Volodymyr Vakulenko

{{Family name hatnote|Volodymyrovych|Vakulenko|lang=Eastern Slavic}}

{{Infobox writer

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Volodymyr Vakulenko

| honorific_suffix =

| image = 225px

| alt =

| caption = Vakulenko in January 2020

| native_name = Володимир Володимирович Вакуленко

| native_name_lang = uk

| birth_name = Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Vakulenko

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1972|07|01|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Kapytolivka, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union

| death_date = Between 24 March and 12 May 2022 (aged 49)

| death_place = Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine

| children = 2

| occupation = {{hlist|Writer|poet|activist}}

| awards = Order of Merit

}}

Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Vakulenko ({{langx|uk|Володимир Володимирович Вакуленко}}, {{IPA|uk|woloˈdɪmɪr woloˈdɪmɪrowɪtʃ wɐˈkulenko|pron}}; 1 July 1972 – between March 24 and May 12 2022) was a Ukrainian poet, children's writer, and Wikipedian, who was also involved in volunteer work and activism.{{cite news |last1=Drake |first1=Daniel |title=Rusové zabili oceňovaného ukrajinského spisovatele |url=https://www.novinky.cz/clanek/valka-na-ukrajine-rusove-zabili-ocenovaneho-ukrajinskeho-spisovatele-40415848 |publisher=novinky.cz |date=29 November 2022 |language=Czech}}{{cite news |url=https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/12/05/ukrainian-writer-and-wikipedian-volodymyr-vakulenko-killed-by-russian-invaders/ |title=Ukrainian writer and Wikipedian Volodymyr Vakulenko killed by the Russian Federation's invasion of Ukraine |date=5 December 2022 |first=Vitalii |last=Petrushko|work=Diff|publisher=Wikimedia}} He was murdered during the Russian occupation of the Kharkiv area in Ukraine in 2022.{{cite news |title=Writer Volodymyr Vakulenko killed during Russian occupation |url=https://kyivindependent.com/news-feed/media-writer-volodymyr-vakulenko-killed-during-russian-occupation-in-kharkiv-oblast |publisher=The Kyiv Independent |date=29 November 2022}} He was a recipient of the Oles Ulianenko International Literary Award and laureate of the {{ill|Les Martovych|uk|Лесь Мартович}} Competition.{{cite web |url=https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/blog/essay/signs-ethnic-and-cultural-genocide-ukraine-murder-childrens-book-writer-volodymyr |last=Naydan |first=Michael M. |date=16 December 2022 |title=Signs of Ethnic and Cultural Genocide in Ukraine: The Murder of Children's Book Writer Volodymyr Vakulenko |work=World Literature Today}}{{cite web |url=https://www.insideedition.com/ukrainian-activist-and-writer-volodymyr-vakulenko-killed-by-russians-and-left-outside-for-a-month |last=Hastings |first=Deborah |date=30 November 2022 |title=Ukrainian Activist and Writer Volodymyr Vakulenko Killed by Russians and Left Outside for a Month: Reports |work=Inside Edition}}

Biography

Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Vakulenko was born on 1 July 1972 in the village of Kapytolivka, Izium Raion, Kharkiv. From 1979 to 1987, he studied at Kapitolivka Secondary School, from 1987 to 1989 at Chervonooskilska Secondary School. In 1989–1990, he studied at Izium Vocational School No. 24, majoring in pastry chef. He officially started working in 1990, first as a kitchen worker, then acquired various specialties from being a trucker to an apartment repairman (20 years of experience on various bases). From January 1991 to August 1992, he served in the Soviet army, where he received a disability and was discharged shortly before his demobilization. He was divorced and has two sons from his first and second marriages, Vladyslav and Vitalii.

He had started writing in his childhood, and since 2001 has been published in Izium, Kostiantyniv, Donetsk region, Lviv, Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Rivne, Ternopil, Vinnytsia, Zakarpattia, Kramatorsk, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv press.

From 2003 to 2006, he was a member of the Izium literary association Kremianets, and in 2005 he was a member of the Konstantynivka literary association Prometheus. In 2005-2006, he was the deputy head of the Kremianets literary association in Izium, where he was the editor-in-chief of the Krynytsia children's and teenagers' newspaper. The author appeared online in late 2005.

He prepared for publication and published the almanac "Raisin Mountain" (2007), where his works were also published. Coordinator of the Gothic project and presenter of the presentation of the magazine "Thursday number 30" (theme "Gothic").{{cite web |date=2017-05-08 |title=Іздрик: Час «Четверга» минув, урожай зібрано, гербарії закрито {{!}} |url=http://www.chytomo.com/interview/izdrik-literatura-z-visokoii-polici-ne-vsim-potribna |access-date=2024-04-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170508171752/http://www.chytomo.com/interview/izdrik-literatura-z-visokoii-polici-ne-vsim-potribna |archive-date=8 May 2017 }} January-July 2009 - editor-in-chief of the translation magazine "DzeRkaLo" (published on the 2nd of July).

