A thousand years of history through its people: warriors and poets, scientists and artists. Pick an era or a field - or just browse.
1993–2023
Fighter pilot, “Juice”
A MiG-29 pilot of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade who returned to his brigade after the full-scale invasion began and defended the sky over Kyiv. He became one of the most prominent voices urging the West to give Ukraine F-16 fighters. Killed in 2023; Hero of Ukraine (posthumously).
NewRead
c. 1201–c. 1264
First king of Rus’
A prince who, after thirty years of struggle, reunited the Galician-Volhynian state. He defeated a coalition of rivals at Yaroslav (1245), sought Western allies against the Horde, and in 1253 accepted a royal crown from the pope.
NewRead
1995–2023
Commander of the “Da Vinci Wolves”
A volunteer who went to the front at 18, in 2014, and in eight years rose from platoon commander to commander of the “Da Vinci Wolves” battalion. The first volunteer to be made a Hero of Ukraine during his lifetime (2021). He was killed near Bakhmut in 2023.
NewRead
c. 1516–1563
One of the first Cossack leaders
A prince of the Volhynian Vyshnevetskyi family and starosta of Cherkasy and Kaniv, who rallied the Cossacks against the Tatars and built a castle on the island of Mala Khortytsia. He died in Turkish captivity; a folk song about the Cossack Baida made him immortal.
NewRead1998–2024
Journalist and combat medic
A journalist and manager at Suspilne who went to the front as a paramedic from the age of 17. In the full-scale war she led a Hospitallers battalion crew, evacuating the wounded from the front line. Killed in Kharkiv region on 29 May 2024, two days before turning 26. Hero of Ukraine (posthumously).
NewRead
1769–1838
Father of modern Ukrainian literature
A native of Poltava and author of the Eneida, the first major work printed in living vernacular Ukrainian (1798). Modern Ukrainian literature is traditionally dated from it, and his plays Natalka Poltavka and Moskal-Charivnyk launched the new Ukrainian theater.
NewRead1990–2024
Poet, photographer, SSO soldier
A poet and photographer, call sign “Dali”, a volunteer from 2014 and, from 2022, a special forces machine gunner. PEN Ukraine named his collection Poems from the Embrasure one of the best books of 2023. Killed on 7 January 2024; Hero of Ukraine (posthumously).
NewRead
1854–1934
Actress, star of Ukrainian theater
The most celebrated actress of Ukrainian theater of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who for 40 years played in the troupes of Marko Kropyvnytskyi, Mykhailo Starytskyi and Mykola Sadovskyi. She created more than 30 roles, including Natalka in Natalka Poltavka and Kharytyna in The Hired Girl.
NewRead
c. 910–969
First woman ruler of Kyivan Rus’
The wife of Prince Ihor, who after his death in 944 ruled Rus’ in place of her young son Sviatoslav. She subdued the Derevlianians, reorganized tribute collection and became the first ruler of Rus’ to accept Christianity.
NewRead
c. 958–1015
Baptizer of Rus’
Grand Prince of Kyiv who united the lands of Rus’ and made Christianity the state religion (traditionally dated 988). Under his rule Kyivan Rus’ became one of the largest states in Europe.
Read
c. 978–1054
“Father-in-law of Europe”
Grand Prince of Kyiv under whom Kyivan Rus’ reached its peak. He gave the state its first written law code, the Rus’ Justice, built Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv and married his children into Europe’s royal houses.
Read
c. 1025–c. 1075
Kyivan princess, Queen of France
A daughter of Prince Yaroslav the Wise of Kyiv who became Queen of France in 1051. The mother of King Philip I of France; today she is a symbol of the old ties between Rus’ and Europe.
Readc. 1201–c. 1264
First king of Rus’
A prince who, after thirty years of struggle, reunited the Galician-Volhynian state. He defeated a coalition of rivals at Yaroslav (1245), sought Western allies against the Horde, and in 1253 accepted a royal crown from the pope.
NewRead
c. 1505–1558
Wife of Sultan Suleiman I
A woman of Ukrainian origin who rose from slavery to become the lawful wife of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I and the mother of Sultan Selim II. Less is known about her life than the legends tell.
Readc. 1516–1563
One of the first Cossack leaders
A prince of the Volhynian Vyshnevetskyi family and starosta of Cherkasy and Kaniv, who rallied the Cossacks against the Tatars and built a castle on the island of Mala Khortytsia. He died in Turkish captivity; a folk song about the Cossack Baida made him immortal.
