He added that he has no regrets about his decision. The works of Zhadan, and particularly Voroshilovgrad, expose the Donbas. The material objects that Zhadan describes with almost grotesque precision serve as missing words in the midst of a laconic dialogue.
Zhadan wants us to understand not just the losers, but the damaged losers, with their scarred torsos, limbs, and faces. "I looked closer at the rest of my old friends, their bodies battered by hard lives and the fists of their rivals," Herman says in the novel. Ukrainians do not have to justify their emotions, but "It would be good to explain it, just so we don't have to be left alone with the pain and anger," Zhadan said. He also referred to the emotional factor in Ukrainian proclamations: "The world that listens to us sometimes finds it difficult to understand something very simple, and that is that when we speak, we show a high degree of emotionality and tension. "There may be many forms of frozen conflicts, time bombs disguised as compromises, but not peace, true peace that offers security and perspective," he denounced.