Anastasiya Khlibnyk (Mama)

Hospital worker, theater photographer, journalist, and mother of two daughters.

She is the author of the short story “Stabik” in the collection Voices of Defenders vol.1, where she shares the daily life of a stabilization point, moments of light amid the war, friendship, worries for comrades, and inner healing through beauty.

I dream of sitting on the shore of my native Black Sea and writing a book. I dream of no longer having to bury friends, sisters- and brothers-in-arms. I dream that my daughters will never have to live in struggle.

Military path

She was born in Odesa and now lives in Lviv. She is 35 years old and serves as a combat medic in the Volunteer Medical Battalion “Hospitallers.”

Even before the full-scale invasion, she visited the “Hospitallers” as a photographer — capturing rotations and taking portraits of volunteers. In 2023, she completed training and joined the battalion as a medic.

Over the course of a year, she worked at various stabilization points in the Donetsk region.

In August 2024, in the Kharkiv region, the commander of her crew and close friend — Mike — was killed. Since then, Anastasiya went to the front as the senior crew member, carrying out work at various stages of evacuation: CASEVAC, MEDEVAC, and stabilization points.

According to the battalion’s estimates, over 350 wounded soldiers passed through her hands. In July 2025, Anastasiya was awarded the “For Saved Lives” distinction by the battalion commander, Yana Zinkevych.

In war, “joy embraces sorrow”:

In war, “joy embraces sorrow,” because in a single day something incredibly poignant can happen. For example, after evacuating the wounded with your team, you might stop by a chalk spoil heap in Donetsk, climb to the top, and watch the sun set while eating unbelievably delicious apricots warmed by the eastern sun. At the same time, you deal with the bodies of the fallen and, of course, all the soldiers’ stories that make you feel like climbing the walls. It’s hard to put all of that into one story. Simply put, “joy embraces sorrow.”

Civilian life

Before the war, Anastasiya studied in the Department of Philosophy at Odesa National University named after I. Mechnikov. She worked as a journalist and theater photographer.

She still actively photographs theater productions and runs her own project Lighters. Those Who Shine, in which she records conversations with remarkable Ukrainians. She also writes articles for Vechirnya Odesa, Media of Great Stories, and Divoche.

Despite her civilian projects, Anastasiya continues to regularly go on rotations as a Hospitaller. She also raises two daughters.

How She Started Writing:

Quite early, around the age of five, I began reading. I was so captivated by these fictional worlds that at times I lost touch with reality, getting lost in time and space. Around the age of 13, I started writing notes in notebooks. Then came a long journey, and by the age of 30, I began writing for media.

Favorite Books, Music, and Movies:

This is one of the hardest questions because I’ve been reading books and listening to music my entire conscious life. At times, I immerse myself in classical Japanese literature or modern British literature. More broadly, I enjoy high-quality stories. These can range from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien or Terry Pratchett’s Discworld to the works of Sholom Aleichem, Serhiy Zhadan, Haruki Murakami, Stephen Fry, Umberto Eco, and Selma Lagerlöf.

The same goes for music. I love attending classical concerts, ethnic music festivals, rock and punk concerts. At the same time, it doesn’t change the fact that during evening runs, I enjoy having ABBA or Michael Kiwanuka playing in my ears.

I believe in the incredible ability of Ukrainians to turn horizontal connections into an absolute strength. So it seems to me that what will help us stay afloat in this great storm is our unity and the ability to quickly “agree and get things done.”