Ukraine, the Land of the Future
Amidst Russia’s relentless terrorist warfare, the memory and legacy of its victims drive Ukraine into the future. This issue is dedicated to Victoria Amelina, killed in a Russian missile attack.
Three poems
Having turned to poetry after Russia’s full-scale invasion, Victoria Amelina infused her verses with records of loss, pain, and perseverance she was exposed to as a war crimes investigator. Translated by Larissa Babij for this issue of the London Ukrainian Review, these three poems open a window onto the Ukrainian experiences of the all-out war.
The Shell Hole in the Fairy Tale
This is a previously unpublished excerpt from the book Looking At Women Looking At War: A War & Justice Diary which Victoria Amelina was working on when a Russian missile took her life. This piece reminds us of the days just before the full-scale invasion when Russia had already escalated attacks on the eastern regions of Ukraine.
How the Light Gets in. Remembering Victoria Amelina
The editor of the London Ukrainian Review reflects on the legacy of the Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, killed by a Russian missile in Kramatorsk. Combining biography and reportage, the piece explores Amelina’s literary work alongside her quest to preserve Ukrainian culture under attack and hold Russia accountable for war crimes committed in Ukraine.
Girl Talk. Remembering Victoria Amelina
Sometimes, a friend would share how they see their funeral but one never expects to be made to fulfill their will. In this raw and poignant piece, Sofia Cheliak recollects her best friend Victoria Amelina as well as generations of Ukrainians whose lives have been cut short by the cycles of mass murders and repressions perpetrated by Moscow.
Dispatches
One of the two winning entries for the Ukrainian Literature in Translation Prize is Daisy Gibbons’ selection of Facebook posts by Artem Chekh, a Ukrainian writer and veteran who went back to serve in the Armed Forces when Russia launched the full-scale invasion. As the translator observes, the dispatches showcase Chekh’s ‘wry appreciation of social relations during wartime’ which combine experiences such as lying in a sniper’s nest and receiving nudes from strangers, conversations with air defence servicemen who have just shot down a missile, and with liberated civilians who have survived months under occupation.
Pilates Time
Daisy Gibbons’ translation of an abstract play by Olha Matsiupa (written in 2017) is one of the winning entries for the Ukrainian Literature in Translation Prize. As the translator explains, this experimental piece documents ‘war trauma without showing frontline experience’. Set in Kyiv and framed by a Pilates class, the play involves incongruous characters, including a Pilates instructor who turns into an executioner, Herostratus, who orchestrates an arson thus killing the protagonist’s parents, and the protagonist’s traumatised partner.
Lord, Tell Me
Yulia Musakovska’s poem about the death of a soldier was written after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The translator Olena Jennings notes that the poem is addressed to ‘you’, thereby encouraging the reader to contemplate their role in the war and share responsibility for it.
A Soldier Is Born
This poetic record of a person’s transformation into a soldier comes from Yulia Musakovska’s collection The God of Freedom (2021). According to the translator Olena Jennings, it contains the idea of ‘poetry transcending the physical’ and exemplifies Musakovska’s unique way of writing about the body.
While We Were Waiting for War
Oleksandr Kocharyan’s quiet poem of anticipation draws attention to the civilian experience of waiting for the big war.
The Centre of the World
Taras Shumeyko, a Ukrainian historian, journalist, and war reporter, comes to his hometown of Bucha to cover a tragedy that filled global headlines in April 2022.
Alive
Giving voice to a frontline medic and a soldier and bridging their life-and-death experiences, Olha Kryshtopa’s short story also offers a glimpse into the future after Ukraine’s victory.