1 in 5 cultural figures leaving Ukraine doesn’t return – culture minister

Ukraine’s Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications, Mykola Tochytskyi, revealed on Tuesday that 20% of the country’s cultural figures who are granted exit clearance by his ministry travel abroad but fail to return.

“Over the past few years, there should have been a system in place for artists to travel abroad. But it doesn’t exist. Every day, I review about 100 travel requests, many from people I’ve never heard of, which forces me to spend time gathering information. I must also point out that, out of every five who leave, one does not come back,” the minister stated.