June 6 is celebrated in Ukraine as Journalist’s Day, and in the world – World Transplantology Day and World Green Roof Day. June 6 was marked in the history of the world and Ukraine by a number of events that encompassed political upheavals, scientific discoveries, and cultural milestones. This day in Ukrainian history is a day of man-made, human and military mistakes that are repeated.
Journalist’s Day
This is a professional holiday established by the decree of President Leonid Kravchuk in 1994. The date is timed to the moment when the Ukrainian Association of Journalists was accepted into the ranks of the International Federation of Journalists in 1992 — as a sign of recognition of independent Ukrainian journalism at the international level.
It is a day to honor those who work with information: reporters, analysts, photojournalists, editors, operators, editors, correspondents and everyone involved in the creation of a news product. It is also a day to reflect on the place of journalism in society: its role as a tool of control, a source of knowledge, a space for criticism and debate, and sometimes a field for the struggle for the right to speak out.
In Ukraine, Journalist’s Day is inextricably linked with the topic of freedom of speech. In the conditions of war, censorship, misinformation and physical danger for reporters, this holiday takes on even greater importance. It reflects not only professional dignity, but also the price that sometimes has to be paid for the right to inform society.
Interesting facts
In Kyiv, the first printed bulletins began to be published in the 18th century, the forerunners of newspapers, in particular, “Kyivski obstavi”. In Kharkiv, Hryhoriy Kvitka-Osnovyanenko launched the first Ukrainian-language periodical, “Ukrainsky vestnik”, which combined literature and journalism. Osnova magazine became the first platform for social and political conversation in Ukrainian — even Shevchenko was published in it.
After the Manifesto of 1905, when censorship was partially abolished, dozens of Ukrainian-language newspapers appeared in Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, and Odesa within a few months — but a year later, most of them were closed.
Hundreds of Ukrainian journalists became victims of repression – in 1933 alone, more than a hundred editors and publicists were arrested.
In the 1960s and 1980s, journalism lived in self-publishing: underground typewritten newsletters, such as the “Ukrainian Herald” by Vyacheslav Chornovol, were distributed illegally, and the authors were imprisoned for it. Independent journalism began to take shape only at the end of the 1980s, when the first free Union of Journalists was created.
After the murder of Georgy Gongadze, the journalistic community united around the protection of freedom of speech. During the Maidan and after the start of the war in 2014, Ukrainian journalists began to work in the war zone, creating a new ethic — military, field.
On June 6, 1992, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine was admitted to the International Federation of Journalists — this event became the basis for establishing the date of the holiday.
After 2022, Ukraine has become one of the most dangerous countries for working in the media — dozens of dead journalists, work in the occupation, at the front, in evacuation. Despite everything, journalism persevered and continues to document the war every day.
According to the Institute of Mass Information, at least 70 media workers have been killed since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine (February 2022), some of them performing professional duties in the war zone.
World Transplantology Day
This day is designed to draw society’s attention to the issue of organ donation, the importance of transplant medicine and the role of doctors working in this highly specialized field. The initiative of the celebration belongs to the medical and patient communities, who seek to draw attention to the lives of people who are on the waiting list for organ transplants and those who have already received a chance for recovery through transplantation.
Every day society faces challenges: low level of awareness, ethical debates, legal conflicts and lack of donors. At the same time, transplantation is the only chance of salvation for people with terminal kidney, liver or heart failure. In Ukraine, this topic is particularly relevant: tens of thousands of people are waiting for a transplant every year, but the number of operations is still far less than the need.
In recent years, the country has seen a gradual development of the transplantation system. After long years of decline, new regulations were adopted, registers were created and the EDIST system (Unified State Transplantation Information System) was introduced. In 2024, Ukraine reached a record number of kidney, heart and liver transplants, in particular from posthumous donors. However, many challenges remain – both in legislation and in the culture of attitude towards donation.
Interesting facts
In 1933, in Ukraine (Kherson), Yuriy Voronoi was the first in the world to try to transplant a human kidney. The donor was a deceased woman. The operation was experimental and unsuccessful – the patient lived only a few days, but this was the first case of clinical kidney transplantation from a posthumous donor in the world.
