Amanda McCrina

I have no platitudes and nothing really new to say. Find Ukrainian organizations and donate to them. See if there are ways you can support Ukrainian refugees in your community, especially as they are now being targeted by ICE. Fly a Ukrainian flag. Read a Ukrainian author.

For a little while, it seemed as though it would be.

But four years on, russia is being welcomed back wholeheartedly to the world stage in sports and the arts—in some cases, it never left. The US president openly admires putin and is doing his best to help him. And Ukraine is still fighting alone.

it was still a gut-wrenching shock to see an invasion of this scale and brutality & brazen imperialistic aggression carried out in full view of the world.

Now, all I can think about is how naive I was. THIS, I thought, would finally be the wake-up call the world needed to see russia for what it is.

Four years ago, the night of Feb 23-24, 2022, I spent a sleepless night endlessly scrolling social media, watching russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine unfold. I'd been following the war since 2014, but 🧵

14 hospitalized, police officer killed as explosions rock western Ukraine's Lviv in terrorist attack Explosions as a result of a terrorist attack shook Lviv, hospitalizing 14 and killing a police officer, authorities reported overnight on Feb. 22.

⚡️14 hospitalized, police officer killed as explosions rock western Ukraine's Lviv in terrorist attack.

Explosions as a result of a terrorist attack shook Lviv, hospitalizing 14 and killing a police officer, authorities reported overnight on Feb. 22.

Considering everything the Trump administration is doing, this is not surprising. but still heartbreaking.

A slow return to business as usual with genocidal invaders, even as they continue murdering Ukrainians and destroying our country.

Renata uses old Polish legends and folk tales to frame her own story. These would've been the stories she grew up with, so they would've been a source of comfort and normalcy to her, and maybe a way to make sense of her own life during wartime. They're also a quietly defiant way to express her Polish identity in an imperial context.

For the evening crowd: I did an interview with the @lernerbooks.bsky.social blog about some of the cultural context of BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS.

The folklore sequences are some of my favorites. Stories include the Glass Mountain, the Wawel Dragon, & the Golden Duck. 🦆

lernerbooks.blog/2026/02/beyo...

Beyond Seven Forests: An Interview with Author Amanda McCrina Beyond Seven Forests is a survival story in more than one sense. In the winter of 1916 a blizzard traps eighteen-year-old Polish countess Renata in her home with two Polish deserters from the Russi…

For @lernerbooks.bsky.social's blog, I talked a little about the background and historical context of BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS and its relevance today.

lernerbooks.blog/2026/02/beyo...

#booksky

We only have a trickle of information about what’s happening in the DHS camps. But every bit we do have points to gross violations of human rights on a massive scale.

I bet you can make a lot of people mad by pointing out that the Ukrainians are fighting a deeply unambiguous anti-colonial war

We are going to Ukraine on Friday and taking medical supplies with us. There is still time to purchase from our Amazon Wishlist! These items will be delivered to several units.

Amazon link below:

Poland declares new holiday honouring WW2 underground resistance Home Army

Poland today marks the national day of remembrance for the Home Army, its underground resistance force during the German occupation in WWII.

For more, see our report from last year, when a new national holiday to mark the occasion was established.

They are always afraid of poetry.

Ukrainian lugers supported Vladyslav Heraskevych after their performance in the mixed team relay at the 2026 Olympics:

“You can ban Vlad from competing, you can ban his helmet. But you will never ban memory.”

In my view these athletes all were careful to stick to justifiably neutral expressions that do not reference war. A helmet that said "be brave like Ukrainians", photos of killed athletes, and a quote from Lina Kostenko, "Where there is heroism, there is no final defeat", all banned

A Ukrainian athlete has been disqualified for wearing a helmet that showed photos of fellow athletes killed by russia.

No other athletes have been disqualified for displaying photos of dead loved ones. An Italian athlete has not been disqualified for putting a (banned!) russian flag on his helmet.

This is the second account - the first being in Chicago - of DHS agents mass detaining people and then *sorting them by race*.

As I was saying, Ukraine isn't about to violate its constitution and hold elections under Ru bombardment just to please Trump

Everything I've ever written helps me as a writer. The more types of writing one does, the more tools one is adding to one's toolbox, to be employed in different contexts. So, yes, writing criticism absolutely helped me write novels.

I’m very far from the only person saying this, but it seems clear what is happening in the camps is worse than anything we’ve seen in public so far—including Minneapolis.

At some point we will know the truth about the camps. I am very afraid of what we will learn.

Ukrainian soldiers stand with Olympic athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych, who was banned by the IOC from wearing his “Helmet of Remembrance,” adorned with photographs of Ukrainian athletes killed in Russia’s war.

Anthropic stole my books to create its model's "selfhood."

Not hard to understand.

Vladyslav Heraskevych, who wore a helmet with photos of Ukrainian athletes killed by Russia’s war, says the IOC has banned him from using it during official training sessions and competitions.

Please listen to his words!

“The world must know the price of freedom.”

This is the 38th time that the U.S. military has unlawfully killed civilians on the orders of Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump. At least 130 people — never charged with crimes, their identities unknown to their executioners — are now dead.

Yay! Thank you for reading!!

It’s here and it’s beautiful!!! Thank you @mccrina.bsky.social 🫶🏽

The Long Ukrainian Winter How You Can Help

Russia’s full-scale invasion began 4 years ago. It began in winter, and so this winter is the 5th. And, for civilians, the worst. Russia launches missiles and drones at energy infrastructure to force Ukrainians to endure the freezing cold. Here's how you can help
snyder.substack.com/p/the-long-u...

I’ll call this photo ‘Home’. 157 Ukrainians are finally back home, some - after years of Russian captivity. The youngest is just 23. He was captured when he was just 19 and was defending Mariupol.

I grew up with the Washington Post, wrote editorials for the Washington Post and published a column there for more than 15 years. To watch its owners destroy it, seemingly deliberately, in just a year and a half is devastating.