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How Good It Is I Have No Fear of Dying: Lieutenant Yulia Mykytenko's Fight for Ukraine
Publishing on the third anniversary of the war in The gripping, heartrending story, told in her own words, of a formidable 29-year-old woman serving as a commander on the front lines of the War in Ukraine — and an intimate, hair-raising look at modern warfare . . .
Lieutenant Yulia Mykytenko, a commander in the Ukrainian army serving on the front line of battle, embodies her country's resistance to the Russian invasion. When her father self-immolated on Maidan Square in central Kyiv in an act of protest, she held a press conference to explain to journalists that he acted “in sound mind.” Later, in battle on the front line, she would learn via radio-phone that her husband had been killed nearby.
In 2023, veteran war correspondent Lara Marlowe met Mykytenko while covering the war, and found her to be “one of the most extraordinary people I have interviewed in 42 years of journalism.” From their months of conversations, Marlowe stitched together Mykytenko’s accounts into a riveting revelation of what modern warfare is really like.
Told entirely in Mykytenko's first person voice, it is a story of cluster bombs and ballistic missiles. Mykytenko has most recently commanded a drone unit, and the scenes of launching drone attacks, and of being attacked by drones, are electrifying and harrowing. At the same time there are vestiges of trench warfare, no-man’s lands seeded with mines, even chemical weapons.
The result is an urgent story of a besieged nation, a vivid look at the changing face of warfare, and the stirring tale of an inspirational woman fighting for her country's survival.
Lieutenant Yulia Mykytenko, a commander in the Ukrainian army serving on the front line of battle, embodies her country's resistance to the Russian invasion. When her father self-immolated on Maidan Square in central Kyiv in an act of protest, she held a press conference to explain to journalists that he acted “in sound mind.” Later, in battle on the front line, she would learn via radio-phone that her husband had been killed nearby.
In 2023, veteran war correspondent Lara Marlowe met Mykytenko while covering the war, and found her to be “one of the most extraordinary people I have interviewed in 42 years of journalism.” From their months of conversations, Marlowe stitched together Mykytenko’s accounts into a riveting revelation of what modern warfare is really like.
Told entirely in Mykytenko's first person voice, it is a story of cluster bombs and ballistic missiles. Mykytenko has most recently commanded a drone unit, and the scenes of launching drone attacks, and of being attacked by drones, are electrifying and harrowing. At the same time there are vestiges of trench warfare, no-man’s lands seeded with mines, even chemical weapons.
The result is an urgent story of a besieged nation, a vivid look at the changing face of warfare, and the stirring tale of an inspirational woman fighting for her country's survival.
303 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 24, 2024
25 people are currently reading
448 people want to read
About the author
Lara Marlowe
8 books15 followersLara Marlowe is an American journalist and author, who is currently US correspondent for The Irish Times, after having spent many years as the paper's Paris correspondent. Marlowe also spend 15 years as a journalist for Time Magazine.
Born in California, Marlowe holds a B.A. in French from UCLA, a master's in international relations from Oxford, and also spent a year of study at the Sorbonne.
She often reported from Iraq following the 2003 US-led invasion. She worked previously for Time Magazine as their Beirut correspondent, and has been a guest for many other broadcast and print media. For her work she was made Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur in 2006.
She is a regular contributor to Newstalk 106 in Ireland.
Born in California, Marlowe holds a B.A. in French from UCLA, a master's in international relations from Oxford, and also spent a year of study at the Sorbonne.
She often reported from Iraq following the 2003 US-led invasion. She worked previously for Time Magazine as their Beirut correspondent, and has been a guest for many other broadcast and print media. For her work she was made Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur in 2006.
She is a regular contributor to Newstalk 106 in Ireland.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 17, 2025
I found this book at a bookstore in northern Ohio last July. It offered an inside view of the struggle against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, so I picked it up.
The story is told in first person from the point of view of Lieutenant Yulia Mykytenko, a volunteer soldier in the Ukrainian armed forces, whose father and husband also serve in the Ukrainian military. Her tale is told in simple descriptive and declaratory sentences, making it very easy to read. She covers in brief her early upbringing, Baptist schooling, and university experiences, all post 1992. She also discusses interactions with her father and other family members, students and soldiers, who at first are willing to accept increasing Russian influence in domestic politics but later realize how much better an alliance with European institutions and culture would be, and how much closer to European values Ukrainian culture is. The book is gripping, eye-opening, sad and inspiring.
Without spoiling the drama, I note some unexpected observations here:
Many Ukrainian soldiers were not thrilled with Zelensky initially, because he tried to compromise with Russia in 2019, and they feel that his government did not support the armed forces enough (in terms of weapons upgrades and training) before the 2022 invasion.