In 1954, in the USA, Richard Merrill and Joseph Murray performed the first successful kidney transplant between identical twins. Due to complete immunological compatibility, the operation was successful, and the patient lived for several more years. This case is considered the beginning of the era of successful transplantation, because for the first time the problem of rejection was overcome.
In 2023, more than 380 organ transplant operations were performed in Ukraine, about half of them from posthumous donors. This is many times more than in previous years, but it is still very far from the indicators of the EU countries.
According to the Ministry of Health, more than 4,000 patients in Ukraine are officially waiting for a kidney, heart, liver or lung transplant. The real need is much greater.
Since 2021, the Unified State Transplantation Information System has been operating in Ukraine, which automatically selects “donor-recipient” pairs based on medical indicators.
In Ukraine, anyone over the age of 18 can consent to posthumous donation by registering in a personal account on “Diya” or at their family doctor. At the same time, relatives still have the right to block donation, even if consent was given during life.
In 2024, lung transplantation was performed for the first time in Ukraine (in cooperation with a foreign clinic), which opens new horizons for domestic medicine.
World Green Roof Day
It is an informal initiative that emerged in response to the growing need to adapt the urban environment to climate change, urban overheating, biodiversity loss and infrastructure overload. Green roofs are a constructive solution that combines architecture, ecology and energy efficiency.
In the simplest sense, a green roof is the roof of a building, on which a layer with soil, plants and a drainage system has been created instead of the usual covering. It can be intensive (with trees, bushes, human access) or extensive (with mosses, grasses, minimal maintenance). Depending on the country, climate and urban planning policy, green roofs perform different functions: reduce the urban heat island effect, reduce air conditioning costs, filter rainwater, improve acoustics and create micro-ecosystems.
In Ukraine, interest in the topic increased after 2020, when environmental issues began to be heard more often in the urban discourse. In new residential and commercial construction, green roofs are gradually appearing, although they are still mostly a private initiative of the developer or an ornament for business centers.
Interesting facts
The concept of green roofs is not new – it dates back to the 6th century BC. in Babylon, the legendary hanging gardens of Semiramis were created, which many researchers consider to be the first form of green roofs.
Berlin has a government subsidy program for green roofs, and Toronto has become the first city in North America to make green roofs mandatory for new large buildings under municipal code.
Research shows that green roofs can reduce roof surface temperatures by 30-60 °C in summer compared to black bitumen.
Green roofs reduce the need for air conditioning in summer by up to 25%, and also reduce heat loss in winter thanks to an additional thermal insulation layer.
One square meter of an extensive green roof is able to hold up to 5-10 liters of rainwater, which helps to relieve the city’s stormwater systems.
Examples of green roofs can be found in Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro, particularly on new residential complexes, office centers, and even on reconstructed Soviet buildings.
Studies in European capitals prove that extensive roofs with low vegetation can become a habitat for pollinators and endangered bird species.
Historical events on this day
1523 — Sweden finally left the Kalmar Union, breaking the union with Denmark. On this day, Gustav Vasa was elected king, laying the foundation for an independent Swedish kingdom.
1683 — The world’s first museum open to the general public opened in Oxford — the Ashmolean Museum became a symbol of a new approach to science and collecting.
1768 — Troops of Cossacks marched from Kholodny Yar under the leadership of Maksym Zaliznyak. Their campaign against the Polish nobility turned into a large-scale uprising, which went down in history as Koliivshchyna. According to various estimates, up to 200,000 people died.
1882 — American Henry Seely received a patent for the first electric iron, starting a new era in household appliances.
1925 — Walter Chrysler founded the Chrysler automobile corporation, which later became one of the most famous in the world.
1933 — In New Jersey (USA), the first drive-in cinema was opened, where viewers could watch movies without leaving the car. It was designed for 400 cars.
1944 — The landing of Allied troops in Normandy under the command of General Eisenhower began – one of the key moments of the Second World War, which marked the opening of the second front in Europe.
