To raise awareness of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the Washington and Lee University Russian Department performed a bilingual retelling of the 2023 October missile strike in the Ukrainian village of Hroza.

The strike took the lives of 59 Ukrainian civilians, including 36 women and one 6-year-old child.

In “Hroza: Voices from Ukraine,” students gathered in the Stackhouse Theater on March 28 to read first-hand accounts from Ukrainians who witnessed the attack.

The play’s director, Russian teaching assistant Dmitry Zhukovskiy, described his approach as journalistic. He said he collected the accounts through interviews.

“I truly tried to avoid any kind of personal intrusion,” Zhukovskiy said. “I just wanted to present the facts to bring awareness.”

Zhukovskiy framed the story through two Ukrainian families, the Mamons and Kozyrs, from Hroza.

The village had been captured by the Russian military early on in the invasion and had been under occupation until it was liberated by Ukraine in September of 2022.

According to the play, the Mamon family had cooperated with their Russian occupiers in Hroza. The Kozyr family, on the other hand, was living in Warsaw at the time but had returned to Ukraine to help fight against Russian forces.

When the village was liberated, the Mamons fled Hroza.

A year later, on Oct. 5, 2023, occupants of the village had gathered in a café, described as a social hub of the village before the war, to host a funeral for soldier Andriy Kozyr.

A Russian missile struck the café during the wake, killing 59 civilians and injuring at least seven others. The entire Kozyr family was among the victims of the strike.

An investigation into the strike ensued, and Ukrainians demanded to know why Russian forces would target the peaceful gathering.

The play indicated that it was Vladimir and Dmitry Mamon that gave precise information to the Russians about the wake before the bombing.

Students with different levels of proficiency alternated between reading in Russian and English during their performance.

Jorge Gomez, ’25, said the hardest part of being in the play was coming to terms with the fact that real people had experienced the pain of these events.

“How can you convey that emotion? How can you be respectful while presenting it?” Gomez asked.

Gomez said he participated in the play to raise awareness about Ukraine.

Jowita Chotkiewicz, ’24, said that it’s important for people to continue talking about Ukraine.

“I know it’s definitely not the happiest topic, but it’s so important to continue educating ourselves,” she said. “Russia’s invasion has been going on for over two years, and as much as people were talking about it in the beginning, the voices are quieting down.”

Zhukovskiy said he was incredibly thankful that there was such a large group of students willing to help him assemble the play.

“I believe that the Russian Ukrainian War is the most important happening in Russian culture right now,” Zhukovskiy said. “The chance to dive into this material and to get connected, not only mentally, but emotionally, I believe, is very important.”