Dear Friends and Readers, Brothers and Sisters:

We are pleased to announce that our project, Voices of Ukraine (VoU), has steadily and quietly reached the one year mark!

A lot has happened this year since the call went out to gather on Maidan – both good and grievous. We’ve made many gains in our project, and are proud that it has never lost its essential core: trust in each other and faith in our country.

We don’t pretend to be a worldwide or even nationwide news agency, but if you’re looking to hear people speaking through a lens other than that of the official news – this is the place to come. To the extent of our strengths and abilities, our team tries to unite the thoughts and feelings of Ukrainians to the thoughts and feelings of people from different countries, so that the Ukrainian reality can be better heard around the world.

We thank all of you who have given of your time and skills to translate, edit and help in other ways this year, and a big thanks to all of you who read us. This is a project of pure love and you help spread it. We also want to thank all the wonderful Maidaners, our military and beloved ATO soldiers, Cyborgs, activists, photographers, journalists, leaders from the community, and especially our Ukrainian volunteers and civil society workers – you are the heart of the next generation of what Ukraine will become – and all the other patriots whom we’ve met in this short time – your stories and your spirits remind us all who we truly are. We all turn One together.

Never think you don’t or can’t make a difference. In one year we have been informing and educating minds in the western world and connecting people from the west and east in scores of requests for connections and help in real and actual ways. The network of light has grown. What also continues to grow is who connects to VoU for research or uses it from international media for source material to link to, including: The BBC, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Forbes, Foreign Policy, Business Insider, the Telegraph (UK), Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, USA Today, Israel Foreign Affairs, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, The Daily Beast, Slate, KyivPost, World Affairs Journal, eWallstreeter, Ukraine News, Global Voices online, New Republic, Johnson’s Russia List, Svoboda, Ukraine Investigation, Ukraine Scholars of North America, amongst a great many others.

It is our great hope that all of our translations remain research tools for posterity. We are also proud that Voices of Ukraine has been written about as a project in two research books now, and that we see many of the key heads of state and other diplomats involved in decisions on Ukraine re-tweeting our translations. According to our site data, there is only one small country and one group of islands in the world in which Voices of Ukraine has not yet been read.

And to those who have the desire and opportunity to get involved as volunteers in this work – we are always glad to welcome new volunteer translation and editing members to our project!

May every one of us do the very best that we can!
It has never been more needed!

PS: We are constantly being asked where to send help. Here are some tried, tested and respected volunteers who are helping Ukraine’s army in many ways. Please unite your efforts with theirs: http://en.shram.kiev.ua/euromaydan/4armycomua.shtml and please look under our “Help for Ukraine” tab from our menu bar to access others under specific categories.

We love you, Ukraine!
You fight for the democratic values of the world on every front and we are with you in that battle.

Sincerely yours,
The Voices of Ukraine global team.