The London Ukrainian Review is an open-access journal that tackles global challenges through the prism of Ukraine while adopting a distinctly internationalist perspective on the Ukrainian past and present. It not only counters the clichéd portrayal of Ukrainian culture, society, and politics but also highlights forgotten aspects of history, firmly situating the country in the global context. The journal’s pool of contributors unites creative practitioners, writers, academics, policymakers, and Ukraine experts, providing an independent platform for cross-cultural dialogue.
The London Ukrainian Review was founded in 2021 as a special publication of the Ukrainian Institute London (UIL). Its initial issues explored the three decades after Ukraine’s referendum for independence, Ukraine’s traditions of defiance seen through the writing of Lesia Ukrainka, Ukrainian war literature, and the legacy of Victoria Amelina.
In 2024, the Ukrainian Institute London partnered with the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM Vienna) and Academic Studies Press (ASP) to relaunch the London Ukrainian Review as a regular index journal and publish issues on the environment, Crimean Tatars, and justice. In 2025, INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange has joined the initiative as a publishing partner. London Ukrainian Review is searchable across all major scholarly databases and, at the same time, committed to publishing thought-provoking and engaging open-access content.
The formats of the London Ukrainian Review range from essays, poetry, and interviews to literature reviews and visual art. The journal’s thematic issues aim to cover topics as diverse as the environment, imperial legacies, justice, and cultural resistance.
In keeping with the UIL’s mission of widening access to Ukrainian literature in translation, a special LUR Translates blog collects new translations of Ukrainian writing into English.
Publishing partners
The UIL is an independent charity that champions Ukrainian culture and shapes the conversation about Ukraine in the UK and beyond. It engages experts, creatives, policymakers, and active citizens to explore Ukrainian perspectives on international challenges.
The IWM is a community of scholars pursuing advanced research in the humanities and social sciences. For four decades, the Institute has promoted intellectual exchange across disciplines, between academia and society, and among different regions of the world. It hosts more than a hundred fellows each year, organises public exchanges, and publishes books, articles, and digital fora.
ASP is an independent scholarly publisher based in Boston, MA, devoted to advancing knowledge and understanding in the humanities and social sciences, with an emphasis on Slavic and Jewish studies.
Editorial policy
The London Ukrainian Review values accuracy, fairness, and independence. We commission authors to write original pieces that are free of prejudice, bias, or external influence.
Racial discrimination, xenophobia, anti-semitism, discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, as well as colonial narratives that denigrate the culture or historical heritage of any people, race, or other community are prohibited on the pages of the London Ukrainian Review.
We apply a zero-tolerance policy for any justifications of Russian aggression against Ukraine or other countries. We refrain from spreading misinformation, including but not limited to that produced by Russia.
Whether covering the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine or other sensitive topics, the London Ukrainian Review contributors must exercise consideration and care when approaching survivors, victims, or their relatives, and refrain from intruding on private grief.
Children and adolescents must not be involved in the London Ukrainian Review materials without the consent of their parents or guardians.
Prioritising readability, we reduce footnotes in essays to the bare minimum. Authors are responsible for fact-checking their essays. They should identify their sources of information transparently in the body of the piece and not plagiarise.
The London Ukrainian Review is open to publishing opinions that differ from the editorial position.
Unsolicited submissions to the London Ukrainian Review are not accepted.
Editor-in-chief
Dr Sasha Dovzhyk is an author, curator, and the chairperson of INDEX: Institute of Documentation and Exchange, a new cultural and research institution based in Lviv. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Los Angeles Review of Books, CNN Opinion, and others. She has edited three books and holds a PhD in English and Comparative Literature from Birkbeck, University of London.
Contact: dovzhyk@uil.org.uk
Managing editor
Larissa Babij is a Ukrainian-American translator and writer based in Kyiv since 2005. A Kind of Refugee: The Story of an American Who Refused to Leave Ukraine, a book based on her dispatches on Substack from wartime Ukraine, was published by ibidem Press in 2024. Her writing and translations have been published in The Evergreen Review, Arrowsmith Journal, London Ukrainian Review, Krytyka, and other publications.
Editorial board
Dr Olesya Khromeychuk (Director, UIL)
Dr Mariia Shynkarenko (Research Associate, IWM)
Alessandra Anzani (Editorial Director, ASP)
Team
Larissa Babij
Managing editor
Oksana Popova
Operations Manager
Anton Trofimchuk
Communications Officer
Maliek Banat
Public Relations Officer
Aidan Jaskowiak
Copyeditor
Catherine Jaskowiak
Copyeditor
Martin Lohrer
Web Development
Image: Artist Andrii Sahaidakovskyi in the process of creating a wall inscription, Mystetskyi Arsenal. Photo by Oleksandr Popenko.
