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"A Special Gift": How Paska Made from Mykolaiv Flour Ended Up on Prince Harry’s Table

On April 10, Britain’s Prince Harry visited Ukraine on an unannounced trip. First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, Yuliia Svyrydenko, presented the prince with a special Easter basket as part of the Soul of Soil 2.0 project, which aims to draw attention to the issue of contamination of Ukrainian land with mines and other explosive hazards. Thecreative agency BAZA Agency worked on the project’s visuals.

Soul of Soil 2.0

Soul of Soil 2.0 is a project by the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Silpo supermarket chain. The special Easter basket gifted to Prince Harry was created as part of this initiative. Each item in the basket tells a story, highlighting the critical importance of demining Ukrainian land.

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This is our way of showing our gratitude to the people who are restoring life on the de-occupied territories of Ukraine. It’s our way of reminding everyone how many hectares of Ukrainian land still need to be cleared so grain can grow there again
Yuliia Svyrydenko
First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine
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This gift is really special

Soul of Soil 2.0 is a project by the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Silpo supermarket chain. The special Easter basket gifted to Prince Harry was created as part of this initiative. Each item in the basket tells a story, highlighting the critical importance of demining Ukrainian land.

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The paska we baked is not just a usual holiday bread. It’s a reminder of the price of bread made from flour that came from demined fields. Of the price of life returning to places where battles raged not long ago. It’s a symbol of recovery, hope, and the resilience of Ukrainians

Another key element in the Easter basket gifted to the prince were pysanky (traditional Ukrainian Easter eggs). They symbolize the strength of the Ukrainian spirit. Exquisitely beautiful Galician-style pysanky were created by Oksana Tsybukh in memory of her daughter, paramedic Iryna Tsybukh, who died last year while saving others. Alongside Oksana, craftswomen from various regions joined the project to create pysanky in memory of those whose lives were taken by the war

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The basket also included festive towels embroidered with willow branches. These were made by grandmothers from border villages in Sumy region. They were brought into the project by the social initiative Moyim.Ridnym ("ToMy Loved Ones"), which supports elderly women.Prince Harry’s wife, Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, posted a photo on Instagram showing them with their children tasting Ukrainian paska.

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A special gift «papa brought back from Ukraine»
the caption the Duchess of Sussex added to the photo.