This paper presents an analysis of the subject matter and language contained in published notes and diaries written by Ukrainians in the first year of the Russian invasion which started on 24 February 2022. The primary literature includes two anthologies of passages, fragments, and sometimes just laconic excerpts from recorded oral interviews. The author approached the material in terms of three aspects of war diaries distinguished by Pawel Rodak: (1) existential-pragmatic; (2) material and (3) textual. All the recent Ukrainian private journals analysed stress the existential-pragmatic value of their testimonies, while the material aspect related to the medium seems less important, with the exception of Serhyi Zhadan’s diary consisting exclusively of regularly published Facebook posts. The textual aspect is characterised by the omnipresent reference to war, which turns private documents into potential sources for historians. As regards recurrent motifs, many diarists emphasise the sensations of being lost in time and/or space, also focusing on the disintegration of personality and the inadequacy of language to the harrowing war experience of witnesses who are no different from victims-survivors according to contemporary psychiatry.