Nordic Day is a great opportunity to talk about one of the most successful examples of Swedish-Ukrainian inter-municipal cooperation. From their first meeting at the Forum in 2023 to the signing of the Memorandum and the joint grant from the Polaris Programme, it took less than two years for Vasylkiv and Sundbyberg to establish a multifaceted partnership.

At the end of November, a delegation from Sundbyberg visited Vasylkiv for the first time to finalise the details of a grant project from the Polaris Programme ‘Support for Multi-Level Governance in Ukraine’. It was also a meeting of old friends, whose cooperation began at the Forum in Stockholm, organised by SALAR International and the Cities4Cities initiative, and is now being realised through community-building projects.

 

The Swedes began their visit to Vasylkiv by paying tribute to Ukraine’s fallen heroes at the Alley of Remembrance.

 

At a meeting with the mayor and local community leaders, they discussed the community’s main achievements since the full-scale invasion: the restoration of infrastructure, the creation of spaces for veterans and young people, and, most importantly, the construction and fitting out of shelters near educational establishments.

In one of these shelters, Stefan Bergström, Deputy Chair of Sundbyberg Municipal Council, and Political Secretary Mathias Salinas met with pupils from Vasylkiv Secondary School No. 2. Many of these children had spent the summer in Sweden at the invitation of the partner municipality.

 

Children from Vasylkiv present commemorative gifts to guests from Sweden.

 

“The Vasylkiv community has faced severe challenges, and our key task today is to find every possible resource for recovery. We are actively working with international partners to secure funding for infrastructure reconstruction and support for residents. Restoring the community to normal life is our top priority,” said community leader Nataliia Balasynovych.

Stefan and Mathias’s meeting with Ukrainians living in the ‘Patriotic’ modular housing estate was one of the most moving moments of the visit. People who had found refuge in Vasylkiv, having travelled from the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, shared with the Swedes their harrowing memories of the occupation and their flight under shelling.

 

Stefan Bergström with residents of the ‘Patriotic’ modular town.

 

During a visit to the rehabilitation unit at the local hospital, Stefan and Matthias observed how wounded defenders were recovering. They discussed approaches to and opportunities for the social reintegration of veterans at the ‘Veteran-PRO’ hub and the Resilience Centre.

 

At the Community Cultural Centre, the guests met the volunteers from ‘Vasylkiv Spiders’, who weave protective nets for the front line every day.

 

Support for veterans is a cross-cutting priority of the Polaris Programme, so the programme’s expert has been involved in developing a strategy to support male and female veterans in the Vasylkiv community. The two-year strategy is expected to cover the full range of support, from prosthetics to grants for starting a business and psychological support. “We are also working hard on fostering a culture of remembrance. We now understand the importance of every minute of silence,” said Liudmyla Bursova, head of the social protection department.

The visit concluded with a meeting at the ‘Your Space’ youth centre to discuss the implementation of the ‘Energy of Light for the Youth of Vasylkiv’ project. It is this hub that will be fitted with solar panels using funds from the Polaris grant. “Installing solar panels is a very profitable investment that will pay for itself in 10 years and can operate for three or even more decades,” noted Stefan Bergström. The centre is already a hub for STEM technologies, where they work with 3D printers and hold masterclasses on flying FPV drones.

 

Discussion of a joint Swedish-Ukrainian project to ensure the energy independence of Vasylkiv’s youth centre.

 

The first trip to Ukraine helped our Swedish partners not only to finalise the technical details of the new project, but also to gain a deeper understanding of the day-to-day context in which the community operates.

Matías Salinas noted that the visit had given him a new perspective on events in Ukraine: “There is only one true account of the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war – the Ukrainian one. People must not believe the nonsense that Russia is spreading,” Matías said. “I have never seen a country with such a strong sense of dignity, and I very much want this war to end as soon as possible. But at the same time, I will do everything in my power to ensure the world does not forget what the Russians have done. After all, preserving this history and memory is an important part of Ukraine’s identity.”

Following the return of Stefan Bergström and Mathias Salinas to Sweden, a charity photo exhibition entitled ‘Everyday Life in Wartime Vasylkiv’ opened in Sundbyberg. Mathias Salinas’s photographs captured the aftermath of the attacks and the faces of the community: children, veterans, and volunteers. As Stefan Bergström noted, the main aim of the exhibition is to show Swedes that, despite the war, life in Vasylkiv goes on, and that the support of partners is vital.

In February, the exhibition also featured a series of open discussions on the role of municipal partnerships in Ukraine’s recovery.

The partnership between Vasylkiv and Sundbyberg is a successful example of how direct links between Ukrainian and Nordic municipalities strengthen community resilience and promote mutual learning.

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Photo: Nadiia Protsenko, Vasylkiv City Council

Background Information

The community of Vasylkiv and the municipality of Sundbyberg first met in 2023 at the Swedish-Ukrainian Partnership Forum, organised by SALAR International in cooperation with the Cities4Cities initiative. The period following the first meeting was devoted to building trust and studying Swedish experience in municipal governance and sustainable development, with the support of the Association of Ukrainian Cities and the ‘U-LEAD with Europe’ programme. During this time, regular summer holiday trips for children from the Vasylkiv community were also launched.

The official partnership was formalised on 17 June 2024 with the signing of a Memorandum of Partnership. Within just four months, the communities’ joint application became one of the winners of the ‘Grant Support for Swedish-Ukrainian Partnerships’ competition organised by the Polaris Programme: the project involves installing solar panels at the ‘Your Space’ youth centre to ensure its self-sufficiency and create modern conditions for the development of youth STEM education. The project is being implemented by Cities4Cities.

The Polaris Programme “Supporting Multilevel Governance in Ukraine” (2024–2028) is funded by Sida and implemented by SALAR International. Cities4Cities is an independent initiative that helps Ukrainian communities establish partnerships with European municipalities. Since 2024, it has been implementing the ‘International Municipal Cooperation’ component of the Polaris Programme.