{"id":166020,"date":"2026-07-11T16:30:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T13:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theukrainians.org\/nataliia-kryvda\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T16:04:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T14:04:53","slug":"nataliia-kryvda-eng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theukrainians.org\/en\/nataliia-kryvda-eng\/","title":{"rendered":"Nataliia Kryvda: On the Art of Responsibility"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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This interview was made possible thanks to the support of The Ukrainians Media community \u2014 hundreds of people who believe in independent, high-quality journalism. If you value our work, consider supporting us<\/span> and help us tell more meaningful stories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\u201cNo one has thought to ask me about my personal life before,\u201d says Nataliia as she invites us into a small house with a tall attic. It\u2019s tucked away in a courtyard on Volodymyrska Street, across from the National Opera. The professor\u2019s office is on the first floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The walls are made of wood, with built-in cabinets and shelves; the interior features a leather sofa and armchairs, as well as an antique desk. It\u2019s a space that looks frozen in time. \u201cThese are all my books,\u201d says Kryvda, as if anticipating the first question. \u201cBooks about the Armed Forces of Ukraine, about Ivan Pinzel [a sculptor known as the genius of Ukrainian Baroque \u2014 Ed.]<\/em>, about art, 1980s architecture and Timothy Snyder\u2019s \u2018On Freedom.\u2019\u201d After a pause, she adds: \u201cAnd calendars from Come Back Alive and Azov. I work with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The estate, built in the early 20th century in the late Art Nouveau style with neoclassical elements, belonged to Volodymyr Illiashenko, a financier at the Kyiv Land Bank. In the 1920s and 1930s, Nataliia explains, the building was divided into rooms. Writers, poets and artists lived in each one. One of them was Valerian Pidmohylnyi. He wrote part of his novel \u201cThe City\u201d here and not in Kharkiv. This thought, says Kryvda, warms her heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGiven its ornate decor, this building isn\u2019t an integral part of my identity. If we\u2019d met at Shevchenko University, that would be a different story. Or at St. Sophia Cathedral. Here, I\u2019m more of a guest. But I enjoy working within these walls,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She takes her coffee black, without sugar.

The Illiashenko Estate is now home to the Institute for National Resilience and Security. The institute conducts research on how to make Ukraine more resilient to war, crises and security threats. Nataliia Kryvda is a research consultant there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kyiv in May<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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When Nataliia was born, her parents lived in a communal apartment on Prorizna Street, which runs uphill from Khreshchatyk toward the Golden Gate. Later, her father was assigned an apartment on Vynohradnyi Lane in the Lypky neighborhood. The lane appeared on the city\u2019s map in the mid-19th century; its name comes from a vineyard that once grew there. The apartment buildings, however, were built there in the 1960s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kyiv in May is her favorite \u2014 the air is filled with the scent of lilacs and the Hryshko Botanical Garden blooms above the Dnipro. Since childhood, she has known every gap in its fence. This knowledge came in handy in the spring of 2020, when the botanical garden was closed due to COVID-19. Even then, she and her daughter still found their own pathways to the birch grove, the rose garden and the greenhouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kyiv of her childhood is a city of fountains \u2014 in Mariinsky Park, near the Golden Gate and at the Philharmonic. In the heat, they serve not just as decorative elements, but also as places where you can cool off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After school, she and her classmates would sometimes go to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. They\u2019d climb up to the bell tower even before the restoration, when the spiral staircase was still there, but the inner landings were already gone. It was dangerous, scary and exciting. At the Lavra, they absolutely had to climb over the fence into the apple orchard, wait until the guard looked away and pick an apple. Not because they didn\u2019t have enough food at home \u2014 this was just what childhood tasted like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another quintessential taste of Kyiv for Nataliia Kryvda is the Kyiv cake. Even though almost no one in her family likes it, she still buys a small one for herself on special occasions, while choosing a different dessert for the rest of the family. At one time, a special Prague cake was on this list. There\u2019s a legend that its recipe was borrowed from the Austrian Sacher cake. \u201cI was in Austria, and I tried Sacher \u2014 it tastes nothing like it,\u201d she adds with a laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Kryvda, Kyiv isn\u2019t just the city where she lives. It represents the importance of the moment and the continuity of history. She calls it fantastically historic, its thousand-year history seeped into its everyday existence. She speaks, as if voicing Kyiv\u2019s thoughts: \u201cYes, I\u2019m a thousand years old, and I know that for sure. St. Sophia stands within me, older than Notre-Dame de Paris. Are you going to lecture me about eternity?