INTO UKRAINE

We soon realized that we did not have a choice. We have to move to Ukraine and see the war with our own eyes  – and participate in it, actually, in all the ways a couple of authors can. So we got rid of our possessions on Öland, packed up the car and drove off. Point of no return. This is not an objective report, this is our diary. From a war we chose to go to, from a fight of survival for our entire civilization. Seriously, what else would we write about?
– Thomas Engström and Margit Richert

When the war erupts in Ukraine the whole security of Europe changes. Sweden wants to join NATO, global sanctions are established, there is talk about a potential energy crisis. All the while bombs are falling in our immediate vicinity. Most clench the fists in their pockets, scream out war cries and heap sympathies for a war torn Ukraine while also demanding powerful decisions from the leaders of the world. 

Instead, two of our most known writers and debaters get into their car and drive to the center of the events to see with their own eyes what is happening. To write it down, to try and understand and to give a deeper analysis. The scenes are horrific, but they are also images of strength and courage, of love and care and people and their fates.

Into Ukraine is a unique document of time, written and published in real time in a way that books seldom are. In a similar way as when Stig Dagerman depicted a bomb torn Germany after the war, Thomas and Margit show a vulnerable Ukraine fighting for their survival.