The article is a review of the book by the famous Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin Some will not go to hell. Its plot is based on personal impressions that the author received during his stay in the ranks of the DPR militia for several years. The genre originality of the book is a combination of an obvious journalistic style of presentation of dramatic events and an original attempt to create a portrait of the leader of the Donetsk people’s Republic, Aleksandr Zakharchenko. Zakhar Prilepin was close to him, enjoyed his trust, often met with him and discussed not only the military situation around the Donbass region, but also the possible prospects for the region’s existence in the near future. The book contains many unexpected observations, exceptional details and information that turns it into a literary document of the time. In fact, the writer reveals a truly phantasmagoric picture of the semi-peaceful-semi-military existence of the inhabitants of the self-proclaimed Republic.