Victoria Amelina.
Credit: Victoria Amelina via Facebook.
A 37-year-old Ukrainian writer, Victoria Amelina, died in a hospital from wounds following a Russian missile attack on downtown Kramatorsk, PEN Ukraine informed. Victoria Amelina traveled to liberated Ukrainian territories to document Russian war crimes. She was killed during one of such trips.
On 27 June, Victoria Amelina was in Kramatorsk (Donetsk Oblast, eastern Ukraine) with a delegation of Colombian journalists and writers when a Russian missile hit the Ria Lounge restaurant in the city center. As a result, Victoria was seriously wounded. Doctors and paramedics in Kramatorsk and Dnipro did everything possible to save her life, but the injury was fatal. Victoria’s family and friends were by her side in her last days.
Russian missile strike kills 3 kids and injures 8-month-old baby in Kramatorsk
Victoria Amelina died on 1 July. PEN Ukraine reported on Amelina’s death today after all of her relatives learned about it and with their consent.
In the summer of 2022, Victoria Amelina joined the human rights organization Truth Hounds to document Russian war crimes on the de-occupied territories of Ukraine. Following the liberation of Izium in Kharkiv Oblast in the fall of 2022, Victoria traveled to Izium and Kapytolivka, where she found the diary of the Ukrainian writer Volodymyr Vakulenko, whom the Russians killed during the occupation.
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At the same time, Victoria began working on her first nonfiction book in English, War and Justice Diary: Looking at Women Looking at War, which will soon be published abroad. In this book, Victoria tells the story of Ukrainian women who document war crimes during Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine.
Victoria took an active part in advocacy work: she appealed to other governments to provide weapons to Ukraine, demanded justice, and the creation of a special international tribunal for all perpetrators of Russian war crimes against Ukraine.
Victoria Amelina’s books have been translated into Polish, Czech, German, Dutch, and English. Recently, her novel Home for Home was translated into Spanish.
In 2021, Victoria became a laureate of the Joseph Conrad Literary Award. In the same year, she founded the New York Literary Festival, which took place in the village of New York in the Bakhmut district of the Donetsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine.
Victoria Amelina.
Credit: Victoria Amelina via Facebook.
Victoria Amelina was born on 1 January 1986 in Lviv (western Ukraine). During her school years, she moved to Canada with her father but soon decided to return to Ukraine. She stood with her country until the last day of her life.
After the Russian missile strike at downtown Kramatorsk, the death toll has risen to 13 people, including three kids; 60 people were wounded, including an eight-month-old baby.
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Tags: Kramatorsk, Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian missile attacks, Russian war crimes, Victoria Amelina