Putins Krieg – Wie die Menschen in der Ukraine für unsere Freiheit kämpfen

The SPIEGEL bestseller by the well-known ZDF correspondent for Ukraine, Katrin Eigendorf – supplemented by a current foreword and an interview with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. For many years, Katrin Eigendorf has been reporting regularly from Ukraine, including during the dramatic days and weeks following February 24, 2022, when Vladimir Putin brought war back to Europe with his brutal attack on Ukraine. In light of the images from Mariupol, Kharkiv, and Kyiv, Germany has also awakened after years of downplaying Vladimir Putin. Katrin Eigendorf recounts the war that Putin is waging with full force, especially against the civilian population. She shares her encounters with people who have lost everything overnight, with families torn apart, and with children who have lost their childhood. These encounters repeatedly push the limits of pain, even for a reporter. She witnessed the beginning of this development back in 2008 in Georgia when the Kremlin sent its troops to Tbilisi. And in 2014 in Donetsk, Luhansk, and Mariupol, when the Russian army attacked and occupied eastern Ukraine following the annexation of Crimea. Wars that were not taken seriously enough in Germany. Putin's narrative of a war against a fascist government in Kyiv, of standing up for Russia's security, is a cynical lie. His war also reveals the complete weakness of an authoritarian regime. A system that bombs children and starves people, that cannot tolerate the truth, has failed. Never before has it been more important for Katrin Eigendorf to be on the ground and to show what is really at stake in Ukraine: the struggle of a people for freedom and democracy – even in Europe.