Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina injured in Russian attack on Kramatorsk
The name of a Ukrainian writer injured in the 27 June missile strike on a cafe in Kramatorsk has become known. Tetiana Teren, Executive Director of PEN Ukraine, reported about Victoria Amelina's injury in a post on her Facebook page.
"Victoria Amelina is currently in the hospital. Next to her are professional doctors, her family and friends. She has everything she needs, there is no need to raise additional funds," Tetiana wrote.
Victoria accompanied a delegation of writers and journalists from Colombia on a trip to eastern Ukraine, which included politician Sergio Jaramillo, writer Hector Abad and journalist Catalina Gomez. All of them were also injured during the strike.
Colombia sends Russia a note of protest due to the attack on Kramatorsk, said Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
Before the trip to Kramatorsk, Amelina, along with Jaramillo, Abad and Gomez, was a participant in the discussion Support for Ukraine in Latin America. The conversation with the #AguantaUcrania campaigners was organised by PEN Ukraine at the 11th Book Arsenal [an annual festival in Kyiv for the development of the book, literary and artistic scenes – ed.].
Victoria Amelina is a writer and public figure, a member of PEN Ukraine, founder of the New-York Literary Festival in the village of New-York, Bakhmut district of Donetsk Oblast.
On the one year anniversary of the full-scale invasion, Amelina joined Russia's war crimes field researchers in the Truth Hounds team, an organisation that has been documenting human rights violations in Ukraine and other Eastern European and Central Asian countries for the past eight years.
It was Victoria who found the war diaries of Kharkiv writer Volodymyr Vakulenko killed by Russians and took care of their publication.
She participates in charity trips of PEN Ukraine writers to the de-occupied and frontline territories.
As a writer, she made her debut in literature with the novel The Fall Syndrome, or Homo Compatiens in 2014. It entered the top ten of the LitAccent-2014 rating.
Amelina is the winner of the National Coronation of the Word Award 2014 and the Joseph Conrad Award for the novels Dom’s Dream Kingdom and The Fall Syndrome, or Homo Compatiens. The novel Dom’s Dream Kingdom was included in the short list of the EU literary prize – the UNESCO City of Literature. In 2021, she was nominated for the Angelus Central European Literature Award.
On the evening of 27 June, Russian invaders attacked Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, hitting a catering establishment. Eleven people have died in the attack, including 3 children, and 61 people were wounded.
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