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Kate Tsurkan

Reporter

Kate Tsurkan is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent who writes mostly about culture-related topics in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. Her newsletter Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan, which focuses specifically on Ukrainian culture, is published weekly by the Kyiv Independent. The U.S. publisher Deep Vellum published her co-translation of Ukrainian author Oleh Sentsov’s Diary of a Hunger Striker in 2024. Some of her other writing and translations have appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Harpers, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. She is the co-founder of Apofenie Magazine.

[email protected]

Articles

Culture

What will the new pope mean for Ukraine?

by Andrea Januta, Linda Hourani, Kate Tsurkan
With the announcement that Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost has been chosen as the new pope and leader of the Catholic Church, Ukrainians are wondering what the surprise appointment of the American-born pontiff will mean for their country. Past comments made by the new pope, who has taken the name Pope Leo XIV, quickly surfaced to form an idea of his views on immigration, gay rights, climate change, and the current U.S. administration. But with no similar public record of statements on Russia’s
Photos

Theater, drag shows, and art studios — Kharkiv’s cultural scene thrives, even in wartime (Photos)

by Amadeusz Świerk, Kate Tsurkan
Kharkiv, located a stone’s throw away from Russia’s border, continues to pulsate with a resilient spirit despite the invasion. Each cultural event that takes place in this eastern Ukrainian city is more than just artistic expression — it is a poignant reminder of what Ukraine stands to lose in the war. Documentary photographer Amadeusz Swierk traveled to Kharkiv to capture the city's cultural scene for his photo series “Art in the time of war.” While the war has forced a reimagining of how cul
Civilian captives

Thousands of Ukrainian civilians are locked in Russian prisons — will US peace talks leave them behind?

by Kate Tsurkan
When Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna’s body was returned from Russian captivity with organs missing to hide evidence of torture, the revelation sent shockwaves around the world. Roshchyna died in Russian captivity in the fall of 2024, but her body was only returned to Ukraine in February and officially identified in April. She was among 16,000 Ukrainian civilians held captive by Russia, according to Ukrainian authorities. The Geneva Conventions set strict limits on the detention of c
Interview

Chechen scholar: Russia’s cowardly violence in Ukraine is driven by desperation

by Kate Tsurkan
For most people today, the word Chechnya immediately brings to mind Ramzan Kadyrov, the authoritarian leader who governs the region as a loyal vassal of Vladimir Putin. It evokes images of a turbulent, fear-stricken state at the mercy of the Kremlin’s whims. Yet, Chechnya’s story is far more intricate. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Chechnya — like many former Soviet republics — sought independence from Moscow. This pursuit led to two brutal wars in 1994-1996 and 1999-2000 that devasta
Photos

Kherson keeps Easter traditions alive under fire (Photos)

by Stanislav Ostrous, Kate Tsurkan
In the battered southern city of Kherson, where Russian drone strikes and artillery target civilians daily, residents cling to traditions for both a semblance of normality and as an act of defiance. This year, just like every year before the start of the full-scale war, Kherson locals baked Easter bread, gathered with loved ones, and found ways to celebrate life amid the destruction caused by war. The wounds of Russian occupation still run deep, and so Easter offers a rare moment of solace amid
Culture

Pope Francis leaves a mixed legacy in wartime Ukraine, overshadowed by historic Vatican-Moscow ties

by Kate Tsurkan
Pope Francis, who passed away on April 21 at 88, leaves behind a legacy as vast and varied as his global influence. Yet in Ukraine, his track record is far from positive. For many Ukrainians, the Pope’s legacy is shaped by his repeated downplaying of the gravity of Ukraine’s fight for its survival in Russia’s war of aggression. His sweeping calls for peace over the past three years – from calling Ukrainians and Russians "brothers" to urging Ukraine to "have the courage of the white flag" in ne
News Feed

