The War on Ukrainian Culture
With Russia actively trying to erase Ukraine’s national identity, the country’s music, literature, movies and monuments have become battlefields, my colleague Jason Farago writes.

A critic at large for the Times, Jason spent two weeks in Ukraine, traveling to the war zone to report on the role that cultural identity is playing in the conflict. The true culture war of our age is the war for democracy, he writes. Ukrainian culture, past and present, has become a vital line of defense for the whole liberal order.

I spoke to him just as he was about to board a flight. Our conversation has been lightly edited.

Why does culture play such an important role in this war?

Jason: Wars destroy culture. And this one is no different.

The last 25 years brought with them an absolutely appalling tide of cultural destruction. The war in Syria, particularly, resulted in dreadful damage to that country’s classical and Islamic heritage.