Renowned Ukrainian writer and ArmyInform correspondent Major Vladyslav Ivchenko became one of the winners of the second iteration of the military literature competition “4.5.0” for service members and veterans of the russia–Ukraine war.

The winners were announced at the International Renaissance Foundation on December 22.

The goal of the competition was to create a space where the voices of the military could be heard and their experience recorded in literature. All submitted texts underwent anonymous evaluation. The jury did not know the authors’ names and focused exclusively on the artistic quality of the works.

In total, 190 applications from 176 authors were submitted to the competition in 2025. Winners in 2025 were selected in four genres: poetry, short stories, essays, and diaries. Overall, the winners of the 2025 “4.5.0” competition were:

Short Stories:

  • 1st place — Denys Solomonuk;

  • 2nd place — Viktor Yankevych;

  • 3rd place — Vladyslav Ivchenko, Ivan Berezhnyi, Mariia Karas.

Poetry:

  • 1st place — Serhii Tatchyn;

  • 2nd place — Oleksii Palianychka;

  • 3rd place — Denys Astafiev.

Essays:

  • 1st place — Mykola Soroka;

  • 2nd place — Bohdan Zarytskyi;

  • 3rd place — Serhii Tokinov, Serhii Naumenko.

Diaries:

  • 1st place — Anton Zaporozhets;

  • 2nd place — Volodymyr Mylko, Vitalii Sladkyi, Fedir Rudyi;

  • 3rd place — Yevhen Popesku.

“Based on the results of the competition, a separate anthology of military literature will be published, which, in addition to the works of the winners, will include texts by finalists who received high evaluations from the jury”, — the statement says.