The Great Britain -
Russia Society
The Great Britain -
Russia Society
The date of 24th February 2022 is now seared in memory and history. Luke Harding’s brilliant book, Invasion: Russia’s Bloody War and Ukraine’s Fight for Survival, is the first book of reportage from the front line of the Ukraine war and was shortlisted for the 2023 Orwell Prize. First published in November 2022, the paper-book edition (June 2023) included a new chapter on the liberation of Kherson. Luke was in Kyiv when the invasion began and spent much of 2022 and 2023 there. His extensive on-the-ground reporting and first-hand experience at all levels of President Zelenskiy’s Administration and of the Ukrainian military help us understand the devastation caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We get a glimpse behind the scenes of the war's two key figures, Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Vladimir Putin.
The book also offers a compelling human perspective on the events continuing to unfold before us, while providing at the same time a thought-provoking analysis on the trajectory and potential resolution of Europe's deadliest war since 1945. The book is indeed a powerful and moving “first draft of history” and has been highly praised by reviewers. To quote just two: “An excellent, moving account of an ongoing tragedy” (Anne Applebaum); and “Compelling, important and heartbreaking.” (Simon Sebag Montefiore).
We are delighted that Luke Harding has agreed to talk to the Society. He will appear in conversation with our Chairman, David Brummell, when he will talk to the Society about his book and update us with his insights into the situation as at November 2023: these will be informed by Luke’s most recent visits to Ukraine.
Luke Harding graduated in English from University College, Oxford, where he edited the student newspaper, Cherwell. On graduating, he worked for The Sunday Correspondent, the Evening Argus in Brighton and then the Daily Mail, before joining The Guardian in 1996.
Since 2000 Luke has been a foreign correspondent for The Guardian. He has lived in and reported from Delhi, Berlin, and Moscow, and has covered wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and, most recently, Ukraine. In 2014 he was the recipient of the James Cameron Award for outstanding journalism.
Apart from Invasion, Luke Harding has written eight other books. These include Mafia State (2011), in which he discusses his experience in Russia and the political system under Vladimir Putin; A Very Expensive Poison (2016), an account of the murder of the Russian ex-FSB whistle-blower and Putin critic, Alexander Litvinenko (which was adapted by Lucy Prebble for the stage, the production at The Old Vic Theatre, London, running from August to October 2019); Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win (2017), on the subject of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections; and Shadow State (2020), covering Russian covert operations, from the poisoning of Sergei Skripal by the GRU to digital influence operations.
This is the third in a series of talks which King’s College, London have agreed to host on the Society’s behalf. Booking will close 48 hours before the scheduled date for the event, i.e. by 7.00 pm on Monday, 20th November, so that we can notify KCL in advance of the names of those who have booked to attend in-person. GBRS will disseminate the Microsoft Teams link by email to online attendees on Tuesday, 21st November, the day before the talk on Wednesday, 22nd November.
As with Zoom, those attending the Microsoft Teams meeting will be able to take part in the Q & A session, either by putting questions orally or by the Chat mechanism.
This event will also be attended by KCL staff and students. For GBRS members and non-members booking via the GBRS website, 45 tickets have been allocated for in-person attendees and 35 tickets have been allocated for online attendees. Tickets, particularly for in-person attendance, are likely to be taken up very quickly and so, if you would like to attend in-person, you are encouraged to book early.