Famous Ukrainian Writer Documenting War Crimes Dies in 'Restaurant Airstrike'

Ukrainian writer Viktoriya Amelina

A famous Ukrainian writer who had been documenting war crimes since Russia's invasion of Ukraine has passed away.

According to the UK Guardian and others on the 3rd (local time), Ukrainian writer Viktoriya Amelina (37) died four days after being hit by a missile.

The freedom of expression advocacy group PEN Ukraine announced on Facebook on the 2nd, "Ukrainian writer Viktoriya Amelina passed away on the 1st at Dnipro Mechnikov Hospital."

According to the organization, Amelina was dining at the restaurant 'Ria Pizza' in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, eastern Ukraine, with representatives of Colombian journalists and writers on the 27th of last month when the tragedy occurred.

At that time, at least 12 people, including children, were killed in the airstrike, and with Amelina, who was hospitalized with a skull fracture, eventually passing away, the death toll rose to 13.

Earlier, on the 29th of last month, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that the airstrike was a precision strike targeting a temporary Ukrainian military command post in Kramatorsk.

However, the non-profit organization (NGO) Truth Hounds, which reports on Russian war crimes, refuted this in a joint statement with PEN, saying, "There were no legitimate military targets that could have been attacked that day."

Amelina had been documenting Russian war crimes since last year and recently worked jointly with children living near the front lines. She also gained attention for uncovering the diary of writer Volodymyr Bakulenko, who was reportedly kidnapped and killed by Russian forces shortly after the invasion. Amelina's novel published in 2017, Dom's Dream Kingdom, was nominated for the UNESCO City of Literature Award and the European Union Prize for Literature.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.