The Russian missile attack on a restaurant in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk last Tuesday also claimed the life of award-winning Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, 37. She was seriously injured in the attack and died in hospital last weekend.
The news was reported early this morning by PEN America, an American non-profit organization that fights for freedom of expression through the promotion of human rights and literature.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense confirmed the news in a tweet this afternoon. Victoria was one of Ukraine’s most celebrated young writers.
Pizza place
Amelina was having dinner with a group of Colombian journalists, writers and activists on the evening of June 27 when a Russian missile hit the popular pizza joint where she was. At least eleven people were killed that evening. There were also 61 injured. The attack happened at a time when the place was always packed, mainly with journalists and rescuers. Arnaud De Decker, a Belgian journalist who regularly writes reports for HLN, narrowly escaped.
LOOK. Arnaud De Decker barely escaped the attack and made these images
The writer from Lviv published her first novel in 2014 and was immediately shortlisted for the Ukrainian Valeriy Shevchuk Prize. She also wrote an award-winning children’s book. Her second novel ‘Dom’s Dream Kingdom’ received international acclaim and was shortlisted for the EU literature prize, among other things.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, her focus had shifted from literature to documenting Russian war crimes. She did this together with human rights organization ‘Truth Hounds’. Shortly before her death, she had begun her first non-fiction work in English. In ‘War and Justice Diary: Looking at Women Looking at War’ she told stories of Ukrainian women gathering evidence of Russian war crimes. According to PEN Ukraine, the book would soon be published.
“Victoria Amelina was a celebrated Ukrainian author who used her outspoken and powerful voice to investigate and expose war crimes following the massive military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022,” said Polina Sadovskaya, Eurasia Director at PEN America. “She brought a literary sensitivity in her work and her elegant prose described, with forensic precision, the devastating impact of these human rights violations on the lives of Ukrainians.”
“Her contribution underscored her commitment to holding Russia accountable for its illegal invasion, which brutally cut short the lives of tens of thousands of innocent people. We extend our deepest condolences to her son, her family and friends, and her colleagues at PEN Ukraine.”
Suspect
Ukrainian authorities arrested a suspect a day after the missile attack in Kramatorsk and accused him of helping the Russians carry out the attack.
Back to the place where he narrowly escaped death: our reporter experienced rocket attack in Kramatorsk up close (+)
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