On June 15, voting began in the "Diia" app for a postage stamp dedicated to Independence Day. Seven sketches, one winner — but behind the familiar format lies an unusual context: for the first time, the stamp's theme was initiated not by Ukrposhta, but by the Coordination Headquarters on the Treatment of Prisoners of War jointly with the Ministry of Digital Transformation.
Why This Theme
According to the commissioner for missing persons Artur Dobroserdov, 59,000 Ukrainians are currently being searched for. Of these, 7,500 have been officially confirmed by the International Committee of the Red Cross as prisoners of war. Another approximately 30,000 acquired the status of missing persons only in 2024 — this includes both civilians and military personnel.
The stamp "We Are Waiting!" is an attempt to move this expectation from the private space of families into the public sphere. As the initiative explains, the contest is designed to "convey the experience of waiting and support of families whose loved ones are in captivity or are considered missing."
How It Works
The contest, which ran from April 17 to May 8, received hundreds of sketches from artists, illustrators, and people without professional experience. The Ukrposhta jury selected seven finalists — the works differ in style and mood, but all revolve around one theme: someone is waiting, someone will return.
Final voting in "Diia" will run until June 24. To participate, you need to open the app, go to the "Surveys" section, and view all seven options. The winning artist will sign a contract transferring property rights and develop additional sketches for a "First Day" envelope and postcard. The stamp will be released by August 24.
"Voting on the stamp sketch made it clear that philately is not just a history of postal currency or collecting, but a civic position that can be heard by the whole world."
— Ukrposhta, on the experience of previous public votes
Stamps as a Tool of Pressure
This is not the first time Ukrposhta has used philately as soft diplomacy and a message to the outside world. The 2022 stamp "Russian Warship" became an international media event and a philatelic bestseller — a million copies were purchased within days, and one sheet sold at a charity auction for 5 million hryvnias. "We Are Waiting!" follows a different logic: not a message of victory, but a reminder of the war's incompleteness and the people who have not yet been returned.
The winner of voting in "Diia" will receive not only circulation — Ukrposhta also reserves the right to offer collaboration to the authors of other strong works.
Whether the stamp about waiting will become as resonant an object as the stamp about victory depends on how many people vote and whether the circulation reaches beyond the collector audience to families who are truly waiting.
