‘You know what we’re fighting for’: Ukraine Culture Minister thanks city for support
‘WE HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO BE OPTIMISTIC’: Galyna Grygorenko
By Simon Bristow, Co-Editor
Ukraine’s Culture Minister Galyna Grygorenko has spoken of her “unimaginable gratitude” for the people of Hull who have supported her country throughout its “existential” war against Russian aggression.
Ms Grygorenko, First Deputy Minister for Culture and Strategic Communications, will be the keynote speaker at today’s Cultural Tides conference at Hull Truck Theatre, and during her stay will also visit Ukrainian refugees who have been given sanctuary in the city since Russian despot Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Speaking to The Hull Story this morning in her first media interview since arriving in the city, Ms Grygorenko said she was aware of the broad range of support given to her homeland by Hull. This includes donations of aid from residents delivered by Hull4Ukraine, support from Hull City Council and its political leadership, city MPs, charities, and cultural ties – which she is here to strengthen – including the University of Hull’s twinning with Mariupol State University in Ukraine, announced in June 2022 just four months after the invasion.
Asked for her response, she said: “First of all gratitude, just unimaginable gratitude from our side. And we need to continue not only to support those who are wounded, who suffered from this war, but also to build plans for the future like looking forward optimistically.
“We need to build these connections between institutions, between individuals, between universities and different institutions to build these connections, horizontal connections, not just political alliances but also between societies and there is no better way to do this than through culture.”
She added: “And that’s very important for us to understand that someone outside of Ukraine supports us and understands what we are fighting for. We hope that this support will not vanish in the future.”
Her visit comes at a critical time during the conflict, amid US-led efforts to begin a peace process starting with a ceasefire.
Asked for her hopes for the peace talks, Ms Grygorenko said: “First of all we need stable guarantees, not just a ceasefire. If we end up just with ceasefire that will mean that the war will renew in a couple of years again. We need to understand how the whole order of security in the world should be balanced. That’s not only a Ukrainian question – that’s a question for the whole of Europe, for the whole world.
“And of course we hope that there will be some solution where we can hope for stable peace, first of all, because only with guarantees of security will our people come back. We need our people to come back to build our country and to develop everything, to rebuild everything which was destroyed.
“So we hope there will be some solution which will be stable at least for the nearest fifty years, sixty years, not just for a couple of months.”
SUPPORT: Hull4Heroes projects co-ordinator Helen Skinner at the Hull4Ukraine warehouse in March 2022
The Minister said the war was more about culture than land, and about Ukraine’s need to defend its traditions and heritage.
Asked how important culture is to national identity, she said: “It’s the essence of national identity and this war actually started because of the culture. It’s not about territory or square kilometres, it’s about fighting for our right to be who we are, for our own history, our own language, our own future.
“And that’s why it’s important for us to protect our culture first of all. We need to protect our cultural heritage and we need to have the possibility to continue our artistic activity in Ukraine and outside of Ukraine, those people who are fleeing from this war and are now residing somewhere in Europe.”
She said culture was “not only important it’s the essence of our fight and that means it’s not only about explaining to ourselves who we are and why we are fighting. It’s a war about values, about different values, different societies, a totalitarian regime and a democratic, free society”.
Outlining what she will say at the conference, Ms Grygorenko said: “The central message is we are not just suffering from the war, we are building our future even in these horrible times and we are looking forward to building these connections between cities, between institutions, between communities to understand how we can help each other, how we can learn from each other.”
‘EVERYONE IS EXHAUSTED’: A Ukrainian soldier in Bakhmut in February 2023. Picture by Evgen Maloletka
She said she had been impressed by what she had seen of Hull since arriving in the city for the first time yesterday.
“You know, I was impressed how vibrant the city is,” she said. “I know it’s not a very big city but it has its own regional, local identity and people are proud to be here, to be residents and that’s very important, that’s probably what we should learn, to be proud of your local identity, local community.
“And the other thing which impressed me is how cultural institutions treat their mission in the community. They work not just for themselves, like arts for the sake of arts, they are working for the community and that’s very impressive, that’s great and that’s what we should learn also.”
Asked how the last three years have been for her personally, and how she managed to keep going and stay positive, Ms Grygorenko said: “Actually, we have no other option than to be optimistic. This is an existential war and that means if we lose we wouldn’t exist as a nation, as a political nation, as a sovereign state. And for us it’s a matter of we cannot surrender, we just need to continue so we are doing our job, what we can, everyone in their place is responsible for what they are doing, and our supporters.
‘WE CANNOT SURRENDER’: Galyna Grygorenko
“Everyone is exhausted, of course, everyone has problems, with mental health, with trauma, with meeting people who lost their relatives on the frontlines or wounded veterans. We need to build an inclusive society without barriers and that means we need to concentrate on our future, not just wailing that we are victims of this war but also being optimistic about our future because there is no other option.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has become the embodiment of his country’s resistance, and his Culture Minister praised his tenacity and energy, while saying his background in the arts – he has previously worked as an actor and a comedian – had also served Ukraine well.
“Honestly, I do not know how he’s so energetic since the year of his election [2019] to the presidential post,” she said. “He’s trying to give this push and inspire and give energy to everyone. And even in some cases when we are all exhausted and feeling there is no way out and everyone just wanted to be, not relaxed but just to stop because it’s exhausting, he’s doing some new push and pulling everyone, just you keep going, keep going.
“His artistic personality since the very start of the invasion helped us a lot because the way he delivered messages to international audiences was very persuasive and very convincing, and that’s a benefit from his creative past.”