Zhenya Oliinyk: 'Drawing and writing comics is more like journalism to me'

We've heard from Will Boast, EC Osondu and Robin Munby already in this Summer series of podcasts, and Elaine Vilar Madruga is lined up next. But this week we welcome Zhenya Oliinyk and her graphic short story A Night in Kyiv.

This story is short and made up of unsettling images, but Oliinyk tells us it's "not exactly fiction".

"It is a documentation of one particular night," she says, "in terms of the numbers, because the numbers are real."

Oliinyk charts the night in a series of alerts as the ballistic missiles come down, the hits are confirmed and the death toll rises. And through it all runs the struggle to get some sleep.

"This is pretty much how it is happening," the author explains. "It happens on a regular basis now, in Kyiv and in other big cities as well."

Making art under Russian bombardment may be something of a challenge, but Oliinyk is resolutely practical.

"It is my occupation," she says. "It is what brings food to the table. So I would be insincere if I'd say that it's just my way of copying with the situation, it's just how my artistic spirit needs to manifest itself. But no, it's just what I do for a living."

Of course it's still meaningful and inspiring to share her work, she continues, but the brute realities of life remain. "Surprisingly, when the war starts you still have to pay rent and buy food. This is probably one of the biggest disappointments of the full-scale invasion."

With the news full of long-range strikes on oil refineries deep in Russian territory, it's tempting to imagine the war is at some sort of turning point. Retaking Crimea may feel like a distant dream, but "it still feels empowering to know that we're not helpless," Oliinyk says, "that we're not weak, that we can actually make some impact."

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