Also, many Ukrainians are, after three years of war, somewhat open to trading land for peace, even though they don’t like it and expect it will not prevent Russia from continuing their campaign in the future for political dominance of Ukraine. These Ukrainians would prefer it, though, if they could get enough support from Europe and America so that they could throw the Russians out of Ukraine for good.
In reading this, you can see that the Ukrainian people fighting against Russian tyranny are tough, warm-hearted and as heroic as humans can be, and they deserve our wholehearted support.
The story is told in first person from the point of view of Lieutenant Yulia Mykytenko, a volunteer soldier in the Ukrainian armed forces, whose father and husband also serve in the Ukrainian military. Her tale is told in simple descriptive and declaratory sentences, making it very easy to read. She covers in brief her early upbringing, Baptist schooling, and university experiences, all post 1992. She also discusses interactions with her father and other family members, students and soldiers, who at first are willing to accept increasing Russian influence in domestic politics but later realize how much better an alliance with European institutions and culture would be, and how much closer to European values Ukrainian culture is. The book is gripping, eye-opening, sad and inspiring.
Without spoiling the drama, I note some unexpected observations here:
Many Ukrainian soldiers were not thrilled with Zelensky initially, because he tried to compromise with Russia in 2019, and they feel that his government did not support the armed forces enough (in terms of weapons upgrades and training) before the 2022 invasion.
Also, many Ukrainians are, after three years of war, somewhat open to trading land for peace, even though they don’t like it and expect it will not prevent Russia from continuing their campaign in the future for political dominance of Ukraine. These Ukrainians would prefer it, though, if they could get enough support from Europe and America so that they could throw the Russians out of Ukraine for good.
In reading this, you can see that the Ukrainian people fighting against Russian tyranny are tough, warm-hearted and as heroic as humans can be, and they deserve our wholehearted support.
September 30, 2025
Brutal, raw, and completely fascinating, this is, in many ways, not a view of Ukraine's defence of its lands that s it's completely easily. Bristling with understandably rampant nationalism - the kind that is needed during war time - Yulia offers no apology for the brutalities her and her platoon have to commit to survive. Indeed, those who don't want to be there or doubt their orders are often dead within days. She is also often critical of Zelensky, who I think is seen as something of a hero in the West, which surprised me but that is probably more me being naive than anything.
Anyway, this is a pretty incredible voice from the trenches about a type of warfare that, despite all the technological advances, hasn't really changed all that much in a century.
Readable, shocking and provocative.
Anyway, this is a pretty incredible voice from the trenches about a type of warfare that, despite all the technological advances, hasn't really changed all that much in a century.
Readable, shocking and provocative.
April 25, 2025
What a remarkable woman with an incredible story! Loved that the author helped me to understand more of the history of Ukraine. Timely book.
September 5, 2025
This is an essential book if you want to better understand the war in Ukraine, or for that matter the traumatic effects of any war on those who must fight it.
Lt Yulia Mykytenko has been fighting this war for a decade. Although the Russians only began their attempted invasion of the entire country in February 2022, the war had in fact started in 2014 with the swift seizure of Crimea followed by the bloody secessionist war in the eastern region known as the Donbas. The war in the Donbas was nominally being waged by by the ethnic Russians of that region, but in fact their arms and some of their manpower came from Russia itself, though Putin attempted to maintain deniability. (The 2014 downing of a Malaysian civilian aircraft over Donbas by a Russian surface-to-air missile, killing 298 people, largely blew the remaining shreds of Putin's cover).
This is not a book about the strategy of the war but rather about the war from the perspective of one junior officer in the trenches, motivated by defending her country. She eventually commands a drone unit and sees the war up close, including the slaughter of friend and foe alike. The dead include her own father and husband.
She also sees the effect of the war on those parts of Ukraine from which the Russians have been driven out, such as the town of Bucha where she had spent the first few years of her life. Bucha was the scene of the execution of hundreds of civilians by Russian troops. Beyond the hundreds of thousands killed on both sides, millions have been traumatized, and more continue to be, every single day.
You may find the style of the prose in this work somewhat stilted, but it doesn't detract seriously from the power of the story as a whole.
From the American perspective in 2025, you may also find that this account makes you that much more ashamed of what has become our country's erratic, half-hearted, on-again off off-again support for Ukraine. At the moment, as of this writing, U.S. aid is now reduced to simply selling arms to our NATO allies for them to donate to Ukraine. This is not our finest hour.
