site.btaBulgarian-Ukrainian Centre Inaugurated at Central Ukrainian National Technical University in Kirovohrad Province

A Bulgarian-Ukrainian Centre was inaugurated on December 18 at the Central Ukrainian National Technical University (CUNTU) in Kropyvnytskyi, the administrative centre of Kirovohrad Province in Ukraine. It was hailed as a significant event for the Bulgarian community in the province and for strengthening Bulgarian-Ukrainian relations.

Official guests at the inauguration included the Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of the Bulgarian Embassy in Ukraine, Elena Slatinska-Ovanezova, and Bulgaria’s Consul General in Odesa, Svetoslav Ivanov.

The host of the event, CUNTU Rector Volodymyr Kropyvnyi, welcomed the official guests and Bulgarian diplomats and thanked Bulgaria for its military and economic assistance to Ukraine. Kropyvnyi stressed that the Bulgarian-Ukrainian Centre will renew the broad ties between Kirovohrad Province and Bulgaria and will contribute to bilateral cooperation in science and student mobility.

“The event is significant not only for our university, but also for our region. There are proposals to introduce the study of the Bulgarian language at the university, to develop broader ties not only in the field of science, but also to strengthen economic and cultural relations,” the Rector emphasized.

Slatinska-Ovanezova expressed her satisfaction that the Centre has been established in an area where one of the oldest Bulgarian settlements in present-day Ukraine was founded in 1774. "This centre will mark the beginning of a new stage in the expansion of our cooperation. Our partnership is not limited to the economy, education, or culture alone. We already have a strong academic exchange with Ukraine, and I hope that we will be able to further develop scientific and academic cooperation with the university in Kropyvnytskyi," she said. 

"Bulgaria firmly supports Ukraine in the face of Russia’s unjustified aggression and on its path toward full membership in the European Union," Slatinska-Ovanezova noted. 

"Today, Bulgaria is visiting your university. This is my first visit to Kropyvnytskyi. My diplomatic work in Ukraine began before the war, and together with you I witnessed its outbreak, the evacuation of Ukrainian women and children and the tears in their eyes. I understand very well what life is like for you now under the difficult conditions of war," Ivanov said. He noted that at the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Bulgaria received around 200,000 refugees from the country, and currently, there are about 70,000 Ukrainians in Bulgaria who fled the war.

The Consul General noted: “Bulgaria supports Ukraine in this war and in terms of its European orientation. Our support was reaffirmed during the meeting between Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in June in Odesa, during the Ukraine–Southeast Europe summit.”

Ivanov added that, in his role as Consul General, he had helped establish direct contacts between the rectors of Odesa I.I. Mechnikov National University, the Odesa State Agrarian University, and the Izmail State University of Humanities, and their counterparts at Sofia University and the University of National and World Economy in Bulgaria.

A lecture entitled “Promoting Bulgarian-Ukrainian Relations from the 7th to the 21st Century” was delivered by Prof. Mikhail Stanchev, Doctor of Historical Sciences and a foreign member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In his historical overview, he outlined the deep roots of the Bulgarian presence in Kirovohrad Province, drawing attention to the numerous Bulgarian settlements in the area, some of the oldest in Ukraine.

The inauguration of the Bulgarian-Ukrainian Centre was part of a series of observances of the 15th anniversary of the Kirovohrad Regional Bulgarian Society “Nashite Hora.”