War from the Rear

Andriy Lyubka is a Ukrainian poet, essayist, novelist, and translator known for his sharp wit and keen observations on contemporary life. Raised in Vynohradiv, Ukraine, he studied Ukrainian Philology at Uzhhorod National University and later earned a master’s degree in Balkan Studies from Warsaw University. Lyubka is the author of multiple poetry collections, short stories, and novels, including Carbide, a vivid exploration of smuggling culture in Ukraine’s Zakarpattia region. He also translates literature from Polish, Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian, and English. His essays and commentary appear in leading Ukrainian and international publications such as New Eastern Europe, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Den’. Currently based in Uzhhorod, Lyubka continues to be a significant voice in Ukrainian literature, offering insightful and often humorous perspectives on identity, conflict, and everyday resilience.Kate Tsurkan is a reporter at The Kyiv Independent, co-founder of the magazine Apofenie, author of the newsletter Explaining Ukraine, and co-translator of Oleh Sentsov’s Diary of a Hunger Striker (Deep Vellum 2024). Her 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.

“Ukraine's remarkable resistance to Russia's invasion is a true people's war. This is a country that does not look to politicians to tell them what to do. The country survives because people take agency and work with each other to get weapons to the front, supply hospitals, organise partisan movements and help refugees. Lyubka tells the stories of soccer players and coffee roasters, priests and Roma who are all playing their role in this great community of resistance. In the thing once known as 'the West' we often lament the loss of community—in Ukraine it is thriving and winning against the invasion of a cruel Empire. Lyubka brings it alive in prose that is unsentimental yet totally inspiring.” — Peter Pomerantsev, the author of This is Not Propaganda“An author and a war. Real-life autobiographical nonfiction road movie by and about a writer who supplied the army with 400 jeeps. Amazing story about amazing people.How to deliver 400 jeeps to the front lines for the Ukrainian army and stay alive? In this book you will find answers to questions that you do not yet know exist.This book is an eye-opener about the amazing interaction between the front and the rear in Ukraine from the cult writer Andriy Lyubka, who became one of the initiators of 'army crowdfunding.'” — Andrey Kurkov, author of Death and the Penguin“Delicate, tender, sharply observed vignettes of the Russo-Ukrainian war told from the inside – unexpected and profoundly humane” — Charlotte Higgins, editor-in-chief of The Guardian

• Roasted UgandaCarsSausageRomaSleeping in the Vienna Airport toilet TechykHoseKhrestyshcheBaptistsAir raid in BakhmutOn the roadThe story I will never writeHazelnutHumor that heals usThe smirk of the beastnA moment of truthThe strangerEvacuationKill listsOver Achilles’s graveOrientalismBizarre deviationsInvestmentsFlowers of victoryOdesaA wartime queenThe main thing is to survive until SeptemberThe cultural frontDegradationWar is not only about heroesDraftA country of young widowsAstamur Humba (“Abkhaz”)YouthBatiaAn icon painterPostscriptumAcknowledgements