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The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence
A revelatory eyewitness account of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the heroism of the Ukrainian people in their resistance by Yaroslav Trofimov, the Ukrainian chief foreign affairs correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Yaroslav Trofimov has spent months on end at the heart of the conflict, very often on its front lines. In this authoritative account, he traces the war's decisive moments—from the battle for Kyiv to more recently the grueling and bloody arm wrestle involving the Wagner group over Bakhmut—to show how Ukraine and its allies have turned the tide against Russia, one of the world's great military powers, in a modern-day battle of David and Goliath. Putin had intended to conquer and annex Ukraine with a vicious blitzkrieg, redrawing the map of Europe in a few short weeks with seismic geopolitical consequences. But in the face of this existential threat, the Ukrainian people fought back, turning what looked like certain defeat into a great moral victory, even as the territorial battle continues to seesaw to this day. This is the story of the epic bravery of the Ukrainian people—people Trofimov knows very well.
For Trofimov, this war is deeply personal. He grew up in Kyiv and his family has lived there for generations. With deep empathy and local understanding, Trofimov tells the story of how everyday Ukrainian citizens—doctors, computer programmers, businesspeople, and schoolteachers—risked their lives and lost loved ones. He blends their brave and tragic stories with expert military analysis, providing unique insight into the thinking of Ukrainian leadership and mapping out the decisive stages of what has become a perilous war for Ukraine, the Putin regime, and indeed, the world.
This brutal, catastrophic struggle is unfolding on another continent, but the United States and its NATO allies have become deeply implicated. As the war drags on, it threatens to engulf the world. We cannot look away. At once heart-breaking and inspiring, Our Enemies Will Vanish is a riveting, vivid, and first-hand account of the Ukrainian refusal to surrender. It is the story of ordinary people fighting not just for their homes and their families but for justice and democracy itself.
"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...Terrific on-the-ground reportage during the initial fraught months of the ongoing war." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"This tour de force covers the first year of war in Ukraine and a solid second draft of history, as the author intended. We can hope for a second volume that will be the last, chronicling a truly independent Ukraine." —Booklist (starred review)
"[A] comprehensive and harrowing eyewitness report on the war in Ukraine...This thorough overview of the conflict extends until just before Ukraine's offensive to retake Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in June 2023. Readers seeking a blow-by-blow account of the war will want to take a look." —Publishers Weekly
"Our Enemies Will Vanish achieves the highest level of war reporting: a tough, detailed account that nevertheless reads like a great novel. One is reminded of Michael Herr's Dispatches or the best work that came out of Bosnia in the 1990s; frankly, it's what we have all aspired to. I did not really understand Ukraine until I read Trofimov's account, and now I am even more convinced that the world must stand behind Ukraine and every other democracy fighting for survival." —Sebastian Junger, New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Storm and War
"Humane, informed, and reliable, this account of the first year of Russia's war on Ukraine will be read by all who wish to understand this defining event of our time." —Timothy Snyder, New York Times bestselling author of On Tyranny
"Our Enemies Will Vanish is a stunning work of eyewitness reportage and literary nuance that brings alive both the brutalities of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war's small absurdities and comic interludes. Only a Ukrainian native with Trofimov's wide experience of covering war could have delivered such a clear-eyed and memorable book—an instant classic." —Steve Coll, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Ghost Wars and Directorate S.
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in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
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Yaroslav Trofimov is the chief foreign-affairs correspondent of The Wall Street Journal and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting for two consecutive years, in 2022 and 2023. Before covering the Russian war on Ukraine, he reported on most major conflicts of the past two decades, serving as the Journal's bureau chief in Afghanistan and Pakistan and as a correspondent in Iraq. He holds an MA from New York University and is the author of two critically acclaimed books, Faith at War and The Siege of Mecca.
Author Interview
Link to Yaroslav Trofimov's Website
Name Pronunciation
Yaroslav Trofimov: jaro-slav trophy-mov
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