The SSL ‘Book of the Month’ feature highlights a book in our collection. This may be a recent addition to our stock or an existing item that we would like to share with you.
Bakhmut
Myroslav Laiuk, translated by Dmytro Kyyan and Kate Tsurkan
Kyiv: Ukraïner, 2025
Shelfmark: DK5479.B35.LAI 2025
Book Overview
Myroslav Laiuk was a poet and academic before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022; he continues to teach at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. However the invasion caused Laiuk to abandon the publication of fiction in favour of war reporting, in common with many of Ukraine’s leading writers. He often writes his articles in the car, as he travels away from the scene he has just witnessed: it is generally impossible to use voice recorders on the front line. Bakhmut is one result of his work, which has just been translated into English. It offers perfectly judged vignettes of the battle of Bakhmut – a town in Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine – interspersed with photographs by Danylo Pavlov, and followed by Laiuk’s own reflections.
Laiuk depicts the interactions he had as faithfully as he can, retaining the language of his interlocutors. Hence Bakhmut presents a series of vivid encounters with the people and animals caught up in the fighting – ranging from Oleksandra, the elderly citizen of Bakhmut whose story forms one of the book’s central themes, to two unnamed Russian prisoners of war. Laiuk is masterful in his selection of powerfully evocative details; for example, the solder who advised him to avoid looking at the skinny ginger cat trembling in its box.
The chapter on army Chaplains offers a moment of hope and encouragement. Maksym and Oleh are clear-eyed, determined, and prepared to help throughout the war and beyond; Laiuk is sure that they will “carry others on their shoulders” (Laiuk 2025, 61). Laiuk’s own care and determination is another inspiration. His book is an essential reminder of the human experience that lies behind all the news stories, social media feeds, and high-level negotiations – and of the infinitely complex struggle between good and evil that is manifested by the war in Ukraine, although it encompasses the world.
Reviews
Peter Pomerantsev:
“…this is a writer who knows not only how to observe war, but also how to think about it. There exists no better tribute, in any language, to the world of Ukraine’s frontlines – a world that is fast disappearing under Russian shells.”
https://www.ukrainer.net, accessed on November 25, 2025 at 13.45.
How can I access it?
You can currently find this book around the corner from our Issue Desk, above our New Books display. This title is loanable for University card holders. Its shelfmark is DK5479.B35.LAI 2025
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