The Mayor of Vilnius unveiled a tablet at the Ukrainian square together with the President of Ukraine

The Mayor of the capital Remigijus Šimašius opened up the Ukrainian square together with the President of Ukraine Petro Porošenka during his visit in Vilnius. A decorative tablet in the Ukrainian language “Український сквер” was unveiled in the square located at the intersection of Bazilijonų, Arklių and Visų Šventųjų streets. The tablet was unveiled next to the monument to the Ukrainian poet, writer and painter Taras Shevchenko.

The President of Ukraine Petro Porošenka welcomed the guests who came to the event and rejoiced over the fact that Vilnius has been enhancing the friendship between the nations of Lithuania and Ukraine: “Last year, the Lithuanian park was opened in Ukraine, in Kiev, in commemoration of 25th anniversary of our cooperation. And today it is a great honour for me to open the Ukrainian square in Vilnius next to the monument to Taras Shevchenko. This is very symbolic, and it would be hard to even imagine an even better relationship between people of Lithuania and Ukraine.

The President also noted that Lithuania was the first country to provide assistance when Ukraine needed it the most: Lithuania cared for wounded Ukrainian troops, supporting the sovereignty of Ukraine in every possible way; the countries have maintained close relations and are moving forward together.

“Today we are celebrating a special occasion – we are able to open the Ukrainian square in the city, which brings together traditions of many nations. The flags of Ukraine and Lithuania in the hands of the people having gathered here today illustrate that our friendship is not only history, but it continues, and I am very happy and proud of it!”, – said Remigijus Šimašius, the Mayor of Vilnius.

Abundant Ukrainian community of Vilnius, representatives of the Ukrainian Embassy and guests of the city attended the event.

The square located between Arklių and Visų Šventųjų streets was named the Ukrainian square last year, but the solemn opening ceremony of the tablet had to wait until the visit of the Ukrainian President.

The initiative of decorative tablets symbolizing the friendship of nations and the openness of multinational Vilnius was born in 2016. To this day, the Mayor of Vilnius R. Šimašius has solemnly unveiled such tablets in 11 places of the city: in Rusų, Varšuvos, Žydų, Islandijos, Olandų, Totorių, Karaimų, Vokiečių, Latvių streets, also in squares of Washington and Ukraine.

The municipality of the capital city cooperates with various Ukrainian cities – they meet to share good practices, discuss city management, development, economy and other areas. This summer, residents of Vilnius greeted the Ukrainians on visa-free travel in a very original way. They sent a message coded in the international programming language ASCII. On 11 June, visa-free travel for Ukrainians came into force. It allows Ukrainian citizens to freely travel in the majority of the EU states for up to 90 days. This is a big step towards Ukraine’s rapprochement with the EU countries, including Lithuania.