The Central Bank of Ukraine unveiled a commemorative note to mark the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
The note is a 20 hryvnia note (the local currency) where on one side three soldiers are seen raising the national flag and on the other side of the note there is an image of two hands tied with ribbon, implying war crimes on the Russian side.
“To mark the anniversary of the war, we decided to launch a commemorative banknote that will describe on a small piece of paper a year of emotions, patterns, content and iconic things,” said Andriy Fishny, Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine. During a press conference at the Central Bank in Kyiv.
“We couldn’t help but celebrate this date, the anniversary of the invasion in a significant way. For us, the war has lasted not a year or ten, but a hundred years. This is why we decided to commemorate our joint struggle for money” – emphasized Fishney, “Today the National Bank presents a commemorative banknote which we created as a reminder of the war of independence and sovereignty of Ukraine. We called this banknote – “Remember! We will not forgive!”. There is no need to decipher the name, it is clear and familiar to every Ukrainian. She says: We stand and persevere, we will win.”
The central bank has been working hard since the full-scale invasion on February 24 last year to keep the economy afloat and maintain stability. Last summer, the bank pegged the riba to 36.57 to the dollar, while the bank regularly intervenes in the foreign exchange market to support the local currency.
Thanks to billions of dollars in foreign aid from Western partners, Ukraine’s currency reserves have grown to nearly $30 billion, slightly more than at the start of the war.
Fishni said that the new banknote contains innovative security features in order to prevent counterfeiting and it will have a circulation of 300,000.
Central bank officials said it took about eight months to design and produce the note, and the bank is planning a series of commemorative notes to provide a visual record of the war. In addition, the sources said that they are already planning to issue new banknotes to commemorate the victory and restoration of Ukraine.
“During this year, the Ukrainians realized their strength, their significance, their ability not only to stand but also to win, to win without forgiving one military crime, one destroyed house,” Pashiny said. “This victory will come at a very high price, but it will happen and it will be ours.”