Just like 90 years ago, when the Soviet regime organised the Holodomor, killing millions of Ukrainians, Russians are intensifying their attacks on Ukraine killing as many Ukrainians as they can.

Whats going on?

• Russian troops continue to shell Ukrainian cities with missiles and drones. On November 25, Russia launched the biggest massive drone attack since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Over 70 Iranian-made Shahed drones attacked Ukraine specifically on the day when we honour the memory of people killed during Holodomor, a Soviet-made famine in 1932-33.
• At the same time in occupied areas of the Kherson region, Russians are demolishing monuments to victims of the Holodomor. In particular, there is evidence of the destruction of monuments in Nova Kakhovka and the Oleshky. Earlier, in October 2022, the occupation forces destroyed the monument to victims of the Holodomor in Mariupol.
• On December 13, the Russian occupiers targeted Kyiv again with ballistic missiles, resulting in at least 53 injured, including 9 children. Missiles damaged civilian buildings, cars, shops, a school, and a hospital.
• Despite the fact that Ukraine is facing an ammunition shortage, Ukrainian defenders continue to hold back the enemy in the East, South, and North. The heaviest battles are taking place now near Avdiivka (Donetsk region).

People of Culture Taken Away by the War

PEN Ukraine and The Ukrainians Media launched the online project “People of Culture Taken Away by the War”. It is a series of literary portraits aimed to preserve the memory of the people of whom the war has deprived the Ukrainian culture and to testify about Russia’s genocidal intentions. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, PEN Ukraine continues tracking losses among cultural activists whose stories appear in information spaces or are reported by the relatives and colleagues of the fallen heroes. This information is available in the 2022 and 2023 monitoring which are constantly updated. As of today, we have collected at least 79 names of Ukrainian cultural activists killed by the war. This is not an official monitoring. PEN Ukraine stresses that there are many more deceased artists than we know of due to the lack of reliable data from the occupied territories of Ukraine.

Losses

• On November 23, it became known that Oleksandr Menshov, a writer and defender of Ukraine, was killed at the frontline. He died due to mortar shelling near Klishchiivka (Donetsk region). Before the full-scale invasion, Oleksandr Menshov was a writer. He had spent almost half a year in the occupied Kherson with his family and described this experience in his war diary.
• On December 7, the death of theatre and film actor Vasyl Kukharskyi became known. In September, he was seriously wounded during combat operations and had been undergoing rehabilitation. Since 2008, Kukharskyi had been performing at the Podil Drama Theater in Kyiv. 
• On December 10, news surfaced that actor, documentary filmmaker and serviceman Andrii Pavlenko was killed at the frontline. He had been defending his homeland in the ranks of the Armed Forces since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
• On December 11, details emerged about the death of Ruslan Volodin, serviceman, employee of the 1st Dolly cinema industry, technician with the Patriot Rental. Volodin worked on the productions of many famous Ukrainian movies and TV series. At the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, he enlisted in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Russias crimes against media

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Russia has killed 70 Ukrainian and foreign journalists and committed 543 crimes against journalists and media in Ukraine.  

• On November 22, former cameraman for «Suspilne Mykolaiv» Oleksandr Popov was killed in action near Kupyansk (Kharkiv region). Oleksandr Popov worked as a cameraman at the Mykolaiv Oblast State Broadcasting Company since 2005, and later at «Suspilne Mykolaiv» until September 2019. In April 2023, he was drafted into the Ukrainian Armed Forces. 

Find out more about journalists and media workers who died in Ukraine as a result of Russia’s full-scale war.

Unbreakable Libraries

Over 25 thousand (12 tons) of multi-genre children’s, adult, and young adult books in English were delivered at the end of November from London to Kyiv, where the office of PEN Ukraine is located. The books were delivered through a collaborative initiative involving the Book Aid International charity fund, English PEN, and PEN International. The books will be distributed to Ukrainian libraries. Currently, the PEN Ukraine team is analyzing the applications, sorting the copies, and preparing book packages for delivery. Priority will be given to libraries that have been damaged by Russia’s war against Ukraine.

In solidarity with Ukraine

Spanish, Dutch and French authors have visited Ukraine within the program In Solidarity With Ukraine organized by PEN Ukraine and the Ukrainian Institute. During a week in Kyiv foreign authors met Ukrainian servicepeople and representatives of cultural, human rights and governmental organisations, visited liberated localities and got acquainted with Ukrainian culture. Find out more about the visits and read impressions of visitors here:

• Spanish delegation;
• Dutch and French delegation.

Share materials

• Myroslav Marynovych «War in Ukraine is a fight for freedom» (Vatican News);
• Iryna Tsilyk «Facing Ukraine’s south» (Kyiv Independent);
• Mstyslav Chernov «I realised we needed to film everything» (Screen Daily);
• Diana Delyurman «Books in Ruins: How Russia attacks Ukrainian culture» (PEN Ukraine);
• Sasha Dovzhyk «Preserving the Canvas of Culture» (PEN Ukraine);
• Kate Tsurkan «How Ukrainian identity evolved since the Revolution of Dignity» (Kyiv Independent);
• Alexander J. Motyl “How responsible is the average Russian for Putin’s war?” (The Hill);
• Ellie Cook «Ukraine Soldiers on Front Detail Intense Avdiivka Battle» (Newsweek);
• Luke Harding «Ukraine: The Forging of a Nation review – the perennial fight against domination by Moscow» (Guardian);
• Ed Vulliamy, Maksym Horobets ‘My mum’s books survived Putin’s missiles’: defiance after blast destroys Kherson children’s library (Guardian);
• Roman Ponomarenko «The army of marauders: where Russian soldiers’ habit of looting comes from» (Ukrainer);
• Volodymyr Yermolenko, Tetyana Ogarkova «Culture, face à la guerre» (podcast in French);
• Irene Hdez. Velasco «Petro, Anton y otros escritores ucranianos que aparcaron los libros y cogieron el fusil» (El Confidencial in Spanish);
• Irene Hdez. Velasco “Un filósofo ucraniano, contra la cultura rusa: Es mi enemigo, es muy peligrosa y tóxica” (El Confidencial in Spanish);
• Faruk Šehić «Izvještaj iz Kijeva» (Oslobodenje in Bosnian).

PEN Ukraine web page 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.