The first chapter/section deals with a history of the Ukrainian armed forces from August, 1991. The history continues with the events of November, 2013. and during 2014, the authors begin to provide us with information about how the Ukrainians started rebuilding their forces. How Ukraine started to arm itself, as well as the overhauling of its forces is addressed. Such topics as defensive weapons, the Army Aviation, Territorial defense, National Guard and Air Power are touch upon. The chapter ends with a short review of the Ukrainian Navy.

The second chapter introduces us to the Russian forces,and their activity in the Chechnya area. The authors provides us with information of their final victory in that country in which they enforced a pro-Russian government. The reforms that were made to the Soviet armed forces due to the experience in Chechnya. The chapter also touches on the war on Syria. It provides us with such information as the Chain of Command, Manpower as of 2019, artillery units and such. The chapter ends with the concept of Combined Arms Doctrine and Command by Plan.

Chapter 3 is a small chapter that deals of how the Russians used the Donestk People Republic (DPR) and the Lunhansk People Republic (LPR) militias as spear points on the attack upon Ukraine. Chapter Four talks about the last-minute moves performed by the Russians and the mind set of Mr. Putin. This is a short chapter, but full of Russian thinking in regards to the Western/European nations ad their response. The chapter ends with a description of the Special Military Operations that were to take place during the invasion.

Chapter five is about the first week of the three-day invasion. The opening blows, the Battle of Hostomel , Chernobyl and the assault on both the Sikorsky Airport and Vasylki AB are described. In chapter six, we are introduced to the beginning of the failure of the Russian forces to win the battle. One of the main reasons is that troops were not ready to go into a prolonged battle, as they were told that it was supposed to be a four-day training exercise.

The next to last chapter provides us with the "line of Control" of the two forces involved in the conflict. The demarcation of control for both the DPR and LPR are shown, as well as the several operations carried by both the DPR and LPR. The last chapter called The Race to Odessa, describes the fighting in Melitopol, Dnipro River and Kherson to name a few. The chapter ends with the Disaster at Voznesenk.

I found the book very interesting as it gives us a very good summary of the situation in Ukraine during the first two weeks of the battle, it also gives us the reasons and thinking of both sides. I feel I am at a disadvantage as I have not been able to review Volume 1. I hope that I will be able to review the forthcoming volumes in this particular war and thus have a better understanding of the conflict. This is the book for those who are interested in current events and will recommend the book to those interested in this particular event.

This is Volume 28 from the Europe at War series and in turn, is Volume 2 of the War in Ukraine. I suspect that there may be a Volume 3 or maybe more as the war in Ukraine has not abated and is a current event of importance. The book is divided into a set of abbreviations, an Introduction,and 8 sections or chapters. The book ends with a set of three Appendices and Bibliography. It should be noted that the book photos and maps are all in color. The book is sprinkled with tables dedicated to such subjects as the military spending, the build-up of the land forces and the main type of regiments, just to mention a few. The appendices deal with the Order of battle of both Ukraine, as well as Russia.

My thanks to Casemate Publishers for the opportunity to review the book.