The uniqueness of this project lies in its focus on telling the stories of strong-willed Ukrainians who endure the horrors of the Russian-Ukrainian war with dignity and refuse to give up. These include soldiers, businesspeople, volunteers, IT specialists, farmers, chaplains, military tech experts, media professionals, and more. Most importantly, through their own example and personal authority, they explain to Western societies why supporting Ukraine is crucial.
The project started at the International Journalism Festival-2024, the largest European annual media forum held in Perugia, Italy. This sparked the idea of creating a high-quality English-language newspaper featuring exclusive stories of Ukrainian resilience. The festival's Italian organizers granted an exclusive permit to distribute the Untold Stories from Ukraine newspaper at the event’s welcome point. Over 700 copies were taken by speakers and participants. The newspaper immediately received positive feedback from the global media community, inspiring the "Your City" editorial team to continue the project and distribute it at other international events.
"Our goal is to deepen Western societies' understanding that we must collectively defeat the axis of evil. Ukraine is part of the European community, and there is no alternative: either we win together, or Western democracies will collapse," emphasized Taras Yatsenko, CEO of "Your City." “True and really untold stories bring deeper understanding, that this war is very close and Ukraine is just buying time for Europe. And pays a very high price.”
"The world respects strength, and we understood that portraying ourselves as victims could be a losing strategy. This war has revealed so many strong people in Ukraine that their stories must be told on every possible platform. The best way to reach Western societies is by sharing real stories of real people. And we see that it works," said Ulyana Stelmashova (Kyiv), a communications expert who developed the concept for Untold Stories from Ukraine and became the project's content author.
The project’s heroes include:
- Oleksiy Anulia, a former POW who spent 10 months in Russian captivity
- Nobel Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk
- Vyacheslav Klymov, co-owner of Nova Poshta (Nova Post)
- Lviv IT Cluster and SoftServe
- Pavlo Klimkin, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs (2014–2019)
- Hennadiy Mokhnenko, military chaplain and Protestant pastor from temporarily occupied Mariupol
- Yulia Savostina, founder of the "Made in Ukraine" project
- Yuriy Sapronov, Kharkiv-based entrepreneur and volunteer
- Anna Hin, writer and volunteer from Kharkiv
- Olesia Tochytska, representative of the "Adelaide" farm specializing in potato cultivation
- Natalia Kalinichenko, editor-in-chief of the "Bilopillya" newspaper (Sumy region), living just 7 km from the aggressor country's border
- Yaroslav Bazylevych, a Lviv resident who lost his wife and three daughters due to a Russian missile strike
- Yana Stepanenko, who lost both legs at the age of 12 during the Russian shelling of Kramatorsk
- Dmytro Krapyvenko and Lesia Hanzha, renowned Ukrainian journalists who voluntarily joined the Ukrainian army
- Richard Woodruff, a Briton who arrived in Ukraine as a volunteer in 2022, decided to stay, and now develops drones for the Ukrainian army.
The Untold Stories from Ukraine project is implemented with the support of The Robert Bosch Stiftung (Germany).
