In Solidarity With Ukraine: the third delegation of foreign cultural activists visited Ukraine

PEN Ukraine and the Ukrainian Institute have hosted a delegation of writers and cultural activists form Spain. This is the third visit within the program In Solidarity With Ukraine. Upon completion of the visits, the participants are expected to become ambassadors of Ukraine abroad, writing materials about it in the foreign media and launching projects of support.

During a week in Kyiv, founder and editor of VilaWeb Vicent Partal, chief editor of cultural department of El Confidencial Irene Hernandez Velasco, publisher and founder of Aviaz Publishing House José Manuel Cajigas, journalist Mirian González Francisco, and deputy editor of international department of El País Luis Doncel met Ukrainian servicepeople and representatives of cultural and human rights organizations, visited liberated localities and got acquainted with Ukrainian social and cultural context.

"Visiting Ukraine has proved to be a very important experience of my life. Speaking from a distance isn’t the same thing as feeling directly and seeing firsthand the impact of Russian invasion. Hopefully, I managed to convey the commitment and dignity I’ve witnessed during these days in Ukraine to my audience," says Vicent Partal, founder and editor of VilaWeb.

The delegation participants got acquainted with Kyiv history and culture, visited the Kyiv region and examined the consequences of Russian aggression. They also went to the village of Yahidne in the Chernihiv region to see the local school where in March 2022, Russian occupiers held the civilian population captive in the basement and used the people as a living shield.

The participants also met representatives of the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the Crimean Platform. Among cultural institutions, they got acquainted with the activities of Dovzhenko Center, National Art Museum of Ukraine, and the Khanenko Museum, visited the Ukrainian House, and had an amount of conversations on Spanish-Ukrainian relations, the power of cultural diplomacy, and the importance of public and open solidarity with Ukraine.

"This trip to Ukraine was inspiring but rather bitter at the same time. This was my second time in Ukraine (the first one was in 2022, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion), and I have seen the people ready to resist though aware that they desperately need support as soon as the time’s running out. The meetings organized by PEN Ukraine and the Ukrainian institute were truly poignant," says Luis Doncel, deputy editor of international department of El País.

On the last day, the delegates visited the Veteran Hub, an organization which centrally provides services for veterans, security professionals and their families, and supports the process of servicepeople’s integration into civilian life. Here, they had a chance to converse with servicemen Yurii Matsarskyi and Max Kolesnikov who both talked about their reasons to enlist in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and their military experience. Max Kolesnikov told the Spanish journalists about 11 months he had spent in the Russian captivity.

"I was appalled by seeing firsthand the terrible wounds of war in many cities, in many people’s and their families’ lives. But it impressed me even more to witness Ukrainians’ unity and faith in victory. I returned to Madrid with absolute confidence that Europe must keep supporting Ukraine in this unjust war, provoked by Russia," says Irene Hernández Velasco, chief editor of cultural department of El Confidencial.

The program In Solidarity With Ukraine was organized by PEN Ukraine and the Ukrainian Institute with support from the Prague Civil Society Centre. Informational partner of the program: Espreso TV Channel.