On the sidelines of the Informal Meeting of EU Ministers for Culture and Media, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy and Minister of Culture, Tetiana Berezhna, met with EU Commissioner for Youth, Culture, and Sport Glenn Micallef.
The discussion focused on continued EU support for Ukraine’s cultural sector, the preservation of cultural heritage, Ukraine’s participation in European programs, and coordination of humanitarian policies.
“I am sincerely grateful to the European Union for its unwavering support of Ukraine and for helping preserve our cultural identity,” Berezhna said. “The Team Europe for Cultural Heritage in Ukraine initiative is an important instrument for coordinating EU member states’ efforts to protect Ukrainian heritage.”
Since 2022, the European Commission has invested more than €30 million in preserving and developing Ukrainian culture. This support has helped mitigate the consequences of war and lay the foundation for cultural recovery.
Commissioner Micallef emphasized that Russia’s war against Ukraine is “not only a war of weapons, but also a war of ideas, identity, and values.” He said the destruction of cultural sites is an attempt to erase memory and truth, stressing that restoring Ukraine’s heritage is a shared European responsibility.
“When we talk about the war in Ukraine, we often think of weapons and borders,” Micallef said. “But this war is about something deeper — about ideas, identity, and values. When culture is erased, it’s not just buildings that are destroyed — memory, identity, and truth are under attack. By protecting culture, we defend democracy. Ukrainian culture is European culture, and its restoration is our common duty.”
Micallef noted that the Team Europe for Cultural Heritage in Ukraine initiative, announced at the URC2025 conference in Rome, is expanding and now includes 74 projects supported by EU member states. He also highlighted the Creative Europe program and additional recovery instruments, with €11.5 million allocated directly for heritage protection.
Next week, the Commissioner will present the Culture Compass for Europe document, which defines culture as a strategic factor for peace, democracy, and unity.
Berezhna, in turn, discussed the creation of the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Fund — a joint initiative of the European Commission, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, and the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (ALIPH).
She also reaffirmed Ukraine’s commitment to the Creative Europe program, calling it a key tool for integrating Ukrainian cultural policy into the European space. Ukraine has expressed strong support for the EU’s strategic document Cultural Compass, aimed at strengthening culture’s role in Europe’s political, social, and economic development.
