Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa: Three Cities, Three Histories

Ukraine’s past — and its future — cannot be told without her cities. Though bound by one flag today, the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa carry distinct historical legacies shaped by geography, empire, culture and war. Each has played a pivotal role in Ukraine’s national journey, representing different visions of modernity, identity and resistance. Together they embody the complexity — and resilience — of the Ukrainian state.

These three cities are not just population centres; they are crucibles of memory, each with its own relationship to the idea of Ukraine. In the trauma of war, they have become more unified than ever — yet their distinct pasts still echo, reminding us that Ukraine has always been more than a singular narrative. It has been a mosaic.

Kyiv: The Ancient Heart

Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, is more than a seat of power — it is the symbolic and spiritual core of the nation. Founded in the 5th or 6th century and rising later to prominence as the centre of the East Slavic nation state the Kyivan Rus, it was named by imperial Russia as the “mother of all Russian cities”; but its true roots lie in the early East Slavic world prior to the Russian Empire. In 988, Kyiv’s baptism into Christianity brought Orthodoxy to the Slavic lands, forging cultural links that still reverberate today.

For centuries, Kyiv stood at the intersection of empires: Mongols, Lithuanians, Poles and Russians all held sway at different times. Under Russian imperial rule, it was gradually absorbed into a broader Russification project. Yet even during Tsarist repression, Kyiv maintained a strong cultural identity — it was here that Taras Shevchenko, the poet of Ukrainian nationhood, lived and wrote.

In the 20th century, Kyiv bore witness to immense tragedy: pogroms, the Holodomor, Nazi occupation and Soviet domination. But it also rose — particularly after 1991 — as the vibrant political heart of independent Ukraine. The Orange Revolution (2004) and the Revolution of Dignity or Maidan Revolution (2013–14) both erupted in Kyiv’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti, making the city synonymous with civic resistance and democratic aspiration.

Since 2022, Kyiv has withstood siege and missile barrages — and endured. Its ability to function as a wartime capital while maintaining political stability has made it a symbol of national resolve. From medieval cradle to modern bulwark, Kyiv has always stood at the centre of Ukraine’s soul.

Kharkiv: The Industrial Frontier

If Kyiv is the heart, Kharkiv has often been the nerve centre of Ukraine’s modernity. Located in the northeast, near the Russian border, Kharkiv’s history is one of frontier settlement, Soviet experimentation and brutal resilience.

Originally a 17th-century fortress town, Kharkiv rose to prominence during the Russian Empire as a regional administrative and educational hub. It became a centre of Ukrainian cultural life in the 19th century — but one repeatedly stifled by censorship and colonial policies.

Between 1919 and 1934, Kharkiv served as the first capital of Soviet Ukraine — a period of vibrant but dangerous experimentation. It was here that Ukrainian was promoted as an official language for the first time in centuries, before Stalin’s reversal of policy brought purges and the Holodomor. Kharkiv’s intellectuals were among the first victims of Soviet repression.

In the postwar period, Kharkiv emerged as an industrial and scientific powerhouse, known for tank factories, aerospace institutes and nuclear research. Yet even in its Soviet heyday Kharkiv retained a dynamic civic character, rooted in its universities and working-class traditions.

After 2014, Kharkiv was one of the first major cities to resist Russian hybrid aggression. It did not fall to the so-called “Russian Spring”: a series of Russian security and intelligence services' attempts to foster revolutionary chaos against the government in Kyiv. When the full-scale invasion came in 2022, Kharkiv became one of the most heavily bombarded cities in Ukraine — and one of the most steadfast. Its subway served as both shelter and defiance. A city long labeled “Russian-speaking” became unmistakably Ukrainian in its resistance.

Kharkiv today stands as a reminder that identity is not language or proximity to Moscow — it is civic courage under fire.

Odesa: The Port and the Paradox

Odesa, perched on the Black Sea coast, has always defied easy categorisation. Founded in 1794 under Catherine the Great on the site of an older Tatar settlement, the city was built from the start as an imperial port — a southern window to Europe. By the 19th century, Odesa had become a cosmopolitan metropolis: Greek merchants, Jewish traders, Italian architects, Ukrainian farmers and Russian aristocrats mingled in its boulevards.

In the imperial imagination, Odesa was a city apart — multilingual, theatrical, and mercantile. It was also rebellious: site of the 1905 mutiny aboard the battleship Potemkin, home to labour strikes, literary dissidents and revolutionary fervour.

Under Soviet rule, Odesa was both celebrated and censored. Its Jewish population — once among the largest in the world — was decimated in the Holocaust and postwar purges. Yet its irreverent spirit persisted. No other Ukrainian city has produced as much dark humour, operatic satire and ironic self-awareness. Odesa was — and remains — a city of storytellers.

In 2014, Odesa withstood destabilisation attempts, though the 2 May 2014 violence at the Trade Unions House, when a United Ukraine rally was attacked by pro-Russian separatists, left deep scars. Since 2022, the city has faced missile attacks, naval threats and economic blockade. But Odesa’s port — once central to grain exports and global trade — has also become a theatre of innovation and resistance. Its harbour, scarred and battered, remains a geopolitical prize and a cultural icon.

Odesa reminds the world that Ukraine is not just a post-Soviet republic — it is also a Black Sea nation, with all the diversity, vulnerability, and cosmopolitanism that port cities carry.

Three Cities, One Nation

Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Odesa were shaped by different empires, speak with different voices, and wear their identities in different ways. But all three have, in the 21st century, converged into a shared Ukrainian destiny — not through artificial unification, but through lived solidarity.

Each has resisted — not just tanks and missiles, but attempts to divide them by history, language or myth. Each now forms part of a deeper truth: that Ukraine’s strength lies in her pluralism, and her unity in her variety.

They are three cities with three stories — but they now march towards one future.