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Also, says Nataliia, Kyiv is warm and intimate. It loves its leisurely pace, its gardens and long walks. But when necessary, it knows how to defend itself. That was true in the days of Kyivan Rus\u2019, and it remains true today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The path towards a choice<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The realization that history is more than just what\u2019s written in a textbook came to Nataliia Kryvda while she was still in school. Her history teacher, Svitlana Petrovska, organized a school theater group with the older students. At first, the students worked with archives, searched for documents, and met with eyewitnesses; only then did they put on their plays. For one of the plays, they tracked down the class of 1941, who fought in World War II. Some of them hadn\u2019t seen each other in decades; they reunited in the school auditorium. Nataliia felt it: she was part of history and felt responsible for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seemed as though Nataliia Kryvda\u2019s path had been predetermined. She wanted to study in the Red Building of Kyiv University. But at the same time, she dreamed of studying art history, and to do that, she needed to enroll in an art institute. The creative entrance exam required drawing skills. \u201cI draw about as well as I dance. And just as well as I sing. That is, not well at all,\u201d Nataliia explains. Her mother suggested a solution: the Chair of Ethics and Aesthetics at the Philosophy Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, the Red Building has become her place of strength. Here, she not only studied but also presented her dissertation, witnessed the founding of the Department of Ukrainian Philosophy and Culture and stayed on to teach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kryvda speaks about the Soviet past without trying to embellish or dismiss it: \u201cI was a happy Pioneer and Komsomol member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were two moments in her life when it became clear that the time for change had come. The first was in the early 1990s, when she discovered Ukrainian philosophy and culture for herself. She read works by historians Mykhailo Hrushevsky, Volodymyr Antonovych, and Ivan Krypiakevych that had been republished at the university\u2019s initiative. A view of Ukrainian culture as a distinct intellectual tradition, rather than an appendage to Russian culture, began to take shape. She then spoke enthusiastically about it to her students. \u201cWith the enthusiasm of a neophyte,\u201d the professor notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the late 1980s, the Ukrainian language was rarely spoken at the university, recalls Nataliia Kryvda. In the philosophy department, only Professor Danylo Ostrianyn gave lectures in Ukrainian. To many, this seemed strange and edgy: just one step further, and he wouldn\u2019t be considered \u201cnormal\u201d; just one step further, and he\u2019d simply be a laughingstock, she says \u2014 even though he was an outstanding scholar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nataliia says she grew up in a Russian-speaking family and graduated from a regular school in Kyiv. Her parents were part of the Soviet intelligentsia and read books in Russian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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They had no family legends about the UPA or embroidered shirts that were passed down from generation to generation.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So, for Kryvda, the Ukrainian language has long been the language of her profession. She says that ever since she began teaching at the university, she has given lectures exclusively in Ukrainian. She admits that at first it sounded a bit awkward \u2014 she wasn\u2019t a native speaker and had to learn it. In her daily life, she spoke Russian because it was more convenient. \u201cMy Russian is quite good and proper \u2014 not a Kyiv dialect,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second turning point came in the winter of 2013. One morning, Kryvda woke up and found a note in the kitchen: \u201cMom, don\u2019t worry. I\u2019m on the Maidan. I\u2019m with my friends. Everything\u2019s fine.\u201d On a cold December night, after the Berkut special police unit had beaten up student protesters, Nataliia\u2019s seventeen-year-old daughter, Mariia, left home.

