The twisted irony of Ukraine staging “The Odyssey”

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.

A Very Different Ithaca

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. The meaning of “home” also becomes fuzzier with each passing day. Only 49 percent of refugees and 51 percent of internally displaced people reported hopes or intentions to return eventually, with improved security, access to housing, and availability of public services among the key conditions factoring into their decision to stay or return.

For those who do eventually go back to where they came from, how many will discover the home they once knew no longer exists? How many will have lost family members and friends, or discover their houses, villages and livelihoods have been damaged beyond repair?

Will Somebody Get These Russians Out of Here?!

This is not to say that all was fine and dandy when Odysseus himself finally reached Ithaca.

After two decades of trials and tribulations, he discovered his house had been invaded by rapacious suitors lusting after his wife, Penelope, abusing his loyal subjects and eating through his wealth.

There’s little evidence at present that Ukraine will enjoy a neat Homeric ending in which all the suitors are slaughtered or expelled and the house is reclaimed.

Russian forces currently occupy roughly a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, according to estimates by Ukraine’s DeepState OSINT network and the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW)—an area of around 45,000 square miles.

Vladimir Putin’s troops continue to make ground, albeit slowly, while further back from the front line, years of occupation have given Moscow’s forces the chance to dig trenches, build fortifications, and set about installing Russian logistical and administrative infrastructure.

Moscow is hardly cruising toward victory. Russia’s economic outlook is bleak; the Central Bank expects growth of between 0 and 1 percent this year; Ukrainian drones are hammering key oil refineries and logistics hubs from Krasnodar to Samara; and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reckons that Putin will have to call up another 300,000 troops later this year.

But none of this amounts to even a slim prospect of a Russian collapse on the battlefield that would hand Ukraine’s armed forces the impetus they need to recover large swathes of occupied territory. Despite Kyiv’s technological advances and continued Western support, Russian forces remain entrenched, fortified and determined to hold what they have taken.

Granted, Odysseus took two decades to return home and cleanse his palace of miscreants, but, in Ukraine’s case, the invaders may hold on to one wing.