Themes by tag: culture

At the end of September, a team of three Ukrainian veterans who have undergone amputations will attempt to swim across the Strait of Bonifacio. This narrow channel between southern Corsica, France, and northern Sardinia, Italy, is known for its challenging currents, shallow areas, and sudden wind shifts. At its narrowest point, the strait spans 11 kilometers, with a maximum depth of about 100 meters.

Each participant is a war veteran with their own recovery story. Demian Dudlia is a fire safety engineer. He voluntarily joined the National Guard at the start of the full-scale invasion and served as a grenade launcher operator and AGS-17 gunner. In April 2023, he sustained severe injuries resulting in an above-the-knee amputation of his leg.

Maksym Hrinchenko was injured in October 2022 during one of the missile attacks on Kyiv. Prior to 2022, he worked in construction. In February 2022, he voluntarily enlisted in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, later training as a sapper. He also underwent an above-the-knee amputation.

Ihor Oliinyk has pursued various interests, ranging from photography and the restaurant industry to military service and sports. In 2023, he was injured by shelling in the Serebrianske Forestry and lost an arm and an eye.

This trio will be the first team with disabilities to attempt this distance, starting and finishing together.

Journalists can cover the veterans’ training in Kyiv by prior arrangement. There will also be opportunities to interview participants online or in person in Italy.

Background: The veterans are members of the ONE TEAM FORCES community, which provides personalized and coordinated support to help injured service members fully recover — from initial rehabilitation to long-term social integration.

• casualties
• culture
• military
• Kyiv

Serhii Railian, a sergeant in Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces from Mykolaiv, carries the scars of war both seen and unseen. At 28, with three military contracts behind him, he has endured profound loss and emerged with a story of resilience.

In 2014, Serhii enrolled in university, aspiring to a career as a programmer. But a year later, at 18, he signed his first military contract and was sent to the front lines.

By late 2021, Serhii had married and was preparing to leave military service. Those plans were shattered when russia launched a full-blown war. He first encountered the intensity of the renewed conflict near Shchastia in Luhansk. In November of that year, while serving in Donetsk, an anti-tank mine claimed both his legs and his eyesight. Serhii survived a coma, but doctors were unable to restore his vision.

Recently, Serhii graduated from the Pottery in the Dark project at the EthnoChary art space in Vinnytsia. The program brought together ten participants from across Ukraine, offering them the chance to learn the fundamentals of pottery. Beyond teaching a craft, the project aims to empower participants to continue working with clay independently. Every graduate received a junior pottery wheel, along with a complete set of tools and materials to pursue their work at home. For Serhii, this has sparked the idea of launching his own pottery business.

Journalists can arrange interviews with Serhii either offline or online in Kyiv. Viktoriia Nikolaieva, a mentor for the Pottery in the Dark project in Vinnytsia, is also available for comment. An exhibition featuring pottery by blind veterans is scheduled in Vinnytsia at the end of September.

The Pottery in the Dark project was organized by the Center for Socially Inclusive Partnership in collaboration with EthnoChary, as part of the Enhanced Partnership for Sustainable Recovery (EPSR) initiative. The project is funded by the Swedish government through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and implemented in Ukraine by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

• casualties
• culture
• military
• Kyiv
• Vinnytsia

On September 6, the first “Dragon Boat Kyiv – 2025” festival will be held in the capital of Ukraine, featuring unique races on dragon boats among military personnel, and veterans, including those with disabilities.

Twenty teams are expected to participate, with boats designed for 10 or 20 rowers. During the competition, participants will complete three 200-meter races: qualifying rounds, semifinals, and finals. The sports festival will conclude with a solemn bonfire to honor fallen warriors.

Background: The organizers of the event are the Communal Enterprise “Military Sport” and the Sports Club “Mala Flotylyia”.

• culture
• Kyiv

Pavlo Skshetuskyi is a participant of the Revolution of Dignity and a veteran of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He joined the military after russia first attacked Ukraine — serving in the 1st Operational Battalion of the National Guard. Pavlo fought in the battles for Sloviansk, Debaltseve, Popasna, the Svitlodarsk arc, and Stanytsia Luhanska.

In 2018, Pavlo was demobilized for health reasons and opened a workshop where he produces knives, swords, and axes. He had planned to expand by purchasing land near Lutsk, but the full-scale war disrupted his plans. Production was put on hold, and Pavlo spent all his savings supporting the military.

In May 2022, he decided to restart his workshop. His products are now being ordered from abroad, and his axes can be found in Lithuania, Germany, and Ireland.

In 2023, Pavlo applied for a grant from the Ukrainian Veterans Fund and a year later, he built a new workshop. In the future, he plans to teach veterans the craft of blacksmithing.

Interviews with Pavlo Skshetuskyi can be arranged online or in person in Volyn, by prior agreement.

• culture
• military
• Lutsk

This September, hundreds of Ukrainians and friends of Ukraine will once again gather at the starting line to send a clear message: every prisoner must come home. Registration is now open for the annual advocacy race Run for Freedom, launched on the initiative of students at the Kyiv School of Economics together with historian and professor Timothy Snyder.