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Nataliia Kryvda\u2019s students also went to Maidan, even though the university administration had been instructed not to let them go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was then that I realized that the people I teach sometimes turn out to be wiser than I am. They were quicker to see where the light side was and took it. And I asked myself: where am I right now? Who am I? My daughter and her classmates, my students, became my teachers,\u201d Nataliia reflects. She also went to Maidan, where the Revolution of Dignity was unfolding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A daily referendum<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIdentity is not a state, but a process.\u201d \u201cBeing Ukrainian is a choice.\u201d Nataliia Kryvda repeats these two statements in her lectures, interviews, and public speeches. She speaks of identity not as an inheritance that a person receives at birth, but as a daily practice \u2014 through language, culture, responsibility and solidarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personal identity is the answer to the question \u201cWho am I?\u201d; collective identity is the answer to \u201cWho are we?\u201d Nataliia cites the British sociologist Anthony Smith, who discusses two ways national identity is formed. The first is through the blood. The second is through values. The first is based on shared ancestry, language, traditions and rituals. \u201cIt\u2019s like a sense of an extended family,\u201d she comments. The second is based on a conscious choice. \u201cYou want to be part of this community not because you were born here,\u201d she continues, \u201cbut because you share its values, accept its rules and see your future alongside it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is precisely why, during her lectures, Kryvda asks students how Ukrainian national identity is formed. The answers vary each time, but they always lie at the intersection of the ethnic, the inherited and the chosen. \u201cUkrainians, Crimean Tatars, Jews, Gagauz, Poles \u2014 they\u2019ve all chosen to be part of a single political nation,\u201d says Nataliia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To explain this idea, she unexpectedly turns to \u201cHarry Potter.\u201d One of the main characters, Hermione Granger, is asked, \u201cAre you a pureblood?\u201d She is a \u201cmudblood,\u201d or of Muggle (non-magical) descent. It\u2019s generally believed that the children of wizards are the true wizards, while others aren\u2019t quite the same. But Hermione is, in fact, a highly skilled witch. J.K. Rowling\u2019s story shows just how absurd the very idea of judging a person by their background really is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nataliia smiles: \u201cAre you really \u2018pure-blooded\u2019? I\u2019m not. And neither are you. But we\u2019re all citizens of Ukraine. And that\u2019s our choice.\u201d And then she puts her thought into words: \u201cIdentity is a daily choice, a daily referendum. Through my life, my decisions and my work, I vote every day to affirm that I want to be a citizen of Ukraine, a Ukrainian \u2014 not just because of my heritage, but because of my values.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Concepts such as dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights are not abstract.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is these values that make us a political nation. These are the values of the European Union, as set forth in the Treaty of Lisbon. These values are shared by EU member states in a society characterized by pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men. Right now, experts, government officials and civil society are working on amendments to the law on identity, discussing the list of socio-political values of Ukrainian society,\u201d the researcher adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She recalls Nadiia Svitlychna, a journalist from the 1960s. In 1972, the Soviet authorities convicted her of \u201canti-Soviet activities.\u201d She served her sentence in a strict-regime Mordovian women\u2019s camp in the village of Barashevo. While in the camp, Svitlychna did embroidery. In the spring of 2024, we saw one of the bookmarks she had embroidered at an exhibition dedicated to the artist Alla Horska, who was murdered by the Soviets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd only a Ukrainian eye will see the trident on that bookmark,\u201d says Kryvda. \u201cBut I wanted to talk about something else: even in a Soviet camp, a woman convicted on political charges was given a needle and thread, whereas during this war, Russia refused to give Ukrainian female prisoners at the Olenivka colony a needle so they could sew a button onto their prison uniforms. And when we make this comparison, we\u2019re not talking about sewing, but about dignity, about the right to be oneself. That\u2019s when this folkloric, ethnic culture ceases to be merely a folk tradition, becoming a right to freedom and dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout history, there have been many prohibitions imposed on those who lived within the borders of modern-day Ukraine: on language \u2014 the Ems Decree, the Valuev Circular; on the right to live on one\u2019s own land \u2014 the deportation of the Crimean Tatars; and on religion \u2014 people were not allowed to celebrate Hanukkah or Sukkot. And these prohibitions are an affront to human dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to cherish our language,\u201d says Nataliia. \u201cBut not just because it\u2019s our native language, or because it\u2019s beautiful, or because it\u2019s the right thing to do. But because people paid for the right to speak it with their freedom and their lives. Because Stus was killed. Because in 1987, my classmate was expelled from the philosophy department not just for bringing flowers to the Shevchenko monument, but for reading his poems. Those poems were part of a school curriculum, but she was punished for performing a ritual of remembrance, for making a statement.\u201d And after a pause, she adds: \u201cThat\u2019s why, for me, language, like culture, symbolizes dignity, freedom and the right to be oneself.\u201d

