Nizhyn - Ukraine
About Nizhyn
Nizhyn is a city of approximately 68,000 residents in the Chernihiv Oblast of northern Ukraine, located roughly 130 kilometers northeast of Kyiv. Founded at least as far back as the 12th century, Nizhyn is home to Nizhyn Mykola Gogol State University — named for the famous writer born there in 1809 — one of Ukraine's oldest universities, established in 1805, predating Penn State by more than 50 years. The city has faced significant hardship since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, including infrastructure damage and ongoing threats to civilian life. Despite this, Nizhyn's residents and local government have continued to function and rebuild, and the city's leadership has actively pursued international partnerships as both a practical and symbolic act of resilience.
History
The Gainesville-Nizhyn relationship grew out of the work of the University of Florida's Ukraine Rebuilding Initiative (URI), a student-led organization founded in August 2023 by Mikhail Mikhaylov — a UF student born in Russia who felt compelled to act as his home country waged war on people he loved in Ukraine. Mikhaylov and his colleagues spent more than a year building a relationship with Mayor Harvey Ward, and on October 31, 2024, Mayor Ward signed a Memorandum of Understanding officially making Nizhyn Gainesville's sister city.
Former Mayor Lauren Poe, who had previously connected with Nizhyn Mayor Oleksandr Kodola through contacts in Washington, D.C., served as an advisor to the URI throughout the process. The partnership reflects GGIC's core conviction that sister cities connect people, not governments or ideologies — a principle of particular significance during an active armed conflict.
Since 2024
See the memorandum of understanding establishing the sister city relationship between Gainesville and Nizhyn in 2024 below.
Exchanges and Delegations
A delegation from Nizhyn visited Gainesville in October of 2024 where official documents were signed by both parties. This exchange formally established the Gainesville/NIzhyn program.
An exchange between a professor from Nizhyn Gogol State University and the University of Florida was held on April 4, 2026. The two professors each discussed the history of their respective regions with a group of students and members of the general public from both regions.
October 2025: A delegation of students, teachers and civic leaders visited Gainesville from Nizhyn. This was the first official delegation from Nizhyn to visit Gainesville.
June 2026: Mayor Kodola visited Gainesville and met with Mayor Ward, local government officials, toured the UF Innovate Hub and Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator, and discussed future opportunities. The visit was coordinated with the assistance of the UF Ukraine Rebuilding Initiative (URI).
Projects
From the outset, the Gainesville-Nizhyn partnership has been oriented toward direct humanitarian assistance. The Ukraine Rebuilding Initiative has organized fundraising, collected medical and nutritional supplies, and worked to deliver concrete infrastructure improvements to Nizhyn.
In December 2025, URI received confirmation that a new wastewater pump station it funded and sent to Nizhyn had been successfully installed. Nizhyn Mayor Kodola reported that the energy-efficient pump had already improved reliability in the city's wastewater system, reducing the need for emergency responses and directly benefiting public health. URI has also pursued prosthetics development for injured veterans in partnership with UF's biomedical engineering program, and has designed 3D blueprints for bomb shelters intended for installation at Nizhyn bus stops.