The day that Ukraine wins, I’ll put on my best evening clothes, take the bottle of champagne I have set aside for this occasion, call all my friends, and we’ll roam the streets greeting and hugging everyone we meet. God, how I dream about that day!
After Ukraine wins, I’ll work on realizing my dream: to create the most innovative Museum of modern art. Ukrainian artists will get the spotlight and attention they deserve in a global context.
I see a post-victory Ukraine as a country confident in its blossoming prosperous future.
I see this future tightly interwoven with Ukrainian creativity and our creative industries. What we do best is find awesome, unexpected, innovative yet simple solutions in all spheres of life: from agriculture to banking, from the military to filmmaking.
Ukrainians are the “fifth element” of the global world. If something isn’t working or a task seems impossible — just call Ukrainians and we’ll find an elegant and creative solution to the problem!
During the war, I was also surprised to discover how deeply Ukraine is integrated into the wider world. I had no idea how important Ukraine’s grain or electricity exports were for other countries [we exported electricity to Europe before Russia’s full-scale invasion]. Besides our creative industries, developing these areas (alongside the military to defend us) is also vitally important.
The war has also changed us. While we do work towards our victory, we don’t sit around waiting and hoping. We’ve become adaptable, flexible, and able to quickly identify new goals and work towards them with passion and determination.
The war has changed how we view our state, country, and government. We’ve made it our own. We’ve finally fully understood that everyone (from the President to the police) can work for the common good. We don’t need to view each other as threats or adversaries. We’re on the same side. For now, this is a symbolic feeling. We need to make it a pragmatic reality after the war… After the victory, we need to work on reforming our courts, reforming the corrupt bureaucracy, and so on. We’ll need to implement our newfound sense of justice into everyday life.
When I’m asked what helps Ukrainians stand strong and what brings us closer to victory, I think about the qualities that became more evident during the war: our sense of humor, Ukrainian unity and shared goals, our strong horizontal connections in society, our faith in Ukraine’s defenders, and our ability to communicate with the wider world with clarity and sincerity.
