Welsh journalist Gareth Jones will be honoured with a 2m x 60cm memorial made of Welsh slate in the centre of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital city.

The memorial will be sited in the street named after him in 2020 by Kyiv City Council in recognition of his role as one of the first correspondents from the West to tell the world the truth about the famine in Ukraine, which killed an estimated 4 million Ukrainians between 1931 – 1932.

The memorial will feature an image of Gareth Jones and an inscription in Ukrainian, Welsh and English together with a portrayal of both Welsh and Ukrainian flags, crossed in harmony.

The memorial’s inscription will read: “Gareth Jones – Welsh journalist who was the first to state in the Western press, under his own name, that the Holodomor occurred in Ukraine in 1932-1933”.

Welsh Government has allocated £16,000 to the Senedd Cross-Party Group Friends of Ukraine for the construction and placement of the memorial.

Alun Davies MS, Chair of the Cross-Party Group said: “We don’t do enough to recognise the contribution Welsh citizens have made to world affairs. Gareth Jones was a unique individual. Whilst some journalists were wined and dined by the Soviet authorities and chose to ignore or deny what was happening in Ukraine, he chose to go and see for himself and he told the world.

“At this time, when Ukraine’s very existence is under attack and parts of the country where the Holodomor had such terrible impact are occupied, this is a way of recognising the vital role of journalists in exposing the truth and showing our solidarity and friendship with Ukraine.”

It is anticipated it will be ready for unveiling in a civic ceremony in Kyiv in November 2026, the traditional day of remembrance of the Holodomor (‘Death by Starvation’).

Graham Colley, grandnephew of Gareth Jones said: “I very much welcome this initiative which not only recognises the contribution of my Great Uncle, Gareth, to exposing one of the last centuries great crimes, the Holodomor. It is also a tribute in these troubling times to his commitment to the highest ethical standards of journalism at a time when the Soviet authorities and collaborative journalists sought to hide the truth of those terrible events.

“It is a fitting Welsh tribute to a true Welsh hero, one who is sadly better known internationally than he is in Wales. I hope this memorial stone will contribute to the growth of relations between the people of Wales and Ukraine.”

The memorial plinth will be hand-crafted and inscribed from natural Welsh slate. The project was approved by Kyiv City Council at a meeting between the Council and Alun Davies MS (Chair of the Cross-Party Group) and Mick Antoniw MS during their recent visit to Ukraine to deliver vehicles and aid to front-line units.

In March 1933 Gareth Jones convened a press conference in Berlin where he declared the famine which was a consequence of Stalin’s disastrous collectivisation programme. Although it affected parts of Russia and the Russian Federation as well, resistance in Ukraine was furious with an estimated 200 uprisings, which  were brutally suppressed. The implementation of the seizure of foods and grain resulted in the mass starvation of Ukrainian towns and villages. The consequences of the Holodomor are felt to this day particularly in Eastern and Central Ukraine.

The Welsh Parliament has formally passed a resolution declaring the Holodomor and Act of Genocide, the only one of the four Parliaments of the United Kingdom to formally make this declaration, joining other countries such as France, Australia and Canada.

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gareth_Jones_Edit.jpg Gareth Jones Source: People of Truth Author: Український інститут національної пам’яті, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.