On 29 February 2024, representatives of Kiel and Kherson signed a city partnership agreement in Kiel’s Council Hall. The cooperation between Kiel University (CAU) and Kherson State Agrarian and Economic University (KSAEU) was one of the starting points of the initiative, and members of the project team attended the ceremony.
A partnership between the cities
An address during the signing ceremony for the Kiel-Kherson city partnership.
Vitaliy Belobrov, Deputy Mayor of Kherson, and Bettina Aust, City President of Kiel, signed the agreement. Representatives of political parties, civil society, businesses, universities and the Ukrainian community attended. Both signatories spoke about the need for cooperation in the face of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
Guests hear remarks during the city partnership ceremony in Kiel.
Dr. Iryna Tybinka, Consul General of Ukraine, called for military and non-military assistance for Ukraine. She appealed to Kiel and Germany to support Ukraine in defending freedom, democracy and human rights.
University cooperation and local connections
Representatives of the university cooperation and the local Ukrainian community at the city partnership ceremony.
The ceremony also brought Ukrainian colleagues and friends together in Kiel. The municipal partnership is separate from the universities’ academic cooperation, while creating another connection between the two cities.
From left to right: Dr. Anna Titova, Prof. Dr. Kai Carstensen, Vitaliy Belobrov, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tetiana Skibina, Olena (our KSAEU student visiting Kiel), and Ievgeniia (Rozmova e.V., German-Ukrainian Association in Schleswig-Holstein, https://rozmova.de)
Guests meet at the city partnership ceremony in Kiel.
We thank the City of Kiel, the representatives from Kherson and the local Ukrainian community for their commitment to the partnership. We also thank colleagues at CAU and KSAEU and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), whose Ukraine Digital support, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), sustains the wider teaching cooperation.
For more information, see the City of Kiel’s press statement.
