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The Harvard Undergraduate Ukraine Solidarity Group, an organization hoping to raise awareness around issues facing Ukrainian people, announced their intention to apply for official recognition from the College on Saturday.
The group would become the first undergraduate organization aimed at explicitly promoting Ukrainian cultural identity. The organization’s founding comes amidst Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Co-presidents Mariia Hnatiuk ’27 and Mariia Solovii ’27 said it is “important” to have a space where Ukrainian students can come together and share experiences.
“There’s countries like Spain, Italy, France that already are really embedded in the culture of Harvard,” she said. “For Ukraine, it’s very different, because we are a country that has only been independent for 30-something years.”
“So in the long term, we just want to make Ukraine a permanent thing at Harvard,” Solovii added.
Hnatiuk and Solovii also described their unique experiences as Ukrainian students coming to Harvard during an ongoing war in their home country.
“I came from a place where my home was destroyed and my family had to internally move within Ukraine,” Hnatiuk said, adding that she had hoped for a “strong Ukrainian presence” at Harvard that would provide her emotional support to deal with the conflict’s fallout.
“I can’t say that I really got that when I came because there were basically only four of us,” Hnatiuk added.
Solovii described her trouble finding others who could understand her experiences, as most Harvard students “haven’t themselves gone through the beginning of a war.”
She added that sharing her experiences with peers at Harvard became difficult because of their distressing nature, making her feel “a little bit lonely.”
In addition to providing a support network, HUUSG has plans to collaborate with other Harvard organizations — such as the Harvard Undergraduate Romanian Association or the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ukraine Caucus — to plan events that celebrate Eastern European culture.
The co-presidents were also able to connect with Ukrainian leaders when First Lady Olena Zelenska spoke at an IOP event in Loeb House on Tuesday, something Hnatiuk said gave her and Solovii “a lot of inspiration.”
“It was very nice, we got to tell her that we were planning to make a club,” Solovii said. “We are very excited about being in closer cooperation with our government — not being a random club, but actually being supported by our own country.”
While HUUSG plans to provide a space for Ukrainian students, Hnatiuk and Solovii clarified that they wanted the group to be open to everyone.
“This is just really a space for anybody who wants to, first of all, help us further Ukrainian traditions on campus,” Solovii said.
The co-presidents said that even the organization’s name was chosen to be inviting non-Ukrainian students.
“We’re not going to be naming ourselves like a Ukrainian student club,” Solovii said. “We are incredibly open to really anybody who’s interested in whatever we do.”
—Staff writer Hiral M. Chavre can be reached at hiral.chavre@thecrimson.com.
—Staff writer Samuel A. Church can be reached at samuel.church@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @samuelachurch.
