The Outpost for the Future: Think, Impact, Prevail

In November 2024, PEN Ukraine and the Center for Communication and Content Security launched the joint project The Outpost for the Future: Think, Impact, Prevail, aimed at increasing the young military’s awareness about Ukrainian culture.

The project constitutes a series of cadets and students’ meetings with contemporary Ukrainian intellectuals, writers, journalists and human rights defenders. The students are also going to be provided with the best books of contemporary and classic Ukrainian literature.

The cadets will get an opportunity to not only get acquainted with literature but also to expand their knowledge of media literacy, human rights and countering disinformation.

During the years 2024-2025, meetings with authors took place in the Kruty Heroes Lviv Lyceum and Odesa Navy Lyceum. The cadets got acquainted with authors such as Volodymyr Kuznietsov, Anastasiia Nikulina, Kateryna Yegorushkina, Polina Kulakova, Pavlo Derevianko, Svitlana Taratorina, and cultural manager Sofiia Cheliak.

"Our goal is to get the future military elite of Ukraine with the culture of the country they are to take their oaths to, which is of much more importance during the war against the enemy who’s trying to erase this culture for centuries. We are also planning to teach the youth to think critically and counteract propaganda and disinformation," states the project coordinator, executive director of PEN Ukraine Maksym Sytnikov.