Russia-Ukraine War Anniversary: Twelve Books on the War

A year ago today, Russia launched its “military operation” in Ukraine which has not only caused ongoing suffering to the Ukrainian people but has also turned global politics upside-down. Since then, many books have been written about Russia’s war on Ukraine. From the personal accounts of a young Ukrainian girl, journalists on the ground, and soldiers to insightful analyses compiled by experts, this month’s book bundle provides diverse and outstanding sources of information to understand and summarize the important milestones and dynamics leading to and occurring during the war as well as its devastating effects on the world.

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ussia’s 2022 attack on Ukraine saw confrontation between Moscow and the West spill over into open conflict once again. Hostile acts abroad, from poisoning dissidents to shooting down airliners, interfering in elections, spying, hacking, and murdering, have long seemed to be the Kremlin’s dealings. But what is it all for?

Keir Giles, who works as a senior research fellow at the Russia and Eurasia program at Chatham House, explains how and why Russia pushes for more power and influence wherever it can reach, beyond Ukraine; what this means not just for governments, but for ordinary people across the globe; and how its effects may be more damaging than we realize.

Keir Giles, Russia’s War on Everybody and What It Means for You (Bloomsbury Academic 2023) ISBN: 9781350255081, 264 pages

R ussia’s brutal February 2022 invasion of Ukraine has attracted widespread condemnation across the world. Government and media circles present the conflict as a simple dichotomy of good and evil. War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict brings together a balanced look at the events leading up to the conflict and surveys the different parties involved.

Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies show how the picture is more complicated. While recognizing that Russia’s aggression is ultimately indefensible, the authors argue that the West’s eastward expansion of NATO, the U.S. involvement in the 2014 Ukraine coup, and Ukraine’s failure to implement the Minsk peace agreements prompted Putin to act.

Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies, War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict (OR Books 2022) ISBN 9781682193716, 198 pages

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nvasion: The Inside Story of Russia’s Bloody War and Ukraine’s Fight for Survival is the firsthand reporting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine from Luke Harding, New York Times bestselling author and Guardian correspondent. Harding writes about the astounding resilience in Ukraine and devastating atrocities in Bucha and elsewhere. With a focus on human stories and portraits of the leaders on both sides of war, Invasion captures a crucial moment in history that was the biggest news event of 2022 and an inflection point in international politics.

Luke Harding, Invasion: The Inside Story of Russia’s Bloody War and Ukraine’s Fight for Survival (Vintage, 2022) ISBN: 9780593685174, 336 pages

Yeva Skalietska, a young survivor of the war in Ukraine, shares her memories of the war in Ukraine through her diary entries. She began writing the diary when her grandmother and her found shelter in a bunker when the city where she lived came under Russian attack on February 24, 2022.

Skalietska describes the bombings she endured and her desperate escape journey from the conflict. From endless train rides and an overcrowded refugee center to settling in Ireland to put together a new life, You Don’t Know What War Is: The Diary of a Young Girl from Ukraine is an inspiring and intimate story of a survivor hoping to be able to return home one day.

Yeva Skalietska, You Don’t Know What War Is: The Diary of a Young Girl from Ukraine (Union Square & Co., 2022) ISBN: 9781454949695, 128 pages

No one has been more surprised by Volodymyr Zelensky’s power to inspire and mobilize his compatriots and the world than Vladimir Putin. Outfoxed and isolated, Putin is not the first person to have underestimated the former comedian.

Who is Volodymyr Zelensky? How did he become the international hero of our time? Zelensky: The Unlikely Ukrainian Hero Who Defied Putin and United the World tells you everything you need to know about this inspiring leader, covering his childhood, family history, and his career as a TV celebrity to the president of Ukraine.

Andrew L. Urban and Chris McLeod, Zelensky: The Unlikely Ukrainian Hero Who Defied Putin and United the World (Regnery Publishing, 2022) ISBN: 9781684513789, 192 pages

Putin’s Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine is an overview of the conflicts in which Russia has been involved since Vladimir Putin became prime minister and then president of Russia starting from the First Chechen War to the two military incursions into Georgia, the annexation of Crimea, and the eventual invasion of Ukraine itself. Mark Galeotti delves into Putin’s recreation of Russian military power and its expansion to include a range of new capabilities from mercenaries to operatives in a relentless information war against Western powers. Putin’s Wars provides an engrossing strategic overview of the Russian military and its successes and failures on the battlefield.

Mark Galeotti, Putin’s Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine (Osprey Publishing, 2022) ISBN: 9781472847546, 384 pages

T his collective work analyzes the ongoing conflict in Ukraine beyond simplistic media interpretations that limit the analysis solely to Vladimir Putin. The War in Ukraine’s Donbas: Origins, Contexts, and the Future gives voice to different social groups, scholarly communities, and agencies relevant to Ukraine’s recent history.

