As part of the second international conference Crimea Global. Understanding Ukraine through the South, journalists, scholars and human rights activists from Asia, Africa and Latin America visited Odesa on November 19 and 20.

Among them were political scientist Swasti Rao and journalist Umashankar Singh from India, journalist Brian Oruta from Kenya, political scientists and scholars Fernanda Magnotta and Marina Slhessarenko Barreto from Brazil.

During the visit, a working dinner was held for foreign conference participants with the participation of the head of the Ukraine-India Business Association Binay Singh and cultural figures from Odesa and Kherson: sculptor Vasyl Dmytryk, curator of the Odesa Art Museum Valeriia Nasedkina, sculptor Mykola Lukin, and art curators Yulia Manukyan and Serhii Dyachenko.

The foreign guests took a sightseeing tour of the city and saw with their own eyes the realities of life in a Ukrainian city that suffers from almost daily Russian attacks. Foreigners visited the sites of missile and drone strikes on civilian infrastructure in the city center carried out by Russia in November 2024 and July 2023.

In addition, they assessed the changes in the city as part of decolonization measures to rethink the history of Odesa, and talked with residents of the city, who shared how they are restoring their own apartments after Russian terrorist attacks. Foreign conference participants also got acquainted with the traditional Ukrainian cuisine of Budzhak.

Valeriia Nasedkina conducted a tour of the contemporary art exhibitions of the Odesa National Art Museum. In particular, foreign guests were introduced to the photographic works and poetry of the artist and soldier Maksym Kryvtsov, who died while performing his military duty earlier this year, and to the works of the conceptual artist and performance artist Alevtina Kakhidze, in which she reflects on the issues of decolonization and the fate of Ukraine and Georgia.

It is worth recalling that the art museum suffered significantly due to Russian missile attacks, in particular in November 2023, when almost half of the premises were damaged.

The visit to Odesa made a strong impression on the foreign participants of the conference, and many articles and videos covering it have already been published in the media of their countries and on leading international channels.