I didn’t think we’d see Ukraine’s EUROPA 2022 stamps. Their program was thrown into disarray with the war. Despite the chaos, Ukrposhta has managed to issue a stream of stunning stamps dealing with the conflict. Seeing the EUROPA release pop up was a real surprise. 

Ukraine’s entry won bronze in the EUROPA 2021 Endangered National Wildlife competition.  The set, Cry of the Carpathians, explored the threatened Carpathian ecosystem, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017. 

This year’s EUROPA theme was Stories and Myths and produced a thrilling array of stories from across Europe. Ukraine explored the Slavic origin myths of Svarog, Creator of the Universe (also god of fire) and Lada, Goddess of Motherhood. I suspect this set arrived too late to be considered for the competition, but, regardless, still nice to see them. 

Visually, these are one of the most stunning sets that came out of the entire competition. Artist Миколай Кочубей  Mykola Kochubey’s use  of modern imagery and tradition, backed with graphics that look like they are on fire, should be the winners in my opinion.  The best part of the set is the visuals of angels plucking on DNA strands in the Lada stamp. I missed that on my first glimpse. 

The sheets offer even more details to explore. I’ve left both images super sized so you can comb through the artwork – just click on them to blow them up and enjoy.  

The cancel is interesting. It mirrors the firestorm coming from Svarog’s anvil and intertwines nicely with Lada’s Yin and Yang theme. Kochubey’s  use of the cover to complete the story is very satisfying. Its one of those rare sets that you need to see every piece of artwork to appreciate the theme.

You can see more Ukrainian stamps for 2022 as well as the entire EUROPA 2022 program. It has proven to be one of the top 3 EUROPA themes to date. 

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