'They're hitting us with everything' — No sign of Russia's Easter 'truce,' Ukrainian soldiers say

by Kate Tsurkan, Francis Farrell, Yuliia Taradiuk
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced an Easter truce starting on April 19, claiming that it would "test Ukraine's sincerity in pursuing peace talks,"  but across the front line, Ukrainian soldiers have told the Kyiv Independent they have yet to see any sign of it. The "Easter ceasefire" was supposed to come into effect at 6 p.m. on April 19 and last until midnight on April 21. However, Russian FPV drone strikes have caused multiple civilian casualties in Kherson, a volunteer involved in
Russia

Decolonizing Russia — what it means and why it matters

by Kate Tsurkan
Speaking to France's National Assembly on April 11, Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza did not petition Europe for the Kremlin's total military defeat. Yet, while answering one of the many questions posed to him, he talked about how a colleague supposedly learned that ethnic Russians find it "psychologically difficult" to kill Ukrainians because they are so "similar." "They say… we are alike, these are very closely related peoples, as everyone knows: almost the same language, the sa
Obituary

'With honor and weapon in hand' — artist Marharyta Polovinko killed on front line defending Ukraine

by Kate Tsurkan
Artist Marharyta Polovinko could have spent her life creating art that challenged, provoked, and illuminated viewers. But Russia invaded her country, so she joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. A rising star in Ukraine's contemporary art scene, Polovinko made the decision to enlist in late 2024, channeling the same passion that drove her art into the defense of her country. The war shaped not only how she lived, but how she created art — many of her wartime-related pieces were made with her own
Book reviews

No redemption for empire — a review of Sergei Lebedev’s ‘Lady of the Mine’

by Kate Tsurkan
Over the past three years of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, the very mention of a Russian novel or film about Ukraine has understandably evoked trepidation among Ukrainians and Ukraine's supporters. Despite Russia’s relentless missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and the staggering number of documented war crimes committed by Russian troops on Ukrainian soil, a number of anti-war Russian artists have used their international platforms not to confront this harsh reality but to
Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., on Dec. 12, 2023.
Culture

Publishing house of Harvard’s Ukrainian Research Institute latest target of Trump’s federal budget cuts

by Kate Tsurkan
The future of Harvard’s Ukrainian Research Institute (HURI) publishing program is in jeopardy, as it has become the latest target of sweeping grant cuts under the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), an independent U.S. federal agency, informed HURI that there was “reasonable cause to terminate (their) grant in light of the fact that the NEH is repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the President’s agen
Interview

US overestimated its ability to deal with Russia over past 35 years, Alexander Vindman says

by Kate Tsurkan
Russia’s war against Ukraine is a continuation of Moscow’s centuries-long goal to obliterate Ukrainian culture and statehood. Over the past three decades, however, the United States has, through missteps and inaction, emboldened Russia’s aggression by failing to confront the looming threat — a failure which, under the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, could lead to a disastrous aftermath for Ukraine. This argument lies at the core of retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander V
Video

Alexander Vindman: Trump repeats past US mistakes with Russia

by Kate Tsurkan
Alexander Vindman served as the director of European affairs for the United States National Security Council in 2018-2020, during U.S. President Donald Trump's first administration. The Kyiv Independent's Kate Tsurkan sits down with Vindman to discuss how Washington has historically misjudged Russia, "succumbing to hopes and fears," and why there is no real prospect of peace between Ukraine and Russia now.
Culture

Explainer: Some Ukrainians speak Russian language — it doesn’t make them Russian

by Kate Tsurkan
Born in Crimea and raised in Kherson, journalist Yevheniia Virlych grew up speaking both Ukrainian and Russian in her daily life. It wasn’t until 2022, when she and her family lived through the Russian occupation of Kherson Oblast, that they made the definitive choice to abandon speaking Russian altogether. “It has become unacceptable to speak the language of the Russians who occupied, killed, and continue to kill our people,” Virlych told the Kyiv Independent. “We lived through it, and we felt

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