“Small things make it possible to endure the unendurable in war”. In August 2023,
journalist Lara Marlowe met and interviewed Lieutenant Yulia Mykytenko for an Irish
Times feature on women serving in the Ukrainian army. Moved by Yulia’s
extraordinary courage and the realities of war, Lara’s book explores the history of
Russia’s war against Ukraine and offers a rare insight into the mind of a female
officer fighting for her country’s future.
As Lara noted, “for combatants, civilians and sometimes for war correspondents,
danger and discomfort become a new normal. Glad as she was to spend two weeks
in Europe promoting our book last autumn, Lieutenant Mykytenko was homesick for
her platoon back in Donbas. She has survived years of aerial and artillery
bombardments, but she found the London tube at rush hour stressful. After a few
weeks in a war zone, your body may return to Paris or Dublin, but your mind stays in
Beirut, Gaza or Ukraine.”
Lara Marlowe will be coming to Festilitt October 9-11 to talk about her book and
Yulia.