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After 2022, culture finally ceased to be a realm of the \u201cintelligentsia\u201d or a pretext for pleasant small talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia uses art as a psychological lubricant, Kryvda adds \u2014 and not just in Ukraine, but everywhere in the world. In essence, Russia is raping the European way of thinking. And to make it feel less like rape and more like a \u201cpersonal choice,\u201d a passion, a \u201cunion born of love\u201d \u2014 it turns to art. \u201cRussian propaganda creeps into the consciousness of the average European on soft paws. They think that slipping a mention of Dostoevsky or Rachmaninoff into a conversation is cool; that it shows how intellectually advanced you are,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2024, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe identified the erasure of Ukrainian cultural identity as one of the key causes of Russian aggression. At that time, the Assembly recognized that Russia is not only conducting military operations but is also implementing a systematic policy of destroying Ukrainian cultural and national identity through the destruction of cultural heritage, the banning of the Ukrainian language and education in the occupied territories, the looting of cultural artifacts and the imposition of a Russian identity. And this is a widespread practice, not isolated incidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I read that, I thought it was good that the members of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE, particularly Yevheniia Kravchuk, were able to convey this idea and make their voices heard, ensuring that this term was used: \u2018Erasure of Ukrainian cultural identity.\u2019 Erasure is erosion, the obliteration of identity. Not territories, not mineral resources, not Russian-speaking people, but the desire to erase our identity is the reason for this war,\u201d adds Kryvda. \u201cLater, PACE emphasized that Russia uses disinformation, historical falsifications and revisionism to justify its aggression. And this is not a new trend, but a continuation of its imperialist policy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia is appropriating Ukrainian history, engaging in assimilation, reframing and taking things out of context, the professor believes. Virtual and spiritual concepts are being used to justify an attack on a sovereign state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For Nataliia Kryvda, knowledge is also a form of resistance. Either you know your history and culture, or you don\u2019t know enough \u2014 and then you allow others to appropriate it<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA person can be taken captive. They can be killed, like the children\u2019s author Volodymyr Vakulenko. But if you know your history, love and practice your culture, and leave a legacy for your children \u2014 texts, cathedrals or synagogues, songs or icons, traditions and language \u2014 you cannot be completely erased,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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She speaks of 1991 as a restoration of independence, not its birth. \u201cBehind every Ukrainian soldier stand all the previous generations: Rus\u2019 warriors, Cossacks, Sich Riflemen, fighters of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and dissidents. This is not a grandiose image, but a historical continuity,\u201d concludes Nataliia Kryvda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Sophia\u2019s light<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nataliia first visited St. Sophia Cathedral \u2014 the oldest surviving Christian church in Kyiv \u2014 in ninth grade. Her history teacher took the class on a field trip \u2014 the very same teacher who had founded the school theater and taught them to see history beyond the pages of textbooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cathedral left her speechless. \u201cI remember how dim it was, the rays of light streaming through the windows and the Oranta. It was one of the most powerful experiences of my teenage years,\u201d says Nataliia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decades have passed since then. Now she brings her own students to the cathedral \u2014 philosophers, lawyers and philologists. She says that one day she realized: lectures in a classroom just don\u2019t work anymore. It\u2019s not enough for young people to simply hear about history; \u201cthey need to experience being present in history, to experience culture as their own existence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long before Ukrainian museums began talking about museum-based learning, Kryvda saw it at the Louvre. In the middle of the museum hall were six-year-old children \u2014 some were sitting, some lying on the floor\u0431 and all of them were coloring reproductions of famous paintings. \u201cI thought then about how easy it is to introduce a child to art,\u201d says Kryvda. And she invited her own students \u2014 though not schoolchildren \u2014 to St. Sophia\u2019s. \u201cI heard St. Sophia calling to me,\u201d she\u2019s convinced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listening to Nataliia Kryvda inside the cathedral, you quickly realize: she\u2019s a mediator. She has a gift for conveying important ideas and, as she puts it, \u201cknocking at people\u2019s hearts.