OUR ENEMIES WILL VANISH

A Ukrainian-born foreign affairs correspondent maps the war in progress.

As someone who grew up in Kyiv and speaks both Ukrainian and Russian, Wall Street Journal reporter Trofimov, author of The Siege of Mecca, offers a fly-on-the-wall glimpse into the continuing conflict, via both official reports and firsthand accounts from the streets. In Feb. 23, 2022, when “Kyiv was still a city at peace,” the author’s meeting with former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko tipped him off to what was about to happen, as officials began to flee. “Russian triumph within days was a foregone conclusion, Western intelligence services predicted,” Trofimov reports; no one seriously believed Ukraine could hold off Russian forces. “For centuries, Russian military power had terrified Europe,” writes the author. “As for this place called Ukraine, was it, deep down, a real country after all?” Along with Spanish photojournalist Manu Brabo (the book contains a photo insert), the author moved toward the action, first from Kyiv in the first hours of the Russian onslaught, as the Ukraine Territorial Defense, National Guard, and Air Force helped withstand the capture of the crucial Hostomel Airport; to Kharkiv and Mariupol, strategic cities in the north and south, respectively; Voznesensk and Mykolaiv; and eventually to the Donbas, where Putin withdrew his forces reluctantly to dig in and retrench by April. Along the tumultuous journey of many uncertain months, the author interviewed scores of fighters, civilians, and officials, and he capably reveals how Ukraine managed to channel its steely motivation and national unity into real action on the battlefield. Trofimov also ably conveys that despite some wobbly local officials whose loyalties have been tested, there’s been no question where Ukraine has stood since 2014, when Russia invaded Crimea and essentially “forfeited the sympathy of most Ukrainians, likely for generations.”

Terrific on-the-ground reportage during the initial fraught months of the ongoing war.