War Diary of the Ukrainian Resistance

by The Kyiv Independent

'We must reveal the truth – it's our duty. The world must know what is going on here … We have to carry on reporting. This is what keeps me reporting so that the world will never forget.' – Asami Terajima, reporter for The Kyiv Independent

How does a newsroom, made up of young journalists, find itself in a war zone overnight? How do you do your job as a correspondent when the conflict is literally on your doorstep?

One member of The Kyiv Independent's young editorial staff was covering the business world in Ukraine, another was reporting on entertainment, while a third was dealing with geopolitics, when the Russian army crossed the border. They made the choice to to face head-on the uncertainty of living and working in an active war zone. The power cuts, threat to life, trips to shelters, lethal attacks – despite it all, they keep informing.

In War Diary of the Ukrainian Resistance, they share their work on the war that is ravaging their country. Combining articles published during the conflict with personal accounts, they give us an unprecedented inside look at the reality of the Russian invasion and its consequences.

Everyone has a part to play in the resistance; reporting the truth is theirs. Their names are Alexander, Anastasiia, Anna, Artur, Asami, Daria, Daryna, Dinara, Francis, Igor, Illia, Iryna, Kostyantyn, Liza, Natalia, Oleg, Oleksiy, Olena, Olga, Thaisa, Toma, Veronika and Zakhar. Their lives will never be the same again. Nor will ours.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

556 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 23, 2023

Reviews

[Devora Kotseva · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unflinching and meticulous account of stories that unfold during the first year of the RF's full-scale war in Ukraine documented by the team behind The Kyiv Independent. The journalists report on a variety of topics, from acts of resistance by locals, to soldiers' accounts, analysts' predictions, and delve into controversial aspects like troubling rumours about the Foreign Legion. Editorials give an insight into the personal experience of the team behind the independent media, which adds to the value of this testimony and contribution to Ukrainian resistance efforts. There is a lot of loss, brutality, and nearly indescribable atrocities between the pages but there is also a lot of unsung bravery and love and perseverance, which provides an insight into Ukrainian's ability to keep going forward in the face of adversity.

"In Ukraine, there is no societal demand for a violent strongman in power. The Ukrainian people's strength is in themselves. They don't need a 'strong hand' - their own hands are strong enough, and they feel it. We saw it in the early days of the invasion, when regular people confronted armed Russian soldiers, and we see it tiday with people protesting Russians in occupied Kjerson, and with the Ukrainian military fighting fiercely at the front lines."
- Olga Rudenko, editor-in-chief

[Chris Malone · Rating 5 out of 5]

War Diary of the Ukrainian Resistance is a very powerful compilation of articles by journalists who work for the Kyiv Independent, having parted company with the Kyiv Post, the first English language newspaper in Ukraine, due to its Russian ownership.

The chronological structure of the book is helpful, with the final article relating to January 2023, when Leopard tanks were promised to Ukraine from Germany. This is as up-to-date as books go.

It is by no means an easy read, because they tell it as it is, with real-life stories of courage, confusion, pain and modest heroism. The accounts relate to many individuals, trapped, escaping, injured, tortured. This is no black and white view, as corruption in the Ukrainian army features in several accounts, but the one message which persists is that Putin, the Russian military AND Russian people are, as the aggressor, guilty of inciting terror through genocide and appalling war crimes.

These contemporary accounts are completely compelling. I now know so much more about the conflict, from first-hand , and thoroughly recommend this book.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book captures the first year of Russia's attacks in Ukraine from a first-person perspective, told by the news outlet's collection of journalists on the ground including personal opinions and first-person reporting and interviews. It's a great snapshot in time, although some of their predictions for a fast war and then reconstruction have clearly not panned out. The authors did not really anticipate the rapid development of drone warfare at the time.

[Willow Zapata · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an interesting Read, as I have three more years of War understanding that this book didn't have in 2022-23. I also switched to StoryGraph for all of my book tracking needs, and finally updated my currently Read hear at goodreads.