Culture, democracy, and sovereignty: Andriy Lyubka’s War from the Rear explores what is at stake in the war in Ukraine

From the cover of "War from the Rear". Academic Studies Press

The Ukrainian author Andriy Lyubka is known for his keen sense of Ukraine’s global role, as well as his observations about contemporary Ukrainian life. His raucous novel Carbide followed Tys, a history teacher living in a small Transcarpathian village who finds himself disgruntled with Europe’s – and the world’s – lack of recognition of Ukraine. Despite its original 2015 publication date, the novel could not have proved more politically prophetic. This was made clear given the lack of awareness about Ukraine’s continental and global significance and cultural importance when the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. In his non-fiction book War from the Rear, translated into English by Yulia Lyubka and Kate Tsurkan, Lyubka once again dares to challenge global perceptions about Ukraine and her people. In particular, he does not shy away from acknowledging America’s – and the Trump administration’s – ignorance about Ukraine. At the same time, Lyubka simultaneously explores what it means to be a Ukrainian writer, father, husband, and volunteer during wartime.

War from the Rear opens with a punchy preface and establishes Lyubka’s cultural authority, as well as his place among Ukraine’s great writers. Ukraine’s poets, writers, artists, and musicians have, during the past four years, contended with the question of “Why create during wartime?” For Lyubka, the answer is rather simple: culture. He writes, “After all, culture is the foundation of the values we are fighting for.” He asserts that a “writer who can raise a million dollars to help the army in a poor country during a war is not about literature, but about trust. It is about the fact that in difficult times, culture is more resilient than politics because it unites regardless of any divisions.” Lyubka addresses these divisions – inside and outside of Ukraine – in the context of the geopolitical consequences of America’s November 2024 elections. He establishes that, in Ukraine, culture “is about values, respect for others, and trust”. He also acknowledges that War from the Rear is deeply rooted in showing its audience how “the American example of the ideal of freedom and democracy captivated us, taught us, prepared us, and shaped us.” Nonetheless, it is important to remember the role culture plays in an individual’s desire to help their homeland during the largest ground war in Europe since the Second World War.

Of course, without people, culture does not exist. Thus, War from the Rear, as Lyubka emphasizes, is a collection of human stories. He captures the experiences of families, volunteers, soldiers, and refugees in almost photographic detail. He adeptly records their stories, adding his commentary and interpretations about their situations very carefully so that his own do not dominate theirs. In the chapter “Baptists”, he makes a profound insight about how “the war became a point of reset for the entire state, filling old sacs with new content.” More so, Lyubka writes how the banal and everyday routines, rituals and objects people took for granted suddenly developed new importance and once more “take on their true meaning again”. More significantly, “Baptists” examines how Ukrainians of different religious and spiritual leanings – Lyubka, an atheist, begins working closely with a group of Baptists – overcome their divisions in order to work together towards a common goal. The concept of community subsequently centres Lyubka’s book, and his writings examine the myriad of ways Ukrainians have built community since February 2022.

Lyubka also boldly tackles Ukraine’s hotly debated entry to the EU. He writes that while he did not vote for President Zelenskyy, he recognizes that Ukraine’s fight is not only a fight for Ukraine, but also a fight for Europe: “We are fighting for democracy, for an individual’s right to choose, a nation’s right to self-determination, and for human rights and dignity.” He echoes Ukraine’s plea for the “right to become EU members in the future” and for Europe to send Ukraine “a signal of support”. His words, too, resonate given the increased attacks Russia has inflicted that has plunged much of Ukraine into cold and darkness: “…hope is our greatest shortage today, and it is hope that gives strength and courage. Give us this hope, show us that we are not alone.”

Individual and collective grief permeate the stories in Lyubka’s book. “War takes away people’s right to privacy, and it is precisely this privacy that forms a person’s individuality,” writes Lyubka. “War seeks to erase the individual stories of people and their specific names, turning them into numbers and statistics.” Again, Lyubka invokes culture to articulate this concept. “Ukraine has become the stage for ancient Greek tragedies,” he asserts. He states that by studying the biographies of ordinary Ukrainians, “one can explore the deep philosophical nuances of ancient literature.” He also makes a despairing, eye-opening, and emotionally jarring statement: “To truly grasp what grief, pain, tragedy, and loss mean, visit Ukraine. And if you’re searching for love, sacrifice, friendship, and goodness, you’ll find them here as well.” This sentiment mirrors his plea for hope, and he once again returns to the idea that Ukraine’s war is not a geopolitical one, but “a battle for the very core of European civilization”. Thus, like the Ukrainian volunteer-soldier Dimko Zhluktenko’s Ordinary Guy at War, Lyubka’s War from the Rear dissects how war erodes and reshapes an individual and, consequently, society.

The impactful role literature plays during wartime, too, is central to the book. Lyubka describes poetry as the “wartime queen”. This is a title poetry deserves particularly in regard to how poet-soldiers have shaped the scene during the current war. He acknowledges that “literature lovers have it harder during wartime because their apartments and houses burn faster after missile strikes. Books ignite, paper fuels the flames—and the fire truck doesn’t make it in time.” Lyubka, as a writer turned volunteer, is not unique in his role. Other writers such as Serhiy Zhadan, Artur Dron’, and Yaryna Chornohuz have halted their writing tours and careers in order to defend Ukraine. Their writings are not only contributions to the wartime canon; they are poetic cultural preservations during a volatile time in global history. Lyubka writes that war allows poetry to gain strength and reclaim its “long-lost position from antiquity”. He also concedes poetry’s accessibility during such critical times and how not only poetry, but books in general, “symbolized comfort” and represented “home itself”. In this, Lyubka testifies to the arts’ necessity and how, once again, war takes something individuals take for granted in their everyday lives and makes it indispensable when one is fleeing bombs and missiles and leaving behind their home.

War from the Rear is a testament to the necessity of translation and publishing during wartime. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the translation and publication of Ukrainian literature has surged internationally, with Ukrainian literature in translation becoming a primary educational force thanks to presses like Jantar Publishing, Academic Studies Press, and the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. The translation of War from the Rear by Lyubka’s wife, Yulia, and the Kyiv Independent’s Kate Tsurkan proves why translation is critical cultural work. Academic Studies Press’s publication of War from the Rear, too, shows that publishers – like volunteers such as Lyubka himself – make their own essential contributions to Ukraine’s survival as well.

War from the Rear: A Ukrainian aid volunteer’s story by Andriy Lyubka. Academic Studies Press, 2025

Nicole Yurcaba is a Ukrainian-American of Hutsul/Lemko origin. A poet and essayist, her poems and reviews have appeared in Appalachian Heritage, Atlanta Review, Seneca Review, New Eastern Europe, and Ukraine’s Euromaidan Press. Nicole holds an MFA in Writing from Lindenwood University, teaches poetry workshops for Southern New Hampshire University, and is in the Humanities faculty at Blue Ridge Community and Technical College in the United States. She also serves as a guest book reviewer for Sage Cigarettes, Tupelo Quarterly, Colorado Review, and Southern Review of Books.

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Book review, Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukrainian literature