My name is Darya (Дарця) Tsymbalyuk, and I write, research, teach, and make images.
You can reach me at tsymbalyuk@uchicago.edu.
“Darya Tsymbalyuk’s is a powerful voice that speaks not only on behalf of millions of Ukrainians whose life was turned upside down by the Russian aggression against their homeland but also on behalf of the nature that has been destroyed by the war. A personal and powerful testimony on the destruction that still goes on.”
Serhii Plokhy, author of Chernobyl Roulette: A War Story
“Timely, necessary, galvanizing, enraging.”
Philippe Sands, UCL
“A gripping lament over the destruction that Russia has sowed into every nook of Ukraine’s natural environment. A must-read!”
Maria Popova, McGill University
“A supremely important book, in which all Ukrainians will recognize their disappearing landscape and the resilience of communities surviving the immense devastation and terror. Many have tried to write such a book, but only Tsymbalyuk has succeeded.”
Svitlana Matviyenko, Simon Fraser University
“A moving and beautifully written account of a country and its nature enduring war. At once analytical and deeply personal, it offers a unique window on to what is happening to the environment, society and culture in Ukraine”.
Emma Hakala, Finnish Institute of International Affairs
“Deeply personal and grounded in evidence, Tsymbalyuk's book is an elegy for what is lost in Ukraine to the violence of war. It documents the destruction of human and natural systems and provides insight into potential long-term consequences of military conflict.”
Lisa Brady, Boise State University
"Part memoir, part academic study, Ecocide in Ukraine is a marvellous and moving account of the massive destruction caused to the natural world by Russia's war. Darya Tsymbalyuk describes what has been lost. Fighting has wrecked the habits of unique flora and fauna, from rare mice to endangered flowers. An important and original account."
Luke Harding, author of Invasion: Russia's Bloody War and Ukraine's Fight for Survival, shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and Peterson Literary Prize