BRUSSELS: Thirty-five years after Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union, the nation continues to be combating to protect its sovereignty.
Ukraine’s Independence Day on Monday (Aug 24) falls precisely four-and-a-half years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
For the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians displaced by the conflict, the anniversary is each a celebration of the nation they left behind and a reminder of what’s nonetheless at stake.
“It’s a day the place we perceive that we keep in conflict,” stated Misha Dzivitskyi, president of the Brussels-based Ukrainian Voices Refugee Committee (UVRC), which helps Ukrainians in Belgium.
“We proceed to be sturdy. It’s troublesome, however it’s a second the place we perceive that we have now independence.”
BUILDING LIVES AWAY FROM HOME
In Belgium, some 70,000 displaced Ukrainians are nonetheless residing beneath the European Union’s momentary safety scheme, which permits them to stay and work within the bloc and has been repeatedly prolonged because the conflict drags on.
