Invasion

Russia's military buildup had been visible for months, yet when its full-scale attack on Ukraine began in February 2022, the sheer size of it stunned much of the world. Luke Harding, an award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author of Collusion and Shadow State, presents this as the first account of the war. His earlier work had predicted Putin's dark, adventurous ambitions.

Drawing on his reporting from inside Ukraine during the first months of fighting, Harding records the human stories behind the headlines, including those of ordinary people caught up in the conflict. He also follows two contrasting leaders. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a former actor who became Ukraine's president, rallied international support on the global stage, while Putin seems to have retreated into a strange and inaccessible world.

Harding examines the ideological, religious and personal motives he sees behind Putin's war strategy and asks where this unprecedented invasion may lead. He considers its consequences for Kyiv, Moscow and the wider world, and places it within the largest armed conflict in Europe since 1945.