Publishing on the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine: The gripping, heartrending story, told in her own words, of a formidable 29-year-old woman serving as a commander on the front lines of the War in Ukraine — and an intimate, hair-raising look at modern warfare . . .

Lieutenant Yulia Mykytenko, a commander in the Ukrainian army serving on the front line of battle, embodies her country’s resistance to the Russian invasion. When her father self-immolated on Maidan Square in central Kyiv in an act of protest, she held a press conference to explain to journalists that he acted “in sound mind.” Later, in battle on the front line, she would learn via radio-phone that her husband had been killed nearby.

In 2023, veteran war correspondent Lara Marlowe met Mykytenko while covering the war, and found her to be “one of the most extraordinary people I have interviewed in 42 years of journalism.” From their months of conversations, Marlowe stitched together Mykytenko’s accounts into a riveting revelation of what modern warfare is really like.

Told entirely in Mykytenko’s first person voice, it is a story of cluster bombs and ballistic missiles. Mykytenko has most recently commanded a drone unit, and the scenes of launching drone attacks, and of being attacked by drones, are electrifying and harrowing. At the same time there are vestiges of WWII: trench warfare, no-man’s lands seeded with mines, even chemical weapons.

The result is an urgent story of a besieged nation, a vivid look at the changing face of warfare, and the stirring tale of an inspirational woman fighting for her country’s survival.

“What an extraordinary, spectacular book! As long as there are women like Mykytenko in the world, human society will be okay. The combination of courage and love in a single person is an ancient story and one that we must hear over and over again to know that it’s possible. And Marlowe’s prose is so powerful and compelling that I was at a loss as to when to put the book down… It may well be one of the best and most important books to come out of this brutal war that Russia has inflicted on Ukraine.” — Sebastian Junger, author of the New York Times bestseller The Perfect Storm

“Marlowe does excellent work translating interviews with Mykytenko into seamless and beautifully written prose. This book provides everything readers want to know about the war in Ukraine and the indefatigable courage of that country’s fighters. A tour de force of hope and service amid the destruction of a horrific, ongoing war.” — Booklist, STARRED review

“An extensive report from the front lines of Ukraine, viewed through the eyes of a war-weary but indomitable officer. . . A wartime account of searing intensity and righteous anger.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Lara Marlowe’s book has the depth and breadth of a documentary and the subtlety and insight of a novel. If you wish to understand the war in Ukraine, and why and how the Ukrainians are fighting with such valour and tenacity, then read this vivid, moving and affirmative testimony.” — John Banville, Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea