Summary of Our Enemies Will Vanish by Yaroslav Trofimov E-Book

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• Herausgeber: BookRix
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

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Summary of Our Enemies Will Vanish by Yaroslav Trofimov: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence

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Yaroslav Trofimov's "Our Enemies Will Vanish" is a detailed account of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the heroism of the Ukrainian people in their resistance. Trofimov, a Ukrainian chief foreign-affairs correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, has spent months at the heart of the conflict, often on its front lines. He traces the war's decisive moments, from the battle for Kyiv to the gruelling arm wrestle involving the Wagner group over Bakhmut. Trofimov's account is deeply personal, blending the stories of everyday Ukrainian citizens with expert military analysis. The war is unfolding on another continent, and the United States and NATO allies have become deeply implicated. The book is both heart-breaking and inspiring, highlighting the fight for justice and democracy.

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GP SUMMARY

Summary of Our Enemies Will Vanish by Yaroslav Trofimov

The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence

Yaroslav Trofimov's "Our Enemies Will Vanish" provides a detailed account of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people's resistance. He combines personal stories with expert military analysis, highlighting the fight for justice and democracy, with the US and NATO allies deeply implicated.BookRix GmbH & Co. KG81371 Munich

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Summary of Our Enemies Will Vanish

A

Summary of Yaroslav Trofimov’s Book

The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence

GP SUMMARY

Summary of Our Enemies Will Vanish by Yaroslav Trofimov: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence

By GP SUMMARY© 2024, GP SUMMARY.

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Contact: [email protected]

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Editing, proofreading: GP SUMMARY

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NOTE TO READERS

This is an unofficial summary & analysis of Yaroslav Trofimov’s “The Little Liar: A Novel” designed to enrich your reading experience.

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The contents of the summary are not intended to replace the original book. It is meant as a supplement to enhance the reader's understanding. The contents within can neither be stored electronically, transferred, nor kept in a database. Neither part nor full can the document be copied, scanned, faxed, or retained without the approval from the publisher or creator.

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Copyright 2024. All rights reserved.

PROLOGUE

On February 23, 2022, Kyiv was a peaceful city with billboards advertising concerts and cherry-liquor bars filled with folk-rock music. Ukrainian lawmakers debated emergency wartime legislation. Petro Poroshenko, a chocolate-industry tycoon battling corruption charges, reminisced about Ukrainian society's unity after the 2014 revolution against President Viktor Yanukovych's authoritarian rule. Russia had captured Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and attempted to annex Ukraine's southeastern half, but Moscow's attempts failed. On February 21, Putin recognized the Donetsk and Luhansk "people's republics" and signed mutual-defense agreements with them.

Shelling intensified along the cease-fire line through Donbas, and tensions between Ukrainian President Poroshenko and Russian President Zelensky grew. The two politicians had met to discuss the looming threat from Moscow, a topic that has caused national catastrophes throughout Ukrainian history. Poroshenko emphasized unity around the nation and called for a moratorium on anything that undermines unity. His party's lawmakers were about to vote on a government bill to expand Zelensky's powers. The meeting was scheduled for tomorrow after four a.m., warning the public about the looming threat from Moscow.

Poroshenko confirmed that the war is over, and parliament is meeting to vote for pro-Russian measures. Many Ukrainians, including senior officials and billionaire oligarchs, were flying out of Kyiv, fearing their country would collapse. Western intelligence services predicted a Russian victory within days, and President Joe Biden's administration had shut down the US embassy compound in Kyiv. Zelensky publicly played down the likelihood of a full-scale Russian invasion, believing that Ukrainian soldiers would not surrender and that the assembled Russian force would be insufficient to capture Kyiv or the entire nation.

The author reflects on the situation in Ukraine, comparing it to a bluff attempt by Putin to extract last-minute concessions from the West. They note that Russian troops had been camping out in harsh winter conditions, suffering from diarrhea, respiratory infections, and vehicle breakdowns. The author questions if young people in bars were unaware of the gathering storm or savoring their last moments of peace. In Washington, foreboding is palpable as Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, visits Biden. They stock up on essentials and advise friends to jump on a train west to avoid being trapped on the wrong side.

The author recounts their experience in Kyiv during World War I, where they were stranded in Uman, where their grandmother was born. They tested their satellite phones and stowed body armor and helmets. The presidents of Poland and Lithuania visited Kyiv, and the news of war spread. The city was filled with anxiety, and the phone lines went offline. The author's hotel was empty, except for journalists and Sean Penn, who had just spent the afternoon with Zelensky. Zelensky made his late-night address on TV, wearing a smart charcoal suit and a white shirt and black tie.

