This is Helion's eleventh volume on the Ukraine War. This series covers most aspects of this conflict from various campaigns to the equipment that has been used. This one is on a specific battle and that is for Chernihiv in the first two months of the war.

Chernihiv is east of the capital of Kyiv and was one of the main areas that the Russians used to attempt to capture Ukraine's capital city. As with many of the various early war battles, the Russians were able to make fairly good inroads during their initial assault. This was mostly due to Ukraine having to bring in units from other parts of the country to defend against the onslaught.

The Russians at this time had fairly fresh troops, a good supply system and an advantage in equipment. However, this did not last long. Ukraine's forces had the advantage of a population that constantly kept an eye on Russian movements and reported those to their army, which frequently caused their death. This allowed for forces to be able to ambush the Russians and frequently these ambushes were against their supply lines. An army that runs out of supplies and reinforcements ceases to be a credible fighting force and this is basically what happened.

Ukraine's sappers blew bridges to stop advances or to trap units so they could be taken out. Do this enough times and an advancing army finds itself in trouble. This is what basically happened to those Russian units that tried to capture Kyiv from the north and those tactics worked equally well on these units from the east.

The book is well written and heavily illustrated, so there are lots of nice photos that should encourage modelers and enthusiasts alike. I was impressed by the research of the author as he was able to get a well rounded look at this battle and its effect on both sides. It is a book that I very much enjoyed reading and I know you will as well.

January 2026

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