Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina dies after Russian missile attack

A recent Russian missile strike against a pizza restaurant in Eastern Ukraine has claimed another life, that of award-winning writer Victoria Amelina.

The author and war crimes researcher was 37.

“With our greatest pain, we inform you that Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina passed away on July 1st in Mechnikov Hospital in Dnipro,” PEN Ukraine said in a statement. “Her death was caused by injuries incompatible with life, which she suffered from during the Russian missile shelling of a restaurant in Kramatorsk on June 27th, 2023.”

Amelina was one of about 60 people injured in an attack on the pizzeria in Kramatorsk last Tuesday that killed 12 others, including twin 14-year-old sisters and two other children. She hung on for days but became the 13th fatality on Saturday after suffering “multiple skull fractures” in the attack, a surgeon told Agence France-Presse. A local man was arrested the following day for allegedly orchestrating the strike.

“In the last days of Victoria’s life, her closest people and friends were with her,” PEN Ukraine said.

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The writer had been documenting Russian war crimes with the human rights group Truth Hounds and was dining with a delegation of Colombian writers and journalists at the Ria Lounge restaurant when the missile hit, PEN Ukraine said. Her companions suffered minor injuries.

Among the war crimes Amelina chronicled were the diary of fellow writer Volodymyr Vakulenko, who was detained and then killed by Russian forces. The children’s author had buried a diary chronicling Russian atrocities in his garden, before he became victim to such a crime himself. His body was found in a mass grave in the woods outside Izium and identified in November by DNA.

Amelina also wrote her first nonfiction book in English, due for release soon, “War and Justice Diary: Looking at Women Looking at War,” an anthology of stories about the Ukrainian women documenting Russian war crimes and chronicling their daily lives during wartime.

Russia has insisted it was hitting military targets, but witnesses confirmed to Truth Hounds that the restaurant was a purely civilian enterprise.

“Victoria said that there are wounds only stories can heal,” said PEN International executive director Romana Cacchioli in condemning the attack at the time.

“Today, we need her voice, her writings, more than ever … The Russian missile strike in Kramatorsk is yet another example of the Russian forces’ utter disregard for civilian lives in Ukraine. Deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure amount to war crimes. All those responsible must be brought to justice.”

With News Wire Services