On 29 June, the KINO42 cinema hosted the premiere of the first film in a new series of documentaries – “Culture in Time of War. The West”. The film tells the stories of artists from Lviv, Chernivtsi, Lutsk and Uzhhorod and was produced as part of the European Union’s “Together, We Create. Together, We Preserve” communication campaign.

The film was produced by the creative team of Ukraїner – a multimedia Ukrainian studies project. Four short stories about the life and work of artists in the context of a full-scale Russian war will be filmed. Together, they will complete a mosaic of how Ukrainian culture functioned during the war and how the European Union supported the Ukrainian cultural front.

During the film presentation, experts, artists and journalists discussed the role of documentaries in preserving and rethinking Ukraine’s cultural heritage.

A public screening of the film “Culture in Time of War. The West” had take place on 8 July at the Cultural Mosaic Art Open Air in Lavra Art Gallery at 7 Lavrska St., Kyiv.

At the initiative of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, and in partnership with the Lavra Art Gallery in Kyiv, an art competition from the end of May to 20 June showcased artists’ views on the Russian war in Ukraine and the European Union’s support for Ukraine. A total of more than 50 projects were submitted to the jury, of which seven shortlisted.

They are:

• Siren Songs (Arsen Savadov and Roman Mykhaylov)
• The same words (Anna Vereschaka)
• Come Back Alive “Hugs” (Serhiy Korniyevskyi)
• Ukraine (Serhiy Borodin)
• Sculptures (Valeriy Pirogov)
• Evacuation, Evacuation (Oleg Kharch)
• Copper Shroud / Found Objects (Vasyl Dmytruk)

These projects heve been presented at the exhibition that took place on 8 July as part of the Cultural Mosaic Art Open Air.

The initiators of the competition wanted to encourage discussion and reflection on the heroic and tragic theme of war, its interpretation through artists’ view of events, and to highlight the importance of the European Union’s support for developing Ukrainian culture, including contemporary art.

The European Union’s support for Ukrainian culture and heritage during the war is the subject of a series of articles published by Ukrayinska Pravda in June. The artists also reflect on culture, its mission, the importance of cultural heritage, and how it can be preserved.

Thanks to the European Union’s support, Ivan Taranenko prepared a project concert “Fusionfonia_Muzyka ziemi ukrainskiej”, which took place at the National Philharmonic in Warsaw last November.

As part of the project, €400,000 has been allocated for restoring ancient doors in Odesa, mainly for restoration work and the necessary equipment.

Medical and educational institutions have been given the opportunity to join the exchange of outdated incandescent lamps for modern energy-efficient ones. The nationwide campaign, launched at the end of January this year, entered its second phase in June.

Until now, only individuals have had access to lamp replacement. Now hospitals, clinics, dental clinics, laboratories and other medical facilities, schools, kindergartens, higher and vocational education institutions, general education, sports, music and driving schools, etc., can join the campaign to improve energy efficiency and energy saving.

Now educational and medical institutions in Ukraine can exchange three lamps per 10 sqm of classrooms, teachers’ rooms, wards, and treatment rooms and two lamps per 10 sqm of common areas.

To do so, the eligible organization should send a lamp exchange request through the Diia portal by taking the following steps:

• log in to the Diia portal using the legal entity’s QES
• check the details of your organization
• in the Services section, select Light Bulb Exchange and fill in the request form
• indicate the area in the calculator; once you see the available limit, select the number and types of lamps
• tick the box that you agree to hand over the same number of incandescent bulbs
• indicate the address of your organization
• check and confirm the data in the generated request form
• confirm your request with the legal entity’s QES

Upon receipt of the request, Ukrposhta representatives will contact the organization on the phone number provided and advise on how to receive the energy-saving lamps.

Individuals can also exchange old lamps for modern ones following the relevant rules – by registering via the Diia app or attending the post office. However, such an exchange is only possible at Ukrposhta’s central offices in 23 localities across the country – cities with more than one million inhabitants and regional centres.

Since the joint EU-Ukrainian government programme to replace old incandescent bulbs with LED lamps started, Ukrainians have replaced more than 19 million lamps. The programme covers 23,000 settlements, from small villages to regional centres.

Similar videos were released in June as part of the “Together, We Are Europe” communication campaign.

EU assistance to Ukraine has many dimensions and instruments. One of them is EU-funded projects, which respond flexibly to the situation.

The total aid provided by the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative to civilians since the beginning of the war exceeds €4 million.

Another example is the EU-funded programme that originally targeted the waste sector. This programme is administered by the international financial institution NEFCO.

Taras Topolia talks about this in the documentary “Culture vs. War. Antytila”, presented on 21 June as part of the EU-funded Culture Against War project. The band’s musicians defended Kyiv in the early days of the war as part of the territorial defence forces, and then served as paramedics in the Kharkiv region. The 40-minute film shows pain, music, deep reflections from the band members and Topolia’s collaborations with world stars such as Bono and Ed Sheeran. The film includes a lot of video footage of the band members, shot during their service.

The film is the first of seven films planned for the project. Six of them are short films. In addition to the Antytila band, they include cameraman Serhiy Mykhalchuk, film director Akhtem Seitablayev, photographer couple Vlada and Kostiantyn Liberov, kobzar Taras Kompanichenko and writer Serhiy Zhadan.

A film about Serhiy Mykhalchuk will be released online on 6 July, and a film about Akhtem Seitablayev – on 20 July. In addition to the films, there are plans for 10 photo exhibitions around the world, an art book and a series of publications on culture and war.

