The project “Unissued Diplomas” of Ukrainian students, which they will never be able to receive because they were killed or maimed by the Russians, can now be seen in one of the EU capitals, Strasbourg.
At the local university, this global initiative of Ukrainian students was picked up by young people from Ukraine who are studying there, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
“In Strasbourg, there are tens of thousands of foreign students who have a completely different life – without worries and problems. We want them to see the faces of their peers who will never be able to study because of the war. We want to convey to them what this war is costing our country. These are personal, emotional stories that can help us continue to draw the attention of young people to the war,” says volunteer Oleksandra Tarasenko.
She says that she knew several of the girls and boys who died personally, so she wants to continue to spread the stories of these people so that they are remembered.
“We could have been classmates and studied together, planned for the future. But their lives are gone, and they are only a small part of the young people who die every day in Ukraine. That’s why I thought it was important to show this project here and convey our emotions to the local students,” said Oleksandr Polishchuk, also a student and organizer of the exhibition in Strasbourg. According to him, it is worth reminding the French that the war is not over, and we continue to fight for our freedom.
The advantage of the exhibition is that it can be installed anywhere in the world, you just need to print out all the necessary materials about its heroes. These are photographs of 40 Ukrainian students who were killed by Russia either directly at the front or during their civilian student life in 2022-2023. These are 40 stories, and each one is accompanied by an unissued diploma with the signature “Courage” instead of a seal.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, the Unissued Diplomas project was launched in January 2023 by NaUKMA students who were studying at the University of Toronto.
Last year, 110 exhibitions were held in 24 countries. The stories of Ukrainian students were told in seven languages on four continents, including leading universities in Australia, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Austria, the United Arab Emirates, and India.