The authors reveal the deeper roots linked to the autonomy and history of the Donbas as a region, exploring local society and traditions, and the alienation from Ukraine caused by the events of Euromaidan. The book also takes a close look at the Minsk Accords in 2014 and the impact of the new president Volodymyr Zelensky with his efforts to bring the war to an end by negotiations.

David R. Marples, The War in Ukraine’s Donbas: Origins, Contexts, and the Future (CEU Press, 2022) ISBN: 9789633865972, 244 pages

Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: Economic Challenges, Embargo Issues, and a New Global Economic Order presents a cutting-edge analysis of the economic effects and challenges of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, touching on the EU sanctions on Russian energy, the global effects of an EU energy import boycott on Russia, and Ukraine’s political relationship with the EU in a global context. The book also explores the challenges to relations between the EU, China, and Russia caused by the invasion, the effects of the unfolding refugee crisis, military and humanitarian aid pledges to Ukraine, and the risks of reduced multilateralism within the world economy as a direct result of the war.

Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine provides a broader picture of the international effects of the conflict and its potential implications for policy design as we enter a new global order marked by the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Paul J.J. Welfens, Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: Economic Challenges, Embargo Issues, and a New Global Economic Order (Springer International Publishing, 2022) ISBN: 9783031191374, 387 pages

In Ukraine’s Unnamed War: Before the Russian Invasion of 2022, the authors argue that Russia packaged the conflict in Crimea and Eastern Donbas as a “civil war” to claim non-involvement and lay out social science literature on civil wars to help understand why no political solution was found between 2015 and 2022.

Drawing on Ukrainian documentary sources, the book explains how Russia, after seizing Crimea, was reacting to events it could not control and sent troops only to areas of Ukraine where it knew it would face little resistance. Kremlin decision-makers misunderstood the attachment of the Russian-speaking population to the Ukrainian state and failed to anticipate that their intervention would transform Ukraine into a more cohesively “Ukrainian” polity.

Dominique Arel and Jesse Driscoll, Ukraine’s Unnamed War: Before the Russian Invasion of 2022 (Cambridge University Press, 2023) ISBN: 101316511499, 320 pages

Diary of an Invasion is a collection of Andrey Kurkov’s writings and broadcasts from Kyiv documenting the shocking impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war. Kurkov has been a consistent satirical commentator in Ukraine and became an important voice for his people throughout the Russian invasion. He spends the sleepless nights of continuous bombardment of his city delivering the truth about this invasion to the world, and has also been able to fly to European capitals where he has been working to raise money for charities.

Diary of an Invasion is a remarkable record of a brilliant writer at the forefront of the war. It provides political and historical commentary and accounts from Kurkov’s personal journal, exploring Russian and Ukrainian history and their complicated coexistence, and describing how Ukraine defies its occupation.

Andrey Kurkov, Diary of an Invasion (Mountain Leopard Press, 2022) ISBN: 9781914495847, 304 pages

The award-winning Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar provides a history of Ukraine, scoping from its emergence as a post-Soviet state to a country with increasing economic, cultural, and political ties to Europe and the United States, leading to Putin’s invasion.

As soon as the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Zygar circulated a Facebook petition that led to a new law in Russia criminalizing criticism of the war forcing him to flee Russia. In his time as a journalist, Zygar has interviewed President Zelensky and has had access to many prominent politicians and oligarchs. As an expert on Putin’s moods and behavior, he has spent years studying the Kremlin’s plan regarding Ukraine, and in clear, chronological order explains how we got here.

Mikhail Zygar, War and Punishment: Putin, Zelensky, and the Path to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine (Scribner, 2023) ISBN13: 9781668013724, 320 pages

ZOV: Inside Putin’s Corrupt War in Ukraine – A Dissident Soldier’s Story is a detailed, voluntary account by a Russian soldier participating in the invasion of Ukraine. Pavel Filatyev was a paratrooper in the invasion force that shelled the city of Kherson in February 2022. He grew sickened and angry with his part and posted a shocking exposé on social media of what he had witnessed. After his injury, he evacuated from the conflict and gave a day-by-day description of how the Russian army crossed into Ukraine and captured the city of Kherson.

Now in hiding, Filatyev bears witness to Ukraine’s battlefields, shelled cities, and the Russian conscripts’ inescapable choice of fighting in a senseless war or facing imprisonment back home. His story provides a chilling insight into life behind enemy lines and a powerful account of the people caught in Putin’s war. ZOV: Inside Putin’s Corrupt War in Ukraine will be published on July 6, 2023 and is a forthcoming title to keep an eye on.

Pavel Filatyev, ZOV: Inside Putin’s Corrupt War in Ukraine – A Dissident Soldier’s Story, Random House, 2023) ISBN: 9780593597385, 208 pages