A couple of days ago, I finally decided to register on Tik Tok, partly because materials on the platform are becoming a frequent topic of discussion among my friends on Facebook, but mostly because of one young woman by the name of Tetyana Chubar. My guess is that his next victim would be Moldova and Lithuania, then maybe the other Baltic States, Poland and so on. Diary of an Invasion is a snapshot of diverse Ukrainian society, mentioning Ukrainians of Armenian, Korean, French, Japanese origins, the cultural and social differences between Eastern Ukraine and Western Ukraine.

Diary of an Invasion | The Spectator Andrey Kurkov: Diary of an Invasion | The Spectator

I now understand very well that if Russia succeeds in seizing Ukraine, all the freedoms that the citizens of Ukraine are so used to will be lost, together with the independence of our state”, reflects Andrey Kurkov at some point in his “Diary of an Invasion”. He is referring to, among other incidents, the recent death after a “fall” from a Moscow hospital window of Ravil Maganov, a senior oil executive whose company had criticised the Russian invasion. Tetyana has admitted to reporters receiving many messages from men who say they are in love with her. If Ukraine is seen to succeed as a free country, what future can there be in Russia for Putin and his like? It is both an honour and a responsibility to have a clockwork commander whose Tik Tok site is followed by hundreds of thousands of people.This is particularly important for those unfamiliar with the region of Eastern Europe who are unable to look at this war through Eastern European lenses or where anti-American or anti-Western sentiment dictates their support for the atrocities committed on behalf of the Russian Federation. After four years in Moscow, Harding was expelled in 2011 for reporting on the brutal corruption of Putin and his cronies. We started talking every day, probably from November or December last year, about whether the war would come or not," Kurkov says. At the end of the book, end of Summer 2022, Kurkov promises a Part 2 – I would definitely read that.

Diary of an Invasion by Andrey Kurkov | Book Review Diary of an Invasion by Andrey Kurkov | Book Review

Digging the trenches in Ukraine ended up in major Bronze Age discoveries, which have just had to be re-earthed until peace. He must be thinking about the time when he carried copies of his novels in a suitcase and how he used to try to sell them on the street and in other public places, and he must be wondering how from such humble origins he has suddenly become Ukraine's greatest novelist. It takes a true strategist who can think several moves out to see beyond the present bloodshed to acknowledge, as Kurkov does, that 'for many people, history has long ceased to be a science and has become part of literature.

Kurkov, a Russian native living in Kiev, fills every pages with vignettes on how the war has transformed the social fabric of the country, inflicting internal displacement, death, and destruction at almost every turn. Here we have learnt to take the Johnson gift for PR with a pinch of salt, but there is no doubting the author's sincerity. Cockburn’s quasi-insider account of the runaway US military-industrial complex shows that the lust for power is not the only root of war. The Spoils of War (Verso, 2021) by Andrew Cockburn offers evidence that Russia is not the only heavily armed imperium with a violent agenda.

Diary of an Invasion,” Normal Life in Ukraine Has Become In “Diary of an Invasion,” Normal Life in Ukraine Has Become

So, if Ukraine had fallen - as it might have, had Volodymyr Zelensky not refused America's offer to move him to safety with the inspirational words: "I need ammunition, not a ride" - would we now be talking about fighting in the Baltic? A person starts thinking about this choice well before the first explosions are heard on the outskirts of their city or village.Kurkov takes us through his inner dialogue from just before the early days of the Russian offensive, and one gradually gets the sense that writing is not just saving the reader from ignorance about the Ukraine, but also saving Kurkov, giving him a meaningful way to get through the war. None of this would matter if it were not for one more fact : she is the commander of a self-propelled cannon – an armoured vehicle something like a tank – and she has four men under her command. If no-one pays their bills during the war, there will be no salaries for the employees of the gas service and electricity utilities, which means their life will become a double hell. Many families also travel with other people’s children, trying to make sure that all the seats in their cars are occupied. And he knows what’s coming will be bigger and worse, with “horrors that have no place in contemporary life”.

Diary of an Invasion By Andrey Kurkov | Used | 9781914495847 Diary of an Invasion By Andrey Kurkov | Used | 9781914495847

Kurkov himself is living in a stranger's apartment after he had moved away from his home, and his landlady tells him that he can stay in the apartment however long he wants and he can use everything that is there in her home. So many parts will also give a satisfying answer to those, who are still asking – “What’s the difference between Ukrainians and Russians? He illustrates this unsightly metamorphosis through the tale of Jones Day, one of the most profitable US firms, which now sits at the nexus of corporate and political power. Certain politicians are very fond of commissioning new editions of history so that the history better fits their ideology and their ideological discourse.This normality is perhaps a surprise from these pages, as is perhaps how bonkers Zelenskyy is allowed to seem in the chapters preceding the actual invasion – I don't know if I infer it correctly, but I am sure Kurkov finds, like me, some of his policies and decisions quite absurd.