With his eyes closed, Oleksandr Savchuk plucks the strings on his bandura, a lute-like Ukrainian folk instrument, as he delivers a gently melancholic performance in the frontline city of Kharkiv.

Savchuk, the 41-year-old owner of a small publishing house, has spent years promoting Ukrainian language, history and culture in the predominantly Russian-speaking city in Ukraine's northeast, unearthing manuscripts by authors who were forgotten or censored by the Soviet Union.

"My family history prompted me to start this cultural resistance as early as 2005," Savchuk told AFP, adding that his two grandfathers endured repression under the Soviets.

Savchuk's mission took on a new urgency after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and ignited a cultural renaissance.

In March, Savchuk opened "

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