One of the founders of the Ukrainian high school in Simferopol has died

Petro Volvach, a renowned Ukrainian scholar, public figure, researcher of the Symyrenko family, and one of the founders of the Ukrainian national movement in Crimea, has died at the age of 88.

His daughter, Yaryna Volvach, announced her father’s death.

Petro Volvach was among those who, in the early years of Ukraine’s independence, helped build the Ukrainian cultural and educational community in Crimea. He played a key role in founding the Crimean “Prosvita,” the Ukrainian newspaper “Krymska Svitlytsia,” and the Ukrainian gymnasium in Simferopol.

Alongside his civic activities, Volvach dedicated his life to science. He was an agronomist, an agroecologist, a member of the Ukrainian Academy of Ecological Sciences, and the author of over 300 scientific papers and 18 monographs.

A separate focus of his work was the study of the Symyrenko family. It was Petro Volvach who pioneered “Symyrenko studies” in Ukraine—a field of research dedicated to studying the life and legacy of this prominent Ukrainian family of industrialists, patrons of the arts, and horticulturists.

For his many years of scholarly and public service, he was awarded the Order “For Merit,” Third Class, and received the Levko Symyrenko Prize.

The family will provide further details regarding the date and location of Petro Volvach’s funeral.

Recently,Asan Dzhemilev, a veteran of the Crimean Tatar national movement and the olderbrother of Mustafa Dzhemilev, passed away in occupied Crimea.

On April 10, the film “Oxygen Station” is set to be released in Ukrainian theaters—a story of love, dignity, and a struggle that continues even in exile.Directed by Ivan Tymchenko, the film tells thestory of Mustafa Dzhemilev, leader of the Crimean Tatar people, and his wife Safinar, who together endured repression, imprisonment, and exile.

“Oxygen Station” depicts the events of the summer of 1980, when Mustafa Dzhemilev, a long-time political prisoner, was serving yet another term of exile in SovietYakutia, at an oxygen station in the village of Zyryanka. Every day, he filled rusty oxygen cylinders, and it was there that his love story with his future wife, Safinar, began.

Андрій Колісніченко