Easter or Kulici? Prince Harry's visit to Ukraine caused an unusual controversy before Easter

Prince Harry made an unannounced visit to Ukraine last Friday, meeting in the city of Liov in the western country with veterans of the Ukrainian armed forces who were injured following the Russian military aggression. However, his visit caused a heated controversy among the Ukrainians before Easter, reports the local telegraph site.

During the visit, Harry received a Easter basket that contained Easter, the traditional Easter cozonac and Ukraine. But the images distributed with the gift generated a wave of comments and criticism on the social networks, many Ukrainians wondering if he has really received a gift to a Ukrainian Easter or, in fact, a Kulici, a similar type of Russian cozonac.

Those who considered that a Russian kulici can be seen in the photographs that this gift would have been ignored by the sacredness and respect for the Ukrainian authenticity.

The subject became so commented that Kyiv 24 television invited a researcher in Ukraine's gastronomic culture, Olena Braicenko, to present her opinion as an expert. It rejected the speculation about the Russian Kulici and urged the public to study the Ukrainian sources and to be interested in its own history. According to her, the Easter bread offered to the British prince was Ukrainian.

“We know too little about the regional history of the Ukrainian cuisine. For example, in the Ivano-Frankivsk region is even more ordinary Easter without glaze, but decorated with a braid and a cross above. In the Kharkov regions and Sumî Pasca decorates with egg and ginger on top, to have a yellow color,” Braicenko explained.

The researcher also stressed that the white glaze on the Easter has nothing to do with Russia, but rather with the development of confectionery art.

“I am definitely against these comparisons. Let us study the Ukrainian sources and know our history without always reporting to the aggressor's culture,” concluded Olen Braicenko.

Prior to the outbreak of the controversy, the Minister of the Economy of Ukraine, Iulia Sviridenko, said that the Easter offered to Prince Harry was baked by grandparents in the Sumî region and that the flour used in its preparation was obtained from wheat cultivated from the same region on the border with Russia.

Previously, the Ukrainian Telegraph has reported how Prince Harry has supported the Ukrainian veterans over the years. This was his first visit to Ukraine.