Ukraine is ready to negotiate with Moscow, but Putin refuses to take his calls. Zelensky argues that the Ukrainian people want peace and that they are not enemies. He speaks directly to Russian citizens, stating that if soldiers try to advance, they will defend themselves. The invasion began on February 24, with Russian missiles and bombs hitting Ukrainian military bases, airfields, and government installations. Despite predictions of a shock-and-awe bombing run, Kyiv remained intact, with phone networks, internet, and electricity. The war has left little resistance, and the city remains unaffected.

The Ukrainian domestic intelligence agency (SBU) headquarters in Kyiv were filled with spies burning files to prevent Russian control. The city was deserted, with only a few people gathered by a tent. Jets rumbled above, and security personnel demanded strict COVID mask rules. The war did not emerge suddenly, but it was hard to believe that Putin had launched it. Putin appeared on Russian TV, cocky and confident, announcing a "special military operation" to "denazify and demilitarize" Ukraine.

Putin emphasized the importance of Ukraine and Russia as a "common whole" and urged Ukrainian soldiers to surrender instead of following the criminal "junta" in Kyiv. He threatened that any interference or obstacles for Russia would provoke immediate consequences. The author compared Kyiv to fallen capital cities like Baghdad, Tripoli, and Kabul, predicting that most Ukrainian soldiers would follow Putin's plan.

PART ONE

DIGNITY

THE “PEOPLE’S REPUBLICS”

Russia's war against Ukraine began eight years earlier, with the initial divorce in December 1991 being surprisingly bloodless. Russia recognized Ukraine's sovereignty over lands that many Russians considered rightfully theirs. The breakup was largely ignored by Moscow, as it expected Ukraine's independence to be nominal at best. In Belarus, the 1994 election of Aleksandr Lukashenko and the 2004 election of Yanukovych failed to steer the country westward. Lukashenko brought Belarus into a confederation with Russia and suppressed the democratic opposition. The Ukrainian people revolted twice, and in 2004, Yanukovych attempted to steal a presidential election, leading to another round of elections.

In 2010, Ukrainian President Yanukovych won the presidency due to unchecked graft and infighting in Ukraine's pro-Western camp. He promised closer ties with the European Union but unexpectedly pulled out of the deal and moved to join a customs union with Russia. This led to protests, which turned violent when Yanukovych ordered riot police to open fire. The Ukrainian parliament intervened to outlaw the use of force against protesters, and on February 21, Yanukovych agreed to form a government of national unity with the opposition and hold presidential elections under international supervision by December.

Russian special forces began a military offensive on February 27, 2014, from the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. The Ukrainian military was hardly a fighting force, and many military leaders joined the Russians. The interim government in Kyiv passed legislation to limit the use of the Russian language in public, making it easier for Putin to posture as the defender of Ukraine's Russian-speakers.

Pro-Russian protesters attempted to seize government buildings, clashing with rival, pro-Ukrainian activists. The police mostly stood by or even tacitly helped the pro-Russians. In April 2014, Putin proclaimed that all of eastern and southern Ukraine wasn't historically Ukrainian and should henceforth be known as Novorossiya, or New Russia. Pro-Russian militants seized regional government headquarters and other administrative buildings in Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Luhansk, hoisting Russian flags and proclaiming three supposedly independent "people's republics." However, things turned out differently in Donetsk and Luhansk, as local police and intelligence services refused to act or switched sides, leading to the occupied government compounds turning into fortresses, plunged into war.

In April 2014, Igor Girkin, a retired Russian intelligence colonel, led a group of Russian military veterans to capture a police station in Slovyansk, revealing the weakness of Ukraine's regular army. This led to the formation of unruly militias and a network of volunteer groups. The war that spread through Donbas was bloodier than expected, with Ukrainian forces retaking Slovyansk and thousands of heavily armed volunteers entering Donetsk and Luhansk from Russia.

Russian intervention brought devastation to Donbas, with Russian men taking over and properties being seized by gangs. Over half of the roughly four million people in the Russian-controlled parts of Donbas fled the region, mostly due to poverty, old age, or illness. As the Ukrainian Army achieved more success, the more directly Russia became involved, although Putin insisted the fighters were local oppressed coal miners and tractor drivers.

In February 2015, elite Russian units tipped the scales in the Battle of Debaltseve, causing heavy casualties as Russian troops captured the town. President Barack Obama, Putin, and the leaders of Germany and France flew to Minsk for peace talks, signing the Minsk-2 agreement in February 2015. This deal ended large-scale hostilities in Donbas, but the rest of the deal, which foresaw a comprehensive political settlement, was never implemented.

