A new international literary initiative has brought together poets from nine countries on the platforms of Ukraine's metro system.

In June, at metro stations in three Ukrainian cities — Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro — the project "Poems in the Metro 2025" was launched, initiated by the Polish Institute in Kyiv in collaboration with the Ukrainian cluster EUNIC. This initiative is dedicated to Poland's presidency in the Council of the European Union.

As part of the project, poetic posters featuring works by nine contemporary authors from various countries have been displayed in the underground spaces — in both the original language and translated into Ukrainian. The themes of the poems are diverse, yet many address poignant issues, particularly the war in Ukraine and shared human experiences relevant to our times.

Among the featured artists are Bohdan Zadura (Poland), Peter Paul Wiplinger (Austria), Vicente Aleixandre y Merlo (Spain), Marius Burokas (Lithuania), Lisa Vida (Netherlands), Rosa Ausländer (Germany), Sándor Petőfi (Hungary), and Maria Ilyashenko (Czech Republic). A notable part of the project is "Not Poetry" by Victoria Amelina — a Ukrainian writer and activist who lost her life due to a missile strike in Kramatorsk in 2023.

The project will run throughout June, and according to the organizers, an extension is expected in July.

Additionally, thanks to the Polish Institute in Kyiv, Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk visited the city in a show of solidarity.