A shelf of donated books and an unmanned aerial system rarely share a guest list. For two months in early 2026, in the UAE, they did. The Month of Ukraine in the UAE opened on January 8 with Book Oasis, a book-crossing project at the Ukrainian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, and by the end had grown into a business platform for roughly 100 Ukrainian companies. Running through January and February under Ambassador Dr. Oleksandr Balanutsa, it pulled culture, economy, and defense into a single Unity Day reception.
How Did the Month of Ukraine in the UAE Begin?
The Month of Ukraine in the UAE began on January 8, 2026, with the Book Oasis book-crossing project at the Embassy in Abu Dhabi, organized by the Ukrainian Women’s Initiative in the UAE. A second opened the next day, January 9, at the Consulate of Ukraine in Dubai, extending the format to both emirates.
Ambassador Dr. Oleksandr Balanutsa called the project the first event of the wider program, a way to open the month through culture, language, and books. The model was simple: take a book, leave a book. It ran at both diplomatic missions from the initiative’s first days.
Two venues, one format, and an earlier open call anchored the launch:
- Venues: the Embassy of Ukraine in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate of Ukraine in Dubai, one day apart
- Format: book-crossing, take-one-leave-one, run as a joint Embassy and Ukrainian Women’s Initiative project
- Artist call: portfolios were due December 1, 2025, ahead of the month’s exhibition programming
Cultural programming continued through mid-January. Composer and pianist Yevhen Khmara performed a charity concert in Abu Dhabi on January 18, following a children’s music workshop the day before. The concerts carried the month’s cultural diplomacy past the two Book Oasis launches, into the run-up to the Unity Day reception on January 28.
Why Does the Month of Ukraine in the UAE Matter?
The Month of Ukraine in the UAE 2026 was the first time Ukraine ran cultural, economic, and defense programming in the Emirates as one consolidated format instead of separate events. The Unity Day reception in Abu Dhabi on January 28, 2026 is where those three strands came together in a single evening.
For a UAE-based business audience, that consolidation is the point. A one-off cultural event reaches a cultural audience. A program that pairs a trade platform with a defense-industrial display reaches founders, investors, and procurement teams at once. It is a form of Ukrainian cultural diplomacy UAE audiences can engage with directly, not a closed diplomatic exercise.
The program also ran past the reception itself. On January 30, two days after Unity Day, the “BIRD” exhibition of contemporary Ukrainian art opened at Noor Royal Gallery in Dubai with the support of the Embassy of Ukraine in the UAE. The month did not peak on a single evening and then stop.
The reasons this initiative stands apart:
- First consolidated format: culture, economy, and defense under one program, not separate events
- Convergence point: the Unity Day reception on January 28, 2026 in Abu Dhabi
- Three strands in one evening: an artistic program, an economic agenda, and a defense-industrial display
Which Companies Supported the Month of Ukraine in the UAE?
Top Netics and Immagics were among the teams behind the content and technical production for the Month of Ukraine in the UAE. Our part of it covered video, exhibition stands, technical support, and montage.
Two videos anchored our work for the reception. One moved through Ukraine’s story, from its history to its economy and technology sector, and made the case for a country that keeps working through the hardest years. The other put faces and names to the Ukrainian companies featured at the event, profiling each in turn.
The room was mixed: diplomats, business figures, cultural guests. That shaped the brief. The material had to land for people who know Ukraine well and for people meeting it for the first time, in the same three minutes. The work ran on a tight schedule, with filming, editing, and montage wrapped in the weeks before January 28. Top Netics CEO Ihor Arkhypenko was present at the reception.
What Cultural Events Took Place During Ukraine’s Unity Day Reception in the UAE?
The reception, held on January 28, 2026 in Abu Dhabi, marked the 107th anniversary of Ukraine’s Unity Day, which falls on January 22 and commemorates the 1919 unification of Ukraine. It ran an artistic program alongside its economic and diplomatic agenda, and featured an exhibition of works by Ukrainian artists living in the UAE, the “Ukraine – UNESCO” heritage display, and “The Incredible” portrait exhibition.
