First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, together with King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla, took part in the ceremony of proclamation of the UK-Ukraine library twinning. The event brought together Liverpool Central Library and Mykhailo Hrushevsky Odesa Scientific Library.
The President's wife joined the ceremony via video call from Kyiv, along with Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko.
The Mykhailo Hrushevsky Odesa Scientific Library is one of the largest and oldest libraries in Odesa and the south of Ukraine. The starting point of its history is 1875, when the library was established under the Odesa society for mutual aid of Jewish clerks. The library's collection includes more than 1.5 million copies, including 50,000 foreign-language publications and 30,000 rare and valuable publications of the VIII-XIX centuries.
Olena Zelenska thanked Their Majesties and the United Kingdom for their support of Ukraine, particularly in the field of culture: "I would like to say that this expression of solidarity means a lot to us, to Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, we have lost more than 300 libraries. Libraries in Ukraine, like people, are in danger every day. But at the same time, they have become something more: on particularly difficult winter days, when there was no electricity or heat due to shelling, libraries became real humanitarian and volunteer hubs, places where people could be together and feel warm in the broadest sense of the word. We protect our culture, and it supports us," the First Lady said.
The President's wife reminded that the Odesa Library had already had to be rebuilt after its destruction. During World War II, most of the institution was destroyed by Nazi bombing. Now the library helps Ukrainians survive the fight against another attacker.
"Ukraine is now fighting to ensure that libraries are not destroyed, books are not burned and people are not killed anywhere in the world. We want wars to remain only in historical works, and we want every person in the world to be able to read and develop in peace, without the threat of attack and the need to fight for survival," Olena Zelenska emphasized.