Cultural Relations and Greek Community

There is great interest in Ukraine in the Greek language and culture. Ukrainian Universities in three cities have Modern Greek language chairs (Kyiv, Simferopol, Mariupol) and two others have Greek language departments (Odessa, Lviv). The Universities of Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Patras and the Aegean are implementing Greek language programmes in association with Ukrainian universities and have been hosting Ukrainian students and professors in Greece.

There is a significant Greek presence in southern and eastern Ukraine, which can be traced back to ancient Greek and Byzantine settlers. Ukrainian citizens of Greek descent amount to 91,000 people, although their number is estimated to be much higher by the Federation of Greek communities of Mariupol.