\u201d She translates complex concepts into everyday language. She talks about architecture while actually describing a model of the world; about frescoes, but in reality, about responsibility; about the 11th century, but always bringing the conversation back to the present day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been here, I suppose, about 300 times, and I fall in love with it every time. Every time I see something new. For me, Sophia has become a channel, a platform, a space where new meanings unfold,\u201d says Nataliia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She calls \u201cSophianity\u201d one of the foundations of Ukrainian resilience. For her, Sophia represents the worldview that Rus\u2019 adopted after its baptism. \u201cChristianity didn\u2019t just bring about a new faith; it offered a new way of seeing the world,\u201d explains the scholar. \u201cIt provided answers to simple yet profound questions: what is good and evil, justice, truth and falsehood, love and responsibility. It also addressed how to live going forward, who is in charge, and whether there is life after death. Whereas people once lived in the world of Perun, Veles or Yarylo, they were now offered a different system of values \u2014 a system of love. And Sophia became its embodiment in stone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Over the years of working at the cathedral, Nataliia has found dozens of favorite spots. Lately, she has been stopping more and more at the mosaic of the Virgin Mary with a red thread (in Christianity, it symbolizes Christ\u2019s flesh). The mosaic is located on the triumphal arch, to the right of the altar, and is part of the Annunciation composition, in which the Archangel Gabriel announces to Mary the imminent Immaculate Conception and the birth of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kryvda asks us to set aside the religious aspect for a moment and just look at the girl. \u201cThe archangel is happy. He flies without his feet touching the ground, his white robes fluttering. He has been entrusted with delivering the news to this earthly girl, Mary. She is 15 years old \u2014 still basically a child. She comes from the line of King David, and she knows that. She has just left the temple, knowing nothing yet about her future. She was betrothed to Joseph, who was much older than she was. The marriage has already been arranged, but their married life has not yet begun. And now an angel appears to her. He announces that she will give birth to a son of God, not of man. The responsibility for the fate of the world now rests upon her shoulders,\u201d she says. She pauses and continues: \u201cMary didn\u2019t say, \u2018No, I\u2019m not ready; I wasn\u2019t born to do this.\u2019 She accepted her responsibility. And that\u2019s what sustains me, and I think it should serve as a source of inspiration for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nataliia adds that Mary lived with the knowledge that her son was destined to die for the salvation of humanity. Throughout the 33 years of his earthly life \u2014 more than 12,000 days and nights \u2014 she woke up every morning wondering if her child was still alive. \u201cUkrainian mothers wake up the same way today. Even if your child isn\u2019t serving in the military, you don\u2019t know what the next night will bring. But that\u2019s precisely what matters most. You don\u2019t know the future, yet you have the dignity to accept it \u2014 to fight, to move forward, to shoulder your responsibility. And today, there are so many young women among us wearing those blue dresses with a red thread,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Nataliia Kryvda gives lectures to students not only in St. Sophia but also at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lavra is not just the largest monastery in Ukraine or one of the most important Christian temples. It is a place where the Ukrainian intellectual tradition took shape over the centuries. It was here, in the 11th century, that Metropolitan Hilarion wrote \u201cSermon on Law and Grace\u201d \u2014 one of the first philosophical texts written in Rus\u2019. Scribes worked here, a printing press operated here, and ideas that changed the country were born here. It was here, says Kryvda, that a new vision for Ukraine took shape in the 17th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHetman Ivan Mazepa listened to the people here. When we remember him, we often think of the Battle of Poltava, which he lost. But we forget that this was not merely a military defeat, but an attempt to defend the right to our own state,\u201d says the scholar. \u201cWe are not a victim nation. We are a nation that hasn\u2019t stopped seeking statehood for centuries: we made mistakes, we lost, we started over. And in the end, we regained our independence. That is why the current war is not an exception to history, but a continuation of our struggle for the right to be ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Two days before our conversation, a Russian missile damaged the Dormition Cathedral at the Lavra<\/a>. Kryvda is convinced it was no accident. \u201cRussia is not only at war with people; it is at war with memory. An empire