海角大神

A battlefield volunteer in Ukraine war has a story. She wants Europe to hear it.

When Anastasia Fomitchova made the decision in February 2022 to give up her comfortable life as a university student in Paris to join the fight against Russian invaders in her native Ukraine, she did not do so with the intention of writing a book.

That would come later.

Ms. Fomitchova volunteered as a medic with Ukraine鈥檚 Hospitallers corps 鈥� her service taking her from the post-massacre streets of Bucha outside Kyiv to the terrifying trench warfare of the front lines and on to the ultimately successful counteroffensive to liberate Kherson.

Seven months later, she knew she had an assignment, a book whose purpose would be two-fold.

She would bear witness to the bravery, determination, and humanity of the men and women of the Ukrainian Armed Forces she served alongside. And she would issue a warning to all of Europe that the larger war of values she believes Ukraine is fighting 鈥� values of freedom, universal human rights, and international law 鈥� is also Europe鈥檚 war.

鈥淥ver the months I spent as a medic in this war, I served alongside so many young, talented, compassionate, even humorous Ukrainians who had dropped everything and left their families to fight for the security and future of our country,鈥� says the diminutive Ms. Fomitchova, who admits she was swimming in the over-large fatigues, vest, and helmet she was first issued.

鈥淭heir fight for our freedom so impressed me,鈥� she adds, 鈥渢hat I felt it was my duty to put to words what I had experienced with them.鈥�

But that was only half her objective. Seated outdoors at a caf茅 just a few dozen yards down the hill from Kyiv鈥檚 historic St. Michael鈥檚 Golden-Domed Monastery, she says much of Europe has been slow to grasp the threat it faces.

鈥淚 also wanted this book to be a warning to Europeans that this is their war, too,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he Ukraine that Vladimir Putin would destroy is fundamentally European. It鈥檚 the Ukraine that aspires to European values.鈥�

Her family鈥檚 trials

The bells of St. Michael鈥檚 begin to chime, and Ms. Fomitchova smiles. The monastery is where she first bivouacked after arriving from Paris just days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion Feb. 24, 2022.

鈥淚t is those values that Putin detests above all and which he will never stop trying to destroy. It鈥檚 why even seizing all of Ukraine would not be enough for him,鈥� she adds, 鈥渁nd this is what I want Europe to understand.鈥�

In her book, Ms. Fomitchova chronicles her own family鈥檚 experience as an effective way of putting beating hearts into the complicated and often painful history of Ukraine in the Soviet Union and then as the prey of a revanchist Russia.

She writes of the Holodomor, the 1932-33 famine Stalin engineered to kill millions of Ukrainians. She covers the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident in Soviet Ukraine, a disaster that ultimately prompted her mother to take her daughter and move to France.

In one early captivating scene in the book, she describes how as a young girl she discovered newspaper clippings recounting the mysterious killings in Moscow of her grandmother and grandfather 鈥� her grandfather having been security chief to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. (Mr. Khrushchev was himself from Ukraine.)

Ms. Fomitchova, who grew up in France and attended French universities, wrote her book in French. But for its title she chose the Ukrainian word volia, which means both 鈥渨ill鈥� and 鈥渓iberty.鈥�

鈥淰olia鈥� is one of more than 1,300 war-related books that have been published since Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula and occupied pro-Russian sections of Ukraine鈥檚 eastern Donbas region in 2014. A surprising number of those have, like 鈥淰olia,鈥� come out in the four-plus years since the full-scale invasion. They include journals, books of poetry, works of nonfiction like 鈥淰olia,鈥� and fiction.

For Ms. Fomitchova, this literary burst is explained, at least partly, by the fact that so many early volunteers in the fight against Russia鈥檚 invasion were among Ukraine鈥檚 鈥渕ost brilliant,鈥� as she calls them: young entrepreneurs, engineers, doctors, writers, musicians, artists. People imbued with a 鈥渃reative spirit,鈥� she says, many of whom were veterans of the pro-democracy and pro-Europe Maidan revolution of 2014 that helped solidify Ukrainian identity.

Enduring interest in history, culture

Book publishing of all kinds surged in Ukraine after February 2022, as Ukrainians sought both escape from war (through romance and fantasy novels, for example) and deeper insight into the national identity that Russia under President Putin seems set on erasing.

More recently the fervor for books has cooled, says Kharkiv publisher Oleksandr Savchuk. He says war fatigue and even the lack of electricity over winter months have deflated an enthusiasm for reading. But at the same time, he says, interest in the kinds of books that Savchuk Publishing produces 鈥� historical works focused on Ukraine鈥檚 past, its folk art, and lost cultural heritage 鈥� has not waned. And he believes the numbers suggest interest in works about the war also remains strong.

鈥淲hat I think the growing number of titles related to the war underscores 鈥� especially as book sales and overall publishing numbers decline 鈥� is just how deeply and permanently the war has marked our existence,鈥� Mr. Savchuk says.

The Kharkiv publisher says he鈥檚 about to find out how enduring interest in works about the war is. He has just published the Ukrainian translation of the journal of a young German woman, Savita Wagner, who also volunteered to serve as a medic in Ukraine 鈥� in part to compensate for what she felt was her own country鈥檚 inadequate support for Ukraine鈥檚 freedom. She was killed in the war, but the journal she kept of her wartime experience was published in German.

Mr. Savchuk was approached at last year鈥檚 Frankfurt Book Fair by Ms. Wagner鈥檚 mother, who was seeking a Ukrainian publisher to make her daughter鈥檚 story and commitment to Ukraine鈥檚 freedom available to the Ukrainian people.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 publish many contemporary works,鈥� he notes, 鈥渂ut I became convinced that this journal by a foreigner who died for Ukraine should be accessible to Ukrainians.鈥� Savchuk Publishing presented the Ukrainian translation at the Kyiv International Book Arsenal Festival in May.

The humanity war reveals

Ms. Fomitchova鈥檚 鈥淰olia鈥� won France鈥檚 prestigious Andr茅 Malraux Prize last year, which might seem like a pinnacle achievement. But on a recent stroll through the grounds of St. Michael鈥檚 Monastery 鈥� past the threshold she had crossed on what she describes as the 鈥渄ark days鈥� of Russia鈥檚 assault on Kyiv 鈥� Ms. Fomitchova describes her ambitions.

She hopes the work will soon be translated into Ukrainian. Now a visiting professor of international humanitarian law at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, she hopes her work will one day provide evidence for the war crimes trials she believes Russia should face.

But perhaps most of all, she says she hopes her book serves as a testimony to the bravery, resolve, and unflinching humanity of the soldiers she served alongside as they faced inhumane forces.

She recounts the legendary tales she had heard of medics who, out of desperation, conducted blood transfusions directly from their own arms to that of dying soldiers.

She describes being frozen with fear in a front-line trench under heavy fire when a Ukrainian soldier she had never seen before dives in beside her 鈥� and seeing her state, takes her hand and declares: 鈥淓verything is going to be OK.鈥�

All of which leads Ms. Fomitchova to an observation that the literature of war has drawn on for millennia.

鈥淲ar shows us the worst of times, even as it exposes exquisite moments of friendship and solidarity and love,鈥� she says. 鈥淲ar reveals man鈥檚 darkest moments,鈥� she says, 鈥渂ut in it we can also see among the most illuminating moments in human life.鈥�

Oleksandr Naselenko supported reporting for this article.