(Minghui.org) In the fall in Ukraine, many municipalities celebrate their founding by holding “City Day” festivities. It is an opportunity for the community to come together and usually features concerts, fairs, and performances.

Falun Dafa practitioners often take part in these events to share their meditation practice with their communities. In September, they participated City Day celebrations in Lutsk and Khmelnytskyi, where they demonstrated and taught the exercises and raised awareness of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution of their faith.

People Sign Petitions in Khmelnytskyi

On September 26, Falun Dafa practitioners held an informational event in Chekman City Park in Khmelnytskyi as part of their City Day celebrations. This year, the city marked the 595th anniversary of its founding.

Practitioners do the Falun Dafa exercises in Khmelnytskyi on September 26. (Minghui.org)

Lyudmila. who arranged for practitioners to participate, said, “We came from different cities—Vinnytsia, Lviv, and Netishyn—to tell the people of Khmelnytskyi about Falun Dafa’s principles: Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.”

These boys thank practitioners for the lotus flowers keepsakes. (Minghui.org)

Several passersby expressed their concern for the persecuted practitioners in China and voiced their support for universal human values and freedom of conscience and said they supported human rights around the world.

A woman said she received information about Falun Dafa at City Day last year and was already aware of the CCP’s state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting in China. This time she came with her son, and, like his mother did last year, he signed the petition calling for an end to the human rights abuses.

Two sisters who read about the repression wanted to help put a stop to these brutal acts by the Communist Party in China, so they added their signatures.

Other passersby were interested in the meditation aspect of Falun Dafa and asked about the practice, including Oleksandra. She asked how one could overcome fear for one’s life and find inner harmony and wondered if Falun Dafa could help her.

Svitlana, a doctor, took some information about the exercises and left her telephone number so she could join the local study group. The practitioners presented her with an origami lotus flower—a symbol of harmony and purity.

People Learn the Falun Dafa Exercises at City Day in Lutsk City

Lutsk, one of Ukraine’s oldest cities, dates back to the Volhynian Principality. It celebrated its 941st anniversary on September 13, 2026. It has a population of around 220,000.

Practitioners from Lutsk and Lviv demonstrated the Falun Dafa exercises on the city’s main pedestrian street. They also told passersby about the persecution in China, handed out leaflets and newspapers about the persecution, and gave out lotus flowers.

“I feel that everyone would greatly benefit if they lived their lives according to Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness Compassion, and Forbearance,” said Vadim, a practitioner from Lutsk who organized the practitioners’ participation at the event.

He said that his health improved noticeably thanks to the practice and that following these principles every day taught him to handle conflicts calmly.

A passerby shakes Vadim’s (left) hand and thanks him for telling him about Falun Dafa. (Minghui.org)

Many passersby stopped to watch as practitioners demonstrated the Falun Dafa exercises. They read the information leaflets with interest, spoke to the practitioners, and learned about the persecution in China.

“Our aim is not to fight China, but to condemn the crimes of the Communist Party,” Vadim explained. “Falun Dafa brings people health and harmony. When the practice became hugely popular in China, the communist regime launched a brutal persecution, which has gone on for 27 years.”

An elderly man lingered at the information stand and spoke with practitioners at length about China’s profound culture, what Falun Dafa is, and why the persecution there has lasted so long.

A woman who said she’d looked for qigong exercises for a long time took several brochures and bought a copy of Falun Dafa’s main book Zhuan Falun. She said she would definitely come to the Falun Dafa group practice site in Lutsk, where practitioners meet every Sunday in the city’s central park.