A Ukrainian author and journalist who documented the Russian invasion of Ukraine was killed in a missile attack launched by Russia, according to The Daily Mail. The attack, which killed 13 people, happened in a pizza restaurant, Ria Lounge, in the alleged war-torn and battle-ridden city of Kramatorsk. While the city, which is in the Donbas region, is controlled by Ukraine, it is near Russian-occupied territory.
A total of 61 people, mostly civilians were injured. Victoria Amelina, a mother-of-one, was reportedly dining with a group of Colombian journalists when they were hit. Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Amelina investigated war crimes and human rights abuses perpetrated by Putin and the country. The 37-year-old was widely celebrated for her work.
Literature and human rights organization PEN described her work as sensible and elegant and noted the way the war has unfairly altered the lives of Ukrainians. She succumbed to her injuries before her first non-fiction book could be published, “In War and Justice Diary: Looking at Women Looking at War.”
The book reportedly details women who collect evidence of Russian war crimes. Her death came as particularly ominous because just days before, Amelina tweeted some thoughts as she looked on at “fireballs in the sky” while standing on her balcony. In her literary style, she said that she did not check the news before going to sleep because war suggests that one cannot follow every development. She then gave homage to her neighbors who died, saying that she does not want to “forget to learn their names.”
The news comes as Ukraine alleges that Russia is plotting to blow up the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which Russia took control of a month after the invasion. It is currently unclear why Russia would blow up a nuclear plant that they control or why Ukraine believes that it would.
