Bernard-Henri Lévy and Lina Kostenko receive the Sheptytsky Award at a ceremony in Washington, DC

Bernard-Henri Lévy, the French writer and public intellectual, and Lina Kostenko, the renowned Ukrainian poet and former Soviet dissident, were honored with the Andrey Sheptytsky Award at a ceremony held on 30 April 2025 in Washington, DC, as reported by the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter (UJE.)

They were honored “in recognition of fearless devotion to justice and truth.”

The UJE and the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine bestow the award to honor individuals in Ukraine, Israel, or from the diasporas who have made significant contributions to Ukrainian-Jewish understanding and cooperation. 

The event, held in the US Capitol building, served as a rallying cry for support of Ukraine as the country continues to defend itself against Russia’s criminal war that began in 2022.

Dignitaries representing the United States, Ukraine, and Europe were present, including Oksana Makarova, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States; James C. Temerty, UJE Board Chairman; Boris Lozhkin, President of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine; Ukraine’s chief Rabbi, Yaakov Dov Bleich; John Herbst, former US ambassador to Ukraine; Mark B. Levin, CEO of the National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry; Paul Grod, President of the Ukrainian World Congress; William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; lawmakers, and representatives from Ukrainian and Jewish organizations.

Grod congratulated the awardees, emphasizing that both champion liberty and human rights.

He also thanked “Jewish-Ukrainian and Jewish-American friends who are standing with Ukraine day in and day out… Quite frankly, today, I’m very proud to say that I think that Ukrainians and Jews are more united than ever before.”

In an impassioned speech accepting his award, Lévy stated that he had just returned from Ukraine’s front lines, which he has visited often since the war began. “Ukraine is not losing; it is winning,” he said to wide applause.

Having recently celebrated her 95th birthday, Kostenko could not attend the ceremony in Washington. Nevertheless, she addressed the audience with a recorded video highlighting significant moments of the Ukrainian-Jewish intersection in her life.

“This is a great honor, and this is an unexpected award for me, which takes on special significance in these tragic times for Ukraine and Israel,” Kostenko said. “When and how did the Jewish world enter my life? Through empathy, through compassion. My childhood fell on World War II. We lived on Trukhaniv Island. It was a beautiful park in Kyiv opposite the monument to Volodymyr. And as I remember today, my little friend Yoshi is walking to school along the bank of the Dnipro River and singing at the top of his lungs. The war forced us to leave that corner of paradise. The island was actually destroyed during the battles for Kyiv. When we returned there again, there were very few people on the island. Yoshi was not among them. And then we heard the terrible news. Yoshi was shot along with other Jews in Babyn Yar. Before that, in school, children did not even think about who was of what nationality. So, the understanding of Yoshi’s identity came with his death. The rest of my life, I have not been able to understand how a little boy singing on the golden sands on the banks of the Dnipro River could be shot.”

Bernard-Henri Lévy and Lina Kostenko are the fifth and sixth award winners.

During the ceremony, two soldiers who fought in Ukraine, Mykola Melnyk and Ihor Tish, were introduced to great applause.

The event recording is available via the following link. Read more.