[1] Karavanskyi's Ukrainian-speaking family was harassed by residents of the primarily-Russophone Odesa, leading his father to largely abandon the language.

[2] As a child, he displayed a strong interest in writing, and his poems were shown in the local press organs of the Young Pioneers.

He began studying literature at Odesa University, and joined an underground group belonging to Stepan Bandera's wing of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists.

During his time at Vladimir Central, Karavanskyi continued to write, publishing via samvydav an article about Soviet involvement in the Katyn massacre.

[8] During his imprisonment, Karavanskyi's Dictionary of Rhymes formed part of the basis for the January 1972 detention of Belgian student Yaroslav Dobosh, which launched a broader purge of Ukrainian intelligentsia.

[9] Karavanskyi was declared a prisoner of conscience by human rights non-governmental organisation Amnesty International,[10] and joined the Ukrainian Helsinki Group in 1979, while imprisoned.

That year, he was released, and on 30 November 1979 he left the Soviet Union for the United States alongside his wife, Nina Strokata Karavanska.