The novelist who became a war crimes investigator – and uncovered a secret diary - Podcast

Victoria Amelina was one of Ukraine’s most celebrated young novelists and poets. Her books looked at the country’s troubled history and she was all too aware of how Russia had attacked Ukrainian artists and culture in times gone by. When the full-scale invasion started, she changed her life – turning her acute powers of observation to investigating war crimes.

The Guardian’s chief culture writer, Charlotte Higgins, was reporting on artists in Ukraine when she met Amelina – and the two swiftly became friends. Higgins spoke to Amelina about her investigations and a particularly personal inquiry she was making into the disappearance of a former colleague, a well-known children’s author who had vanished after his village was occupied by Russian forces.

After the Russians left, Amelina travelled to the writer’s home and spoke to his parents. She found no trace of him, but what she did discover was a diary – buried deep in his garden – that detailed his life under occupation and held some important clues. When, some time later, his body was discovered in a mass grave it was clear the diary was the last thing he ever wrote.

Not long afterwards, Amelina herself was killed – on 1 July 2023 – after Russian shelling destroyed a pizza restaurant she was in. Nosheen Iqbal hears about her extraordinary life, work and how her war crimes investigations could help Ukrainians find justice.