Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina dies after Kramatorsk strike

Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina dies after Kramatorsk strike

Jul 03 2023

Victoria Amelina, one of Ukraine’s best-known young writers, has died from injuries sustained in a Russian missile strike on a crowded restaurant in eastern Ukraine. She was 37.

Her death brought to 13 the number of civilians killed in the attack on the Ria Lounge restaurant in the city of Kramatorsk on June 27. Ms. Amelina was dining with a Colombian delegation when the missile ripped into the restaurant. She was treated for severe injuries and died on Saturday.

“Doctors and paramedics in Kramatorsk and Dnipro did everything they could to save her life,” the writers’ group PEN Ukraine said in a statement late Sunday. It added: “In the last days of Victoria’s life, her closest people and friends were with her.”

The news jolted Ukraine’s writing and journalism community — which has lost dozens of its own since Russia’s full-scale invasion began last year. Days before the attack, Ms. Amelina had attended the Kyiv Book Arsenal, a large literary festival in Ukraine’s capital.

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