City of Kent weekly update host Kent Mayer said the city formalized a sister‑city relationship with Lutsk, Ukraine after officials signed documents at the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, D.C.

Mayer said the city first signed a memorandum of understanding before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and completed an in‑person signing last week with the mayor of Lutsk. “We met at the Ukrainian embassy and were able to sign those documents in person formalizing that sister city relationship,” Mayer said.

The update said Kent has a sizeable Ukrainian diaspora and that officials view the sister‑city relationship as a way to support residents here while expressing support for an end to the war. “We want that war to end. We are there and supporting them, but supporting our residents here is is really key,” Mayer said.

Mayer also noted Kent’s existing sister cities in Tonga, Japan, Sunfjord, Norway, and Yangzhou, China and said officials are grateful to add Lutsk to that list. The city did not provide a timeline for joint projects or specific programs tied to the relationship during the update.

No formal City Council vote on the sister‑city relationship was described in the update; Mayer described the signing and the prior memorandum of understanding as the steps taken to formalize ties.