Justice in a Time of War

Nearly two years after she was killed by a Russian missile strike, Victoria Amelina's unflinching 320-page book of nonfiction, "Looking at Women Looking at War: A War and Justice Diary," is published.

Victoria Amelina gathering Russian war-crimes testimony in 2022 for Looking at Women Looking at War: A War and Justice Diary (credit: Victoria Amelina).

By Michael Judge

It seems an eternity, but we’re just now nearing the two-year anniversary of the cowardly Russian missile strike that killed the gifted writer and TFP friend Victoria Amelina. The Ukrainian poet, novelist, essayist, and documenter of Russian war crimes was mortally wounded on June 27, 2023, in an attack on a civilian target—a popular family restaurant—in Kramatorsk, Ukraine. The mother of a young son, Victoria hung on for five days before finally succumbing to her injuries on July 1. She was 37. Twelve other civilians were also killed in the attack, including three children.

For all who knew her and her brave and beautiful work, Victoria’s death was devastating. I was fortunate to have her as an early TFP guest on Aug. 22, 2022, six months into Russia’s criminal full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The edited for print TFP ve…