Stories as Shields: Viktoriia Medvied’s Fight on a Cultural Frontline

While most students are worried about assigned reading and approaching deadlines, Viktoriia Medvied faces a much more complicated reality. Alongside her postgraduate studies in Creative Writing, she carries the weight of worrying for her home country and supporting her parents from Scotland. 

Medvied was working full time in Ukraine before the 2022 Russian invasion, teaching English and History at the University of Vernadsky in Kyiv.

Everything changed once the war started. Medvied moved to Lviv, a city in the western part of Ukraine, with a group of friends. “I think everybody understood what was happening because we heard the news and we were aware of the situation,” she said “The tension was so thick in the air that you could cut it with a knife.”

Forced to leave her mother, father, and friends, Medvied started over: “I had no other choice and no other plan.”

She described the experience as irritating. “I just moved into my apartment. I was starting my life. I got a dog who was just two years old. I was like, ‘Yeah, finally I'm getting there, becoming stable.’ I was like, ‘Really, you're doing it right now? Right when I bought a new sofa? You're totally destabilising me.’”  

“When [the war] started I had to rediscover myself,” she continued. “What do I do now? Who am I now? What do I like?” 

Medvied’s mother stayed in Kyiv with her dog, and is still there today. “When I talk to her she puts on a mask because she doesn't want to upset me. I'm doing everything for her to make her feel safe there. I bought [her] a generator with electricity,” said Medvied. “She’s the fanciest lady in the neighbourhood because her neighbours come over and charge their phones.”

Last winter, Medvied’s parents didn't have electricity for two days. “The hardest period is winter. … It’s because of the generators [that] they survived the cold.”

Medvied remains in constant fear for her parents' safety. “It was really physiologically rough,” she explained. “Sometimes I think it's really silly to ask them, ‘Are you okay?’ Like, of course they are not. How can they reply? ‘Yeah, I'm fine, yeah, just was bombed. What about you?’”

Initially, Medvied was planning to do her PhD back in Ukraine, but after the start of the war,  she ended up here in Scotland. 

However, even after two years in St Andrews, Medvied still feels a sense of detachment. “Somebody didn't meet their deadline or something. It feels so minor to me…. Guys, do you want to come to Kyiv and see how people live?”

“But that's okay,” she clarified. “Again, that's just different, different things. I think to have both experiences, it's important.” 

In St Andrews, Medvied teaches a Ukrainian language course. “One of the good things about the war, if there are any good things, is the cultural side of Ukraine. It started to thrive, maybe because we felt that we were endangered,” she said. Her classes consist of around ten students and contain both St Andrews locals and university members.

Medvied’s primary passion is storytelling. She explained how St Andrews has provided her with safety and a place to focus this passion: “If it wasn't for the university and the funding, maybe I wouldn't be really having any time or energy to do that. They are supporting my research and they are supporting my safety.” 

She published her first book in 2017, something she described as “a dream come true.” At the time, she was working as a journalist, writing for a children’s column. Though she described her old writing as “childish, nice, and cheesy”, Medvied added that, after the invasion, her writing became “more harsh” as she “stopped trying to cover things or filter them.”

Medvied believes the war is primarily motivated by cultural ego. “It's not about land. Look at the map, they have all the land they need,” she argues. “Ukraine is one more gem on [Russias] crown, because it's not definitely about making people free… That's bullshit. That's not true. That's just ego.”

In an effort to contribute,  Medvied started Books for the Frontline, a project aimed at promoting Ukrainian language and culture. “When I was growing up, we didn't have such a variety of Ukrainian books. We had only the Russian stories… Ukrainian people just realised that we're an endangered species and we need to do something about it.”

“A lot of people in Ukraine didn't realise what nation they belong to,” she continued. “It was really blurred for them. They didn't feel that they were in this new country, which is independent.” Through her work with Books for the Frontline, Medvied has bought more than 600 books for one of the frontline libraries that borders the Russian Federation. 

By teaching the Ukrainian language at St Andrews and raising funds with Books for the Frontline, Medvied is proving that “there is a cultural frontline and [society] has to fight for it.”

“I want to help people open their eyes and realise that they are a part of something bigger,” she said. “To define themselves, maybe rediscover themselves.”

Medvied also organises author readers, a friend of hers has written a book titled Apple Pie Backed in the Mountains. She read at the library: “[In the book], she talks about all of the generators, like the one my mom is using. In the future, when we win, they will be used for baking pies somewhere in the mountains.” 

For further information on her work and fundraising Medvied can be contacted at: vm79@st-andrews.ac.uk

Image: Daryna Yudenko