Editor’s Note: The Counteroffensive is eager to uncover Ukraine’s longest-running mysteries, even if it leads us on a wild goose chase all the way back to the Medieval era!
This month, we are trying to bring attention to our work by going dark until the end of September. All of our articles about Ukraine will be paywalled. Don’t wait to unlock our stories by upgrading your subscription!
My first visit to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra as a child comes back in vivid flashbacks:
…the smell of incense drifting up the long spiral staircase.
…the wax from a candle melting and burning my hand.
…then there was the stern scolding from a stranger who barked at me: “Behave, this is a sacred space.”
And, of course, the mummified remains.
I still remember my shock at stumbling upon a human hand, so dry it looked wooden, just one of many preserved bodies of monks that dot these dark caves.
Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (‘Kyiv’s Cave Monastery’), is a male monastery in the caves of Kyiv’s hills.
Lavra is key to Kyiv’s ancient history — and also one of the potential hiding places of the lost library of Yaroslav the Wise.
The library doesn’t just have great historical significance for Ukraine; it’s also a weapon against the revisionist history that the Kremlin has repeatedly used to justify its war.
Here’s an appeal from a satisfied Counteroffensive subscriber:
“Please, dear Readers, pay for a subscription! I’ve paid since Tim started this a while ago. I know the factual news in 2025 is on Substack, and the writers need paying subscriptions to keep going. We no longer live in a news world where an assortment of international, national, state, and local news outlets were staffed by professionals with corporate support. No longer.”
After the paywall:
- What secrets do Kyiv’s caves hide?
-Why is it dangerous to look for the library underground?
-Where did it go and where do we look for it?
- Did Sofia manage to find the lost library?
