Kulyk was born in the city of Shpola, in the Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire (now in Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine) into the impoverished, religious family of a Jewish teacher.

In spring 1917 Kulyk travelled through the Russian Far East and Siberia, returning to Kyiv where he joined the local revkom.

There he edited the local newspaper Red Truth, simultaneously teaching history in the Institute of the People's Education.

Along with those duties he also was head of the State Political Publishing house, edited in the Literary newspaper ("Літературнa газетa") and the journal Soviet Literature ("Радянська література").

He was arrested during the Great Purge in 1937, charged with "spying against the Soviet Union" and executed by shooting on October 10, 1937.