NewRead
c. 1582–1622
Hetman, victor at Khotyn
Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host who turned the Cossacks into a disciplined army that stopped the Ottoman Empire at Khotyn. He also defended the Orthodox Church and supported education.
Read
c. 1595–1657
Hetman, founder of the Cossack state
Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host who led the uprising of 1648 and created a Cossack state, the Hetmanate. A gifted commander and diplomat who negotiated with many states of Central and Eastern Europe and with the Ottoman Empire.
Read
c. 1639–1709
Hetman and patron of Cossack Baroque
Hetman who ruled the Hetmanate for over 20 years and tried to free Ukraine from Moscow’s control. A generous patron who funded the building and restoration of many churches in the Cossack Baroque style.
Read
1672–1742
Hetman in exile, constitution author
Mazepa’s general chancellor, elected hetman near Bender in 1710. Chief author of the Pacts and Constitutions, an agreement that limited the hetman’s power. He spent over 30 years in exile, seeking allies in Europe to free Ukraine.
NewRead
c. 1691–1803
Last otaman of the Zaporozhian Sich
The last otaman of the Zaporozhian Sich (1762, 1765–1775): an administrator and diplomat who defended Zaporozhian lands before St. Petersburg. After the Sich was destroyed in 1775, Catherine II exiled him to the Solovetsky Islands, where he spent 25 years in captivity.
NewRead
1866–1934
Historian, head of the Central Rada
One of Ukraine’s greatest historians, author of the ten-volume History of Ukraine-Rus’, and head of the Ukrainian Central Rada (council), under which Ukraine declared independence in 1918.
Read
1891–1938
First leader of the OUN
Colonel of the army of the Ukrainian People’s Republic and commander of the Sich Riflemen. After the defeat of the independence struggle he led the underground Ukrainian Military Organization, and in 1929 became the first leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).
Read
1907–1950
Commander-in-chief of the UPA
General and commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) from 1943. For almost six years he led the armed underground against Soviet rule, and he was killed in combat. He remains a contested figure.
Read
1909–1959
Leader of the OUN-B
Leader of the OUN-B, whose followers proclaimed the Act of Restoration of the Ukrainian State in 1941. For many Ukrainians a symbol of the fight against the Nazi and Soviet regimes; at the same time one of the most contested figures in history.
Read
1722–1794
The wandering philosopher
One of the most important Ukrainian philosophers of the 18th century, a poet and teacher. He taught that happiness lies in knowing yourself and in “kindred work” - the work you are naturally called to do.
Read1769–1838
Father of modern Ukrainian literature
A native of Poltava and author of the Eneida, the first major work printed in living vernacular Ukrainian (1798). Modern Ukrainian literature is traditionally dated from it, and his plays Natalka Poltavka and Moskal-Charivnyk launched the new Ukrainian theater.
NewRead
1809–1852
Classic of world prose
A writer of Ukrainian origin who wrote in Russian, one of the most influential prose writers of the 19th century. His Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka and Taras Bulba introduced readers worldwide to Ukrainian culture.
Read
1814–1861
National poet of Ukraine
The national poet of Ukraine, an artist and thinker. His work laid the foundations of modern Ukrainian literature and the literary language, and shaped Ukrainians’ national consciousness.
Read
1833–1907
Writer, a classic of Ukrainian prose
The writer Mariia Vilinska, who wrote under the pen name Marko Vovchok. Her Folk Stories (1857) about the lives of serfs were a landmark in Ukrainian literature, and Taras Shevchenko called her his “daughter.” She translated 15 Jules Verne novels into Russian.
NewRead
1856–1916
Writer, scholar and thinker
Writer, poet, scholar and journalist, the author of thousands of works. He was one of the first to argue for Ukraine’s political independence.
Read
1871–1913
Poet and playwright
Poet, playwright and public figure, author of The Forest Song. Despite a serious illness she wrote dramas of world standing and became, for many, a symbol of strength of spirit.
Read
1893–1933
Voice of the Executed Renaissance
Writer and pamphleteer, one of the leaders of the Ukrainian cultural revival of the 1920s. His slogan “Away from Moscow!” called for turning towards Europe, and his fate became a symbol of a generation of artists destroyed by the Soviet regime.
Read
1906–1942
Poet and OUN activist
A poet and essayist who grew up in a Russian-speaking environment and, in emigration, became one of the voices of Ukrainian nationalism. In 1941, in occupied Kyiv, she headed the Union of Ukrainian Writers. In 1942 she was executed by the Nazis and most likely buried at Babyn Yar.
