2022-12-29
Residents donate nearly a third of a million euro in aid to Ukraine by purchasing a special coin issued by the Bank of Lithuania
The Bank of Lithuania has transferred €307,370 to the account opened by the National Bank of Ukraine for humanitarian aid. The funds were collected upon selling most of the mintage of a collector coin dedicated to Ukraine’s fight for freedom issued by the Bank of Lithuania. Since the issue of the coin on 7 December 2022, Lithuanian and foreign residents as well as companies have already purchased 4,391 coins of 5,000, thus supporting Ukraine.
“Ukraine, which suffers from the horrors of the war, lack of electricity, heat and other essentials, needs our help now. After distributing almost 90% of the coin’s mintage in a month, we have immediately transferred funds collected by residents and companies. We would like to thank everyone who have purchased collector coins and invite you to continue to contribute, just over 500 collector coins left. By purchasing the coin and providing financial assistance to Ukraine, the people will reaffirm that Ukraine is not alone in this war and that Lithuania consistently supports Ukraine and its fight for freedom,” says Gediminas Šimkus, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania.
After the remaining coins are sold, funds to Ukraine will be transferred to the same account for humanitarian aid. The coins are mainly purchased by Lithuanian residents, and while many have purchased one coin each, there are persons purchasing as much as 10 coins at a time. The collector coin issued by the Bank of Lithuania and the opportunity to help Ukraine is also of interest to foreign buyers – the most interested in the coin are buyers from Poland, Latvia, Ukraine, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands and Slovakia.
A person purchasing the coin will contribute €70, while the total price of the coin is €96.80.
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The obverse of the coin dedicated to Ukraine’s fight for freedom features an image of the embroidered, stylised symbols of the coat of arms of the Republic of Lithuania, the Vytis, and of Ukraine, the Trident (Tryzub). The author of the coin, Ukrainian artist Svitlana Matvieienko, uses Ukrainian conventional patterns in the artistic composition as an allusion to linen, used throughout the human life cycle, from birth to death.
The reverse of the coin features arms symbolically embracing everything that is a state, a nation fighting for tradition, history, the present and the future. The stylised outline of the Ukrainian state is filled with volumetric details of ethnographic ornaments in cloth – as Ukrainians are defending their land, their homeland, their homes, their loved ones, the graves of their ancestors and their history. The composition also bears the inscriptions in Lithuanian UKRAINOS KOVAI UŽ LAISVĘ and in Ukrainian УКРАЇНА БОРЕТЬСЯ ЗА СВОБОДУ (FOR UKRAINE’S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM).
The edge of the silver coin is engraved with a phrase from a poem by the famous Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko: ВСТАНЕ ПРАВДА! ВСТАНЕ ВОЛЯ! STOS TEISYBĖ! LAISVĖ STOSIS! [THERE SHALL BE LIBERTY AND RIGHT!].
The silver coin dedicated to Ukraine’s fight for freedom is available for purchase on the Bank of Lithuania’s e-shop and at the Bank of Lithuania cash offices in Vilnius and Kaunas. Help Ukraine by purchasing the coin!
At the beginning of next year, the central bank of Lithuania will issue a €2 commemorative coin “Together with Ukraine”. The proceeds from the coins will also be allocated in aid to Ukraine. It will also serve as a circulation coin and will be used as a legal tender throughout the euro area.