As Russia continues to pound Ukraine, efforts to defy Vladimir Putin’s war machine have been boosted by the presence of 60,000 women serving in the country’s armed forces, with 10,000 in combat roles.
Now, the story of one of these women has been turned into a book by the acclaimed journalist Lara Marlowe.
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Titled ‘How Good It Is I Have No Fear of Dying,’ Marlowe’s book centers itself on the life of Yulia Mykytenko, a 29-year-old lieutenant commanding a frontline reconnaissance and attack unit. Described by Marlowe as “one of the most extraordinary people I’ve met in 42 years of journalism,” Mykytenko’s story is one of resilience, courage, trauma and hope, and a mirror of Ukraine’s own tenacious struggle.
“I first met Yulia remotely in August, 2023,” Marlowe tells TVP World. “I was in Ukraine for the Irish Times newspaper and wanted to write a story about the women serving in the Ukrainian armed forces.”
As their Zoom flickered to life, Marlowe was immediately struck by Mykytenko’s manner: “She was young, beautiful, poised, articulate and very, very calm,” recalls Marlowe. There was pride, as well. “I started by asking, ‘are you the female drone pilot?’ And she answered, ‘I’m not a drone pilot; I am the commander of a platoon of 25 men.”
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Mykytenko alongside author Lara Marlowe. Photo: courtesy of Dara MacDonaill
By the time the call finished, Marlowe had heard enough to know that a mere article would not do Mykytenko’s story justice: “I was very, very impressed with her,” she says. “She’s an amazing person, not just because she is fighting on the frontline in Donetsk, but because she has experienced incredible personal tragedy—and then combined that with her resolve, her determination and courage.”
The book, however, would transpire to become far more than just Mykytenko’s story: “Initially, I just wanted to tell her story,” says Marlowe. “I was curious about her. I wanted to know what made her tick, but I think by the time I finished the first draft in March, it had become more than that. It had really become a plea for understanding and support for Ukraine.”
For Marlowe, writing the book was not without hurdles; reliant on Zoom to conduct interviews with Mykytenko, the realities of war dictated that just making these calls was a challenge in itself: “She kept having to postpone our Zoom sessions,” says Marlowe. “The first time, a column of tanks was going through the village in which she was stationed. The second time, she had a drone pilot that had been killed by a glide bomb. The third time, she just disappeared.”
Mykytenko resolved to join the armed forces once she had graduated from her studies. Photo: Anastasia Olijnyk for The Ultimate Ukrainian Magazine, 2021. Courtesy of Spilna Mova, LLC
Throughout this interviewing process, Marlowe was aware that there was a clear risk that the book would never be completed. “I was very afraid, and I'm still very afraid, that something could happen to Yulia,” she admits.
As death has stalked every Ukrainian, Mykytenko too has not been immune to tragedy. In 2018, she lost her husband, also a soldier, when he was killed during a Russian bombardment.
Compounding the loss, two years later Mykytenko’s father committed suicide by setting himself on fire in Kyiv’s Maidan Square in protest against President Zelenskyy’s apparent readiness to cede territory to Russia.
Given these defining moments in Mykytenko’s life, the book’s title feels entirely appropriate. “The publisher thought it was too long, and I had to fight for it,” says Marlowe, “but it seemed to represent the whole story, because it was true of Ilya, Yulia’s husband; it was true of her father, and it’s certainly true of Yulia, who will tell you outright she has no fear of dying.”
The realities of war dictated that just making the Zoom calls was a challenge. Photo: courtesy of Yulia Mykytenko
Likewise, says Marlowe, the book’s title—which was taken from a work written by Ukrainian poet Vasyl Stus—reflects the indefatigable nature of the Ukrainian nation: “It’s true of all those Ukrainians who are resisting the Russian invasion, so to me it seemed to represent not just the individuals that appear in the book, but Ukrainians as a people.”
Brought up in a Russian-speaking household, Mykytenko displayed little interest in Ukrainian statehood growing up. This would change when she enrolled to study at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
“Suddenly I am plunged into an environment where everyone speaks Ukrainian,” says Mykytenko in the book. “It is not about persecuting Russian speakers, but about affirming Ukrainian identity.”
Mykytenko with her husband shortly before he was killed in a Russian bombardment. Photo: courtesy of Yulia Mykytenko
Required to file her coursework in Ukrainian, Mykytenko struggled at first to adapt to speaking and writing in the native language. Over time, she would embrace it, gaining pride in all things Ukrainian.
