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Lead book review

Besieged Odesa is still caught in a conflict of identities

Older citizens have identified with Russia all their lives – and Russian is still commonly spoken everywhere. But young Odesans are now using more Ukrainian as a symbol of resistance

30 November 2024

9:00 AM

30 November 2024

9:00 AM

Undefeatable: Odesa in Love and War Julian Evans

Scotland Street Press, pp.200, 24.99

How can you break the mental manacles of an empire that has occupied not only your physical world but also your education, publishing, media, high culture and popular entertainment? In his endearing memoir of Odesa, Undefeatable, Julian Evans quotes the Ukrainian author Viktoria Amelina, who describes growing up in post-Soviet Ukraine surrounded by all things Russian.

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