France on Monday officially launched Voyage to Ukraine, the most ambitious culturalinitiative in the history of Ukrainian-French relations.
The program, inaugurated in the presence of Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska andFrance’s First Lady Brigitte Macron, is supported by Ukraine’s Foreign Minister AndriySybiha and France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot.
Running through April 2026 under the motto “Culture Fights Back,” the season aims tohighlight the resilience and creativity of Ukrainian society amid Russia’s ongoing aggression.The opening featured music by legendary composer Myroslav Skoryk, performed byUkraine’s leading violinist Bohdana Pivnenko.
From Dec. 10 to 13, Théâtre de la Concorde will host a four-day forum on human rights,security, the situation of women in wartime, and Russia’s war crimes, featuring speakerssuch as Maksym Butkevych, Oleksandra Matviichuk, and Stanislav Aseyev.
Other highlights include a concert by the Kyiv Chamber Choir at the Basilica of Saint-Denis,featuring works by Ukrainian composers including Valentyn Sylvestrov, and a display of IlliaRepin’s painting from the Kharkiv Art Museum at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille,accompanied by a discussion on Russia’s appropriation of Ukrainian culture.
The Cinémathèque Française will present a 13-film retrospective of director OleksandrDovzhenko.
The season, organized by the French Institute and the Ukrainian Institute with support fromthe foreign and culture ministries of both countries, also involves participants from otherEuropean nations.
In total, it will offer more than 30 literary, theatrical, visual, musical, and film events,alongside professional and academic exchanges addressing civil society, human rights, warcrimes, memory, media, and disinformation.
Organizers said the initiative is designed to showcase contemporary Ukraine’s diversevoices – from artists and scholars to members of the military – and to introduce Ukrainianculture to French audiences, particularly in cities where it has been previouslyunderrepresented.