The Ukrainian community in Ireland are marking their Independence Day with a host of events in Dublin and around the country on Thursday.
Some 32 years have passed since Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. In commemoration of the Declaration of Independence, the day is celebrated on August 24th every year in Ukraine.
This year, Ukrainians who have fled their home country due to Russia’s invasion last year, are marking the occasion by “standing up together and showing that we are still here and we will keep fighting for our independence,” Olga Khoroshevska, a member of Ukrainian Action in Ireland, told The Irish Times.
“It’s my second immigration to Ireland. I lived here for two years but I went back to Ukraine during Covid. In March 2022, I had to come back to Ireland as a refugee, with my daughter and friends,” said Ms Khoroshevska.
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She has helped organise an event at Grand Canal Square in Dublin, beginning at 5.30pm on Thursday, with “performances from musicians, and speeches from Ukrainian representatives”. Some members of the Irish government are also expected to be in attendance.
“It’s a very significant day for us. Ukrainians have fought back and forth for independence for centuries. I was six when Ukraine became independent and I was raised in a democracy with free will. Now, during this war, it is extremely important for us to mark this day and show that we are still fighting,” she says.
There will be an art installation with a “huge map of Ukraine” at the event, on which attendees can “leave stickers with names of loved ones, or words of support”.
“We understand it is a working day, but there is pretty good weather, and we are hoping to see about a thousand people here,” said Ms Khoroshevska.
She hopes to see many Irish people attend, as well as Ukrainians, because “the Irish people understand us better than others around the world because of their own fight for independence. We want to bring Ukrainians together to give them hope and to say thank you to Irish people for supporting us too”.
In Co Kerry, Natalya Krasnenkova has helped organise a music concert in Siamsa Tire, Town Park, Tralee, featuring the Ukrainian Vilni choir, a children’s choir and several other performances of Ukrainian folk, classical and pop hits. The event will feature a premiere screening of a documentary about the band Antytila, who left their usual lives as musicians to fight for Ukraine since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. The concert will be held in both Ukrainian and English.
“For Ukrainians now living in Ireland because of the war, it’s very important for us to be able to celebrate our culture and keep it going. The songs we will perform feel like home and they are like a medicine for us,” Ms Krasnenkova told The Irish Times ahead of the event, which will take place from 4pm.
Events will also be held at Fitzgerald’s Park in Cork, at the Mná Ag Gáire women’s Shed in Clare; City Hall , Merchants Quay, and Arthurs Quay Park in Limerick; The Towers, Westport Quay in Mayo; Garter Lane Theatre in Waterford and Astro Activity Centre, Enniscorthy, Wexford.
