A Ukrainian reimagining of Homer’s Odyssey finally reached the stage in Kyiv this week after Russian attacks repeatedly delayed its premiere. Odyssey, Maeotis, a joint production by Kyiv’s Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater and the National Guard’s 1st Azov Corps, recasts the Greek epic for modern Ukraine a month after Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster interpretation thrust the tale back into popular culture. In some respects, Odyssey is a near-perfect allegory for the experiences of Ukrainian soldiers.
The Cyclops and sirens that plagued Odysseus’ journey home are replaced by Russian drones and robotic killing machines; professional actors share the stage with serving soldiers; and Ithaca—the homeland Odysseus longs so desperately to see again—becomes Mariupol, the occupied port city on the Sea of Azov. Odysseus was famed for surviving through cunning, improvisation and deception when brute force failed him. Ukraine has had to develop much the same instinct, leveraging its technological mastery of drones and innovative tactics to resist an enemy with much more manpower and materiel.
The problem comes at the end. In Homer’s story, Odysseus eventually returns home, kills the suitors who have overrun his house, and Goddess Athena imposes peace on Ithaca. Ukraine has rather less certainty on all three counts.
Daniil Mireshkin, an active-duty Azov serviceman who plays Odysseus, has lived through the kind of adversity the play is trying to capture, while the defenders of Mariupol supply an obvious parallel with the Achaeans, many of whom fought and died at Troy or perished trying to get home. Mariupol’s defenders valiantly resisted Russia’s onslaught on the once-flourishing port city in the early weeks of the war. After pitching a tragic last stand, holding out for more than 80 days in the Azovstal metalworks under Russian siege, the last remaining survivors were taken captive in May 2022.
Many never completed their own journey home. According to the 1st Azov Corps, around 600 Azov brigade servicemen remain in Russian captivity today. Ukraine’s much-larger homecoming problem extends far beyond Azov and the defenders of Mariupol, however.
About 3.9 million Ukrainians remained internally displaced as of June, according to the International Organization for Migration, of which two-thirds have been away from home for more than two years. Millions more remain abroad. UNHCR estimated that 5.9 million Ukrainian refugees were outside the country at the end of 2025.
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