Mahi For Ukraine

28/05/2026

A strong discussion in Kyiv yesterday at the forum “Global Ukrainians: From Solidarity to Collective Action” with the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on the role of Ukrainian women in attracting investment and shaping Ukraine’s image internationally.

One point Kate spoke about is that Ukraine’s reputation is not built through PR alone — it is built through people, relationships and trust.

Across government, business, civil society and international networks, Ukrainians abroad, and very often Ukrainian women, help open doors, build credibility, create partnerships and shift how Ukraine is understood internationally.

Investment starts long before money moves. It starts with trust.

If we want long-term partnerships for Ukraine, we must continue moving the conversation beyond humanitarian support alone and also speak about capability, innovation, resilience, business, technology and practical cooperation.

Grateful for the discussion and for the many people around the world helping turn solidarity with Ukraine into real action 🇺🇦

Ukrainian Association of New Zealand (UANZ) Посольство України в Австралії / Embassy of Ukraine in Australia Ukrainian World Congress - Свiтовий Конґрес Українців Торгово-промислова палата України / Ukrainian CCI

28/05/2026

Pleased to see this important piece by Maria Starozhytska published, and grateful to have had the opportunity to collaborate on pitching it to the media.

Ukraine’s Day of Heroes is about memory, sacrifice, and values — and this article raises an important question for New Zealand: how we recognise those New Zealanders who chose to defend freedom in Ukraine and never came home. 💙💛🙏🏻

Maria draws a powerful parallel between how New Zealand honours its fallen through ANZAC remembrance and why those who died defending Ukraine should also have a place in our collective memory. Grateful to Stuff for picking up this important conversation.

https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/361011860/new-zealanders-killed-defending-ukraine-deserve-commemoration-home

Ron Mark Mariia Starozhytska

OPINION: It was here, in New Zealand, that I first discovered something profoundly important, and painfully relevant to Ukraine: the deep and sincere way this country honours its fallen.

28/05/2026

🛡️ Financing defence through global capital and cooperation

PANEL 5.2 Defence Hub: Financing the Defence Sector: From International Institutions to Private Capital

🎙️ Moderator:
Kate Turska, Founder, Mahi for Ukraine; Vice President, New Zealand Ukraine Business Association, New Zealand

👥 Speakers:
🎤 Dan Kucherenko, International Partnerships Manager, The Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation, Ukraine
🎤 Violeta Moskalu, Founder & CEO, Global Ukraine, France
🎤 Mark Voyger, Raincloud Group Advisor, USA
🎤 Allan Reagan, CIO and Principal, UAID Fund LP, USA
🎤 Andriy Kolodyuk, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, Ukraine
🎤 Andrii Romanchuk, Senior Partner, EUCONLAW Group, Poland

Join us at the Fifth Foreign Investment Congress!

WE UNITE:
✅ Foreign investors and international business
✅ Representatives of local communities and regional business, including veterans
✅ International financial institutions and private financial providers
✅ The Government of Ukraine and diplomatic missions, as representatives of foreign governments

🌐 This year, we are launching a separate track dedicated to the defense sector and dual-use goods

We will be glad to meet you!
📅 May 28-29, 2026
📍 Kyiv
❗️Details and registration: https://foreigninvestua.com/

🌏 Organizers:
Foreign Business Hub
Euconlaw Group

💧Supported by:
Ukraine Invest - Ukraine Investment Promotion Office

The Kyiv Independent Czech-Ukrainian Chamber of Industry & Commerce
Ukrainian Chamber of commerce in Japan Національна асоціація банків України InVenture Investment Group Swedish Business Association in Ukraine Ukraine-India Business Association

27/05/2026

It was a great opportunity to speak at this event in person in Kyiv today, representing New Zealand and women in the advocacy and investment engagement space for Ukraine 💙💛💪🏻

27/05/2026

Tomorrow in Kyiv, Kate will be moderating a panel at the Fifth Foreign Investment Congress on:

“Financing the Defence Sector: From International Institutions to Private Capital”

Ukraine’s defence sector sits at the intersection of national security, technology, industrial capability, investment and international cooperation.

Ukraine has demonstrated extraordinary speed of innovation and adaptation under the harshest possible conditions. But one question remains increasingly important:

How do financing mechanisms catch up with wartime reality?

How do we move from emergency support to sustainable financing pathways? What role should international institutions, philanthropy, venture capital, private investors and strategic partnerships play? And how do we turn battlefield-tested capability into long-term resilience, industrial strength and innovation?

Looking forward to a practical discussion with an excellent panel bringing perspectives from philanthropy, investment, venture capital, legal frameworks, international partnerships and defence strategy.

📍Kyiv | Foreign Investment Congress 2026

26/05/2026

Ukraine is often framed only through the lens of future reconstruction, but the reality is that investment and business opportunities already exist today — even in the context of war. The Foreign Investment Congress is one of the platforms shaping that conversation, and this year Kate will be joining as a speaker.

📅 28–29 May 2026 | Kyiv, Ukraine

The Congress brings together investors, government, financial institutions, and business leaders to focus on Ukraine’s recovery, reconstruction, and long-term economic growth.