1962 — George Martin, after listening to The Beatles, first called their music terrible. However, he soon changed his mind and became a producer who defined the band’s sound for years to come.
1981 — American doctors for the first time recorded cases of a new unknown disease, which will later be called AIDS.
1984 — Programmer Oleksiy Pazhitnov created one of the most famous video games of all time, Tetris.
1990 — The All-Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral announced the creation of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC). Metropolitan Mstislav was elected as its first patriarch.
1991 — Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to ending the Cold War.
1994 — One of the largest aviation accidents occurred in China: a Tu-154 crashed near Xi’an, killing 160 people.
2012 — Venus passed across the disk of the Sun — a rare astronomical phenomenon that will be seen next time only in 2117 and 2125.
June 6 is a day when, in different years, Ukraine has been on the brink of catastrophe more than once.
1918 — explosive Kyiv
On that June morning, the residents of Zvirynets woke up to a powerful explosion. A fire broke out at military warehouses located in this historic district of Kyiv. It is not known exactly what caused it, but the fact is that the flames reached warehouses with shells and explosives. A chain reaction began.
Dull explosions replaced each other, the ground shook. Shells flew for kilometers, hitting houses, streets, and people. The district, which was densely built up, was literally wiped off the face of the earth. Over 900 buildings were destroyed by the blast wave in a few hours. More than 12,000 people lost their homes. According to the investigation, about 200 people died, more than a thousand were injured. But these figures are preliminary, probably the victims were much more: some of the bodies were simply not found.
It was the first man-made disaster of this scale in the history of the city. Its echo was later heard in Bulgakov’s novel “The White Guard”. The writer transferred the explosion to Lysa Gora, adding a mystical sound to the story. But behind the artistic techniques there were very specific, real tragedies. Versions of the cause, ranging from negligence to sabotage, have been considered for years, but no one has ever been found guilty. And what is telling: even during the years of the civil war, there was no popular version about “enemy agents” – it was simply accepted that the tragedy had happened and that those responsible had disappeared somewhere.
1997 — the ground collapsed in the Dnipro
It was a silent disaster. Without explosions and fires, but with the same power of destruction. The day before, it was raining heavily in Dnipropetrovsk, as Dnipro was then called. The downpours lasted for hours, the sewers were clogged with water, and at night something that was not immediately recognized as trouble began.
At 4 o’clock in the morning, residents of the “Vitchiznyana” district woke up to a dull roar. The garages near the “Zustrichna” station disappeared underground. Then the earth crawled down – slowly, but inexorably. At 6 a.m., the landslide reached the kindergarten. And within an hour, residential building No. 22 on Topolina Street collapsed. The nine-story building, where children, adults, and families were sleeping just a moment ago, turned into a lump of concrete debris.
The reason is geology. More than a third of the city stands on loess soils: they look hard, but when they absorb moisture, they become like plasticine. Such soils could not withstand the water load. The main thing is that all this was predictable. The city services knew about the risks, they knew that the sewage was not working, but they did not act. As the press wrote at the time: “Until the thunder strikes, the City Hall will not be crossed.” Thunder struck, and the consequences were catastrophic.
2023 — explosion of the Kakhovskaya HPP
On the night of June 5-6, Russian troops controlling the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station blew up the dam. The giant concrete structure, which contained billions of cubic meters of water in the Kakhovsky Reservoir, was destroyed by explosions from the inside. Uncontrolled discharge of water began.
In a few hours, the water level in the Dnieper began to rise rapidly. Flooded houses, destroyed fields, lost infrastructure, missing people and dead. Cities and villages of the Kherson region were literally under water. Along with them are nature reserves, agriculture, sources of drinking water for the south of Ukraine. The water washed away everything – you can’t do without downpours here. It was a disaster that was recognized as such not only in Ukraine, but also at the international level.
If the Kyiv tragedy of 1918 was the result of the preservation of ammunition within the city limits, the Dnipro tragedy was the result of indifference to risks, then the Kakhovka tragedy was the purposeful destruction of the state’s critical infrastructure in the middle of the war.
