Matvii Smirnov

Matvii Smirnov is a Ukrainian poet based in the United Kingdom. Born in Lviv, Ukraine, in 1974, he has lived in London since 2004. His Ukrainian poetry and English translations have been featured in various Ukrainian and international literary magazines and anthologies, including Dzvin (Lviv), Dnipro (Kyiv), Khreschatyk (Germany), Of Poets & Poetry (US). Matvii is the author of the poetry collection Shibboleth (Шібболет, Kyiv, 2024). Beyond his literary work, he is engaged in industrial innovation, and serves as the founder and director of Shield UA, a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Translations in London Ukrainian Review:

Tetiana Vlasova, ‘dance my little bird, right in the middle of town.

Contact: matveysmirnov@yahoo.com


Tanya Savchynska

Translator: Tanya SavchynskaTranslators

Tanya Savchynska is a literary translator working between Ukrainian and English. She holds an MA in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth College, where she studied on a Fulbright Scholarship. She was a 2019 resident at the Banff International Literary Translation Centre in Canada and a 2023 resident at the Art Omi Translation Lab in the US. Her writing and translations have appeared in The Los Angeles Review of Books, Asymptote, Apofenie, and elsewhere. Her translation of Kateryna Zarembo’s Ukrainian Sunrise: Stories of the Donetsk and Luhansk Regions from the Early 2000s was published by Academic Studies Press in 2024.

Martin Lohrer
Cover Image for Culture as Security

Culture as Security

Issue 5 (October 2025)

This issue of the London Ukrainian Review takes a look at culture as a matter of national security. Highlighting the voices of cultural figures who defend Ukraine with arms, it also examines culture as a tool of Russia’s imperialist expansion, all the while insisting on a bond between cultural familiarity and political solidarity.

Sasha Dovzhyk
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