Zpěv sirén Putování do srdce ukrajinské války

Experienced Slovak reporter Tomáš Forró brings an unembellished, multifaceted view of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine that goes beyond the usual media portrayal of the war. Personal experiences and engagement, rational analysis of events on the battlefield and in the rear. Meanwhile, not far from our borders, more chapters of this gritty story are being added. Thanks to The Sirens' Song, we can see this war without rose-tinted glasses, without the pathos and myths that surround it.

Tomáš Forró works across the battle lines, in bombed-out cities, among soldiers in the trenches and among starving civilians dependent on humanitarian aid. Under the influence of the extreme situation on the Slovak-Ukrainian border after February 2023, he gradually turned from a journalist into a volunteer and then a direct participant in combat operations.

Singing of the Sirens is not a chronological chronicle of the Russian-Ukrainian clashes, an account of heroic deeds or cruelty on one side or the other. It is a painful and honest probe into a world not far from us. In it, we visit all the battlefields of the Ukrainian conflict as experienced through the eyes of direct participants. Whether they are die-hard fighters or deserters, collaborators, patriots, victims of bombing, or those who loot homes and steal humanitarian and military aid.

We get to know life in the territories occupied by the Russian army, the dilemmas of the inhabitants of the cities that gradually turn into ruins, the deadly operations of the partisans deep in the enemy's rear. We feel hunger, despair, helpless hatred, but also shreds of humanity, togetherness and hope that survives even in the worst moments. But that's not all. Thanks to thorough fieldwork, Tomas Forró brings previously unknown stories and information that show the Ukrainian war from a new perspective.
What would Russian generals look for in the radioactive fields of Chernobyl? What did the intelligence services do wrong in planning the invasion? How is Ukrainian society changing in the shadow of war? Tomas Forró also writes about this in his book The Siren's Song.
It is published in a translation by Ondrej Mrázek.