Ukraine marked its National Day at EXPO 2025 in Osaka on Tuesday 5 August. The event was dedicated to expressing gratitude to partners and allies who support Ukraine and share its values.

Source: the team of the Ukrainian pavilion at EXPO 2025, as reported by Ukrainska Pravda.Kultura

Details: The event was organised by more than 15 participating countries of the international exhibition. The team continued the core message of Ukraine’s pavilion, Not For Sale, which highlights the values of Ukrainian society.

Five new exhibits were added to the collection of “items not for sale” – titled Imported Goods. These exhibits pay tribute to cultural figures and activists from Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada who have expressed solidarity with Ukraine.

Mariana Klochko presents The Ode of Gratitude**Photo: Ukrainian pavilion team

The Ode of Gratitude – a musical composition created especially for Ukraine’s National Day in collaboration with the creative agency Bickerstaff.734 – was performed at the event. It was presented by musician, producer and composer Mariana Klochko. The music layers the sounds of allied countries, “creating a shared voice of solidarity”. The Ukrainian band ONUKA also performed at the event.

ONUKA’s performance**Photo: Ukrainian pavilion team

“For us, EXPO 2025 is a space where we can speak about the war, but we do not let it define our identity. Our Ode of Gratitude is our way of saying thank you to those who didn’t leave us alone. And in our pavilion, we are the storytellers of the society of the future,” said Tetiana Berezhna, Acting Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine and Ukraine’s Commissioner General at EXPO 2025.

Ukraine’s National Day at EXPO 2025 began with an official opening ceremony attended by over 500 guests. Ukraine received greetings from top-level Japanese officials – Yuichiro Koga, State Minister of the Cabinet Office of Japan and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan; Eisuke Mori, Head of the Japan–Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship League; Koji Haneda, Commissioner General of EXPO 2025 in Japan; and others.

Guests of the Ukrainian pavilion**Photo: Ukrainian pavilion team

The NGO Osvitoriia organised a panel discussion titled Ukraine Unbreakable Classrooms in the Czech pavilion. The event focused on the resilience of education during wartime and international support for Ukraine’s education system.

The discussion was accompanied by excerpts from the documentary Timestamp directed by Kateryna Hornostai. After the event, the Ukrainian band KAZKA performed for the guests.

The Romanian pavilion hosted an immersive exhibition titled Home Beyond the Dawn, curated by art critic Natalia Matsenko. The exhibition brings together works by more than 30 contemporary Ukrainian artists and explores the transformation of the concept of “home” in the context of war.

The Romanian pavilion lit up in Ukrainian colours**Photo: Ukrainian pavilion team

Additionally, the Belgian pavilion initiated panel discussions dedicated to art and its role in the modern world, which brought together Ukrainian female artists who shared their personal experiences.

The official reception marking the conclusion of Ukraine’s National Day featured a menu specially developed by Ukrainian chef Yevhen Klopotenko. In a gesture of solidarity, partner pavilions lit up their façades in the colours of the Ukrainian flag and raised blue-and-yellow flags.

Ukraine’s Not For Sale pavilion will remain open until 13 October.

Guests are heading towards the Ukrainian pavilion**Photo: Ukrainian pavilion team

About EXPO 2025

The official opening of EXPO 2025 in Osaka took place on Sunday 13 April under the main theme Designing Future Society for Our Lives.

More than 160 countries and organisations are taking part in the event, showcasing their own achievements in innovation. Japan has provided Ukraine with a free space to participate in the exhibition. The Expo will run until 13 October 2025.

The World Expo is a symbol of industrialisation and an open platform for demonstrating technical and technological achievements.

The first Expo was held in the Crystal Palace in London in 1851 under the name The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations. It was the first international forum to assess the outcomes of the Industrial Revolution. The excitement surrounding the event was so great that over six million people visited it during its six-month run.

Since then, World Expos have been held every few years in major industrial cities around the world.

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