"Expertly told": Alex Sobel reviews 'The Dogs of Mariupol'
2022, Kharkiv: Liubov Holubova, 62 tucks in her cat Vasya whilst taking shelter in a metro station | Image by: ZUMA Press, Inc / Alamy
3 min read
A brilliant and insightful book, Tom Mutch’s compelling account skilfully untangles the complexities of the war in Ukraine
Tom Mutch’s account of the first three years of the full-scale war in Ukraine is utterly compelling. Mutch sets the scene in Ukraine in early 2022 skilfully, weaving the everyday, safe lives of Kyiv residents with the stark contrasts of what their lives were to become. It is the little details that are so poignant such as the painted nails of the bored blogger who would still have her nails painted on the front line as a proud officer of the Ukrainian army.
Mutch untangles the complex history of Ukraine in a way which is comprehensible. He reminds us throughout that Ukraine has been fighting Russia since 2014, that the full-scale invasion of 24 February 2022 was nothing new to the people of eastern Ukraine. However Mutch takes us back to the early 20th century, to Holodomor, to the Second World War and further back in Ukrainian history.
Mutch also explains the Russian attitude to Ukraine, how Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin used misinformation to convince the Russian public and soldiers that Ukrainians were backward and would welcome them as liberators. The invading Russian soldiers, many of them extremely poor, were shocked that they were not welcomed as liberators – and at the advanced living conditions of the Ukrainian people. Mutch manages to convey the horrifying war crimes committed by the Russian soldiers with empathy for the way they been lied to and manipulated by the Kremlin.
It is the little details that are so poignant
Although the author expertly recounts the political events surrounding the full-scale invasion, describing and including contributions from key political figures, he equally relates the testimony and reflections of ordinary people who prove to be much more profound and realistic philosophers. The most striking of these perspectives is that of the woman who challenges the description of Kharkiv residents as “unbreakable”: she sees why people would be impressed with their fighting spirit but dubbing them unbreakable creates a perception that they can’t or don’t feel all the normal emotions of people under constant, extreme stress. The Iron Generation is, in fact, broken.
The chapter on Kharkiv is of greatest importance to me. I have visited the ‘Hero City’, I have met its mayor Ihor Terekhov, I have experienced the air alerts, nights in bunkers and drone attacks. Leeds is going through the process of twinning with Kharkiv so this retelling of the bravery of the people and their resistance to the Russian invasion – their ability to continue ’normal’ life, to get married and go for cocktails, alongside daily tragedies such as the 10 year-old being pulled from rubble, still in his Spiderman pyjamas – is at once impressive and heartbreaking.
I would recommend The Dogs of Mariupol to everyone, whether they consider themselves knowledgeable about the Ukraine situation or not. This book gives an insight into what it truly means to be fighting a conventional, land war in 21st-century Europe.
Living as we are in the UK, with our normal concerns and issues, it is easy to forget that there is an actual full-scale war raging and one that could come to our shores. This brilliant book starkly, yet gently, reminds us exactly of that fact.
Alex Sobel is a Labour and Co-operative MP for Leeds Central and Headingley & chair of the Ukraine APPG
The Dogs of Mariupol: Russia’s Invasion and the Forging of Ukraine’s Iron Generation
By: Tom Mutch
Publisher: Biteback
