Conference Agenda

The project is a multi-year initiative aimed at safeguarding Ukraine’s cultural heritage in times of war. The project is organized by the ICA in collaboration from the ALIPH. The outcomes include development of an emergency digitization manual, provision of essential digitization equipment to participating archives and enhancing their overall capacity. In 2025, the project is focused on scaling-up online and on-site training in emergency response, digitization and digital preservation.

The full-scale invasion of the rf into the sovereign territory of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 radically changed the plans and priorities of the work. The issues of preserving the lives and health of employees and preservation of archival funds. The report discusses the search for answers to new challenges faced by archivists in the conditions of armed aggression by the rf, adaptation to new living and working conditions, new capabilities, major digitalization, and support from international partners

The full-scale invasion of the russian federation into the sovereign territory of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 dramatically changed our plans and priorities. Since the first day of the war, we have been facing the urgent need to preserve the lives and health of our employees and to ensure that documents on the artistic life of Ukraine are preserved as much as possible and can tell the world about the unique culture of Ukraine. The enemy aims to destroy not only people and buildings, but also our national identity and historical monuments, including the documents of the National Archival Fond of Ukraine, which we must now save. Every day we perform our duties at the risk of our lives, I am writing this text on the 1071st day of the war, during which time the alarm sirens sounded 1498 times in the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, and there was a real threat of destruction of documentary and museum evidence of our art for 1690 hours.

Our main concern is the welfare of our employees, especially in the first months of the attacks and the enemy's advance on the outskirts of Kyiv. We kept in touch with them through a social media group, supported each other, searched for those who did not get in touch, and resolved the issue of evacuation through the ‘green corridor’ from the enemy-occupied areas around Kyiv. Some people went to relatively safe regions of Ukraine or abroad. But in May and June 2022, the majority of the team returned to their jobs in the archive.

Three employees voluntarily joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including one woman who is the head of the archival and museum department. Unfortunately, the tragic news of the death of our young colleague will forever leave a great wound in our hearts - eternal glory and memory to the Heroes!

Our attention was drawn to the active involvement of Ukrainian and international partners in obtaining technical means for the preservation of the collections.

To protect our documents and museum objects from the threats posed by the war, with the support of international partners Family Search International (USA) and Digital Transitions Inc (USA). The NAF's digital collection of documents is being uploaded to cloud storage provided by the National Archives of Great Britain and the Digital Preservation Coalition of the United Kingdom, which ensures their reliable backup storage on Amazon Web Services and a server in Germany.

During these long days of war, we have travelled a difficult road of searching for and finding answers to new challenges. Remembering everyone who helped us and stood by our side, we express our sincere gratitude.