'It could happen to you, so prepare for war with Russia'

Author and soldier Oleksandr Mykhed tells Tom Watling about his new book describing the reality of Putin’s invasion

- Tom Watling

A junkyard of burnt cars. Shattered glass and shell fragments. Bodies lining the streets. This is Oleksandr Mykhed’s language of war. This is the language of Ukrainians. This is, he says, what we should be ready for: “Because this might happen in your country, and you’d better be prepared for that.”

Mykhed – one of Ukraine’s most prolific authors – is in London promoting his tenth book, The Language of War. His once floppy blonde hair is gone, shaved into a military-style buzz cut instead; it is a nod to his second job, the one he did not choose.

Mykhed, 36, enlisted in the military as soon as the full-scale invasion began. Though he had no previous experience, he was told he would be a mortar battery ammunition man. “You will pass grenades to the loader, carry a box of grenades and the mortar itself,” the enlistment officer said to him, after he asked what he meant by “mortar man”.

He then took part in training before going on patrol away from the frontline. He has recently undergone another 40-day training exercise. After his book tour, it is unclear where he will go next.

The Language of War is a harrowing recount of life as a Ukrainian during the first 13 months of Russia’s invasion – a timely reminder of its ever-presence for the millions living through it. It is, in that sense, a book not about Ukraine but about Ukrainians.

Broken down into a rigid structure, it starts with how the war has affected him, then his family, his peers and his country. It is dotted with anecdotes from other Ukrainians. The book is, he says, a “matrix of the invasion”.