Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina passes away after being wounded in the Kramatorsk missile strike – Times of India

Renowned Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina has tragically passed away on July 1, 2023, as a result of injuries sustained during a missile strike on a restaurant in Kramatorsk. The news of her demise, shared by PEN Ukraine, has led to an outpouring of tributes honouring both her activism and literary contributions. Surrounded by loved ones, Amelina, aged 37, breathed her last in a hospital in Dnipro.
“It is with great pain that we inform you that the heart of the writer Victoria Amelina stopped beating on 1 July.In the last days of Victoria’s life, her family and friends were by her side,” PEN Ukraine group said.
When the missile hit the place, the writer was actually dining with a group of Colombian journalists and writers.
Writers’ association PEN Ukraine said,“Medics did everything they could to save her life, but unfortunately the wound was fatal”.
Amelina’s remarkable literary career garnered recognition, with her novel “Dom’s Dream Kingdom” earning her the prestigious Joseph Conrad literary prize in 2021. She also received nominations for other notable awards, including the European Union Prize for Literature. However, in the wake of the full-scale Russian invasion of 2022, she shifted her focus from writing to documenting war crimes and assisting children affected by the conflict.
“Victoria Amelina was one of kindest and most charitable Ukrainian writers who did much more for others than for herself,” said the novelist Andrey Kurkov on Twitter.
The Guardian reported that human rights groups consider the missile strike that claimed Amelina’s life, targeting a popular restaurant filled with civilians in Kramatorsk, as a war crime. The attack resulted in the loss of 13 lives and left over 60 people injured.
Amelina had forewarned about the dangers faced by artists and writers in an invading army that denied Ukraine’s right to exist. Prior to her passing, she was diligently working on a non-fiction book titled ‘Looking at Women Looking at War: War and Justice Diary’, which focuses on the experiences of Ukrainian women during the invasion. This poignant account, along with her novel ‘Dom’s Dream Kingdom’, is set to be published in English.