The War in Ukraine Is the True Culture War

Between the air raid sirens, amid updates from the front, there grows what saves. “​​I had the feeling in the first days, and even now, that there was sand in my mouth instead of words,” said

, a celebrated novelist and historian, when we met for Crimean Tatar food a few days after Kyiv’s most recent bombardment. Ms. Stiazhkina was born in Donetsk, the largest city in the Donbas, and fled when Russian-backed separatists fought to take control in 2014. Her novels,…