A team of Ukrainian students, together with SUSK (the Ukrainian Canadian Students’ Union), joined forces to organize the Unissued Diplomas project, an exhibition of diplomas, which will never be awarded to students who were killed as a result of russia’s full-scale invasion: either on the front lines or in civilian settings.

Among the 36 stories of students, whose lives were taken by russia is the story of Oleksandr Kotsukon, a student of Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University of Cherkasy. Oleksandr dreamt of becoming a journalist and working in his field, but instead became a fighter in the Azov Regiment. On March 22, he died defending the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

“With this initiative, we want to remind the world about the ongoing war and the price that Ukrainians pay every day in their fight for freedom,” Mariia Bokovnia, a fourth-year student majoring in “Philosophy and Conflictology” (specialty 033) at Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University of Cherkasy, National Coordinator of the Ukrainian Canadian Students’ Union, said. “‘Unissued Diplomas’ honours the memory of Ukrainian students who will never graduate because their lives were taken by the russian invasion.”

The exhibition will be held at over 45 universities around the world – in Canada, the USA, Europe, Japan, Australia. It launched on February 24, the anniversary of the day when all of Ukraine woke up to the explosions, and will run until March 11.

More information and the project website can be found here

Press Office of Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University of Cherkasy