A Fictional War (Which the West Can’t Win)

In Lesia’s three-in-one poem A Fictional War, two voices speak in separated monologues but are also integrated and juxtaposed. The poem confronts the battle of narratives (lived, reported experience versus Russian lies) that rage alongside and form a critical part of the war and brutal violence in Ukraine.

Lesia Daria

Lesia Daria is a writer, journalist, campaigner, and volunteer. She is a communications adviser at the Ukrainian Institute London, and in Surrey where she is active in her local community, she is helping Ukrainian refugees to settle into life in the UK. Previously Lesia worked as a journalist in Washington DC, Kyiv, London, and New York, and lived in Paris, Minsk, and Istanbul. She holds a BA from the University of Virginia and an MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science.