‘Looking at Women Looking at War’ explores Ukraine’s fight for survival

The late Ukrainian novelist and war-crimes investigator offers a poignant account of conflict.

Illustration by Andrea Hill

By Clarisa Sendy and Adelina Indah

Looking at Women Looking at War: A War and Justice Diary, by Victoria Amelina

In June 2023, a Russian missile struck a restaurant in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, killing Ukrainian novelist and war-crimes investigator Victoria Amelina. She died four days later at the age of 37. The attack, which hit an obvious civilian target located 24 kilometers from the frontline, was widely condemned as a war crime by European politicians.

Her death marked a devastating loss, cutting short a writer whose voice was both deeply personal and universally resonant. Amelina was about to begin a Paris residency for displaced Ukrainian writers, and her unfinished book, Looking at Women Looking at War, reveals her relentless quest to understand the role of an artist in a nation facing existential peril.

A writer turned war-crimes investigator

Amelina’s transformation from a poet and children’s author to an investigator for Truth Hounds, a group documenting Russian war crimes in Ukraine, reflects the urgency of the times. In her book, she wrestles with the question of how an artist should respond when their country is under attack. “The end of the world isn’t as quick as everyone imagines,” she writes. “There’s time to learn. Yet there are no instructions.”

Her account of the war is particularly unsettling because it is told from the perspective of someone whose life had, until the invasion, resembled that of many readers. She was a middle-class woman who rushed back from a vacation in Luxor when Russia attacked, repurposing a rucksack once used for Himalayan treks to carry emergency supplies.

The book is filled with unsettlingly practical details. Amelina describes the “two walls” rule, a safety measure against bombardments: the safest place in a home is two walls away from the nearest window. But her apartment’s design in Lviv made this impossible, underscoring the relentless vulnerability of daily life during war.

An unfinished work with powerful insights

Only 60 percent of Looking at Women Looking at War was completed at the time of Amelina’s death. As the manuscript progresses, her structured prose becomes interwoven with “memos to self,” notes she intended to expand upon later. These include observations on war-crime investigations, such as the importance of first offering victims a glass of water during interviews—“not for them,” she writes, “but for the one bringing it; she will need it, though she doesn’t know it yet.”

The book also includes diary entries from other writers, testimonies from survivors, and a long discussion on international justice with lawyer Philippe Sands. While this shift in focus diminishes narrative clarity, Amelina’s core message remains strikingly clear: war transforms everyone it touches, and even those who survive are forever changed.

Her reflections capture the complex emotions of war with precision. She writes about the “weird relief” people feel when their worst fears are finally realized. One of her most haunting observations resonates deeply: “There is no word to describe a feeling of shame for the fact that your family is alive, and there shouldn’t be. Yet I have this unnamed feeling a lot.”

A perspective beyond gender

Despite its title, Looking at Women Looking at War is not solely about a woman’s experience of war. Amelina’s vision transcends gender—she writes as a Ukrainian witnessing the most harrowing chapter in her country’s modern history.

At one point, she consoles a young female journalist who feels guilty for leaving Chernihiv after just ten days under siege. The journalist had dreamed of becoming the next Ryszard Kapuściński, the legendary war reporter. “To become a new Ryszard Kapuściński, one first has to survive,” Amelina tells her. Tragically, Amelina herself did not get that chance.

Victoria Amelina’s Looking at Women Looking at War is scheduled for publication on February 18, 2025, offering a powerful account of Ukraine’s ongoing battle for survival. Her work is a testament to the resilience of her people and a reminder of the devastating toll of war.

Though her life was cut short, Amelina’s words endure, capturing the brutal realities of war and the determination of those fighting for their nation’s future.

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