World Town Twinning Week. Zaporizhzhia — Lahti: 2,516 km of gratitude

Last Sunday of April, the world celebrates Town Twinning Day. On this occasion, we send our warmest regards from Zaporizhzhia to twin cities across the world.

The Finnish city of Lahti was the first to establish a twinning relationship with Zaporizhzhia — in 1953. Of all the twin cities, Lahti is probably the most famous one among the citizens of Zaporizhzhia. Specifically because some decades ago, there was a popular local restaurant on the central avenue named after our Finnish partner. While the restaurant is no longer, residents still call the locality where it used to be no other way than “Lahti”. And there is also Lahtinska Street in our city.

Meanwhile, Lahti has a city park named after Zaporizhzhia. After February 24, 2022, Lahti became a new home for 2,000 Ukrainian refugees. The city administration supports our people through international organisations and even has Ukraine’s blue-and-yellow flag flying over the city hall.

To support Ukraine, Lahti Symphony Orchestra and the City of Lahti arranged a charity symphony concert led by a famous female conductor of Ukrainian origin, Dalia Stasevska. And in February, the City of Lahti hosted a photo exhibition, “War in our Home: Zaporizhzhia”, organised by Ukrainian and Finnish partners. By the way, this is the first project within the new action plan for cooperation, which our cities are currently working on.

We sincerely thank the city administration and citizens of Lahti for their solidarity and supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty. On behalf of the people of Zaporizhzhia, we wish peace and happiness to our twin city Lahti. We wish you the most joyful present and a prosperous future!