The War Came to Us

May 8, 2023
War correspondent Miller’s heart-pounding debut describes in gritty detail the frontline fighting and key events preceding Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. After witnessing the Kremlin’s takeover of the Crimean Peninsula and the battle between Ukrainian soldiers and Russian separatists for Donetsk airport (“a mess of spattered blood, shattered glass, and mangled steel”) in 2014, Miller crisscrossed the country and landed major scoops, including his discovery in Ukraine’s Donbas region of a trove of execution orders—the “first hard evidence of war crimes” committed by Russia’s proxies in the fight. After the war broke out in 2022, Miller traveled under enemy fire to the cities of Mariupol and Bakhmut, where he mingled with survivors hiding in the basements of damaged buildings, and to Kiev, which was under aerial assault from drone attacks. Miller vividly illustrates the risks correspondents take (at one checkpoint, “a hulk of a man with a snarling face sat me down and screamed at me for an hour.... And he told me he was going to kill me unless I confessed to being an American spy”), but readers hoping for insights into the historical and cultural fault lines underscoring the conflict will have to look elsewhere. Still, this is frontline reporting at its finest.

Starred review from May 15, 2023
A penetrating account of the reality of Putin's war on Ukraine. It is easy to think about Russia's invasion of Ukraine in terms of geopolitical maneuvering and armchair commentary. The value of this book is that it demonstrates the real toll in lives lost and broken. Miller is a journalist who writes for a number of publications, but he has a deep connection with Ukraine, going back to a stint as a teacher in the Peace Corps. He emphasizes that the invasion is merely the latest chapter in the long story of conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and he delves into the background through stories and interviews. He clearly has great affection for the country and its people, and he wonders why it has been plagued by brutal, corrupt governments. Putin, for his part, has argued that Ukraine does not have legitimacy as an independent state and is historically part of Russia. Miller dismisses this claim, like most of what Putin says about Ukraine, as ludicrous, although the presence of a Russian-leaning minority complicates the picture. Most Ukrainians were not surprised when Russian forces came streaming across the border, and the preparations they had made were crucial in their capacity to beat back the invaders. There were plenty of Nazi-level atrocities, but if the Russians had thought that the Ukrainians would be intimidated, they were utterly mistaken. The Ukrainian military was supplemented by legions of volunteers, and advanced weapons from the West leveled the technological battlefield. Traveling around and speaking with people, Miller often finds it hard to maintain journalistic detachment, but his compassion and honesty are appreciated. He avoids a simplistic conclusion, but it looks as if the war has become a slogging match of attrition. Eventually, the Ukrainians will probably expel the Russians, but the final cost will be enormous. With powerful stories and insightful background, Miller provides a human dimension to a bloody conflict.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.