G7 minister Giuli gives his Ukrainian counterpart Tochytskyi a medal

At the opening session of the G7 Culture G7, which began this morning in Naples at the Royal Palace, Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli presented the “Two Years of Ukrainian Resistance” medal to Mykola Tochytskyi, Ukraine’s Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications, host of the G7 culture ministers’ meeting. The medal is a symbol of international solidarity and support for the Ukrainian people in their struggle against the Russian invasion.

In addition to Tochytskyi, the other G7 representatives also received the medal in recognition of their efforts to defend Ukrainian cultural identity, which has been hard hit by the conflict. With this gesture, Giuli wanted to encourage member countries to continue cooperation in protecting Ukraine’s cultural heritage.

The medal, with a diameter of 80 millimeters, minted in the workshops of the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, was strongly desired by the Italian government to celebrate the resilience of the Ukrainian people and the defense of their cultural heritage.

“It is not only a sign of closeness and respect,” Giuli said, “but it is also the will to witness an overall project to help Ukraine. The proceeds from the sales of the medal will go to support the activities of the Lviv Children’s Hospital engaged in the treatment and care of Ukrainian children affected by the war.”

“I started the work with our international colleagues,” Giuli said at the opening of the meeting, “and there was a very solemn and important moment in my opinion which was was the presentation of the State Mint Polygraphic medal commemorating the two years of resistance of the people of the Ukrainian nation to the invasion of Russia, and this was a special moment in a G7 that was deliberately opened with the speech of Ukrainian Minister of Culture Tochytskyi.”

The focus on Ukraine is the first of the topics to be discussed at the G7 Culture meeting scheduled in Naples today and tomorrow. “I wanted the Minister of Culture of Ukraine, Mykola Tochytskyi, to open the work of this session,” Giuli said. “He and his people have been defending themselves for more than two years against an aggression, that of Putin’s Russia. A dastardly and criminal aggression that violates the principles of international law and brings back to Europe the horror of military conflict. This war was launched to take away freedom and democracy from the Ukrainian people, those rights that are the basis of all our legal systems. An aggression that is producing death and unspeakable suffering to the people. An aggression that is causing an indiscriminate attack on the entire Ukrainian cultural heritage.”

Giuli went on to point out that “there are now so many cases of churches, museums, theaters, historical buildings or other places of culture being targeted by Russian bombs. And numerous are the works of art stolen or destroyed in the course of military operations. At bottom there seems to be an attempt to erase Ukrainian cultural identity, to annihilate the signs of a Nation, which has shown with courage and determination that it wants to choose its own future. We cannot allow this. We must continue to stand by the Ukrainian people in the defense of its sovereignty. We must help them protect their cultural heritage and assist them in the work of reconstruction. I hope that a strong and shared message for the protection of Ukrainian cultural identity will go out from this G7 meeting.”

G7 minister Giuli gives his Ukrainian counterpart Tochytskyi a medal

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