cannot exist without a grand history, so it tries to appropriate someone else\u2019s. That is precisely why St. Sophia, the Lavra, museums and archives are being targeted. This is a war for the right of a people to remember who they are,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mother of a servicewoman<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMariia went to Maidan and never really came back. That\u2019s what my mom said, and she was right. She never came back mentally,\u201d says Nataliia Kryvda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mariia became an active participant in Euromaidan, worked with the Maidan medical service, then joined the Kyiv protests against illegal construction and co-organized the March for Kyiv in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe said, \u2018You\u2019re always talking about culture. Why aren\u2019t you at the March for Kyiv?\u2019 I honestly didn\u2019t understand how my presence could change anything. She laughed: \u2018You\u2019ll be filmed, photographed by journalists \u2014 millions will see you. Others will follow in your footsteps.\u201d Even back then, she was thinking differently. Mariia is my biggest critic, my friend and my motivator,\u201d says Kryvda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mariia Nazarova is a tactical medicine instructor and volunteer known by the call sign Zhaba Poliova (Field Frog). After completing her training, she worked at the Ministry of Defense\u2019s Office of Reforms. She later went to the front lines, where she trained military personnel in tactical medicine. After the full-scale invasion began, she continued to assist the Defense Forces. Together with like-minded individuals, she pushed for changes in the system for supplying the front lines with donated blood. This made it possible to administer blood transfusions to the wounded even before they were transported to a hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, Mariia found love, got married and gave birth to her son, Yurii. But she remained active in civic life. She currently works with one of the military units, helping to develop their support services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nataliia Kryvda didn\u2019t believe a full-scale invasion was coming until almost the last moment. And this was despite her daughter repeatedly asking, \u201cHave you learned how to apply a tourniquet yet?\u201d Eventually, Nataliia did go to a training session \u2014 on February 16, 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day before, they had agreed: if a major war broke out, it would be Mariia\u2019s mom who would take the Come Back Alive Foundation\u2019s documents out of the capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On February 25, Nataliia set off for Ivano-Frankivsk with boxes of archival documents.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

She planned to take the documents out of the city and return to Kyiv. \u201cIt never even crossed my mind that it could go any other way,\u201d she says. Especially since she knew her daughter was near Kyiv \u2014 perhaps on the Zhytomyr highway, which the Russians were trying to cut off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nataliia arrived in Ivano-Frankivsk, handed off the documents, and was about to leave when Anna, the foundation\u2019s administrator, approached her. \u201cExcuse me,\u201d she said, \u201cyou\u2019re a well-mannered woman \u2014 could you please man the hotline for a few hours? We\u2019re short-staffed.\u201d Nataliia thought to herself: \u201cI\u2019m tired from the trip; I\u2019ll rest a bit and then head back.\u201d Those few hours stretched into three months. For 15 hours a day, Kryvda and her colleagues at the foundation answered calls. She listened to despair, rage and death in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nataliia lived in an apartment whose keys had been given to her by her students. Every morning, she would head to Promprylad, a renovated former factory in Ivano-Frankivsk that, after the start of the full-scale invasion, became one of the city\u2019s main volunteer hubs, wearing heels and red lipstick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe boys and girls admitted: at first, they thought I was completely out of touch with reality. But later they said that it was my heels and red lipstick that reminded them of a normal life. I was this smart lady, a professor from a life that existed before and definitely still existed somewhere,\u201d says Nataliia Kryvda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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She also attended performances by director Rostyslav Derzhypilskyi with her colleagues from the foundation. He had previously staged \u201cSweet Darusya,\u201d based on the novel by Maria Matios. The Ivano-Frankivsk Drama Theater resumed operations shortly after the start of the full-scale invasion. The first production the audience saw was \u201cHamlet.\u201d Later came \u201cHutsul Wedding.\u201d \u201cThe performances became a way for me to keep my balance,\u201d says Kryvda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, at the first opportunity, she travels to Ivano-Frankivsk for performances, gives lectures and participates in conferences organized by the theater. She says this is her way of expressing gratitude and repaying her debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 1, 2022, Shevchenko University resumed classes. At the foundation, Kryvda announced that she would be teaching remotely but didn\u2019t want to give up her volunteer work. She\u2019d only need an hour and a half a day. Over time, she noticed that not only were her students listening to her lectures, but also the Come Back Alive staff members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Mariia was actually near Kyiv. Nataliia found out about this from the news. \u201cImagine: you\u2019re a mother, and suddenly you see your child on TV. She\u2019s wearing a military helmet and medical gloves. The wind is blowing her hair around, she\u2019s wiping her forehead, and there\u2019s blood on her face,\u201d Kryvda pauses for a moment. \u201cWhat was I supposed to think?