Victoria Amelina was injured during Russian shelling of Kramatorsk

Ukrainian writer, PEN Ukraine member, field investigator of Russian war crimes with organization Truth Hounds, Victoria Amelina was wounded as a result of the rocket attack by Russian armed forces on a restaurant in the center of Kramatorsk (Donetsk region) on the evening of June 27. This is reported on the official page of PEN Ukraine.

Victoria is currently in the hospital. According to PEN Ukraine, experienced doctors, her family and friends are taking care of her. She has everything she needs, there is no need in raising additional funds. PEN Ukraine will inform about further news and needs with the permission of her family.

PEN Ukraine’s official statement also noted that “the shelling of Kramatorsk is another Russia’s war crime in Ukraine, as on 27 June 2023, the Russians deliberately launched their missiles on a civilian target in Kramatorsk where many people used to gather.” As of the morning of June 29, 12 people were killed and 60 wounded in the strike.

Among the victims of the Russian shelling of Kramatorsk are Colombian writer Hector Abad, journalist Catalina Gomez and politician Sergio Jaramillo, whose delegation was accompanied by Victoria Amelina.

As a reminder, Victoria Amelina made her debut as a writer with the novel The Fall Syndrome, or Homo Compatiens in 2014. Her works were shortlisted for national and international awards such as LitAccent rating, UNESCO City of Literature Prize, European Prize for Literature and many others. In 2021, Victoria won the Joseph Conrad Korzeniowski Prize and established the New York Literary Festival to take place in the Ukrainian town of New York (Bakhmut district of the Donetsk region). Her prose, poems, and essays have been translated into various languages, including English, Polish, Dutch, Czech, and German. Recently, her novel Dom’s Dream Kingdom was translated into Spanish.

In the summer of 2022, Victoria Amelina joined the human rights organization Truth Hounds. Together with their team, she worked as a field investigator of Russia’s war crimes in the liberated territories in eastern, southern, and northern Ukraine, including Kapitolivka near Izium, where she found the diary of the writer Volodymyr Vakulenko, who was killed by Russians.

Read also: Victoria Amelina: No words are needed after a tragedy, all words slide into a whirlpool

Photo: Juan Vega de Soto