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!

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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.

*One of the cells in Lavra’s caves. Photo from ‘Vechirniy Kyiv.’*

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?

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The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak

Searching for Kyiv’s lost 11th century…

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