The book “Voices along the way” records the stories of Ukrainian women from the first year of the Russian war of aggression. The 24 stories recount uncertainty and flight, upheaval, fear and hope. The book also poses the question: “When loud voices urge us to end the war, do they actually mean peace?” The 24 stories in the book thus become an important contemporary document.

The stories will inspire future generations.

Already in 2020, we and our Ukrainian partner KFR Public Alternative asked the following question at Women's Peace Tables in eastern Ukraine: "What does security mean to you?" The women talked about their experiences of insecurity in a patriarchal and militarised society that already existed at that time. Then came 24 February 2022. From then on, the women spoke about their flight and displacement or about what it means to survive in a war zone at the Women’s Peace Tables. From Sloviansk to Stockholm, from Bern to Kharkiv: the stories trace the path of the Ukrainian women “from A to B: from A - War to B – Unknown” in the first year of Russia’s war of aggression.

Before February 2022, Olena Zinenko lived in Kharkiv, where she worked as a lecturer in media studies and as a project coordinator for KFR Public Alternative. She is the author and driving force behind this book. She introduces the individual chapters, which titles like “Woman with a suitcase” or “Is peace even a possibility?”. Her daughter Oleksandra Zinenko, who fled from Kharkiv to Lviv, illustrated the book. It also contains blank pages where readers can write down their own stories.

“These stories clearly show that women know the value of peace and thus try to do everything in their power to resist the war on different levels,” Olena writes in the book's introduction.

She explained at the virtual book launch with members of our Feminists Connecting for Peace network in December 2024: “These stories could only have been written at that moment, in the first year of the war.” The book was well received by the peace activists at the launch. Lisa Natividad, an activist in Guahan (Guam) said: “It's a beautiful ode to the women of your country. The stories show that when we talk about peacebuilding, we are not only talking about ending war and conflict, but also about communities.”

Susan Risal, director of our partner organisation Nagarik Aawaz in Nepal, described the book as a “memoir” for Ukraine. “The stories will inspire future generations,” she said. She also pointed out the importance of the book both for appraising the history of the war and for accountability.

The book also marks the end of the first phase of the Ukraine country programme 2020-2024. Find out more about our Ukraine programme.

Read a short version of the book (Ukrainian and English).

Ukraine: «Voices along the way» 9.27 MB, PDF