Ukrainian borscht

The material on this site may not ukrainian borscht reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Evacuees from the city of Irpin, north-west of Kyiv, March 2022. Last modified on Sun 27 Nov 2022 11. Guardian journalist Luke Harding was in Kyiv sharing borscht, Ukraine’s much-loved national dish, with Andrey Kurkov, the country’s most celebrated living writer.

On what would become the fateful eve of Russia’s invasion, Kurkov called himself an optimist. The date of 24 February is now seared in memory and history. Europe’s worst war in 80 years has scorched entire cities, cost many thousands of lives, torn countless families apart and sparked price hikes and hardship far and wide. It has also upended our understanding of Russia’s much-vaunted military might and Ukraine’s now much-lauded fighting spirit. A reminder, if ever there was one, that wars are about metal and mettle.

It’s an impressive turnaround to publish a book entitled Invasion as Russia’s onslaught still unfolds to devastating effect. There’s a light touch of Ukraine’s deeply layered history, often provided through the reflections of poets and political thinkers from both Russia and Ukraine. History was sitting in every European capital as leaders struggled to respond to this conflagration on their doorstep. Russian warship, go fuck yourself’: what happened next to the Ukrainians defending Snake Island? Even for those of us who lived through those uncertain early weeks in Kyiv, as a 40-mile long Russian military convoy lumbered ominously towards the capital, this book offers new twists.

Did Putin choose the date of 24 February because it was the birthday of one of his heroes, Fyodor Ushakov, the 18th-century naval commander and admiral celebrated for his success in battle? And there are delicious words too, such as zugzwang. In chess parlance, it means that any move you make leads to a deterioration in your position. But war, ugly and cruel, always throws up surprises and shocks.

Media Limited or its affiliated companies. Borsch”, “Borshch”, and “Borsht” redirect here. In North America, borscht is often linked with either Jews or Mennonites, the groups who first brought it there from Europe. East Slavic languages, such as Ukrainian.