The speakers at the opening of the project and exhibition included Viktor Pinchuk, founder of EastOne and the Viktor Pinchuk Foundation, as well as the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, Yulia Svyrydenko, President of Poland Andrzej Duda, and Prime Minister of Lithuania Gintautas Paluckas. Also participating in the event was Senior Pilot Inspector of the Army Aviation Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Volodymyr Shliukharchuk. The moderator of the project and exhibition opening was Bjorn Geldhof, the art director of PinchukArtCentre.
The exhibition features works by leading international and Ukrainian artists, including Damien Hirst's installation "The Pain of Being," where a globe floats in a swift stream of air above knife blades. Additionally, the video work "Bird Cage" by David Claerbout was presented, showcasing a classic European garden and a mansion where an explosion occurs, as well as Alexey Sai's installation "Freedom," created from letters of a damaged stele from the frontline village of Lyubimovka in the Kherson region during the conflict.
In opening the project and exhibition, Pinchuk remarked: "Today we present our project Your Country First – Win With Us. Not everyone likes these words – 'Your country above all,' because some believe it refers to isolationism. I disagree. This is absolutely not about isolationism, as it is the duty of any head of state. For instance, the President of the USA must prioritize the interests of their country, just as the President of Poland and the Prime Minister of Lithuania must prioritize the interests of their countries. [...] Because if your national interests come first, it means that Ukraine must win."
Svyrydenko, in her welcoming speech, emphasized: "We see that the world is in a state of strong turbulence. The Russian invasion has had a butterfly effect worldwide. Every strike by Russia against Ukraine is a strike against the global economy. If we want to have a stable global economy, we must stop Russia; there is no other way. This exhibition calls on all of us to see Ukraine as part of a broader global narrative and to reflect on how our future is interconnected in ways we may not always envision."
Duda noted that stopping Russia is in the interest of many other countries. "When this war began, we heard voices in the world saying it would last perhaps three days. Soon it will be three years, and Ukraine is still defending itself. Our international obligation is to ensure that Ukraine defends its sovereignty until victory," he stated.
Paluckas emphasized that Ukraine is fighting not only for its country, its people, and its national identity but also for the entire free democratic world.