Верните нам наше небо

by Анастасия Дмитрук

111 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Anastasia Dmytruk (Ukrainian: Анастасія Дмитрук, Russian: Анастасия Дмитрук) is a Ukrainian poet who writes in Russian and Ukrainian languages. She writes poetry and works as an information security specialist after graduation from Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. Her most widely cited poem became Never ever can we be brothers.

The poem was written in response to the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014. The poem celebrates Ukrainian revolution and rejects the idea of all-Russian nation, according to which Eastern Slavs should unite together against the West. It tells that Ukrainians must follow democracy, rather than remain junior brothers of "great Russians" who are still governed by their "Tzar", according to her, in line with the overall ideology of Euromaidan. The YouTube record with Dmitruk reading her poem became viral, quickly accumulating more than a million hits. A song based on the poem was created by musicians from Klaipeda and also quickly accumulated more than million hits. The poem was hotly debated in press.