In early June 2024, Zhadan posted on his Facebook page that he had joined the 13th "Khartia" Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine which has been in active combat.

[4] Zhadan has translated poetry from German, English, Belarusian, and Russian, from such poets as Paul Celan and Charles Bukowski.

His own works have been translated into German, English, Estonian, French, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Serbian, Croatian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Georgian, Belarusian, Russian,[5] Hungarian, Armenian, and Czech.

[18] His novel Anthem of Democratic Youth has been adapted for the stage and performed at the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater in Kyiv.

Since 2004, Zhadan has worked with Yara Arts Group from La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York, contributing to the shows: "Koliada: Twelve Dishes" (2005), "Underground Dreams" (2013–2014), "Hitting Bedrock" (2015) and "Radio 477!"

His poems "Spy," "Chaplain" and "Needle," translated by Tkacz and Phipps were part of "Blind Spot," an installation by Mykola Ridnyi and Serhii Zhadan for the Ukrainian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale May–July 2015.

They have released the albums The Army Sports Club (Sportyvny Klub Armiyi, 2008), Weapons of the Proletatiat (Zbroya Proletariatu, 2012), Fight for Her (Byisya za neyi, 2012), Dogs (Sobaky, 2016), Madonna (2019), and Lead (Vedy, OST Rhino, 2022) In 2021, Zhadan recorded a full-length album titled "Fokstroty" with Yuriy Gurzhy, a Ukrainian-born, Berlin-based musician, DJ, and producer.

[19][20] He participated in the 2004 Orange Revolution demonstrations against corruption and voter intimidation in the presidential run-off elections, was the commandant of a tent camp in Kharkiv.

[24] Since 2014, Zhadan has made numerous visits to the front lines of the Eastern Donbas region involved in armed conflict with Russian separatists.

[26] Early June 2024 Zhadan posted on his Facebook page that he had joined the 13th "Khartia" Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine.

[2][27] Rostislav Melnikov and Yuriy Tsaplin of the New Literary Review wrote in 2007: Zhadan's prose is so poetic, his free verse so prosaic.

It is difficult to assign a genre to his work: memoir, travelogue, timely or untimely meditation – or a mixture of all these, centered on the themes my generation and our epoch.

[28] Kirill Ankudinov, writing for Vzglyad.ru in June 2008, said: There is no summarizing the spicy, hot, sweet, vicious improvisations of Serhiy Zhadan – this is verbal jazz.

[26] In July 2024 Zhadan received the title of honorary professor of philosophy from the Ukrainian Free University in Munich, Germany.