Inspired by her new surroundings, Mykytenko joined a student group lobbying to lessen Russia’s influence over Ukraine. When the Euromaidan protests broke out in 2013 in the wake of President Viktor Yanukovych's decision not to sign the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement, Mykytenko’s group had no hesitation in joining.
“They were there every day and night for three months and it got very violent towards the end,” says Marlowe. “But I think that the Euromaidan protests were another turning point in Yulia's life and taught her the value of independence and freedom.”
Inside, a fire had been lit; when Russia invaded Crimea soon after, Mykytenko resolved to join the armed forces once she had graduated from her studies.
“She was a little afraid of joining up alone,” says Marlowe, “but her father joined the National Guard and a year later she met her husband, who was already in the army—eventually, she joined up to be with him.”
Mykytenko pictured with her father—he would later commit suicide in Kyiv’s Maidan Square. Photo: courtesy of Yulia Mykytenko
Over time, her convictions have only grown. “She’s been in the Ukrainian armed forces almost continuously since 2016 and won the Medal for Courage in 2022,” says Marlowe. Now on the frontline for nearly three years, the horrors that Mykytenko has lived through have served only to galvanize her further.
“Having seen how Russia has behaved in Donbas has definitely reinforced her beliefs,” says Marlowe, “and also the area around Kyiv, because for the first three months of the full-scale invasion she was on patrol there and went to Bucha, where she had lived as a small child—the husband of the woman who had been her nanny when she was younger had been shot dead by the Russians for no apparent reason.”
While the book promises a deeply personal account of the war, it does not skirt the wider issues at hand and Mykytenko is scathing of the West’s reticence to go ‘all in’ from the start.
“The T-90, the Russians’ best tank, doesn’t hold a candle to the Abrams, Challengers and Leopards we finally obtained from the West,” says Mykytenko. “Unfortunately, the quality of these tanks is not matched by quantity. When the Americans gave us thirty-one Abrams tanks in September 2023, they seemed to think we ought to win the war overnight.”
“I have seen the human cost of this war, and the near impossibility of taking back our lost territories,” says Mykytenko. Photo: courtesy of Yulia Mykytenko
With fighting now reduced to a fierce, attritional grind, Mykytenko and her unit have long surpassed their physical limit. “She admits that she’s exhausted, that her men are exhausted and that she often feels discouraged,” says Marlowe.
Amid all this, however, there are glimmers of hope. “She was very encouraged by the Kursk invasion,” says Marlowe. Despite rising international alarm relating to the deployment of North Korean troops in this region, Marlowe emphasizes that this has not fazed Mykytenko: “She sees that very much as a sign of Russian desperation and Putin's fear of a general mobilization in Russia.”
As the war moves into a new and wholly unpredictable direction, global fears that the conflict will now intensify and escalate to unparalleled levels are palpable, but on the ground, there is a feeling that neither side can sustain the current pace for much longer, with Mykytenko tentatively hopeful of a negotiated settlement next year.
“If a real peace could be achieved, with security guarantees, with Ukraine free to join Europe and NATO, I believe the military could be persuaded to accept a negotiated settlement,” she says in her book. “It would be like drinking poison, but I would lay down my weapon.”
While the surrender of any ground would clearly sting, the war has seen a conscious shift: idealism has been swapped for realism.
“I fear I will not see a peaceful Ukraine in my lifetime,” says Mykytenko. Photo: Anastasia Olijnyk for The Ultimate Ukrainian Magazine, 2021. Courtesy of Spilna Mova, LLC
“My father died because he could not bear to see Ukraine sacrifice land for peace with Russia,” says Mykytenko, “but I have seen the human cost of this war and the near impossibility of taking back our lost territories.”
Mykytenko, however, emphasizes the need to remain on guard, warning of future flare-ups: “This artificial peace will merely be the precursor to another war. Russia will use the time to gather strength and attack again,” she says. “I fear I will not see a peaceful Ukraine in my lifetime, that this war will go on for as long as Putin’s regime is in power.”
As bleak as this forecast may sound, it is tempered by the knowledge that Ukraine remains defiant and unbowed—through the suffering that he has unleashed, Vladimir Putin has inadvertently helped forge a sense of national identity that may never have been as pronounced before.
“One can look at Yulia's story also as a story of a personal creation of Ukrainian identity,” says Marlowe, “and maybe because of the war, that identity can grow to become even stronger, if anything.”
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