Ukraine joins European archival space with 450+ unique digitized records

This was announced by the head of the State Archival Service of Ukraine, Anatolii Khromov, during a press conference in Kyiv, according to a Ukrinform correspondent.

"As of now, we are talking about 100 million archival units stored in the National Archival Fund. Among these 100 million cases — each of which contains countless individual documents — more than 450 are classified as unique. Legally, unique documents are those with exceptional historical, cultural, or legal value. I would add that they also highlight the contribution of the Ukrainian people to global cultural heritage," said Khromov.

He recalled that since 2020, the State Archival Service of Ukraine has been a participant in the Archives Portal Europe project. Now, anyone can access these unique documents not only through the State Archival Service’s website, but also via the Archives Portal Europe.

"Today we’ve presented unique documents on the Archives Portal Europe. Each document comes with an annotation in English. In our view, this helps people better understand who Ukrainians are, where the Ukrainian state comes from, and what we are fighting for," he added.

For his part, the State Secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers, Oleksandr Yarema, emphasized that Ukraine is now fighting not only for territory, but also for its very right to exist.

"Because what really irritates Russians is the mere fact that a free-spirited, independent nation exists next to them. For them, we’re like an unpleasant mirror. That’s why they’re waging war against Ukraine across multiple spheres, including the information front, and they are clearly investing heavily in propaganda — particularly in European and global countries — trying to convince the world that Ukraine is some kind of ‘fake’ state," Yarema said.

He emphasized that the publication of Ukrainian archival documents on the Archives Portal Europe is a landmark event: "We are becoming part of a unified European archival space. The ability for anyone, from anywhere in Europe or the world, to access our historical documents is incredibly valuable. It’s important that these documents can be viewed and read, with annotations in English. This allows people to clearly see Ukraine’s ancient and deep-rooted history."

The Archives Portal Europe is a digital platform that aggregates archival records from over 30 countries in more than 20 languages. It was developed with the support of the European Commission between 2009 and 2012. Today, the portal contains information about over 7,000 archival institutions and more than 280 million archival descriptive units.