On December 18, 2024, a meeting was held at the Center for Innovative Educational Technologies “PNU EcoSystem”, where the academic and teaching staff of the Faculty of History, Political Science, and International Relations of Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University met with history colleagues from Kherson State University. Opening the meeting, the Dean of the Faculty of History, Political Science, and International Relations, Ihor Hurak, emphasized that twenty years ago, during the presidential election campaign, Kremlin political technologists, who managed Viktor Yanukovych’s election headquarters, tried to play on the regional differences in Ukraine. Despite significant resources being used, the candidate from Donetsk, together with his russian mentors, suffered a defeat in 2004. Even then, it was clear that despite regional peculiarities, Ukraine is united. Ukrainians were further convinced of this after the start of the full-scale phase of the war. In this context, Ihor Hurak mentioned the provision of premises by Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University for colleagues from Kherson State University, who, due to occupation and destruction, had to relocate their activities to Ivano-Frankivsk. This undoubtedly presented new challenges for Kherson’s scholars, but also opened up new opportunities for cooperation with researchers from the Carpathian region.
During a similar meeting held in November 2023, the teaching staff of the Faculty of History, Political Science, and International Relations of Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University shared with their Kherson colleagues the key areas of their scientific research and provided scientific literature prepared by the faculty over the last few years.
During this meeting, Kherson scholars presented their scientific work at Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University. In particular, the head of the Department of History, Archaeology, and Methodology of Teaching at Kherson State University, Nataliya Kuzovova, presented her monograph “Holodomor 1932–1933 in the Kherson Region.” In her speech, she highlighted the importance of spreading truthful information about the crimes of the Soviet regime, especially the Holodomor of the 1930s, to the population of Stanislaviv region. She also showcased commemorative stamps dedicated to the heroes of Kherson who died during the russian-ukrainian war.
Professor of the Department of History, Archaeology, and Methodology of Teaching at Kherson State University, Oleksandr Cheremisin, presented the publication “Chronicle of Civil Resistance of Kherson” and shared specific stories of the occupation of Kherson. Associate Professor of the Department, Halyna Mykhailenko, presented the work “Kherson 2022: With Ukraine in the Heart,” which was recently announced as the winner of the Ukrainian Book Institute’s cultural and artistic project competition in the category of popular science publications.
During the meeting, the importance and ways of maintaining close scientific partnerships between Carpathian and Kherson researchers were discussed by the Head of the Department of Ethnology and Archaeology at Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Mykola Kuhutyak, and Professor of the Department of History, Archaeology, and Methodology of Teaching at Kherson State University, Serhiy Vodytyka.