Month: November 30, 2018 8:32 am

When Russian ships attacked three vessels of Ukraine’s Navy on November 25, the “incident” was nothing short of an act of war. The Ukrainian ships – two gunboats and a tug – were sailing in the Black Sea toward the Azov Sea when they were confronted by Russian forces near the entrance to the Kerch Strait. The Russian coast guard first rammed the tugboat, and later fired upon and seized all three vessels and their crew. Six of the sailors were wounded; two of them seriously. Twenty-four sailors are now prisoners of war held by Russia; they’re in pre-trial detention for 60 days as ordered by a Russian court in occupied Crimea. The charge: trespassing on “Russian territory.”

Fifteen years ago, on December 8, 2003, Ukraine announced it would dig a channel in the Kerch Strait near the island of Tuzla – which had received media attention earlier in 2003 after Russia began construction of a dike in September to link Tuzla Island to Russian territory.

Vladimir Putin views autocephaly for the Ukrainian Orthodox as fateful and negative an impact on Russia as the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Andrey Illarionov says. The Kremlin leader will never forgive Kyiv for this and will do all he can to block it.

The reason that the Kremlin and the Moscow Patriarchate are so alarmed by the prospect of an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church is that it undercuts Vladimir Putin’s drive to rewrite Russian history “from official imperial positions” and calls attention to the rapid disintegration of his “’Russian world,’” Boris Sokolov says.

The statement below was released by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress on November 21.

On November 21, the Ukrainian people mark the Day of Dignity and Freedom. Five years ago today, the people of Ukraine took to the streets in protest of their government’s decision not to sign the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. 

The following statement was released by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America on November 21.

The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), the largest representation of over 1.5 million Americans of Ukrainian descent, commends our brethren in Ukraine on this Day of Dignity and Freedom.

As I contemplated what to write about for my next column, it dawned on me that three of the most historic events in Ukraine of the last three decades occurred, or got their start, in the late November/early December time period. As a long-time policy advisor at a government agency, the U.S. Helsinki Commission, I had the opportunity to travel to Kyiv and witness at least parts of these three momentous events. So, permit me, dear reader, to switch from my usual focus on Washington and share some reminiscences from Kyiv.

FRESNO, Calif. – This year marks not only the solemn 85th anniversary of the Holodomor, the genocide perpetrated by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in Ukraine, but also the 65th anniversary of Raphael Lemkin’s speech, presented on September 20, 1953, which highlighted the “classic example of Soviet genocide,” characterizing it as “not simply a case of mass murder [, but as] a case of genocide, of destruction, not of individuals only, but of a culture and a nation.” 

MONTREAL – To commemorate the 85th anniversary of the Holodomor, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), Montreal Branch, hosted a talk, in Ukrainian, by Dr. Volodymyr Serhiychuk titled “Number of Victims in the Holodomor-Genocide 1932-1933: Archival Documents and Political Versions.” His presentation was held in co-operation with the Shevchenko Scientific Society (NTSh) of Montreal.

TORONTO – The Holodomor Research and Education Consortium (HREC) announced on October 1 that its national panel of four education adjudicators had selected the 2018 winners of the HREC Educator Prize for Holodomor Lesson Plan Development, awarded this year to mark the 85th year of commemorating the Ukrainian genocide known as the Holodomor. This year the judges awarded a total of five prizes to educators, totaling $4,200. 

The statements below was released by the Ukrainian World Congress, Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, U.S. Department of State 

TORONTO – The official launch of the multi-award-winning feature documentary “Recovery Room” on DVD was held at The Old Mill in Toronto on September 23. 

The special event sponsored by BCU (Buduchnist Credit Union) Foundation gave an opportunity for participants of the Canada-Ukraine Foundation (CUF) medical missions to Ukraine and their family to celebrate the documentary’s release and be the first to receive a copy. 

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Ukrainian American Club of St. Petersburg, Fla., took part in the annual St. Petersburg International Folk Festival, a four-day event held every year during the last week of October to showcase the cultural diversity of the city by displaying the heritage, culture, music, crafts and food of 40 countries in the scenic downtown Vinoy Park.