Ukrainians in Chicago meet with Ukrainian Nobel Peace Prize laureate

The Ukrainian community in the United States convened for a meeting with Oleksandra Matviichuk, winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. The gathering, centered around the theme “Ukraine: The Challenging Path to Freedom,” took place in Chicago. The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art and the Kyiv-Mohyla Foundation of America, under the leadership of Marta Farion, UWC Vice President for North America and Vice President of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), were responsible for organizing the event.

“Among the distinguished guests were Metropolitan Boris Gudziak and Bishop Venedykt. The event drew a full house eager to hear Oleksandra speak about her impactful work,” UCCA reported.

During her speech, Oleksandra Matviichuk addressed the Ukrainian communities in the US in the context of advocating for aid to Ukraine. “Your activism is greatly needed to make Congress feel the demand from American citizens to unlock this assistance. Because if Russia advances further, for us as human rights defenders, it means more crimes, more people affected, more pain,” said Matviichuk.

Oleksandra Matviichuk is a Ukrainian human rights activist, recipient of the Vasyl Stus Prize and the Defender of Democracy award, and chair of the Center for Civil Liberties organization. On October 7, 2022, the organization became the first Ukrainian in history to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.