Valentin, a quick-talking lawyer, joins the town's 'Dads Army' defenders, crouching in a trench with an AK47. A gripping work of reportage that tells the story of a pivotal moment in Ukraine's war, this is a real-life thriller about ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances with resilience, humour and ingenuity. A brilliant insight into the early days of the war in Ukraine through the story of one incredible town. The Russians believed the “propaganda” and “lies” they had been fed: that their Ukrainian “Slav brothers” wanted to be “liberated from fascism”.

But the Russian had not reckoned on a motley collection of soldiers, farmers and volunteers who would inflict one of the most decisive defeats of the war (so far) on the Kremlin. Cinematic and gripping - a must read for anyone trying to grasp both the human dimension and larger dynamics of events in this brutal contemporary war. This short punchy account of a few days in the now interminable invasion by Putin of Ukraine is fascinating on many levels. His slim 135-page book is a riveting and vividly written account of how Voznesensk fought back against Russia’s war machine – and won.

This is an improbable but true story of incredible courage, heartbreaking loss (Voznesensk's defence wasn't a bloodless one) and sheer bloody-mindedness.

Looking at different perspectives, we see how grandmas, young alcoholics, Russian soldiers, and Ukrainian defenders all respond.On the morning of Wednesday 2 March 2022, an armoured personnel carrier clattered into her yard, knocking over her favourite pear tree. But at the core of it, it's a very gentle and kind book in a panorama of events that are decidedly short on gentleness and kindness, and you got to appreciate that. But also, people sinking low, pulled into the grey zone of the past Soviet and current Russian occupation. Reporter Andrew Harding tells the story of the small Ukrainian town Voznesensk during the initial stages of the Russian invasion in March 2022.

Earlier this month, its troops blew up the Kakhovka dam, flooding settlements and towns on either side of the Dnipro River. Lindsey HIlsum (Channel Four News): “This gripping account is the Russian invasion of Ukraine in microcosm.I'm the author of "These Are Not Gentle People," a true-crime novel set in South Africa and published in South Africa, the UK and the Netherlands. The dignity of very ordinary people looking around, shrugging, saying essentially "well, I guess that'll have to be me" and making a stand. A short but brilliant book, Harding tells the story of Voznesensk, the small, southern Ukrainian farm that fought off the Russian Army's invasion in March 2022, facing down unbelievable odds, and winning. A bunch of pot-bellied, tracksuit-wearing, down-on-their-luck guys, aka territorial defense volunteers in the full-scale war, stand over a makeshift trench at the outskirts of their tiny town.