Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina dies from injuries after missile strike on Kramatorsk
The award-winning Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina has died from her injuries following a Russian missile attack on the eastern town of Kramatorsk, the writers’ association PEN Ukraine said.
The 37-year-old war crimes researcher was with a delegation of Colombian journalists and writers at the city’s Ria Lounge when the missile hit last Tuesday. She is believed to be the 13th person to have died in the attack.
In a statement, PEN Ukraine said: “With our greatest pain, we inform you that Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina passed away on July 1st in Mechnikov Hospital in Dnipro.”
“Doctors and paramedics in Kramatorsk and Dnipro did everything they could to save her life, but the injuries were fatal,” it added.
Ms Amelina published her first novel, The November Syndrome in 2014. Her catalogue of work, which has been translated into at least five languages, included children’s books, and in 2021 she received the Joseph Conrad-Korzeniowski literature prize. Her second novel, Dom’s Dream Kingdom was shortlisted for the UNESCO City of Literature Prize in 2017, and the European Union Prize for Literature.
She also founded the New York Literature Festival in the town of New York in the eastern region of the Donetsk.
Ms Amelina had also been documenting Russian war crimes with the human rights initiative Truth Hounds, which she joined in 2022.
Last month, she tweeted a picture of herself photographing a destroyed building, writing: “It’s me in this picture. I’m a Ukrainian writer. I have portraits of great Ukrainian poets on my bag. I look like I should be taking pictures of books, art, and my little son. But I document Russia’s war crimes and listen to the sound of shelling, not poems. Why?”
Journalists around the globe have paid tribute to her. The FT’s Christopher Miller wrote: “A huge loss. Victoria was a brave, talented writer, a wonderful person who cared deeply about her friends, family, country. May her work be remembered & read.”
PEN Ukraine said: “Now, Victoria has become a victim of a war crime herself.”
