An exhibition about the Holodomor opened in Johannesburg

Yuliia Svyrydenko, the First Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, attended the opening of an exhibition about the Holodomor while visiting the Republic of South Africa. This was reported by the Public Relations and Mass Media Department of the Ministry of Economy. The author of the art project is designer and artist, Yuliia Fedorovych, whom the Holodomor Museum had an interesting and successful collaboration two years ago with.

“The Soviet government committed genocide and tried to hide the evidence. But we remember every life lost. Every story. Today, this truth is heard here, on the other side of the world. A voice that speaks about the genocide of the Ukrainian people. And now we ask that this voice on the African continent speak just as loudly about the crimes that Russia is committing today,” said Yulia Svyrydenko, opening the event at the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre.

She has emphasised that now Russia is again using grain as a weapon. It is bombing Ukrainian ports, mining fields, and burning our crops.

“I keep a jar of grain at home, a gift from a Kherson farmer. This grain was saved from a warehouse that burnt down a few days after the Russian strike. Every day this jar reminds me that Russia uses not only missiles and drones as weapons. Russia is also trying to take our bread from us. But despite everything, Ukraine continues to feed the world,” Yuliia Svyrydenko continued.

As she says, before the full-scale invasion, Ukraine had supplied food to 400 million people every year. Despite the war, Ukrainian farmers produce 47% of the world’s sunflower oil, 17% of barley, 14% of corn and 10% of wheat. Thanks to the “Grain from Ukraine” initiative, our country has already delivered 286,000 tons of food to 12 countries around the world that are in particular need of Ukrainian food.

“For Russia, our grain is a weapon of war. For us, it is part of the path to peace. That is why food security is a key element of President Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula. After all, Ukrainian grain is the guarantor of global food security. That is why I am sincerely grateful for this exhibition in South Africa. Because the memory of our past is vital for the future of humanity,” Yuliia Svyrydenko concluded.