NewRead
b. 1930
Poet of the Sixtiers
A poet and one of the earliest of the Sixtiers. Soviet censorship kept her poems out of print for more than ten years, and her historical novel in verse Marusia Churai earned her the Shevchenko Prize.
Read
1938–1985
Poet and human rights defender
Poet of the Sixtiers generation and human rights defender, a member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group. He died in a Soviet labor camp, leaving Palimpsests, one of the landmark collections of modern Ukrainian poetry.
Read
1879–1935
Painter, founder of Suprematism
A painter and art theorist born in Kyiv to a family of Polish origin. One of the founders of abstract art, the author of Black Square (1915) and the founder of Suprematism.
Read
1887–1964
Innovator of modern sculpture
Kyiv-born sculptor and one of the founders of Cubist sculpture. He made the void and the hole part of the form, and this device influenced modern sculpture of the 20th century.
Read
1900–1961
Master of folk painting
A self-taught painter from a Ukrainian village and a master of decorative flower painting. With no art training she created her own style, and her work was shown at an international exhibition in Paris.
Read
b. 1936
Painter, creator of “plontanism”
A painter, graphic artist and sculptor whose work the Soviet authorities refused to recognize because it did not conform to socialist realism. He created his own technique of painting with fine interwoven lines, “plontanism”. A Shevchenko Prize laureate and People’s Artist of Ukraine.
Read
1842–1912
Father of Ukrainian classical music
Composer, ethnographer and conductor, founder of Ukrainian classical music. Author of the operas Natalka Poltavka and Taras Bulba and of “Prayer for Ukraine”, which became the country’s spiritual anthem.
Read1854–1934
Actress, star of Ukrainian theater
The most celebrated actress of Ukrainian theater of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who for 40 years played in the troupes of Marko Kropyvnytskyi, Mykhailo Starytskyi and Mykola Sadovskyi. She created more than 30 roles, including Natalka in Natalka Poltavka and Kharytyna in The Hired Girl.
NewRead
1872–1952
Opera singer (soprano)
A Ukrainian opera singer (soprano) who performed on leading stages in Europe and South America, including La Scala in Milan. In 1904, at Giacomo Puccini’s invitation, she brilliantly sang the role of Butterfly after his opera’s failed premiere.
Read
1877–1921
Composer of “Shchedryk”
Composer and choir conductor who arranged “Shchedryk”. The world knows the melody as “Carol of the Bells”, and millions of people hear it every year.
Read
1893–1919
Film actress, “queen of the screen”
Born in Poltava, she was one of the first great stars of silent cinema in the Russian Empire and was called the “queen of the screen.” In under five years she appeared in dozens of films, including works by the directors Yevgeny Bauer and Pyotr Chardynin. She died in Odesa in 1919, aged 25.
NewRead
1905–1986
Paris Opera dancer and choreographer
A Kyiv-born ballet dancer and choreographer who led the Paris Opera Ballet for more than a quarter of a century. He created more than 200 ballets and became one of the founders of the neoclassical trend in choreography.
Read
1924–1990
Visionary film director
Film director whose Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors revealed the poetry of the Ukrainian Carpathians to the world. After he defended persecuted artists, the authorities imprisoned him on fabricated charges, but his films became classics of world cinema.
Read
1953–1998
American singer of Ukrainian descent
An American singer of Ukrainian descent, born in New York to a family of emigrants from Lviv. Known as a voice of American advertising and film soundtracks, and in Ukraine for her two albums of Ukrainian songs.
Read
1863–1945
Author of the noosphere theory
Encyclopaedic scientist, one of the founders of geochemistry and biogeochemistry, and first president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. His ideas of the biosphere and noosphere influenced modern ecological thinking.
Read
1889–1972
Pioneer of aviation and helicopters
Kyiv-born aircraft designer who built the world’s first multi-engine heavy aircraft and the first mass-produced helicopter. Having lost everything after the revolution, he started over in the United States and changed world aviation.
Read
1907–1966
Chief Designer of the space age
Zhytomyr-born rocket and spacecraft designer. Under his leadership the first Earth satellite and the first human were launched into space - even though the Soviet regime had sent him to a labor camp in Kolyma.
Read
1913–2002
Pioneering heart surgeon
Heart surgeon, scientist and writer, one of the pioneers of cardiac surgery. He founded an institute in Kyiv where thousands of lives were saved, and developed his own system for staying healthy.
