Oksana Stomina on Survival and Ukraine’s Future

Oksana Stomina, a poet, writer, and civic activist, is known as a voice of resilience and resistance from the long-suffering Ukrainian city of Mariupol. Oksana was born in Mariupol in the early 1970s. She trained as a mathematics and primary school teacher and as a psychologist. She lived in Mariupol until spring 2022. During the first three weeks of Russia’s full-scale war, she remained in the besieged city, where she worked at a volunteer center. The diary she kept during that time is being translated into German, Italian, English, and Spanish.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Since 2022, she has lived in Kyiv with her daughter. Her husband, a Ukrainian defender who served with the Mariupol garrison, spent four years in Russian captivity following the prolonged siege of the Azovstal steel plant. Stomina actively participates in campaigns and projects supporting prisoners of war, advocacy tours, and educational events across Europe. She writes prose, poetry, and journalism. In January 2025, A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA Publishers released her collection of war poetry, “Lyrics from Mariupol Bomb Shelters.” She is also the author and editor of several collections about the war in Ukraine, published in several languages. Oksana Stomina with publisher and poet Ivan Malkovych (Photo courtesy of Oksana Stomina ) Other Topics of Interest Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Plunged Into 16th Blackout of Year The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has suffered its 16th blackout of the year after its last power line failed, activating emergency diesel generators. Kyiv Post: What do you consider the most important experience from Mariupol to share with people in Ukraine and abroad? What do you believe needs to be emphasized nearly five years into Russia’s full-scale invasion? Oksana Stomina: My position has not changed. War is a crime, and whoever starts a war is a criminal. I have been consistent on this not only since 2022, but since 2014. As for the experience itself, it has indeed been greatly “enriched” by the beginning of the full-scale war. And I believe we have a responsibility to share it. First, I categorically reject the strange tendency of some people to blame the victims of aggression. If someone wants to attack, they will attack simply because evil exists. Sooner or later, it will strike, and we have to be prepared. The world is fragile, and everything one person builds can be destroyed by another. That is why we have to fight evil together, as a global community. And people always have a choice about who they become, whatever the circumstances. That is what I saw in besieged Mariupol. As they say, “In dark times, you see light people more clearly.” During the siege, I saw both good and bad, but I am very proud that there was so much good. I saw decent people willing to risk their lives to save others, share their last possessions, and do everything they could for Ukraine’s victory and for justice. Another important lesson is that we must never underestimate the enemy. We have to approach information carefully and critically. And we need survival skills. We are used to a civilization where everything works, where there is food, water, electricity, and a store nearby. But under certain circumstances, all of this can disappear very quickly – almost instantly. A collapse occurs in which survival does not depend on having the latest computer or a Tesla in the garage, but on basic skills such as finding water and knowing how to make a fire. We saw this happen. Ukrainians can share this experience with the world. I would advise people to come to us for this knowledge, take it seriously and learn from it. Oksana Stomina (Photo courtesy of Oksana Stomina ) You survived the siege of Mariupol, lost contact with your husband, a serviceman who later spent four years in captivity. What do you say to those who still question Ukrainian testimony about Russian crimes? It depends. Those whom we have failed to convince since 2014 or 2022 can probably no longer be convinced. It is pointless to spend our emotional resources on them. With such people, I have simply ended my relationships. But when I meet people for the first time who have doubts, I certainly try to convince them. I speak abroad quite often in order to counter Russian propaganda with our own voices. To be as convincing as possible, I usually show photographs from my personal archive, talk about my friends, and name real people. I do not simply talk about general figures – I tell specific stories, with photographs and names, to make them more tangible and credible. Poetry helps reach the mind through the heart. When I perform, I do not simply read poems. Before each one, I tell the story behind it – where the poem came from and what it is about. There have been many occasions when we met people who had doubts and managed to convince them. But it is much harder with those who are firmly convinced of the opposite. We all, and Ukrainians abroad in particular, have to counter Russian propaganda, because this war is also being fought in the information space. In fact, that is where the war began. Russia invests enormous resources in propaganda, so Ukraine must also invest resources in countering disinformation. But this is not only the state’s responsibility. We all have to contribute and tell the world the truth. I would like people abroad to feel, through my poems and stories, the strength of the Ukrainian spirit and the power of love. I read poems about war, but they are still about love. Because Ukraine is about love. I want our country to be known not only through the lens of war and not to be seen as a victim country. Ukraine is a strong, self-sufficient, and dignified country of dignified people and deeds. When Ukrainians abroad ask what they can do, I say: First of all, be likable – inspire sympathy. Be grateful, decent, strong, beautiful, and principled. People sympathize with and stand alongside those they like. Oksana Stomina (Photo courtesy of Oksana Stomina ) What gives you strength today? These days, this question