The War Came to Us: Life and Death in Ukraine

WINNER OF THE WITOLD PILECKI INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARD SPECIAL PRIZE

A WATERSTONES AND IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR

A breathtaking exploration of Ukraine’s past, present, and future, and a heartbreaking account of the war against Russia, written by a leading journalist who has lived and worked in Ukraine for over a decade.

’Vivid... Shocking... [Miller] brings a seasoned, personal perspective to his account of both the 16-month conflict and its wider roots.’
Daily Telegraph

’A beautiful blend of memoir, reportage and history...superb.’
Irish Times

’...powerful and insightful...Miller provides a human dimension to a bloody conflict.’
Kirkus Reviews

When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine just before dawn on 24 February 2022, it marked his latest and most overt attempt to brutally conquer the country, and reshaped the world order. Christopher Miller, the Ukraine correspondent for the Financial Times and a foremost journalist covering the country, was there on the ground when the first Russian missiles struck and troops stormed over the border. But the seeds of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the West were sown more than a decade earlier.

This is the definitive, inside story of its long fight for freedom. Told through Miller’s personal experiences, vivid front-line dispatches and illuminating interviews with unforgettable characters, The War Came To Us takes readers on a riveting journey through the key locales and pivotal events of Ukraine’s modern history. From the coal-dusted, sunflower-covered steppe of the Donbas in the far east to the heart of the Euromaidan revolution camp in Kyiv; from the Black Sea shores of Crimea, where Russian troops stealthily annexed Ukraine’s peninsula, to the bloody battlefields where Cossacks roamed before the Kremlin’s warlords ruled with iron fists; and through the horror and destruction wrought by Russian forces in Bucha, Bakhmut, Mariupol, and beyond.

With candor, wit and sensitivity, Miller captures Ukraine in all its glory: vast, defiant, resilient, and full of wonder. A breathtaking narrative that is at times both poignant and inspiring, The War Came To Us is the story of an American who fell in love with a foreign place and its people - and witnessed them do extraordinary things to escape the long shadow of their former imperial ruler and preserve their independence.

Christopher Miller is a writer and journalist based in Kyiv, Ukraine and Brooklyn, New York. Since 2022 he has been lead correspondent in Ukraine for the Financial Times. He was previously a reporter for POLITICO and a Ukraine correspondent for BuzzFeed News.

As editor at the Kyiv Post, he was part of the team that won the Missouri Honor Medal Winner for Distinguished Service in Journalism for coverage of the Euromaidan Revolution, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine.