“The horror seeped into our blood vessels, our veins, our nerves, our bones, our muscles. Horror settled in the body and mind of Ukrainians. Everything Russian now arouses nothing but hatred. »
The horror thus described by the writer Andrey Kurkov in his essay Diary of an Invasionthis is of course the Russian aggression that Vladimir Putin gave the green light to in February 2022.
Famous for his novel The Penguinthis Ukrainian novelist of Russian expression decided, a few months before the beginning of the conflict, to “transcribe the struggle for freedom and the reconstruction of Ukraine”.
His testimony is valuable.
Be warned: this is not a war correspondent’s book. Nor that of a soldier at the front. It is the logbook of a writer who fled the fighting, evacuated his family from Kyiv at the start of the war to the west of his country, 800 kilometers from the capital.
He offers us his vision of the conflict and its evolution, but also tells – and above all – what his daily life and that of the Ukrainian people looks like. Week after week, he presents his findings, his anxieties and his hopes.
It is a raw testimony, written in a hurry, so inevitably we will sometimes find some repetitions and observations that no longer correspond to the current situation on the ground. It’s perfectly normal.
In contrast, the glaringly truthful reflections on the cruelty of war and the sufferings of those who face it are timeless.
We rub shoulders with horror, therefore, because it is omnipresent in Ukraine. And not just in the trenches.
The writer tells for example how, when he thinks of his favorite bread, that of the village of Makariv, he now tastes blood in his mouth. The bakery was bombed by the Russian army. Thirteen employees were killed and nine injured.
He also tells us about the testimonies of too many young Ukrainian women who have lost their husbands in battle. “I know some of them, I met their husbands. I cannot read without shedding tears these cries of despair thrown into the bottomless pit of the internet. »
We cannot escape it. War is death. But he is also a tyrant who takes hostage and tortures every day all those who suffer it.
Andrei Kurkov makes an eloquent demonstration of this from the beginning to the end of his work. “It is what determines the way you live, think, make decisions,” he writes.
The essay is not, however, saturated with despair. Ukraine is not all hell and darkness.
The ongoing conflict, as tragic as it may be, is also a story of solidarity. That of the country’s allies with regard to its inhabitants. And that of the Ukrainians among themselves. Many stories and anecdotes illustrate this.
Conflict is also, very clearly, a story of resilience. That, Andrei Kurkov also demonstrates. “Ukraine will survive, rebuild and move forward, while remembering this war for centuries and centuries. »
Extract
“In reality, there can no longer be a normal life for my generation. War always leaves a deep wound in the heart. It is forever part of life, even when the guns have fallen silent. I have the feeling that she is now inside me. It’s like knowing you’re living with a tumor that can’t be removed. You can never really run away from war: it turns into a chronic, incurable disease. It can kill you, or just stay lodged in your body and in your head, reminding you of its presence regularly, like a spinal injury. »
Who is Andrei Kurkov?
Andrei Kurkov is a Russian-speaking Ukrainian writer born in 1961, who lived in Kyiv until war was declared. Her first novel, The Penguin, published in the 1990s, is also his most famous. His work is now translated into more than 30 languages.
Diary of an Invasion
Black on White editions
255 pages