For Serhiy Jadan, writer committed against the war in Ukraine, a “transformed country” is being born

The courage and mobilization of Ukrainian society will enable it to win the war against Russia, says Ukrainian writer Serhiy Jadan, convinced that a country “transformed” is being born. “I am impressed by the ability of Ukrainians to defend their freedom, their land, their territory,” he said in an interview with AFP in mid-August, a few minutes before a recital of his poems in a theater in kyiv. “This is what gives me strength and confidence”

Piercing blue eyes, blond hair slicked back and shaved on the side, the writer who has just celebrated his 48th birthday, a key figure in Ukrainian culture, sticks to his image as a punk poet. Dubbed the “Bard of Eastern Ukraine” by the American magazine The New YorkerSerhiy Jadan is the emblem of a city, Kharkiv, where he has lived since he arrived there in the 1990s to study from his native Donbass.

It is in this largely Russian-speaking region of north-eastern Ukraine, the epicenter of the fighting for several weeks, that he sets his novels written in Ukrainian which speak with tenderness of the left behind in post-Soviet Ukraine. .

It never left Kharkiv, even when Russian troops who still regularly bombard it (21 civilians were killed there last week) seemed on the verge of seizing it in March. In April, the AFP had met him, reciting verses under a purple neon in an underground bunker transformed into a refuge, to raise the morale of the inhabitants.

But Serhiy Jadan, poet, novelist and cult musician, stopped writing six months ago to devote himself to humanitarian aid and support for the Ukrainian army. “All these activities, I put them on hold”, he explains, before speaking on behalf of the Ukrainians: “We are citizens mobilized in the defense of our country”.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, Ukrainian civil society has mobilized massively to help the victims of the conflict or to raise funds. “When I see the number of people going to fight or volunteering, I realize how much potential Ukrainian society has. There is enormous strength in that,” continues the writer, convinced that his country “is going through very profound transformations”.

It is moreover to raise funds for the purchase of vehicles for the armed forces that he is performing in kyiv. Two evenings in a row, the 670 seats of the Maison du Cinéma are sold out. His arrival on stage provokes a standing ovation. For 1h30, he recites his short poems, composed in the years preceding the invasion. But the themes are more topical than ever: the city of Mariupol now razed to the ground, life or love during the war in the Donbass, where fighting has been going on for eight years…“Jadan is our conscience (…) His poems are about ourselves, who we are and what surrounds us”, confides Taras Katrytchenko, a 34-year-old spectator.

During the winter of 2013-2014, an already recognized writer, Sergei Jadan had actively participated in the pro-European Maidan movement in Kharkiv. This year, his hometown of Starobilsk, near Luhansk, was occupied from the start of the invasion. Enough to leave him with few illusions. “I don’t really like the phrase ‘culture is a weapon’ because it’s imprecise. A weapon is a weapon, and wars are won with weapons,” says the writer. “Culture will be important after the victory, to live life to the full”.

A week ago, Sergei Jadan left Ukraine to raise funds and mobilize Europeans in support of his country. “It is essential not to forget Ukraine, to talk about Ukraine, because we must win this war”, he throws. “We are going to remind the world that a military operation, the largest since the Second World War, is taking place. And in this operation, you have to have very clear-cut positions: either you support the occupier and the aggressor, or you support Ukraine”.