Lt Yulia Mykytenko has been fighting this war for a decade. Although the Russians only began their attempted invasion of the entire country in February 2022, the war had in fact started in 2014 with the swift seizure of Crimea followed by the bloody secessionist war in the eastern region known as the Donbas. The war in the Donbas was nominally being waged by by the ethnic Russians of that region, but in fact their arms and some of their manpower came from Russia itself, though Putin attempted to maintain deniability. (The 2014 downing of a Malaysian civilian aircraft over Donbas by a Russian surface-to-air missile, killing 298 people, largely blew the remaining shreds of Putin's cover).
This is not a book about the strategy of the war but rather about the war from the perspective of one junior officer in the trenches, motivated by defending her country. She eventually commands a drone unit and sees the war up close, including the slaughter of friend and foe alike. The dead include her own father and husband.
She also sees the effect of the war on those parts of Ukraine from which the Russians have been driven out, such as the town of Bucha where she had spent the first few years of her life. Bucha was the scene of the execution of hundreds of civilians by Russian troops. Beyond the hundreds of thousands killed on both sides, millions have been traumatized, and more continue to be, every single day.
You may find the style of the prose in this work somewhat stilted, but it doesn't detract seriously from the power of the story as a whole.
From the American perspective in 2025, you may also find that this account makes you that much more ashamed of what has become our country's erratic, half-hearted, on-again off off-again support for Ukraine. At the moment, as of this writing, U.S. aid is now reduced to simply selling arms to our NATO allies for them to donate to Ukraine. This is not our finest hour.
August 6, 2025
This is one of the most honest and powerful accounts of modern war I’ve ever read.
Yulia does a remarkable job describing what it’s like to be in the middle of a war that feels both surreal and painfully real — because it’s still happening right now. She writes with heart, strength, and devastating clarity. Her story is shaped by personal loss — the deaths of both her husband and father — and yet what shines through is not just her grief, but her resilience.
This book isn’t sugar-coated. It’s raw, unfiltered, and deeply human. If you're looking for a polished history or distant analysis, look elsewhere. But if you want a vivid, fact-filled account of what it’s like to live through war — as a soldier, as a citizen, as someone simply trying to endure — then this is absolutely worth your time.
It also provides a striking look at how modern technology is reshaping warfare, adding yet another layer to its already brutal complexity. A powerful, necessary read.
Yulia does a remarkable job describing what it’s like to be in the middle of a war that feels both surreal and painfully real — because it’s still happening right now. She writes with heart, strength, and devastating clarity. Her story is shaped by personal loss — the deaths of both her husband and father — and yet what shines through is not just her grief, but her resilience.
This book isn’t sugar-coated. It’s raw, unfiltered, and deeply human. If you're looking for a polished history or distant analysis, look elsewhere. But if you want a vivid, fact-filled account of what it’s like to live through war — as a soldier, as a citizen, as someone simply trying to endure — then this is absolutely worth your time.
It also provides a striking look at how modern technology is reshaping warfare, adding yet another layer to its already brutal complexity. A powerful, necessary read.
December 23, 2024
Ineresting and Informative
This is an interesting and informative read which gives a good insight into the war in Ukraine. Given its format (it is derived from extensive interviews of the female Ukrainian army Lieutenant) it is a bit disjointed, switching between current events and historical.
This is an interesting and informative read which gives a good insight into the war in Ukraine. Given its format (it is derived from extensive interviews of the female Ukrainian army Lieutenant) it is a bit disjointed, switching between current events and historical.
March 13, 2025
Like All Quiet on the Western Front but, tragically, nonfiction. A powerful, well told story.
May 29, 2025
A Hero’s Testament from the Front Lines of Freedom
If you want to understand the heart of Ukraine—its defiance, its pain, its burning will to endure—this is the book you must read.
How Good It Is I Have No Fear of Dying is not just the story of a soldier. It is the soul-song of a nation fighting for its very existence. Told in the fierce, clear voice of Lieutenant Yulia Mykytenko and stitched together by veteran war correspondent Lara Marlowe, this account lays bare the grit, grief, and glory of a woman who embodies the courage of her people.
Yulia isn’t a figure made for folklore—she is real, raw, and breathtakingly human. She held a press conference to explain her father’s act of self-immolation on Maidan Square. She learned her husband had been killed over a field radio and carried on with her command. She fights in a war that pulls from the ghosts of the 20th century—trenches, chemical weapons, no-man’s land—and infuses them with the horrors of the 21st: drones, cluster bombs, ballistic missiles.
Her strength is not theatrical—it’s stubborn, unrelenting, rooted in love for her country and its people. Reading her story broke my heart and filled it all at once.
