Ukraine wages its own war against Russia's cultural icons in its midst
LVIV, Ukraine — In wartime Ukraine, Pyotr Tchaikovsky is having a turbulent afterlife.
The 19th century Romantic composer, beloved worldwide for "Swan Lake" and "The Nutcracker," is one of scores of Russian cultural, political and historical figures whose lives and works are immortalized in place names and statuary in cities and towns across Ukraine. Streets and Metro stations bear the names of Tolstoy and Chekhov; monuments to Russian Empress Catherine II dot broad urban plazas and leafy public parks.
But nearly five months into Moscow's full-scale invasion — a brutal onslaught that has left entire cities disfigured by bombardment, killed and maimed thousands of civilians and soldiers, and forced millions to flee ruined homes — such everyday reminders of an empire's imprint have become, for many Ukrainians, an unbearable affront.
"Right now, Russian culture is toxic," said Bohdan Tykholoz, a Ukrainian academic and author who directs a literary museum in the western city of
