We officially created the Oxford Kharkiv Association a year ago. Enthusiasts' ideas were embodied in an organization that has been helping Ukraine for a year.
Over a year, we grew, established connections, and received support from the universities and city councils of Oxford and Kharkiv.
Today, we continue to implement projects, mainly in the field of education and the establishment of cultural ties between our regions. We hold events and spread information about what is happening in Ukraine (with an emphasis on the Kharkiv region).
We have ambitious plans and ideas, and new people will join the team, so much work is ahead.
Thanks to everyone involved in the Oxford Kharkiv Association.
Discover Kharkiv through film and personal views - meet up with fellow supporters
Two short films on Kharkiv - the beauty of the peacetime city and the resilience of the wartime one. The films are subtitled in English.
Listen to what life was and is like in Kharkiv by Kharkivans in Oxford and catch an update of the work of KHARPP , an Oxford Polish Ukrainian charity helping to rebuild and demine villages.
A chance to meet and chat with fellow supporters of Ukraine and to get involved with planning future events.
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Join the Oxford University Ukrainian Society for screening of the award-winning movie "20 Days in Mariupol" by Mstyslav Chernov.
Mariupol, located on the Azov Sea close to the frontlines, was among the first cities on the way of the Russian army invading Ukraine in February 2022. As of the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the only international reporters who remained in the city of Mariupol were the AP team of Mstyslav Chernov, Yevhen Maloletka and Vasylisa Stepanenko. Their lens captured the devastating impact of the "Russian world" on the once-thriving city of 500,000 people, now reduced to ruins with bombed maternity wards, schools, hospitals, and residential premises.
"20 Days in Mariupol" is Mstyslav Chernov's first feature-length film. Drawing on Chernov's daily news dispatches and personal footage of the war, the movie is a vivid, harrowing account of civilians caught in the siege, as well as a window into what it's like to report from a conflict zone, and the impact of such journalism around the globe.
Premiering at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it secured victory in the Sundance World Cinema Documentary Competition, the film became the Ukrainian submission for the 96th Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature. The film also received recognition at the BAFTA Awards and won the Directors Guild of America Awards. Heralded as one of the top 5 documentary films of 2023 by the National Board of Review, it was screened at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, accumulating over 20 awards and 40 nominations.
In a spirit of solidarity, all proceeds from the screening will contribute to the Oxford University Ukrainian Society's fundraiser for an ambulance on the Ukrainian frontline. Make a difference by supporting this crucial cause.
The event is organised by the Oxford University Ukrainian Society and Dr Nadiya Ivanenko is the Convenor of this event.
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Today is the day, when two years ago Russia expanded its massive invasion of Ukraine attacking it from all of its and Belarus’s bordering regions, which began in 2014 with the occupation of Crimea together with parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Under the false pretences of liberation, denazification, demilitarisation and defence of Russian-speaking population of Ukraine, Russia, in fact, brought to Ukraine death, havoc, terror and occupation. Mariupol, Bucha, Bakhmut, Avdiivka are just a few of the names of cities and towns in Ukraine which bring to mind horrendous images of the destruction of life aimed at the annihilation of Ukraine as an independent self-determining democratic state in Russia’s war against a civilised world built on t foundations shaped by the values of freedom; democracy, equality, rule of law, human rights and dignity.
Almost two years ago on the fourth of March 2022 Oxford City Council, appalled by Russia’s aggression and in response to a public petition cancelled its City Twinning with Perm, deeming that maintaining formal relations with Russia was incompatible with Oxford’s moral values and aspirations. This paved the way to the idea of twinning Oxford with a Ukrainian city, which led to the creation of the Oxford Kharkiv Association in April of 2023 with the aim of supporting Ukraine and eventually establishing official City Twinning with Kharkiv. The Russo-Ukrainian war is therefore inextricably linked to the origin of our Association. This is why this second anniversary of the war is for us a sombre but important occasion.
