Much excitement at City Hall on March 6 when Mayor Tim Kelly announced that Chattanooga and the Ukrainian city of Trostyanets have solidified their friendship with an official sister cities agreement. It was amazing to be present at the Zoom signing ceremony of the documents connecting Chattanooga and Trostyanets as official sister cities.
Kelly later posted on social media: “We first began our partnership in 2023 with a cooperative agreement that created a volunteer-led working group to help collaborate with the war-torn city.
“Through this friendship, we were able to welcome Trostyanets’ Mayor Yuriy Bova to Chattanooga in 2024.” That’s when I had the opportunity to meet Mayor Bova in person.
(READ MORE: Deborah Levine: Chattanoogans, join me in sending a ‘Light in the Dark’ to Ukraine)
Speaking with Mayor Bova and his interpreter was a real pleasure. Yuriy and I became friends and after he returned home to Trostyanets, we did a podcast together. In January, it was heartwarming to get an email from Yuriy asking to Zoom together again so that he could catch me up on the latest happenings in Trostyanets. And we did!