This isn’t a typical war story. It’s a human story. A Ukrainian story. And, more importantly, a warning and a reminder to the world: freedom is never guaranteed. It is held by those willing to stand at the edge of destruction and say, as Yulia does, “How good it is I have no fear of dying.”
This book is a testament to the soul of Ukraine. It is also a mirror—held up to the rest of us, asking what we would do if the same boots thundered through our fields and cities.
Let us not look away.
If you want to understand the heart of Ukraine—its defiance, its pain, its burning will to endure—this is the book you must read.
How Good It Is I Have No Fear of Dying is not just the story of a soldier. It is the soul-song of a nation fighting for its very existence. Told in the fierce, clear voice of Lieutenant Yulia Mykytenko and stitched together by veteran war correspondent Lara Marlowe, this account lays bare the grit, grief, and glory of a woman who embodies the courage of her people.
Yulia isn’t a figure made for folklore—she is real, raw, and breathtakingly human. She held a press conference to explain her father’s act of self-immolation on Maidan Square. She learned her husband had been killed over a field radio and carried on with her command. She fights in a war that pulls from the ghosts of the 20th century—trenches, chemical weapons, no-man’s land—and infuses them with the horrors of the 21st: drones, cluster bombs, ballistic missiles.
Her strength is not theatrical—it’s stubborn, unrelenting, rooted in love for her country and its people. Reading her story broke my heart and filled it all at once.
This isn’t a typical war story. It’s a human story. A Ukrainian story. And, more importantly, a warning and a reminder to the world: freedom is never guaranteed. It is held by those willing to stand at the edge of destruction and say, as Yulia does, “How good it is I have no fear of dying.”
This book is a testament to the soul of Ukraine. It is also a mirror—held up to the rest of us, asking what we would do if the same boots thundered through our fields and cities.
Let us not look away.
May 6, 2025
Lara does an outstanding job of channeling Yulia's clear, courageous, and sometimes tired voice as she describes her reaction to the Feb 2022 invasion and slowly reveals her family and childhood, activity at the Maidan Democracy uprising in 2014, initial signup to the armed forces, years of service to Ukraine, romance and brief marriage, losses, and thoughts on the future of Ukraine, Russia and life.
March 9, 2025
The book “How Good It Is to Have No Fear of Dying: Lieutenant Yulia Mykytenko’s Fight For Ukraine” by Lara Marlowe was released in the United Kingdom by Melville House Publishing in 2024. The book features Tamara who is the mother of the book’s narrator Yulia Mykytenko, and Yulia’s brother Bohdan. They live in Vyshneve, a dormitory town southwest of Kyiv, Ukraine. Yulia has a degree in Philology from National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Her degree is about the structure and historic development of languages. After she graduated from the University she marries an Ukraine soldier who dies in battle. Her father also served in the Ukrainian military, Yulia joins the Ukrainian army and becomes a military lieutenant frontline platoon leader. She also learns from a number of other military assignments about the inter-workings of Ukrainian security and administrative protocols. Her insights and experiences helped me learn about the Ukrainian-Russian war in the context of historical events that go back many years. The book has 17 photos and a wonderful 23 page glossary of terminology that features historic events that impact the Ukraine and Russian relationships. Also the book helped me better understand today’s opportunities for international Russian-Ukrainian peace. These peace opportunities are anchored in religious, political, and social mores that are impacted by the European Union, Russian, and Ukrainian value sets. Lara Marlowe is a wonderful writer and Julia Mykytenko is an exceptional narrator full of insights and amazing courage. She has received many awards for her courage and military service. (L/P)
June 1, 2025
A good first person view of what the war is really like. Not so much the combat action, as the daily life of a female soldier. Also a sobering look at a bleak future as America and some of the allies seem to want out of assisting the Ukrainians.
September 22, 2025
Yulia Mykytenko’s account of fighting for Ukraine is deeply moving and also unsparing. I wish we were better allies to them. We could learn a lot from Ms. Mykytenko’s bravery, courage, and civic duty
November 12, 2024
Absolutely brilliant - Yulia is an inspiration to all woment but more importantly ALL men. True leader.
February 28, 2025
Completely captivated and enthralled with this biography (that reads like an autobiography). It's easy to understand why Marlowe was so taken with this hero.
August 2, 2025
A fascinating and deeply moving account of not only the war in Ukraine - in fact, it is a portrait of the Ukrainian soul as a whole and its century-long struggle for freedom in the face of Russian terror.
April 1, 2025
Schon interessant, aber man sollte sich auch immer fragen, was ist vielleicht Propaganda.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews