Check against delivery

Speech by Bjørn Berge, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Dear friends,

It is a great honour for me to open this exhibition of the work of Artur Kotyk at the eve of the current session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

On February 24, 2022, Artur Kotyk was just seventeen years old.

A high school student.

But like all of Ukraine and all of Europe and all of the world, he awoke that day to find his country at war.

A war not of his country’s making.

Today, he is only twenty-one years old, and a veteran of several exhibitions.

Exhibitions of paintings and drawings into which he has poured his heart, his soul, his grief, his anger, and his talent.

And it is an honour for all of us to see these incredible paintings, as this young man responds with all the defiance and resilience of his people who never asked for war.

Who never asked for their skies to echo with the sound of drones and missiles and bombs.

Who never asked for the sounds of fear and terror and pain to rip the air on a daily basis.

This exhibition with the title: ‘When the sky is silent’ reminds that our own skies are silent, except for the sounds of birds and maybe the occasional passenger plane.

But in a war, there is no true silence.

As even in hours when no bombs fall, apprehension and foreboding fill the minds of those who wait for the next attack.

The skies will not truly be silent until the war is over, and a just and lasting peace has been achieved.

And until then, the Council of Europe stands by Ukraine. I believe all of us will stand by Ukraine.

We continue our work for accountability – through the Action Plan, the Register of Damage, the Claims Commission, and towards the establishment of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.

And we continue to support, in every way we can, the young people of Ukraine, like you, Artur.

The young people who, once this war is over, will have to pick up the pieces, rebuild, and carry their country into the future.

I congratulate you, Artur, on your tremendous talent and your amazing art.

And I thank you, Ambassador Mykola Tochytskyi, and the permanent delegation here in Strasbourg, for enabling us all to admire and experience this exhibition.

We hope with all our hearts that one day soon, the violence and destruction will end. And Ukraine and its brave people will have secured their freedom and independence, and its full integration in European and transatlantic co-operation structures.

And that the sky will be silent, but for the birds, once more.

Slava Ukraini!