Our Daily War

“For centuries, attempts have been made to force Ukrainians to forget their native language, to stop singing Ukrainian songs and to abandon their history. For almost 400 years, Russia has been fighting against Ukrainian identity.”

Ten years on from the annexation of Crimea, two years on from Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian people continue to fight back. In the second volume of his war diaries, Andrey Kurkov gives a fresh perspective on a people for whom resistance and solidarity have become a matter of survival.

Our Daily War is a chronological record of the heterogeneous mix that comprises Ukrainian life and thought in the teeth of Russian aggression, from the constant stress of air raids, the deportation of citizens from the occupied regions and the whispers of governmental corruption to Christmas celebrations, crowdfunding and the recipe for a “trench candle”.

Kurkov’s human’s-eye view on the war in Ukraine is by turns bitingly satirical, tragic, humorous and heartfelt. It is also, in the manner of Pepys, an invaluable insight into the history, politics and culture of Ukraine. Our Daily War is the ideal primer for anyone who would like to know what life is like in that country today.