On November 26, 2025, a regular meeting of the Coordination Council for the Promotion of Ukrainian National and Civic Identity was held at the regional state administration. The meeting participants, including council members, representatives of district military administrations, military administrations of settlements in Donetsk Oblast, and heads of relevant structural units, discussed important issues of strengthening national identity in the context of martial law.
One of the items on the agenda was a report by Volodymyr Strashko, director of the Regional Center for Physical Culture and Health, on the implementation of the project to hold physical culture, health, and mass events called "HERITAGE OF THE NATION."
The initiative aims to introduce Ukrainian national sports as mass sports disciplines to ensure physical activity and strengthen the physical and mental health of the population. The project, which is a continuation of the successful 2024 festival, is being actively implemented.
Throughout 2025, the Regional Center for Physical Culture and Health, in cooperation with the Regional Center for Ukrainian National Sports and with the support of the Regional State Administration's Department of Physical Culture and Sports, held five events. The final event of the 2025 project will be the Festival of Ukrainian National Sports on the occasion of the Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The meeting also featured a presentation of the local history project "Donetsk Region on the Map of Time," initiated by the Donetsk Regional Library for Children. Iryna Ilchenko, chief specialist of the cultural and leisure activities department of the regional administration's culture and tourism department, spoke on this issue.
The main goal of the project is to preserve, summarize, and disseminate local history information about the Donetsk region in a convenient digital format. This resource is being created as a virtual memory map that will unite the voices of communities and become an accessible online platform. Currently, a mock-up of the platform is available, which contains interactive sections: history, communities, prominent figures, and cultural heritage. The project is a response to the challenges of war, forced displacement, and the threat of losing local historical memory.
The next stage of implementation (November 2025 – March 2026) involves thorough verification and moderation of the collected content before it is made publicly available. The platform will be administered by the regional library, which will ensure its long-term development and the possibility of updating it with materials from communities over the coming years.
Following the meeting, decisions were made that will ensure the further systematic and coordinated implementation of measures to promote Ukrainian national and civic identity in the region.