Correspondent of the magazine "Artistic Facets" (2009).{{ref label|id1|a|none}} He was a coordinator and compiler of several journals and anthologies. Furthermore, he was a co-organizer of published literary projects. He has been published in anthologies, anthologies, and magazines. His works have been translated into Crimean Tatar, Belarusian, German, English, Esperanto, and Russian.

Abduction and murder

On March 22, 2022, Vakulenko and his autistic 13-year-old son Vitaliy were arrested by Russian troops in Kapytolivka, a Ukrainian village near the town of Izium. By then, Izium and the surrounding villages had been under Russian occupation for several days (Battle of Izium) with Russian soldiers, allegedly, looting private homes and shops, stealing cars and committing war crimes against the civilian population. Vakulenko believed that his pro-Ukrainian views would make him a target of the occupying Russian forces and his house was filled with Ukrainian-language books, including copies of his own, that he figures would be enough to arouse suspicion.

That same day, Vakulenko and his son were returned to the cottage they shared with the author's father. Vakulenko told his parents he had been taken to a "special department" set up in the village, where he had been beaten in the groin. His family worried about his physical condition as he had become very thin over the weeks since the full-scale Russian invasion. There had been little to eat aside from the potatoes from his garden and some canned foods he had bought in Izium before the Russian tanks arrived.

On March 24, 2022, Vakulenko was arrested again by Russian troops. A van painted with the military "Z" symbol pulled up to his house and a Russian soldier carrying a gun hustled Vakulenko into the van. Vakulenko was killed during the subsequent captivity and his corpse was found on 12 May in a mass grave outside Izium. He had been shot and killed by two bullets from a semi-automatic Makarov pistol. When exhumed a week after the liberation, his corpse was initially misidentified despite cemetery documentation that correctly gave his surname but he was later formally identified using a DNA sample.{{cite news |title=Volodymyr Vakulenko killed by Russian occupiers |url=https://pen.org.ua/en/volodymyra-vakulenka-vbyly-rosijski-okupanty |publisher=PEN Ukraine |date=28 November 2022}} Vakulenko was reburied in December 2022 in Kharkiv.

Following his death and the liberation of Kharkiv, his journal of the war, which he had buried in his backyard, was retrieved by writer Victoria Amelina and published.Duggan, Keith (25 March 2023). "[https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2023/03/25/being-a-ukrainian-writer-is-a-long-long-tradition-and-it-means-you-are-a-fighter-already/ Uncovering the buried diary of an executed Ukrainian writer]". The Irish Times.Hachey, Isabelle (4 July 2023). "[https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/chroniques/2023-07-04/tant-qu-un-ecrivain-est-lu-il-est-vivant.php Tant qu'un écrivain est lu, il est vivant]". La Presse.

Vakulenko is survived by his parents and his sons, Vladyslav and Vitaliy.{{cite news| title=A murdered writer, his secret diary of the invasion of Ukraine – and the war crimes investigator determined to find it |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/22/a-murdered-writer-his-secret-diary-of-the-invasion-of-ukraine-and-the-war-crimes-investigator-determined-to-find-it |work= The Guardian | date= 22 July 2023 | last= Higgins |first= Charlotte}} In 2023, the killers of Vakulenko were allegedly identified as the soldiers Vladyslav Neskorodiev (commander) and S. Udodenko (executor) serving in the armed forces of the Luhansk People's Republic.{{Cite web |title=Collaborator from Luhansk whose sister survived Irpin's occupation ordered to kill writer Vakulenko |url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/11/22/7429880/ |access-date=2023-11-22 |website=Ukrainska Pravda |language=en}}

Awards

Order of Merit, 3rd class (22 January 2024, posthumously)Decree of the President of Ukraine from 22 січня 2024 year № 16/2024 [https://www.president.gov.ua/documents/162024-49517 «Про відзначення державними нагородами України з нагоди Дня Соборності України»] {{in lang|uk}}

Tribute

On 22 May 2023, the International Publishers Association posthumously awarded Vakulenko with the Prix Voltaire Special Award 2023.[https://www.internationalpublishers.org/copyright-news-blog/1345-prix-voltaire-ceremony-confers-prize-on-mazin-lateef-and-special-award-for-volodymyr-vakulenko Prix Voltaire ceremony confers prize on Mazin Lateef and Special Award for Volodymyr Vakulenko], internationalpublishers.org. 22 May 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2023.{{cite news |title=Ukrainian writer killed by Russian troops receives posthumous award from International Publishers Association|url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/05/24/7403652/|work=Ukrainska Pravda|date=24 May 2023|access-date=24 May 2023|language=English}}

Notes

:1.{{note label|id1||none}} When translated from Ukrainian to English, the magazine can also be translated as "Artistic Edge" or "Artistic Faces" depending on the translation software.