mykola lysenko could write operas on russian-language libretti, and it was offered to him by composers much more famous in the world than he is, because if he... had made this choice, his operas would have been put on the stages of the most important theaters in st. petersburg and moscow . but if lysenko had made such a choice, we would not have ukrainian opera. this list can go on and on and on for hours. therefore, i always ask to appreciate those who chose ukraine, chose the ukrainian world as their own. the civilizational reference point gave us the opportunity for all of you to develop and to be proud of, gave us the opportunity to understand that this country... exists not just as a territory, but as a civilizational project, as a real land whose inhabitants share common public, national, and cultural interests. in the end, i want to remind you that people who perceived ukraine exclusively as a bridge. welfare building was sufficient in pre-soviet, soviet and post-soviet times. franko wrote about this: you love russia like bread and a piece of lard, simply as a territory on which