On the occasion of Constitution Day of Ukraine, Maksym Ostapenko, Director General of the National Preserve “Kyiv Pechersk Lavra,” presented to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska a memorial marker to Hetman Ivan Mazepa and his regalia, which have been installed in the Lavra.

“The names of all the heroes who, across different centuries and eras, fought for Ukraine and inspired Ukraine will be brought together and forever inscribed in our history – with a capital letter, with great respect and attention from the state, our state – Ukraine, which respects itself, values its people, and defends what is its own – its own, and this is very important, its own right to be Ukrainian,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized.

The President noted that Ukraine will honor all such individuals with a new state award – the Order of Europe, which will become a symbol of the effectiveness of our joint defense of Europe.

During ceremonial events marking the 30th anniversary of the Constitution of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree on commemorating the millennium of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.

Today is a special day. Emotionally and spiritually very powerful. Sunday. Constitution Day of Ukraine. Exactly thirty years ago, an important pillar of our state’s independence was established. It was when Ukrainians stopped living under the old law, and most importantly, someone else’s law, and fully began to build a new life, their own life, based on new foundations and principles, the foremost of which is Ukraine’s right to be itself.

As part of the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) in Gdańsk, the Olena Zelenska Foundation hosted the workshop “Safe School: Comprehensive Solutions for Ukraine’s Children,” dedicated to creating a safe educational environment amid the full-scale war.

We continue to bring people back from Russian captivity: today, another 160 service members are home. Almost all of them had been in captivity since 2022. Defenders of Mariupol, Azovstal, all of Donetsk region, and other directions, including Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, and Sumy regions. We must bring back everyone – military personnel and civilians – who are still in Russian captivity.