The portrait
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War between Ukraine and Russia The tenacious Ukrainian, the founder of the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning NGO, collects evidence of war crimes committed by Russia.
Talking about yourself when dedicating your life to others… The exercise promised to be difficult. Oleksandra Matviichuk prefers to spend hours telling the tragic story of this 4-year-old girl who was snatched from her mother in the martyred city of Mariupol. That of this man whom the Russian soldiers tortured until he pulled out his fingernails and cut off his own fingers. Or that of this journalist who was killed in her apartment in Kyiv at the end of April after another bomb attack. Since 2014 and the start of the Donbass war, the human rights defense lawyer has listened intently to hundreds of Ukrainian survivors who were “kidnapped, tortured or raped” under Russian occupation.
During our meeting, the angelic-faced activist, whose foundation struggles to conceal dark circles, unleashes fluid and confident responses. Emotions are controlled. Down to that ordinary question she hasn’t dared to ask for 243 days: “How are you?” His long pianist’s fingers crumple a used handkerchief. His blue eyes turn red. She hesitates, puzzled, before realizing, somewhat embarrassed, “Good question.” “To be honest, despite all my experience, I wasn’t prepared for this level of cruelty. Nobody can be prepared for this