Yuliya Tychkivska at the Bloomberg CityLab 2022: “Ukrainian mayors are mostly true fighters who have had to manage unthinkable responsibilities during Russia-Ukraine war”
Bloomberg CityLab is the international conference, focused on the leadership role of cities on the global stage. At the CityLab 2022 Yulia Tychkivska, Aspen Institute Kyiv executive director held a dialogue with Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv. Before the start of the conversation Yuliya addressed the audience. She explained how Russia destroys Ukrainian cities, the difference in the work of mayors in peacetime and wartime, and the role of Aspen Institute Kyiv in defending the freedom of Ukraine.
23% of Ukrainians felt anger after massive bombings, and only 1,8% — fear
Yuliya Tychkivska spoke at the Bloomberg CityLab 2022 on October 10. That day Russia carried out one of the largest bombings of Ukrainian cities during the entire period of the full-scale invasion.
— Dozens of missiles rained down on our cities this morning: Kyiv, Zaporizhzhya, Mykolaiv, Odessa, Kharkiv, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and others. None of the targets attacked by the Russians had any military significance. It was a deliberate attack on the civilian population and infrastructure of those cities. Russia wanted to scare Ukrainians and incline to the idea of peace at any coast. At the same time, analysis of social media, which was made by CAT — UA (Communication Analysis Team Ukraine) shows that 23,2% of Ukrainians felt anger and only 1,8% were afraid, — Yuliya underlined.
Ukrainian Mayors have had to manage unthinkable responsibilities as a fault of the illegal full-scale invasion by Russia
It is also important to note that most of the aforementioned cities are hit by missiles on a daily basis. This is a completely different reality and a completely different set of challenges than in other European cities.
— Typically mayors in peacetime are responsible for the ecosystem of the cities, which play a critical role in human society. We talk about sustainable development, the environment, communications, housing, youth development, security, and many other essential things. However, Ukrainian Mayors are mostly true fighters, who have had to manage unthinkable responsibilities as a fault of the illegal and unprovoked full-scale invasion by Russian forces on February 24, — Yuliya explained.
Decentralization of Ukrainian cities plays a vital role in their resilience. The corresponding reform was carried out after 2014. Ukrainian Mayors don’t have to coordinate their every move with the central government. They have not only an entrepreneurial, creative mentality but also all necessary powers to respond to challenges.
Equally important is the interaction between the mayors of different cities. For example, after the Russians destroyed 115 Dnipro buses with a missile strike, Kyiv handed over 30 buses from its fleet to this city. The ability to self-organize and interact on a horizontal level are strengths of Ukrainians that this war showed.
Dialogue and interaction between leaders allow to find creative responses to challenges
From the first days of the Russian military invasion Aspen Institute Kyiv did everything possible to help Ukraine prevail. Talking about the Institute’s role in Ukraine’s defense of freedom, Ms. Tychkivska stressed:
— Aspen Institute Kyiv is able to build bridges between leaders from different fields. An example of this is between representatives of state power, local self-government, business, and civil society. Dialogue and interaction between all these parties allow to find non-standard responses to challenges in the conditions of a Russia-Ukraine full-scale war. At the same time, Aspen Institute Kyiv and its international partners created a platform for international dialogue between leaders of Ukraine and other countries.
Aspen Institute Kyiv also develops responsible, value-oriented leadership in Ukraine. Institute Alumni are leaders of different processes in the context of fighting back Russian invasion. There are Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna, mayors, entrepreneurs, civil activists, representatives of other fields among them. One of our alumni – Oleksandra Matviychuk founded the NGO “Centre for Civil liberties” that received a Nobel prize for peace a few days ago. All these leaders stand in the frontline of defending democratic values and peace in Europe.