Today, when Ukraine in general and Kharkiv in particular are suffering from Western political instability and the absence of a resolute and united global will to support Ukraine in its struggle for defence, liberation of its sovereign territories and long-lasting peace through the ultimate defeat of Russia’s imperialist projects, we stand together with citizens of Kharkiv and all Ukrainians, who struggle resiliently for survival in Ukraine or are refugees abroad. While Russian blatant propaganda is reaching millions of English speakers world-wide, we stand together with Ukrainians in refuting Russia’s lies. We stand with Ukrainian defenders fighting for their as well as our freedom and support all efforts to ensure that they are supplied with the necessary materiel to win.. We stand with all of them, when Ukraine’s and especially Kharkiv’s survival is now brought to the point of critical and frightening uncertainty by the factors mentioned above.
In the firm hope that a common commitment to democratic values will prevail over vain political ambitions and calculations of economic self-interest and result in a unified effort to bring victory, we express our full solidarity with and support to all the people of Kharkiv and Ukraine.
Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes!
Слава Україні! Героям слава!
Watch one of the first films about the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
A city with almost 1,5 million people has shrunk to a million. Its streets were destroyed and filled with rubble, and dozens of wounded remain after the shelling.
However, despite the large-scale destruction, Kharkiv and its people are determined to win and live on their native land.
Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, the city of Kharkiv has been constantly attacked by Russian troops. Even in the seventh month of the war, shelling continued daily: dozens of city residential blocks were destroyed, and many civilians were killed.
According to Kharkiv Oblast Police, 1,122 people died in Kharkiv Oblast due to Russian aggression as of Aug. 30, 2022, and this figure continues to grow. The shelling of Kharkiv didn`t cease, as well as tragedies that happened in the occupied territories.
Oxfordshire County Library
Queen Street #228 Oxford OX1 1PE
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I’m writing this newsletter in a makeshift children’s centre in Tsyrkuny, a town just east of Kharkiv where we have been doing repair work for over a year. However, today I am not here to check on our repair works. Instead, I’ve come to use the Starlink we bought for them last year and continue to pay for, which is incidentally being powered by a generator we also provided. Early this morning (Friday 22nd March), Russia launched a massive attack on Kharkiv’s energy infrastructure, sending around 20 rockets at the city. Consequently, there is no electricity or internet connectivity anywhere to be found, either in the city itself or in the surrounding villages where we work, with the exception of those places lucky enough to have generators and Starlinks. This bulletin is predominantly about our rebuilding work, but I thought it worth noting quite how significant the continued impact of our energy support is. Five villages currently use our Starlinks, and we pay £85 per month for each of them. This means that even after attacks like this one, these villages each have a building with free internet for residents to use for free. Right now, I can hear a remote English lesson going on in the room next to me, whilst administration workers have come to sit on beanbags in what is normally a play room, using the electricity provided by our generators and the internet powered by our Starlink. On the other side of the village, a a medical tent was hosting a GP surgery, again with electricity powered by one of our generators. If you would like to contribute to the monthly costs of the Starlinks, please consider donating today.
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Ways to sustainable recovery and development of the City.
Here is the first Newsletter of the Association. Until a committee is elected at the Inaugural
General Meeting on 29th April a steering group consisting of Dmytro Melnik, Ruslan
Pavlyshyn, Viktor Savchenko, Tim Sadler and Andrew Adams has been making contacts with
Kharkiv and taking the initial steps which we report on below.
29TH APRIL 2-4PM
FRIENDS’ MEETING HOUSE,
ST.GILES, OXFORD.
We are actively looking for people who would like to get involved at any level, from attending events in Oxfordshire about Kharkiv to taking part in remote-based exchanges and professional programmes. At the same time, the Association will work to extend knowledge of Kharkiv in Oxfordshire through a newsletter and cultural events. |
oxfordkharkiva@gmail.com
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