For Evgenia Paliy, one of the places that holds most significance to her is the Boulevard de Kyiv, inaugurated last year in Bonnevoie. “It’s important, and we feel extremely grateful to Luxembourg for the opportunity to have this boulevard devoted to the nation that is now fighting the aggression, terror, and fighting for the whole of Europe,” Paliy explains.

She adds that it was particularly significant that the Luxembourg government took on the advice of the local Ukrainian community to change the spelling of the name to reflect the version from her homeland (it had formerly been planned to use the Russian spelling).

Since the war began, “we now have more than 5,000 Ukrainian refugees who arrived to the country, who feel at home,” she says. “They have a good place to live, the kids go to school and the country supports them.”

The , formerly known as the , was rebranded in February to reflect the organisation’s broader reach and impact. It was the main organiser and partner for the conference and gala, held in January 2023, which aimed to help tackle fears and challenges and guarantee new investment commitments to Paliy’s home country.

Of course, since the start of the Russian aggression, the chamber has also been a key player in helping to organise aid to Ukrainians, both here and abroad.

“Our main aim is business-to-business cooperation between Luxembourg and Ukraine, but also business and governments, in both countries,” Paliy explains. “We try to share the knowledge and experience between the two countries in economically-related spheres,” be that in finance, environment and energy, logistics, etc. The chamber has also held a variety of matchmaking events, webinars, conferences and more.

Even prior to the war, for over five years LUCC has also organised a delegation of startups and Ukrainian companies to come to Luxembourg. While Paliy currently works for ArcelorMittal--a Luxembourg company that was also rocked by the fighting in Ukraine, as its operations there were significantly idled, especially after the rocket attacks to their plant in Kryvyi Rih (central Ukraine)--she formerly worked as a legal advisor at the European Investment Bank, handling central and eastern Europe and eastern neighbours, through which she was also able to establish a broader Ukrainian network.