THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
“Kosovo supports Ukraine so that it can build a strong future, and not constantly remain an object of aggression.”
This was emphasized by the Acting Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, during a solemn event marking Ukraine’s Independence Day, held in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo.
Albin Kurti congratulated Ukrainians on the national holiday and noted that the war demonstrated the extraordinary resilience and courage of the Ukrainian people against russian imperialism.
He also stated that Kosovo seeks a safe, democratic, and peaceful future for Ukraine.
Other speakers, including German Ambassador Jörn Rohde, confirmed the importance of solidarity with Ukraine and support for its struggle for independence.
The German Embassy, the EU Office, and the Kosovo Journalists Association initiated the event. The event was attended by representatives of the diplomatic corps, Ukrainian and local journalists, as well as public activists.
Kosovo, as is known, consistently supports Ukraine’s struggle to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Balkan state has imposed sanctions against the Moscow aggressor since 2022.
The participants of the meeting watched a documentary video by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) about journalists from the Zaporizhzhia Region, who, in the midst of war and constant danger, perform their professional duties in the front-line region.
The screening of this film was initiated by Xhemajl Rexha, the head of the Kosovo Journalists Association and a member of the Steering Committee of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ).
Before the start of the film screening, the organizers included a video address by Sergiy Tomilenko, the President of the NUJU and a member of the EFJ Steering Committee. Interestingly, at the same moment that the video was being watched in Kosovo, two Ukrainian journalists present on the screen were already carrying out an important information mission outside their country – they were on a three-week visit to Japan. The President of the NUJU and Svitlana Karpenko, the editor of the Trudova Slava newspaper from Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia Region, along with her Zaporizhzhia colleague, Olha Vakalo, went to Japan at the invitation of the partners of the Journalist Initiative Foundation. While abroad, the union members showed this video and, as part of the visit, discussed the situation in Ukraine and the need to support front-line media.
“Our Japanese friends from the Green Coop corporation decided to once again support journalists who tell the truth about the war and document the aggressor’s war crimes,” said Liudmyla Mekh after watching the film in a conversation on the sidelines with the participants in the meeting in Kosovo. “Today, here in Pristina, we also say thank you to the organizers of the international program for the protection of media professionals, Journalists-in-Residence Kosovo. We thank the government of Kosovo, the Association of Journalists, as well as diplomats from Germany, the EU, and the United Kingdom. Thanks to everyone for your support and solidarity with Ukraine.”
“Two years ago, Liudmyla Mekh and I carried out the same mission in Japan,” the author of these lines reminded fellow journalists in Kosovo. “We gave lectures in the cities of Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Kumamoto. And then we transferred the charitable financial assistance collected by the Japanese and our partners at the Sites for Ukraine to support the press to the NUJU bank account. At that time, it amounted to over USD 70,000. Thanks to this assistance, according to the NUJU, it was possible to resume publication of more than 30 local newspapers in Ukraine – mostly those located near the front line. Additionally, financial assistance was provided to journalists and newspaper newsrooms in various regions of Ukraine, including Kyiv, and to the Ukraine Moloda weekly.”
Ukrainian media professionals are grateful for the professional protection of journalists by the European Center for Press and Media Freedom, whose representative, Flutura Kusari, spoke at a joint event on the occasion of Ukraine’s national holiday.
The participants in the event, which took place in the Balkans, share a unified opinion that the outcome of the efforts of democratic countries should be a just peace for Ukraine and security for Europe and the world.
Serhii Shevchenko
photo by the author
Journalists’ Initiative Foundation
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