Read
1918–2020
Electric welding scientist
A scientist in electric welding and metallurgy who headed the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine for 58 years, from 1962 to 2020. Under his leadership electroslag welding was created, and in 1969 the world’s first welding experiments were carried out in space.
Read
1926–2016
Economist, Club of Rome member
An economist and public figure who was born in the Ternopil region and lived and worked in Canada and Switzerland. For 18 years he headed the International Management Institute in Geneva, and after 1991 he helped build independent Ukraine.
Read
1937–1999
Dissident and leader of Rukh
Journalist, dissident and politician who spent more than 13 years in Soviet camps and exile. After his release he became a leader of the independence movement and headed the People’s Movement of Ukraine (Rukh).
Read
1865–1944
Metropolitan of the UGCC
Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church for 43 years, patron of culture and protector of the persecuted. During the Nazi occupation he sheltered Jews and condemned the killings in his pastoral letter “Thou Shalt Not Kill”.
Read
1871–1949
Wrestler, “Champion of Champions”
A wrestler and strongman from the Cherkasy region who won many international classical wrestling tournaments in the early 20th century. Posters called him the “Champion of Champions,” and he earned a reputation as unbeatable.
Read
1939–2002
Visionary coach of Dynamo Kyiv
Legendary football coach who made Dynamo Kyiv one of the strongest clubs in Europe. He was one of the first to put football on a scientific footing, with data analysis and systematic training.
Read
1980–2022
Territorial defense sniper, Hero
An electrician from Nizhyn who volunteered for the Territorial Defense in March 2022 and fought as a sniper near Bakhmut and Soledar. Taken prisoner, he said “Slava Ukraini!” (“Glory to Ukraine!”) and was shot by Russian soldiers. His last words became a symbol of resilience.
NewRead1980–2022
Poet, founder of Dukh Natsii
A poet and scientist from Lviv (real name Yurii Dadak), founder of the literary and educational project Dukh Natsii (“Spirit of the Nation”) and long-time host of the Kholodnyi Yar festival. On 24 February 2022 he volunteered for the 24th Brigade; he was killed in Luhansk Oblast on 1 April 2022.
NewRead
1988–2022
Sniper and intelligence officer, Hero
An officer from Berdiansk who commanded a sniper company of the 79th Air Assault Brigade and from 2014 fought at Lyman, Donetsk airport and Avdiivka. Hero of Ukraine (2016). Later a military intelligence officer, he was killed near Hostomel defending Kyiv, on his 34th birthday.
NewRead1990–2024
Poet, photographer, SSO soldier
A poet and photographer, call sign “Dali”, a volunteer from 2014 and, from 2022, a special forces machine gunner. PEN Ukraine named his collection Poems from the Embrasure one of the best books of 2023. Killed on 7 January 2024; Hero of Ukraine (posthumously).
NewRead1993–2023
Fighter pilot, “Juice”
A MiG-29 pilot of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade who returned to his brigade after the full-scale invasion began and defended the sky over Kyiv. He became one of the most prominent voices urging the West to give Ukraine F-16 fighters. Killed in 2023; Hero of Ukraine (posthumously).
NewRead1995–2023
Commander of the “Da Vinci Wolves”
A volunteer who went to the front at 18, in 2014, and in eight years rose from platoon commander to commander of the “Da Vinci Wolves” battalion. The first volunteer to be made a Hero of Ukraine during his lifetime (2021). He was killed near Bakhmut in 2023.
NewRead
1997–2022
Civic activist and scout
A Kyiv activist who, at 16, was among the students beaten when the Maidan protest was broken up, and who later saved the Protasiv Yar green space from developers. He volunteered to fight from the start of the full-scale invasion and was killed near Izium on 9 June 2022, aged 24.
NewRead1998–2024
Journalist and combat medic
A journalist and manager at Suspilne who went to the front as a paramedic from the age of 17. In the full-scale war she led a Hospitallers battalion crew, evacuating the wounded from the front line. Killed in Kharkiv region on 29 May 2024, two days before turning 26. Hero of Ukraine (posthumously).
NewRead
2003–2024
Azov combat medic, “Hrienka”
A combat medic with Azov and one of the youngest defenders of Azovstal: at 19 he held the line in besieged Mariupol. He survived four months as a prisoner of war, returned to the front and led a reconnaissance platoon. He was killed near Kreminna at 21; Hero of Ukraine (posthumously).
NewReadNo one found. Try another word or clear the filters.