Return from Foreign Lands: Why the Ukrainian Pantheon Is Not About the Cemetery, but About the Living

Europe has given refuge to the Ukrainian elite: politicians, scientists and artists. Infographics by Gemini.

When on June 28, 2026, Constitution Day, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy submitted a draft law on the National Pantheon to the parliament, it became clear: Ukraine is venturing into a complex but necessary act of historical self-assertion. It is an attempt to gather under one sky the intellectual and political elite scattered by the winds of emigration—from the rulers of Rus and Cossack hetmans to modern defenders.