Piercing blue eyes, blond hair slicked back and shaved on the side, Serguiï Jadan, who has just celebrated his 48th birthday, a key figure in Ukrainian culture, sticks to his image as a punk poet. Baptized the “bard of eastern Ukraine” by the American magazine The New Yorker, the writer is the emblem of a city, Kharkiv, where he has lived since he arrived there in the 1990s to study from his native Donbass.
“I am impressed by the ability of Ukrainians to defend their freedom, their land, their territory,” he said in an interview. “That’s what gives me strength and confidence.” “When I see the number of people going to fight or volunteering, I realize how much potential Ukrainian society has. There is an enormous force in there”, continues the writer, convinced that his country “is going through very profound transformations”. “It is essential not to forget Ukraine, to talk regarding Ukraine, because we must win this war,” he says.