The exhibition of Ukrainian artists living in the UAE brought together 19 participants: Maryna Futymska, Victoria Sosonka, Iryna Barsuk, Veronika Senkova, Nataliia Kuzmenko, Nataliia Melnychenko, Tetyana Udovyka, Ellina Zhyzhyna, Daria Trehubenko, Olga Hunko, Yevheniia Nemirova, Yana Rusnak, Kateryna Plyva, Olena Mishchenko, Yevheniia Chabanova, Iryna Vorobchuk, Nataliya Garbovska, Olena Tarasenko, and Kateryna Makarova.
The “Ukraine – UNESCO” display took a different angle. It walked through Ukraine’s UNESCO World Heritage sites, with the framing pointed at one thing: what it means to protect that heritage while Russia’s full-scale aggression continues.
“The Incredible” exhibition, presented by the Ukrainian Women’s Initiative in the UAE, was a portrait series of notable Ukrainian women marking the 140th anniversary of the Ukrainian women’s movement. The artistic program ran alongside the reception’s economic and diplomatic content, not as a separate track.
What Technology and Business Initiatives Launched During the Month of Ukraine?
The central business initiative was the Ukraine UAE Global Online Expo, a platform branded “Bridge to the Emirates” that onboarded roughly 100 Ukrainian companies for the Emirati market. The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine, DiiaCity Union, and the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine backed the platform.
The Expo ran as an online exhibition, with participating companies presented through digital stands rather than a physical show floor. Top Netics, Immagics, Sealbound, and Qarrib were among the companies that held stands on the platform.
The four span different corners of tech and commerce. Top Netics, an AI-native venture builder, sits closest to the event itself. Immagics runs design and digital production, covering brands, websites, video, and 3D work. Sealbound handles something narrower: a white-label platform that issues blockchain-verified certificates and diplomas. Qarrib works at street level instead, a hyperlocal commerce platform pairing local merchants with customers across two apps, one for each side of the counter.
The Unity Day reception paired the Expo’s launch with a defense-industrial display. Interactive displays included the Vampir unmanned aerial system, presented alongside civilian technology exhibits from the same programming.
The Expo works as a digital bridge for Ukraine business into the Emirati market, giving companies a single onboarding point instead of separate, company-by-company market entry. Placing Ukrainian innovation next to a defense-industrial display in the same room tied the trade and technology tracks together.
| Market access | Before the Expo | After the Expo |
|---|---|---|
Entry model | Company-by-company, no shared platform | Single onboarding platform, "Bridge to the Emirates" |
Ukrainian companies onboarded | No consolidated figure | Roughly 100 |
Institutional backing | Fragmented | Ministry of Economy, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, DiiaCity Union, American Chamber of Commerce |
What the business track put in place:
- A named platform: the Ukraine Global Online Expo, “Bridge to the Emirates”
- Scale: roughly 100 Ukrainian companies onboarded
- Backing: four named Ukrainian and bilateral institutions
- A defense-industrial display, including the Vampir unmanned aerial system
What Is the Current State of Ukraine-UAE Relations?
Ukraine UAE relations in 2026 rest on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement that took effect on July 1, 2026, removing tariffs on 99% of Emirati goods and 97% of Ukrainian exports, alongside deepening security cooperation. The UAE has also taken on a mediator role in prisoner-of-war exchanges between Ukraine and Russia.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan have held direct talks on regional security and economic stabilization, reinforcing the diplomatic track beneath the Month of Ukraine’s cultural and business programming.
The Month of Ukraine sits on top of that base rather than apart from it. The Expo’s trade platform maps onto the economic partnership, the defense display onto the security track, and the reception’s diplomacy onto the head-of-state contacts. The cultural month gave those existing government-level ties a public face in the Emirates.
The relationship now runs on four pillars:
- Defense and security: deepening security cooperation, including UAE-hosted talks
- Economic ties: the Ukraine UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, cutting tariffs on 99% of Emirati goods and 97% of Ukrainian exports
- Humanitarian mediation: the UAE’s role in Ukraine-Russia prisoner-of-war exchanges
- Diplomacy: direct talks between President Zelenskyy and President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
To see the business side of the initiative directly, visit the Ukraine Global Online Expo, “Bridge to the Emirates,” and review the roughly 100 onboarded companies for potential partners. Top Netics worked on this event and took part in it. For production, exhibitions, or partnership on what comes next, start here.
