The Head of the Donetsk Regional State Administration and Chief of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, Vadym Filashkin, announced that the National Bank of Ukraine is introducing a 2,000-hryvnia banknote featuring Vasyl Stus.
The Ukrainian hryvnia will carry the voice of Stus—a man who could neither be bought, intimidated, nor silenced.
For the Donetsk region, this is a particularly meaningful moment. For years, Russia has sought to erase the region's Ukrainian identity, suppress its historical memory, and replace its culture with myths of the so-called "Russian world." Yet Stus returns to the place from which they tried to erase him—into the everyday life of Ukraine, into the hands of millions of people, and onto one of the country's national symbols.
His words survived imprisonment. His name outlived censorship. His dignity endured the empire that believed it could break people with impunity.
"Stus is the Donetsk region that is not afraid to be Ukrainian. He is a voice that continues to be heard even when others try to bury it in prison camps, archives, or propaganda.
And now that voice will speak every day from a Ukrainian banknote:
And the candle flickers with the dawn,
Which our great-grandchild will call day.'
May these words remind us that we are not only witnesses to the true Ukrainian dawn—we are its creators," Vadym Filashkin emphasized.