Vikyrchak (text);
• Dialogues on War: Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta and Dan Ariely (text).

PEN Ukraine webpage on war

Visit our webpage for the latest news and materials on Russia’s war against Ukraine. Here you will find information on the situation in Ukraine, links to important materials and information resources, petitions, addresses, a list of publications about Ukraine to read in English, and books by Ukrainian authors recommended for translation. The page is continuously updated with the latest news and links.