Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence
Our Enemies Will Vanish is clearly not an outsider’s account, though as an experienced reporter, Trofimov mostly avoids the twin temptations of personalizing and pontificating, instead hewing closely to what he sees ... The book is divided into 48 chapters spread out over 11 parts; such fragmentation is a sign that the story Trofimov is telling is still unfolding, its arc still unclear ... The book’s title is a line from Ukraine’s national anthem: 'Our enemies will vanish/Like dew at sunrise.' Trofimov clings to this rousing sentiment, even if the war reporter in him is constantly reminded that conflicts never work out that way. 'A long, grueling fight lay ahead,' he writes at the very end of the book. It’s a sober, plain-spoken assessment that doesn’t tell us all that much — which is also what makes it honest.
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Trofimov has collected a chorus of voices that add up to the truest first draft I have yet to read of the first chaotic year.
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Captures some of the most gruesome, difficult stories of the war ... Brings expertise in weapons systems, brigades and troop movements, as well as patriotic memes. He also situates the battles of Kharkiv, Kherson and Donbas within the broader shape of the war ... Trofimov’s panorama of a rapidly mobilized country is part war correspondence, part road trip. His front-line dispatches from across pockmarked Ukraine are episodic and dark, with the photographer or security guy doling out occasional punchlines.
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