Three poems by Ukrainian soldier-poets published in the London Ukrainian Review

Poems by three Ukrainian soldiers have been published in the London Ukrainian Review. The selection, titled “All Hearts Are Born to Beat,” features works by Ukrainian soldiers and poets Yeva Tur, Valeriy Puzik, and Vasek Dukhnovskyi.

“Ukrainian war-time poetry goes beyond literary conventions. These poems, written by defenders, embody a culture that is being shaped through the struggle for survival — verses composed between battles resonate with courage born of conscious choice and civic conviction,” writes translator Larissa Babij in her preface to the poems.

She provides biographical notes about Yeva Tur, Valeriy Puzik, and Vasek Dukhnovskyi, and concludes:

“Ukraine’s warrior poets — dozens of whom have been killed defending their homeland during Russia’s full-scale invasion — remind us of the power of individual choice and the shared experience of being human. Public space in today’s globalised world has been transformed by digital social media, which thrives on the speed of simple replication. Ukrainian wartime poetry creates a different kind of space, where poet and listener tune to one another, without abandoning their own experience of the world, war, and cultural history they share. This poetry generates and fortifies relationships — between past and present, between the front line and the home front, between one human being and another.”

The poems in English translation can be read here.

Yeva Tur — poet, veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war, paramedic, aerial scout, editor, and artist. She is one of the authors of the collection “The Little Yellow Excavator” (Orlando Publishing House) and co-author of the collection “#Frontmen” (Publisher 333).

Valeriy Puzik — serviceman, poet, prose writer, artist, film director, and screenwriter. Author of “With Love — Dad,” “Homeless Dogs,” “Monolith,” “I Saw Him Alive, Dead, and Alive Again,” and “The Mine. Morning Report”; co-author of the collection “#Frontmen” (Publisher 333). Recently, Valerii Puzik was recognized as Best Podcaster by America House and received the Halyna Mohylnytska Award in the category “Civic Position, Honor, and Dignity.” His poems have also been published in the Estonian literary magazine “Looming.”

Vasek Dukhnovskyi — poet, slammer, and soldier. Before the new phase of the Russian-Ukrainian war, he worked as a librarian at the Kyiv Youth Library and organized poetry readings called “Poetic Meat Grinder.” He is co-author of the fantasy prose collection “Sunrise” (Motornyi Ravlyk Publishing).

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Copy editing: Joy Tataryn