A special account has been opened to support Ukraine’s creative community and their families 

PEN Ukraine, together with PEN Belarus, Polish PEN Club, and Open Culture Foundation, have opened a special account to support the creative community of Ukraine, their families and children.

«Today, more than ever before, we must all support Ukraine, because the war it’s fighting right now is a war for the future of Europe. The fundraiser will support Ukrainian writers, journalists, scholars, translators, and artists who have found themselves both in physical danger and in dire life circumstances following the russian invasion on Ukraine», – the Open Culture Foundation said on their website.

The funds will be used to alleviate the needs of Ukrainian creatives:

• providing material help to authors and artists in places under threat;
• providing financial help to purchase emergency articles (food, medicines, clothing);
• urgent evacuation and resettlement in the cities of Western Ukraine;
• urgent evacuation and resettlement in safe countries.

Support will be provided after consultation with the board of PEN Ukraine. Financial aid will be transferred to individual accounts.

«Culture is one of the chief bastions of Ukrainian freedom, and we must ensure that members of the Ukrainian cultural community can continue to speak out loudly and without hindrance», – the statement reads.

As previously reported, representatives of PEN International have issued a joint statement demanding an end to the brutality caused by the russian invasion of Ukraine and condemning the war. Separate statements from regional PEN clubs in support of Ukraine have been made by branches from Belarus, Poland, Georgia, russia, France, Romania, and Norway.

Earlier, members of Ukrainian PEN appealed to the international intellectual community amid controversy over the boycotting of russian culture and numerous calls for dialogue and discussions with russian intellectuals regarding «reconciliation».