does not sound banal at all. People constantly ask one another about it, even in everyday life – they ask a friend, a neighbor, a colleague. We are exhausted, there is no point in hiding it. Everyone is – those at the front and those in the rear. But do we really have a choice? We have to mobilize all our strength to survive in the broader sense – as a state and as a nation. To protect what is ours. We have to help one another when help is needed. That is what keeps us going. Oksana Stomina with her daughter and husband Dmytro Paskalov (Photo courtesy of Oksana Stomina ) Your husband, Dmytro Paskalov, a Ukrainian serviceman who was among those defending the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol and a captain in the 109th Separate Donetsk Territorial Defense Brigade, was released in May this year after four years in Russian captivity. You continue to speak about prisoners of war and support families waiting for their loved ones. What drives you to pursue this issue so forcefully? This is very important to me. Not only because it was my personal story for a long time, but also because it is about justice and about people who cannot defend themselves. These are our people who defended us, and now they need our help. This is one of those situations where you simply cannot “walk past.” I know too much about what happens in captivity. I speak with people who have been released and receive information firsthand. And it is nothing short of horrifying. We have to do everything we can, first, to bring all our people home; second, to ensure that those responsible for torture and the cruel treatment of prisoners are punished; and third, to make the international system work differently. The Geneva Conventions are not currently being upheld. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has a unique mandate to address such issues, is, to put it mildly, falling short. I believe Ukraine can and should raise these issues at the highest level and initiate reforms of the system. I am personally convinced that this matters to the entire world and cannot remain in its current form. What does Ukraine’s victory mean to you today? Absolute and real independence, the return of our territories, punishment for Russia, and everyone responsible for war crimes, reparations, and restitution. With every passing day and every Ukrainian life lost, these issues become even more fundamental. The return of our territories is not simply about territory. It is about justice, dignity, and our responsibility to future generations. We have to do this in the name of those who gave their lives for our land and freedom. It is our duty to those who were killed, those who lost their health, and those who gave years of their lives to defending us on the front or enduring captivity. And we will do it. I believe that. The public demonstrations are organized globally to maintain international pressure actions to release the captured Mariupol defenders. (Photo courtesy of Oksana Stomina ) What do you dream of Ukraine becoming in the future? I love Ukraine as it is. I very much want us to gain new experience, knowledge, and opportunities without ceasing to be ourselves. As we move toward Europe, I want us to preserve who we are. We have so much value, and we have to learn to appreciate it. I hope that Ukrainians who have been forced to travel through Europe and the wider world will come to understand just how beautiful Ukraine really is. People do not always see beauty when they are close to it. I think that many Ukrainians returning from abroad will bring back an even greater love for their country and an even deeper understanding of how strong, self-sufficient and beautiful Ukraine is. I dream of Ukrainians no longer having to economize on joy, but being able to enjoy life and develop. To choose for themselves where they want to live, rather than having someone else decide for them. For everyone to have a home. For us to rebuild what Russia has destroyed. For our children to be happy, and for adults to feel secure about their children’s future. In fact, now more than ever, we know that a person does not need that much to be happy: a normal, peaceful life, choice, freedom, and opportunities for development. And love. And love. And love. The poetry of Oksana Stomina SNOWTENDER Letters to detention I wish you saw this morning so neat, and Sterile that it could wrap the wound and treat it. It’s winter, love, the winter’s here again. Through window of your prison could you sight The snow sparkles ignited by the sunlight. Their taste on your dry lips could you retain? As cold as separation, can you sense it, It promptly melts from warmth of touching hands and It only takes to leap and burry in The snows, and kiss with tirelessness and passion. It will be warm as home and soft as cushion. So quiet, our embrace could last till spring. Joy is so hard to bear in the war time. When kids are murdered joy feels like a war crime But snow-shine has touched the morning stroll, And my backyard, as it falls by the collar, Paints everything in white and tender colors: The churches bells and widow’s mourning shawl. I look at it and fear to fall in love, but It feels so good it really breaks my heart And mounts pressure of the silver areole Of sky. The glee makes tired eyes tear And it’s so tempting fall into despair. Like in this snow, yearning to dissolve. But something in my chest, so subtly warming, Allows to take December at face value And chase away my sorrows and regrets. So, I rise and stir and put the Polar parka And head to count squirrels in the park, and The horrors of war try to forget. You don’t believe me? Yes, I’m bad at lying. Thus, I just walk along. And hope above is flying, As shiny as this snow, fresh and new. December’ll pass and January will settle, And our boys’ll return alive from battles And peaceful mornings come to me and you. The coming year’ll get all broken things right And two of us at last get reunited For, God almighty witness, is it fair. And we will wonder alleys drawn in white and Express our love with passion and delight and Together count all local squirrels, dear. 24.12.2023, 587th day of captivity