Helsinki supports in many ways those who have fled Ukraine and those who have remained there. The City will maintain close cooperation with its Ukrainian partner city, Dnipro. In May, Dnipro was prominently featured in Helsinki through a concert by the Ukrainian Four Seasons Chamber Orchestra and during the World Village Festival.
The City of Helsinki has supported Ukrainian cities in various ways since February 2022, when the full-scale war in Ukraine began. The collaboration deepened in December 2023, when Helsinki’s Mayor Juhana Vartiainen and Dnipro’s Mayor Borys Filatov signed a cooperation agreement between the two cities.
With a population of around one million, Dnipro is Ukraine’s fourth largest city and home to strong technological expertise and several universities. Dnipro is also a significant centre for internally displaced persons in Ukraine, and it has suffered from Russian bombings.
The partner cities are committed to cooperating closely both during and after the war to reconstruct Ukraine. The key themes of the partnership are education, camps for children and young people, city planning, security, preparedness and good governance.
The cities of Helsinki and Dnipro organised the Dnipro Days event weekend on 23–25 May 2025, sending a strong message in support of peace in Ukraine.
The weekend began with a unique Sunflower Seeds of Hope concert at the Temppeliaukio Church. The full concert brought together top musicians of the Four Seasons Chamber Orchestra, who now play in different countries due to the war and only rarely perform together. The orchestra’s repertoire included Finnish, German and Ukrainian music. The audience was deeply moved by the powerful performances, and the warm reception from the full house at Temppeliaukio Church also touched the performers.
"The interpretations by the skilled orchestra and world-class soloists, such as violinist Dmytro Udovichenko, reminded us that Ukrainians are not giving up – even in difficult circumstances, life goes on and new things are created. We must not forget that Ukrainians are also fighting this war on our behalf, and that is why we must help and support Ukraine wherever we can," said Mayor Vartiainen.
Dnipro will use the proceeds from the concert to help children studying music who have lost their loved ones in the war.
The concert was followed by an urban festival of sustainable development, World Village, with peace as its central theme. Helsinki invited Dnipro to take part in the festival to showcase the city and Ukrainian culture. Dnipro had its own tent at the festival, offering a continuous programme, music, and an arts and crafts workshop for children based on Ukrainian painting tradition.
As part of the festival’s speech programme, the mayors of Helsinki and Dnipro discussed the global significance of cooperation between the cities. In the panel discussion, Mayor Filatov emphasised the importance of emotional support for Ukrainians. Ukrainians are empowered by the knowledge that other countries, including Finland and Helsinki, support them in the midst of the war.
As part of the Dnipro Days programme, a delegation of nearly 50 people from Ukraine arrived in Helsinki, led by Dnipro’s Mayor Filatov. Some members of the delegation met with Mayor Vartiainen and Deputy Mayor Daniel Sazonov. In addition, they visited Töölö General Upper Secondary School, where they discussed educational collaboration between the cities, learned about Finland’s school meal system and made a stop at the Military Museum in Suomenlinna. The Dnipro delegation also held a theatre performance for a Ukrainian audience at the Ukraine aid centre in Vallila.
The event weekend helped introduce Ukrainian culture to Finns, and the delegation’s visit further deepened the partnership between the cities and opened new opportunities for collaboration in support of a peaceful future for Ukraine.
In addition to event collaboration, the City of Helsinki has assisted war-affected Dnipro through donations.
Last year, Helsinki assembled a relief package from donated supplies worth €140,000, which was delivered to Dnipro through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.
The shipment included furniture for classrooms and daycare centres, health care and trauma equipment, devices, vehicles, physiotherapy tools, professional clothing and equipment related to civil defence shelters. In addition, Helsinki’s construction service company Stara donated worksite huts, shipping containers and an earth-moving machine to Dnipro.
This year, Helsinki City Board approved an additional €110,000 in support for Ukraine.
The majority of the funds will cover summer camp costs for children and young people from Dnipro. The support also made it possible for Dnipro to participate in the World Village Festival and for the Dnipro Chamber Orchestra to visit Helsinki.
One of the key focus areas of the collaboration between Helsinki and Dnipro is promoting activities for children and young people in order to give them a break from the harsh realities of daily life in a country at war.
Last summer, the City of Helsinki, together with Leirikesä and Helsinki YMCA, organised a two-week camp for children and young people from Dnipro at the Kiljava camp centre in Hyvinkää. A total of 30 young people from Ukraine came to enjoy the Finnish summer. The summer camp will be held again in July, and preparations are currently in full swing.
The camp offered lively themed activities, hobby and crafts clubs, as well as peaceful moments in the tent village in smaller groups. During free time, the campers climbed a climbing wall, bounced on a trampoline and swam in a lake. The workers of Leirikesä ensured that the camp was safe and provided high-quality activities and good food.
The young people from Dnipro also got to explore Helsinki and its main attractions. The programme included visits to Oodi, Suomenlinna, the Market Square and Kiasma, with a highlight being a trip to Linnanmäki amusement park. In addition, the campers met with Deputy Mayor Johanna Laisaari and discussed their experiences.
