Named a Best Book of the Year by The Economist • Winner of the Peterson Literary Prize “ Our
Enemies Will Vanish achieves the highest level of war reporting: a tough detailed account that
nevertheless reads like a great novel. One is reminded of Michael Herr's Dispatches . . .
Frankly it's what we have all aspired to. I did not really understand Ukraine until I read
Trofimov's account.” — Sebastian Junger A revelatory eyewitness account of Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine and heroism of the Ukrainian people in their resistance by Yaroslav Trofimov the
Ukrainian chief foreign-affairs correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. Since Russia
invaded Ukraine in February 2022 Yaroslav Trofimov has spent months on end at the heart of the
conflict very often on its front lines. In this authoritative account he traces the war’s
decisive moments—from the battle for Kyiv to more recently the gruelling and bloody arm wrestle
involving the Wagner group over Bakhmut—to show how Ukraine and its allies have turned the tide
against Russia one of the world’s great military powers in a modern-day battle of David and
Goliath. Putin had intended to conquer and annex Ukraine with a vicious blitzkrieg redrawing
the map of Europe in a few short weeks with seismic geopolitical consequences. But in the face
of this existential threat the Ukrainian people fought back turning what looked like certain
defeat into a great moral victory even as the territorial battle continues to seesaw to this
day. This is the story of the epic bravery of the Ukrainian people—people Trofimov knows very
well. For Trofimov this war is deeply personal. He grew up in Kyiv and his family has lived
there for generations. With deep empathy and local understanding Trofimov tells the story of
how everyday Ukrainian citizens—doctors computer programmers businesspeople and
schoolteachers—risked their lives and lost loved ones. He blends their brave and tragic stories
with expert military analysis providing unique insight into the thinking of Ukrainian
leadership and mapping out the decisive stages of what has become a perilous war for Ukraine
the Putin regime and indeed the world. This brutal catastrophic struggle is unfolding on
another continent but the United States and its NATO allies have become deeply implicated. As
the war drags on it threatens to engulf the world. We cannot look away. At once heart-breaking
and inspiring Our Enemies Will Vanish is a riveting vivid and first-hand account of the
Ukrainian refusal to surrender. It is the story of ordinary people fighting not just for their
homes and their families but for justice and democracy itself.
