It is with greatest sorrow that we inform about the Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina passing away on July 1st. 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.
Based on the statement from PEN Ukraine, on June 27th, Victoria Amelina, Ukrainian writer and member oo PEN_Ukraine, who has been documenting Russian war crimes with the human rights initiative Truth Hounds, was in Kramatorsk with a delegation of Colombian writers and journalists. As they were having dinner at the Ria Lounge restaurant downtown, Russians launched a missile attack on this restaurant. Victoria was severely injured.
Doctors and paramedics in Kramatorsk and Dnipro did everything they could to save her life, but the injuries were fatal and incompatible with life. In the last days of Victoria’s life, her closest people and friends were with her.
We express most sincere condolences to Viktoria’s family and closest friends. She made it her calling to bring to life the work of Volodymyr Vakulenko, the Ukrainian poet tortured and killed in Izyum last year, whose diary she had found, helped to publish and for which she wrote an intro. We will do our best to ensure that both Volodymyr’s and Viktoria’s work reaches the Danish audience and is well-known among the Ukrainians living in Denmark.
Viktoria’s premature death as a result of russia’s unjust war is yet another evidence of culturecide - just like in the course of Executed Renaissance hundred years ago, many of the best Ukrainians are becoming the victims of this unjust war. The least we can do is to ensure that their memory lives on and that their work is continued.
Photo by Daniel Mordzinski