A poem about ecocide in Kherson region received international awards on three continents

Ukrainian poet Yulia Musakovska 's poem about the ecocide in the Kherson region has gained international recognition on three continents at once.

As the poet herself reported on social media, the geography covered North America, Europe, and Asia.

According to Musakovska, her poem "Natural Disaster" from the collection "Stones and Nails", dedicated to environmental crimes in the Kherson region, won The Asian Prize for Poetry 2025. The poem was presented in a translation by Elena Jennings.

The poet explained that it is crucial for her that the text about the ecocide in the Kherson region has the opportunity to be heard outside Ukraine and to convey the truth about the consequences of the war to an international audience.

In addition to the Asian prize, Musakovska 's work was also recognized in the United States and Europe in 2025. In the United States, she received the Diana Der Govanessian Prize from the New England Poetry Club for her translation of Maria Titarenko's poetry. In Estonia, translator Anna Vershik was awarded the prestigious August Sang Prize for her translation of Musakovska's poem "A Magnolia Blooms in a Foreign Garden."

The text, which in its English translation received The Asian Prize for Poetry 2025.

***
It has been called many things:
big water, natural disaster,
the worldwide flood -
but it has nothing to do with the elements or the will of God.
The river was raped,
chased by strangers,
covered with green fields, fairy-tale oaks,
white houses with miracles inside,
cherry orchards near them,
checkered high-rise buildings,
everything we have acquired and experienced,
fish, birds, and beasts,
grasshoppers and bees.
No ark, just a rubber boat.
Not the righteous will be saved,
but the one who is rescued in time.
The fish will not be saved,
the beast will not be saved.
Swans and ducks will save themselves.
The owners will not abandon the cow, the goat, and the rooster.
Maybe a kitten will be saved,
clinging to the wall of a drowned house with its last strength.
Maybe a dog that has been sleeping on top of the roof for several days,
which is still visible above the water.
A mother and her children who are frozen
in the attic of a neighbor's higher house.
An old man will not be saved in a boat -
the enemy is awake.
The old man will save the woman by covering her with himself.
Having stolen all the boats on the left bank,
like the last grain in the thirties,
the enemy is shelling the evacuation.
The work of human hands.
The misery of hearts
empty as punctured, deflated balls.
Call by name the one who did it.
His name is legion.
His name is a whole country.
A big, fatal spot
on the world map.
Call it the one that wants to repeat it.
Call it as if you are disarming it.
As if you are sticking a stake in the aspen tree
to tie up the boat.
And take the first step
on the water.

As a reminder, on June 6, 2023, Russian occupation forces blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant on the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine, which is an act of ecocide. The destruction of the dam caused a large-scale environmental disaster, the death of people, animals and other living organisms.

International correspondent Albina Karman talked about the evacuation of people from the flooded areas.

Ірина Глухова