The programme includes panel discussions, investment project presentations, and direct engagement with Ukrainian regions and businesses across key sectors.

Looking forward to contributing to the conversation as the founder of the ANZ-Ukraine Cooperation Forum, and representing New Zealand.

25/05/2026

These photos were taken in Kyiv after one of the biggest russian attacks on May 24.

You will hear people call this “retaliation”.

It isn’t. There is nothing retaliatory about a state that has invaded a neighbouring country and then spent years deliberately attacking civilian infrastructure, apartment buildings, schools, hospitals and leveling cities across Ukraine.

This is not new and it is not an exception.
This is the pattern, only russia is getting more desperate.

And for Ukrainians, this has been reality for a very long time… Kia Kaha Ukraine.

20/05/2026

For 20 years, Ukrainians around the world have marked Vyshyvanka Day by wearing one of the most recognisable symbols of our identity — the vyshyvanka.

The tradition itself is centuries old. Every region, every pattern, every stitch carries history, symbolism, family memory, and cultural code passed down through generations. But Vyshyvanka Day as a modern national tradition was first established in 2006 — making this year its 20th anniversary.

Today, the meaning of this day feels even deeper.

For Ukrainians, the vyshyvanka is not a costume, not nostalgia, and not performative patriotism. It is part of who we are.

Over recent decades, Ukrainian traditional clothing and embroidery have experienced a powerful revival — not because of trends, and not only because of the war, but because Ukrainians have been reclaiming what for generations was suppressed, ridiculed, discouraged, or erased under russian and Soviet domination. What was once pushed into the background has returned into everyday life, modern fashion, family traditions, and public identity.

And since russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in 2014, that reclamation has taken on even greater meaning.

At a time when russia is attempting to erase Ukrainian identity, language, culture, history, and even the existence of Ukraine itself, Ukrainians have responded by embracing those things more openly and proudly than ever before. Especially those things russia tried hardest to silence.

That is why Vyshyvanka Day matters.

It is not simply about embroidered shirts. It is about continuity, memory, identity and survival. It is about refusing to disappear.

And so, every year, here in Auckland (as far from Ukraine as you can geographically be) our community gathers in vyshyvankas alongside millions of Ukrainians around the world to celebrate our culture, honour those preserving it under attack and occupation, and remind the world that Ukraine’s story, identity, and people endure.

We refuse to be erased!

#ВишиванкаЄднає

Ukrainian Association of New Zealand (UANZ)
Ukrainian World Congress - Свiтовий Конґрес Українців

19/05/2026

Good to see Australia join the growing international effort to establish the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.

Accountability matters. Russia’s war against Ukraine began in 2014 with the invasion and occupation of Crimea and parts of the Donbas. The crime of aggression sits at the centre of the destruction and atrocities that followed. Justice cannot stop at war crimes alone while ignoring the decision to launch an illegal war.

We hope New Zealand will follow Australia’s example. As a strong supporter of international law and the rules-based order, New Zealand should join partners backing accountability for aggression and take this important step in support of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.

New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

🇦🇺 Australia has joined the growing international effort to establish the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine as an Associate Member of the Enlarged Partial Agreement.

On 16 May in Chișinău, during the Council of Europe Ministerial Session, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a decision approving the Enlarged Partial Agreement on the establishment of the Management Committee of the Special Tribunal - one of the key elements of its institutional architecture.

The adoption of this decision became possible thanks to notifications of intent to join the Agreement submitted by 34 Council of Europe member states, the European Union, Costa Rica, and Australia.

Foreign Minister of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha described the decision as another important step toward the practical launch of the international accountability mechanism for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

💬 “We are consistently moving toward the full-fledged launch of the Special Tribunal. This is yet another signal that the international community is determined to ensure the inevitability of accountability for the crime of aggression,” the Minister stressed.

The Enlarged Partial Agreement remains open not only to Council of Europe member states, but also to third countries, creating further opportunities to broaden global support for the Special Tribunal.

We highly appreciate Australia’s principled support for international law, justice, and accountability.

19/05/2026

If you aren’t following Borshch.NZ yet, you should!
It’s an English speaking radio podcast from NZ about Ukraine 💛💙🇺🇦🇳🇿

19 May. Borsch Club. Episode 37

How does it feel to be a teenager in Ukraine during war?

What would be shocking, traumatic, or unimaginable for many people has become ordinary daily life for Nazar Bondarchuk.

Air raid sirens. Explosions. Blackouts. Constant uncertainty. Trying to study, make plans, laugh with friends, and simply grow up while a full-scale war continues around you.

In our new Borsch Club interview Nazar speaks honestly about life as a teenager in Kyiv during wartime — not through headlines or statistics, but through everyday reality.

Borsch Club Broadcasts Fortnightly on OAR FM Dunedin - Community Access Media, Dunedin Tuesdays, 8.30pm
105.4 FM, 1575 AM and livestream on oar.org.nz

Plains FM 96.9, Christchurch: Mondays fortnightly, 7:30–8:00 PM (not the same week as OAR FM)

OAR FM website https://oar.org.nz/shows/borsch-club/
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/5dZpMLeJ9qCRP61euCI0pf
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/co/podcast/borsch-club/id1782794499