To mark World Poetry Day, the War Museum hosted the military culture music and poetry evening “The Power of the Word.” The event was held with the support of Cultural Forces of Ukraine, an association of servicemembers and cultural figures dedicated to strengthening morale, promoting culture, and working with frontline communities during wartime.
All participants in the evening were either active servicemembers or artists directly connected to the russian-Ukrainian War. Their performances combined personal experiences of military service, poetry, music, and reflections on loss, memory, freedom, and the strength of human resilience.
The evening opened with a performance by Oleksii Spivak (HooD), a major and deputy commander of the 4th Battalion of the 101st Brigade for the Protection of the General Staff named after Colonel-General Henadii Vorobiov, who performed the song “Forgive Me for Dying.”
Poet and serviceman Oleksandr Kucherenko (Sashko Obrii), who serves in the Mara Unmanned Systems Battalion of the 66th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Prince Mstyslav the Brave, presented the poems “The Ruined House” and “The Black Raven,” written in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions.
Ukrainian rap artist and serviceman Yan Shypula, who volunteered for military service on the first day of the full-scale invasion, performed the compositions “Monomakh,” “Mazepa,” and the satirical song “For a Long Time Yet.” The performance was further enriched by a saxophone solo from Andrii Barmolii, a musician with Cultural Forces of Ukraine.
A separate segment of the evening was devoted to poetry and the spoken word. Actor, director, and serviceman Oleksii Skliarenko recited the poem “Pour Me, O God, Some of This World.” Theatre director Artur Artimeniev presented the poems “Explosion, the Second” and “We Do Not Say Goodbye.” Writer and serviceman Valerii Puzik read the poem “What I Knew About My Country,” while writer and veteran Fedir Rudyi recited the poems “Desire” and “Ukraine.”
Singer and serviceman Oleksandr Kvarta also joined the program, performing the songs “Unbreakable, Unconquered” and “Ukraine.”
A particularly powerful impression on the audience was made by poet and servicewoman Oksana Stupenko, a captain of the 101st Brigade for the Protection of the General Staff named after Colonel-General Henadii Vorobiov. Her poems “A Letter to a Buryat” and “A Woman in the Army” addressed the first days of the full-scale invasion, the experience of war, and the role of women in the military.
During the evening, historian and serviceman Ihor Starenkyi also performed his original poem “The Price of Freedom.”
The musical program continued with a performance by the band Kolo Dii. The band’s frontman, Pavlo Kolodii, who currently serves in the Medical Forces of Ukraine, performed the song “Your Freedom.”
The culmination of the evening was the performance by the Cultural Forces of Ukraine Vocal Ensemble, a musical group established in 2025 at the initiative of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The ensemble consists of professional musicians, former soloists, and performers from Ukraine’s leading musical institutions. The audience responded especially emotionally to the performance of Myroslav Kuvaldin’s song “Goodbye,” dedicated to the memory of fallen comrades.
A recording of the event is available on the Museum’s YouTube channel.
The War Museum expresses its gratitude to all servicemembers and artists who, even in times of war, continue to create, speak through the language of culture about their experiences, and contribute to the development of Ukraine’s contemporary military culture.
