Unity Day of Ukraine at TNMU

On January 22, 2025, faculty and students of I.Ya. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University joined the commemoration of the 106th anniversary of the Act of Unification and Ukraine’s Unity Day. Following tradition, members of our university formed a “living chain” within TNMU buildings to honor the long-standing aspiration of Ukrainians to live in a united, sovereign, and independent state. This event was also organized to pay tribute to all those who have given their lives for the freedom of our homeland throughout history and to this day.

It is worth recalling that Unity Day is celebrated annually on January 22. This date marks two historic milestones: the declaration of Ukraine’s first independence through the Fourth Universal of the Central Council on January 22, 1918, and the proclamation of the Act of Unification between the Ukrainian People’s Republic (UNR) and the West Ukrainian People’s Republic (ZUNR) on January 22, 1919, uniting Ukrainian lands into a single state.

Even before achieving de facto independence, Ukrainians began forming “living chains” across all regions of the country in 1990 to demonstrate their unwavering desire for a free and united Ukraine, affirming the close and inseparable unity of all Ukrainian lands.

The TNMU community, in keeping with this tradition, not only formed a chain of unity but also included students and faculty representing diverse regions of Ukraine. Each participant introduced themselves and named the city or village they hail from. In this way, TNMU symbolically united Ternopil and Lviv regions, Khmelnytskyi and Rivne regions, Ivano-Frankivsk and Zhytomyr regions, Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, Volyn and Kyiv regions, and beyond.