The films and other products of the project are intended for two audiences – the Ukrainian and the foreign. For the Ukrainian audience, the project organisers want to show that famous artists are confident of victory and are taking up arms. For the foreign audience, they want to show that Ukrainians are not just fighting for themselves, that they are now the shield of Europe and that their values are identical to European ones. The project will be distributed under the EU grant until 15 October 2023 in Ukraine and abroad.

The war has made millions of Ukrainians vulnerable, as they have lost their homes and incomes and have had to move to safer areas. But there is a special category among them – internally displaced families with children with mental disabilities. They need more support, and this support is very specific.

For four months, the organisation has been implementing the EU-funded project “Supporting IDP families with children with mental disabilities and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to live in new communities.” Thirty-two children received free correctional, psychological, speech and rehabilitation support as required by their individual correctional and developmental plans. Specialists worked to improve the children’s cognitive skills, socialisation, speech and reduce anxiety.

In addition, 60 parents from such families received individual counselling to improve their psychological state, interact with their children, reduce psychological discomfort, support their self-confidence and adapt to new conditions. Today, these families face an enormous psychological burden. And about half of them are single mothers. Unfortunately, the situation is not unique to Ukraine – after learning of a child’s diagnosis, men often leave their families and everything falls on the woman’s shoulders. Therefore, these mothers received additional mental health support during the project.

The special feature of the project was that the classes were held in a well-equipped, safe building in the centre of Kyiv, certified as a bomb shelter, completely secure, with its own water supply, electricity, air conditioning and sewage system.

The project was supported by the EU-funded Civic Society for Democratisation programme, implemented by the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting. The positive results, says the president of Kiddom, helped the organisation to receive a new grant from the Finnish Embassy in Ukraine. At least 80 children will receive this vital support.

The ability of commanders and soldiers to identify mental health problems in their subordinates, to cope with combat stress and to provide psychological support to their brothers-in-arms is crucial for today’s armed forces. And after victory, other challenges will arise, so military psychologists should be trained now.

The Yarmiz Centre for Rehabilitation and Readaptation of ATO/JFO Participants is working on this as part of the project “Formation of a System of Mental Health Support for Defenders and their Families as a Guarantee of Community Resilience” supported by the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation. In June, 15 sergeants and officers of the Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky Separate Presidential Brigade completed five mental health support programme modules for servicemen.

The training included lectures, but it was more of a semi-game format, case studies and solving problems that the programme participants faced in practice. In the future, those who complete the course will enhance the skills they have acquired through group sessions in their military units.

The psychologist notes that although the military were initially a little wary and suspicious of the training, they began to understand its effectiveness and necessity after the first few modules.

Yevhenia Hubska, director of the Yarmiz Centre, stresses that the programme also lays the foundations for a continuous psychological support system for soldiers.

In addition to this five-day programme for commanders and sergeants, the project also includes training for family psychologists to work with the families of soldiers currently on the front line, support for psychology graduates from the Military Institute of the Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv, and training for government officials working with defenders.

Six civil society organisations have won an urgent call for sub-grants launched by the EU4CSOs Emergency Actions project to help civilians affected by flooding caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Dam. The Russians blew up the dam on 6 June, causing a major humanitarian disaster.

A total of 148 applications were received. One of the winners was the Ukrainians Charitable Foundation, an organisation specialising in humanitarian aid for vulnerable populations.

The project has started in early July and will cover at least 165 households and organised settlements for people with limited or no access to drinking water. These are 19 settlements on the right bank of the Kherson region from which civilians have not been evacuated and to which access is technically possible, as well as the south-eastern part of the Mykolaiv region – from Snihurivska to Oleksandrivska communities within settlements where there is no or limited access to drinking water.

Other winners will also work to provide drinking water and other basic needs to the most affected areas. According to the terms of the sub-grant competition, projects should last between 3 and 6 months and have a budget of between 8 and 10 thousand euros.

In June, the Anticorruption Action Centre’s School of Investigative Analysts held its first graduation ceremony. The school graduates learned to identify abuses in public procurement and investigations, and to apply their skills in their work with the media and NGOs.

The training was organised as part of the project “Civil Society Oversight of Anticorruption Infrastructure and Further Advancement of Anticorruption Reform” with the support of the EU Anti-Сorruption Initiative (EUACI).

Three sets of students are planned, and the training will last until the end of August. In particular, participants will learn how and where to look for corruption cases and how to use open sources and various databases. The plan is to train 22 investigators.

The school’s trainer is one of the most experienced investigative journalists, Yuriy Nikolov, editor of the Nashi Groshi website. The emphasis is on practical training.

This approach works. Inna Potekhina, a student in the school’s first set, investigated the spending of funds on lighting the security perimeter of the Khmelnytsky NPP. Her research showed that the total overpayments were at least UAH 25 million. Inna had no previous investigation experience – she worked as an account manager for an agricultural company in Vinnytsia.

A three-day training for organisations supporting women’s entrepreneurship took place in Kyiv. Participants gained knowledge on building a successful NGO model to support women entrepreneurs, marketing and monetising women’s business organisations, fundraising and other essential things for success.

The training was organised as part of the EU4Business: SME Recovery, Competitiveness and Internationalisation programme, funded by the European Union and the German Government and implemented in Ukraine by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

It was therefore natural for the programme to focus on women’s business development organisations. In particular, these organisations help women understand business development tools, encourage them to start their own business, introduce them to each other to build partnerships, etc.

One of the participants in the training was Oksana Kachurivska, head of the NGO West Ukraine Digital and head of the Entrepreneurship Support Centre at Diia.Business I Ternopil. She also believes that supporting women’s entrepreneurship is relevant today, as many women face the challenge of starting or running a family business and need the knowledge and skills to do so.