The race is set for September 13 in Kyiv, with participants able to choose between 1.5 km and 10 km distances.

For the second consecutive year, Timothy Snyder, professor, UNITED24 ambassador, and longtime friend of Ukraine, will personally take part in the run. Joining him will be military personnel and veterans freed from captivity, families of defenders still in captivity, and all those committed to supporting the return of Ukrainians held by russia.

Participation is free for service members, veterans, and families of prisoners.

After covering organizational costs, the KSE Foundation will direct all proceeds from ticket sales to support Ukraine’s Defense Forces, with a full public report on how the funds are used.

Last year, more than 1,000 Ukrainians joined the Run for Freedom.

Journalists must be accredited to cover the event.

For reference: Organizers include KSE Foundation, DefDev, the national RECOVERY network of rehabilitation centers for wounded soldiers, and the Heart of Azovstal project supporting Mariupol’s defenders. Media partners are ShoTam media outlet, 1+1 Ukraine TV channel, and Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

• culture
• Kyiv

On August 28, the exhibition Ukraine in Miniature, marking the 34th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence, will open in the Refectory Chamber of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra National Reserve.

The exhibition showcases 3D models of iconic architectural landmarks, from Kyiv’s St. Sophia Cathedral and Lviv’s St. George’s Cathedral to the Ivano-Frankivsk Drama Theater and Hotel Ukraine in Luhansk, painstakingly recreated by the Skeiron studio team.

Several of the structures now exist only in digital form, including the Donetsk Drama Theater in Mariupol and the Skovoroda Museum in the Kharkiv region, both destroyed during russia’s invasion.

The exhibition incorporates advanced technologies, offering VR tours, musical works by Ukrainian composers, and video installations that give the monuments “voices” and allow visitors to immerse themselves in their atmosphere. The project has already been shown in Finland, Latvia, France, Hungary, and Germany, and will now be presented in Kyiv for the first time.

Accreditation is required to attend the event.

• culture
• Kyiv

Anhelina Shostak, a native of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast, now destroyed and under russian occupation, has devoted more than a decade to volunteer work, beginning with sewing Ukrainian flags. Her efforts started in 2014, when russia first launched its assault on eastern Ukraine. She delivered humanitarian aid to Ukrainian troops in the region and always included flags she had sewn herself.

On April 11, 2015, in Kyiv’s Independence Square, Shostak achieved her first record: a 27.2-meter friendship bracelet woven from blue and yellow ribbons, the longest of its kind. A year later, on June 18, 2016, she entered the Ukrainian Book of Records again with the largest embroidered flag, measuring 4.5 by 3 meters. Her third record came in August 2018, when she and fellow volunteers sewed a 20-by-6-meter flag. It was recognized as the largest flag lifted by balloons in the Joint Forces Operation area, funded by residents of the occupied territories.

When the full-scale war erupted, Shostak and her husband fled Bakhmut. Yet she continues her work, sewing Ukrainian flags to this day, including banners draped over the coffins of fallen soldiers.

Shostak can be reached in Kyiv, either online or in person, by prior appointment.

• culture
• volunteers
• women
• Kyiv

On August 24, Ukraine’s Independence Day, the Chain of Unity event will take place. On this day, organizers are calling on Ukrainians abroad to gather on their cities’ central streets, join hands, and form living chains to symbolize our people’s unity.

This will be the fourth consecutive year that the Chain of Unity event has been held. Over 80 countries are expected to participate.

By prior arrangement, journalists will have the opportunity to speak with the event’s organizers in Ukraine and other countries. Interviews with participants abroad can also be arranged.

Background: The event is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

• culture

The Superhumans Center, an all-Ukrainian center for war trauma featuring prosthetics, reconstructive surgery, and rehabilitation, invites its friends and supporters to attend the SuperPeople Cup veteran mini-football tournament on August 23.

Tournament line up:

1. Superhumans team
2. Carpathian Bears veteran team
3. FC Karpaty Lviv veteran legends team 
4. Ultras Karpaty Lviv veteran team
5. Halychyna Rehab Center veteran team
6. Ultras Veres Rivne veteran team
7. FC Rukh media team
8. Academy of the Ukrainian Ground Forces military team

The event will take place in the Lviv oblast. The SuperPeople Cup will be awarded to the winners.

The event will be attended by Myron Markevych, meritorious football coach of Ukraine, and former coach of the Metalist, Dnipro, and Karpaty clubs.

• culture
• Lviv

On August 23, Bucha will host events to commemorate National Flag Day and Ukraine’s Independence Day.

• A formal ceremony in honor of National Flag Day.

• A memorial service to honor the memory of fallen Heroes, held in observance of both National Flag Day and Independence Day.

• A religious event. Prayer for Ukraine, led by the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, His Beatitude Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kyiv and All Ukraine. The service will be followed by a laying of flowers at the Memorial.

• A formal ceremony (awards presentation) to mark National Flag Day and Independence Day, along with a concert by the National Academic Orchestra of Folk Instruments of Ukraine.

• culture
• Kyiv