In anticipation of Global Embroidery Day celebrated on Thursday, May 15, the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) has called upon Ukrainians and friends of Ukraine worldwide to don embroidered shirts and participate in marches.

Embroidery Day on May 15: UWC urges Ukrainians around the world to support Ukraine.

The primary aim of this global campaign is to publicly express support for Ukraine's territorial integrity, with a focus on temporarily occupied territories.

During the planned marches, UWC suggests dedicating special attention to regions temporarily occupied by Russia. The organization urges Ukrainians globally to wear their embroidered shirts in solidarity with those who cannot do so due to the threat of persecution, particularly residents of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhia, and Kharkiv regions.

In its statement, the UWC reminds that the Russian Empire has sought to destroy all things Ukrainian for decades: language, culture, traditions. However, even in exile and deportations, Ukrainians continued to embroider, and these patterns became a language of resistance and resilience.

On Global Embroidery Day, the UWC aims to remind the world community of the temporarily occupied Ukrainian lands, their unique cultural heritage, and to support those Ukrainians who cannot openly express their national identity due to the threat of punishment from occupying authorities.

The campaign will run under the slogan #VyshyvankaForever: occupation is temporary, embroidery is forever.

The UWC also calls upon all concerned individuals to share on social media photos of embroidery patterns characteristic of occupied regions of Ukraine, adding the phrase “I wear embroidery for…” – mentioning a specific region or name.