The Zaporizhzhia Regional Museum of Local History opened an exhibition entitled "War for Independence", dedicated to the important milestones in the struggle of the Ukrainian people to assert Ukraine's statehood. This project became possible thanks to the financial support and assistance of Zaporizhstal.
The exhibition was officially opened on 22 February 2024, in the run-up to the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of the regional authorities, the steelworks, as well as military, volunteers, and residents of the city.
The exhibition "War for Independence" is designed to highlight the events of the long-lasting war for the preservation of Ukraine's territorial integrity and to honour the feat of Ukraine's male and female defenders who are now defending the country's sovereignty on the front line and the memory of the fallen heroes.
– We have to preserve the memory of our people, the feat of our people, and pass on this treasure to the next generations along with the message: Ukrainians are a free, proud and dignified people. This is the bedrock of our motivation, our strength and resilience. It is our responsibility to the future generations to capture the realities of the war we are witnessing objectively and fairly. That is why Zaporizhstal did not hesitate to support the initiative of the local history museum in creating an exhibition about Ukraine's struggle for independence and honouring the feat of Ukrainian defenders in this war and the memory of the fallen defenders, – Roman SLOBODIANIUK, General Director of Zaporizhstal, said.
The exhibition highlights the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war from 2014 to the present day. The exhibition showcases over 200 unique exhibits: fragments of weapons of the Ukrainian Defence Forces and the enemy, photos and videos depicting the course of hostilities, artefacts provided by Heroes of Ukraine from Zaporizhzhia, volunteers and chaplains.
The collection also includes exhibits coming from the 55th separate artillery brigade "Zaporizhzhia Sich", the National Guard, the 37th separate motorised infantry battalion, the Azov regiment, the 110th separate territorial defence brigade, and many others. The highlight of the exhibition is a map of Ukraine, onto which the chronicles of battles and important events of 2022-2023 are projected. In the future, the exposition will be supplemented and updated with new exhibits.
The exhibition "War for Independence" at the Zaporizhzhia Regional Museum of Local History is open to the public on a permanent basis, according to the museum's approved opening hours.
As a reminder, in 2023, Zaporizhstal and Metinvest announced the creation of Ukraine's first interactive exhibition on the Russian-Ukrainian war in Zaporizhzhia. The exhibition will be hosted by the multifunctional cultural centre "Rethinking Space" that will be established as part of the corporate social responsibility programme of Metinvest Group and Zaporizhstal Iron and Steel Works.