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, they sometimes look back on that moment: \u201cMariia laughs. She says I always exaggerate, that I\u2019m a drama queen. But now she is also a mom. Since Yurii was born, I think she understands better how I felt back then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leadership during wartime<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When Nataliia Kryvda is asked about women\u2019s leadership, she almost immediately takes issue with the very term \u2014 as in, there shouldn\u2019t be a distinction between women\u2019s or men\u2019s leadership. \u201cThere is leadership by women and leadership by men \u2014 leadership by people. Period,\u201d she says. Leadership begins not with gender but with responsibility: the ability to listen, take responsibility and nurture humanity in others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, war changes our perspective. \u201cOnce again, the red cloak rests upon our shoulders,\u201d says Kryvda, referring to religious symbolism. The Virgin Mary in icons, including those in St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, is depicted in dark blue or dark green robes, with her shoulders covered by a red cloak \u2014 a symbol of the divine presence. Christ, on the other hand, is dressed in red \u2014 a sign of his divine origin \u2014 and wears a blue or green cloak as a symbol of his human nature. \u201cYou don\u2019t know which cloak rests on your shoulders. But you must fulfill your mission with dignity,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kryvda is convinced that Ukraine has a distinct matriarchal tradition, and the influence of women here has always been profound.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

She recalls a common saying: \u201cWhatever Dad says, we will do it Mom\u2019s way.\u201d Throughout the duration of the war, women have shouldered an enormous physical, moral and emotional burden. They predominate in education and healthcare, and their numbers are growing in the security sector. Eventually, Kryvda suggests, there will be more women in public administration, big business and politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researcher cites a study that struck her. After 2014, the largest number of female entrepreneurs emerged in smaller towns and communities. As the number of men dwindled, women began starting businesses and taking responsibility for their families, communities, and the local economy. \u201cLuhansk Oblast had the highest numbers. I thought for a long time about what this says about our society,\u201d notes Nataliia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, she believes that the world is moving toward a greater presence of women in leadership. Not because it\u2019s trendy or the \u201cright\u201d thing to do: this is simply how life is changing. Women will increasingly hold leadership positions, and the world may not be ready for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you listen closely to the interview with demographer Ella Libanova, you\u2019ll hear that Ukraine faces difficult times ahead. And even after victory, its challenges will be no less complex: rebuilding the country amid a demographic crisis and a shortage of people, heavy human losses and profound social changes. Does this mean that after the war, women will retain the positions they hold today? Kryvda is reluctant to answer. Instead, she mentions the concept of the \u201cglass ceiling\u201d \u2014 an invisible barrier that often prevents women from rising to the highest leadership positions. And then there\u2019s the lesser-known concept of the \u201cglass cliff.\u201d \u201cVery often, a woman is offered the chance to lead an organization precisely when that organization is in crisis. If everything works out \u2014 great. If not, the woman will be held responsible,\u201d says Nataliia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is this happening? \u201cPerhaps society feels that she\u2019s \u2018disposable.\u2019 If she can\u2019t handle it, she will be replaced. A man, on the other hand, is precious. We can\u2019t sacrifice him so easily,\u201d the researcher says calmly. At the same time, she suggests that after the war, men might say, \u201cThank you \u2014 but now we are back.\u201d However, in her opinion, Ukrainian women have changed a great deal over the years. They\u2019ve \u201cbuilt up muscles\u201d \u2014 both professionally and in terms of socialization and have grown stronger emotionally. And they\u2019re unlikely to voluntarily give up the responsibility they\u2019ve taken on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Nataliia Kryvda, leadership isn\u2019t about job titles or power. It\u2019s a daily choice, just like choosing your identity \u2014 every day, you take responsibility for yourself, for the people around you and for the country. And every time, despite fear, you choose not to back down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated from Ukrainian by Liubov Kukharenko<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n