The Book ‘Living Against All Odds: Women’s Stories of War, 2014 and 2022’ was presented on 5 February at ‘Yevropeiskyi’ Academic Lyceum of Lubny City Council in the city of Lubny, Poltava oblast.
The book was published on the initiative of the Eastern Ukrainian Center for Civic Initiatives. It collected 11 stories of women from different regions of Ukraine who have survived occupation, captivity, torture, sexual violence, and the loss of their homes and loved ones. All the texts are written in the first person.
The presentation was attended by schoolchildren, students, and teachers.
One of the authors, Halyna Tyshchenko, a representative of SEMA Ukraine, emphasised that the book is of documentary significance:
‘We were never writers. We wrote because otherwise it would have remained only in our memories. And this book is a document.’
She talked about her experience of the occupation of Donetsk oblast in 2014 and Kyiv oblast in 2022, the vanishing of young people, the torture of civilians, and the shelling that Russian troops blamed on Ukraine.
Some stories were devoted to the topic of conflict-related sexual violence:
‘This is a systemic crime. And silence only works in the aggressor’s favour.’
Another author, Tetiana Tovstokora, an educator from the Kharkiv oblast, focused on the everyday reality of the occupation, which began in her village on 26 February 2022. She described the chaos of the first few days, the looting by Russian soldiers, the lack of electricity, communication, medicines, and food, as well as the harsh restrictions imposed on civilians. People were forbidden to move around freely, forced to wear white armbands; young people were hidden because girls were taken by the occupiers, whilst boys were checked and abducted. The attempt to impose the Russian education system was especially painful: parents were actually forced to send their children to ‘Russian schools’, leaving them no choice.
At the end of the meeting, the authors addressed their young audience.
‘You are the future of Ukraine. And it is you who must be able to verify information, avoid consuming Russian content, and not allow propaganda to split us,’ said the youngest author of the book and EUCCI representative, Maryna Suprun.
The participants asked questions enthusiastically. The students asked whether the battles were continuous or if there were any ‘pauses’, and how the authors were able to get out of captivity and recognize the right moment to leave.
Marieke Droogsma, a representative of the German civil society organisation KURVE Wustrow, which is a partner of the Eastern Ukrainian Center for Civic Initiatives, also spoke at the event.
‘I think it’s very important to hear these stories, which, on the one hand, we might not want to hear because they are hard. But that is precisely why it is important to tell them, not to hide them, and not to give propaganda a single chance.’
She thanked the audience, especially the young people, for their presence and attentiveness, and emphasised that honest eyewitness testimonies are a way to counter disinformation and the misrepresentation of the war.
The second edition of ‘Living Against All Odds: Women’s Stories of War, 2014 and 2022’ and its further distribution were made possible by the ‘Strengthening Civil Society for the Transformation of the Culture of Memory – Non-Violent Efforts to Counter Russia’s War Against Ukraine’ Project implemented by the Eastern Ukrainian Center for Civic Initiatives with the support of Kurve Wustrow – Centre for Training and Interaction in Non-Violent Action as part of the Civil Peace Service (CPS) project.
