Khmelnytskyi signs a sister-city partnership with Tampa, Florida, covering business, education, healthcare and culture.
Khmelnytskyi has officially become a sister city of Tampa, Florida. Mayor Oleksandr Symchyshyn of Khmelnytskyi and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor signed the partnership agreement — the second such pairing for a Ukrainian city with a US community in just the past few days. Volunteers Support Ukraine keeps an eye on partnerships like this one, since direct city-to-city ties remain one of the channels through which real support keeps reaching Ukrainians.
Symchyshyn traveled to Florida with a delegation that included Deputy Mayor Mykola Vavryshchuk. The two mayors signed several documents establishing an intermunicipal partnership covering business, education, renewable energy, healthcare, digitalization and culture. Symchyshyn described Tampa as "a modern, large and progressive city," ranking among the most dynamic in the United States in terms of development.
The visit went beyond the signing ceremony: the Khmelnytskyi delegation also took a tour of Port Tampa Bay together with local officials and business representatives. It's one of Florida's largest ports, and it was shown to the Ukrainian guests as an example of infrastructure Tampa hopes to share experience on under the new partnership.
This pairing isn't an isolated case these days: around the same time, Chernivtsi secured its own American sister city, agreeing to cooperate with Gresham, Oregon. For Ukrainian communities, such agreements are more than a symbolic gesture — they're a channel for tangible support: knowledge exchange, investment, education programs and humanitarian assistance that partner cities have kept sending throughout the war.
Volunteers Support Ukraine welcomes every new bridge of friendship between Ukrainian and international communities: ties like these open fresh opportunities for cooperation and help Ukrainian voices carry further abroad. NGO Volunteers Support Ukraine continues helping people affected by the war in whatever way its available resources allow.