For Ukraine, the frozen conflict in Donbas was an open wound preventing integration with the West and stunting economic development. By occupying Crimea and parts of Donbas in 2014, Russia acquired 7 percent of Ukrainian territory but forfeited the sympathy of most Ukrainians. The conflict in Donbas simmered far away, with most Ukrainian voters cared more about rising prices and rampant graft under his rule.

In 2021, Ukrainian President Zelensky won a landslide with 73% of the vote, securing a majority in parliament. His party, Servant of the People, won 24 out of 25 regions, with only Lviv voting for Poroshenko. Zelensky's first move was to cancel the Independence Day military parade, leading to a popular prisoner exchange with Putin. Violence along the cease-fire line in Donbas almost disappeared, with only fifteen civilians killed in the first two years of his presidency. Despite Russian pressure, Zelensky aspired for Ukraine to join NATO and refused constitutional reforms.

In July 2021, he replaced General Valeriy Zaluzhny as head of the armed forces. Putin published a treatise arguing that Ukraine was an artificial country that could only be sovereign in partnership with Russia. Putin believed that an invasion was inevitable, and his modernized army would score a decisive victory at minimal cost.

LOVE IT OR NOT, ENDURE IT, MY BEAUTY”

In late January 2022, Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, was awash in a sense of prosperity and prosperity, despite the scarcity of a Russian Smerch rocket. The city had become a home to around 100,000 refugees from Russian rule, and Putin's promise of a "Russian Spring" was now a byword for banditry and economic collapse. The city's new governor, Oleh Syniehubov, emphasized that Ukraine was more ready than ever and that the city was normal. The only hint of trouble was that luxury vehicle brands had stopped shipping new cars to Kharkiv showrooms, which were the first places to be looted in Donetsk and Luhansk in 2014

The Territorial Defense, a volunteer force formed to protect local communities in Ukraine, was a slow effort to prepare for war. The force was small and seemed unprepared for combat, with only veterans of volunteer battalions in Donbas, many of whom had joined far-right political movements, spending their days getting ready for war. The government in Kharkiv was not ready for the conflict, as people on the streets were not sure what to do, where to run, what to take, if there is shelling, bombing, or if there is a Russian offensive tomorrow. In 2014, the mood in Kharkiv had been 70% sympathetic to Russia, with only a third of the population identifying with the Ukrainian cause. However, this proportion had since flipped, with most Moscow's remaining supporters driven by nostalgia for their Soviet youth.

Nemichev and his men believed that war was unavoidable, and if Putin is bargaining and doesn't get what he wants, he must invade. Putin's entire career is built on conflict, and his 2008 invasion of Georgia and 2015 military intervention in Syria were both cost-free and successful. The Russian central bank sat on $643 billion in international reserves by January 2022.

In August 2021, the Afghan army collapsed, leading to President Ashraf Ghani fleeing to the United Arab Emirates and the Taliban gaining power. Ukraine, which had worked with the West, agreed to help rescue Afghans, but soon found itself in the hands of the Taliban. The US and other Western powers, including Paris and Berlin, had little faith in Ukraine's ability to resist Russia's invasion. They rushed several planeloads of arms to Ukraine, but these weapons were more suitable for insurgency operations than a conventional war. Germany vetoed sending Soviet-designed D-30 howitzers to Ukraine, citing its history of World War II. Instead of sending arms, German chancellor Olaf Scholz and French president Emmanuel Macron kept calling Putin, hoping that concessions by Ukraine could avert the war. Putin openly savored Ukraine's impending death, expressing his desire to "love it or not, endure it, my beauty."

THE LAST DAYS OF PEACE

In mid-February, the Ukrainian war was just ten days away, and most Ukrainians remained nonchalant about the possibility of full-scale hostilities ravaging Kyiv. The US had granular intelligence about Russian preparations, and Biden had asked Burns to lay it out in Kyiv. However, the Ukrainian government continued downplaying the risk of war in public, fearing that an outbreak of panic could precipitate an economic collapse and imperil military preparations. The working theory in Kyiv was that the coming war would likely center on the East, a much larger but still limited version of the 2014–2015 conflict over Donbas.

The disconnect between American and Ukrainian perceptions was due to the Americans having access to high-level human and signals intelligence sources and knowing what Putin was being told by his generals. The Ukrainians had plentiful sources lower down in the Russian Armed Forces and bureaucracy, and knew that the generals were lying to Putin about their army's preparedness.

In secret, the Ukrainian military was getting ready, with the military's commander in chief, Valeriy Zaluzhny, ordering units to disperse around the country for training exercises and moving air-defense batteries and military aircraft from their bases to new, hidden locations. The secrecy was so tight that neither Washington nor many senior officials in the Zelensky administration knew what the Ukrainian military was doing.