Month: August 16, 2019 6:35 pm

Kharlan wins gold at World Championships

Olha Kharlan won 15-14 against Sofya Velikaya of Russia in the women’s saber finals of the World Fencing Championships in Budapest on July 15-23. This was Kharlan’s sixth world championship title in saber. She is also a two-time team champion. In the individual competition, Kharlan won 15-5 against Bianca Pascu of Romania in the semifinal, and won 15-14 in the quarterfinal against compatriot Alina Komashchuk. Ukraine’s men’s épée team won silver after losing to France in the final 37-45. In individual competition, Ihor Reizlin won bronze in men’s épée, and Olena Kryvytska won bronze in the women’s individual épée.

OTTAWA – The Ukrainian Canadian Congress has announced that Dr. Oleh Wolowyna will address the XXVI Triennial Congress of Ukrainian Canadians on new research into changes and growth in the community.
The UCC also welcomed Boris Balan as chair of the XXVI Congress Resolutions Committee.
“During the congress’s opening day, Dr. Wolowyna will present important new research that will allow delegates to the congress to better understand the underlying trends in our community,” stated Ann Szyptur, chair of the Triennial Congress Organizing Committee. “Dr. Wolowyna’s work will inform our discussions and encourage a critical appraisal of the shifting needs of our community.”

KYIV – The killing of four Ukrainian soldiers on August 6 by shelling from Russian-backed forces in the Donbas during the latest proclaimed ceasefire has precipitated a flurry of diplomatic activity from official Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called his Russian counterpart the following day to express his disgust and reached out to Ukraine’s German and French partners in the Normandy group of leaders to request an urgent meeting at the highest level. He also called the new British prime minister, Boris Johnson.

KYIV – A senior U.S. official says Ukraine has requested to purchase more Javelin anti-tank missiles from the United States, a move that is likely to anger Moscow amid a four-year conflict that pits Russia-backed separatists against Ukraine’s forces.
William Taylor, chargé d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, told RFE/RL in an interview that Ukraine would acquire the Javelins from the U.S. Defense Department’s Foreign Military Sales program for defensive purposes as the violence continues in a war that has killed more than 13,000 people.

PARMA, Ohio – St. Vladimir Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Parma, Ohio, annually celebrates its patron saint’s day (July 28). This year’s celebration was especially uplifting because the parish celebrated its 95th anniversary.
The commemoration began on Saturday evening, July 27, with vespers and a memorial service for deceased clergy, wives of married pastors and faithful who had labored in the Lord’s Vineyard since the formation of the parish.

Four Ukrainian soldiers killed in east
Kyiv says four Ukrainian soldiers have lost their lives in the latest clashes with Russia-backed separatists in the country’s east. The Defense Ministry said in a statement that the pro-Russia militants opened fire at Ukrainian military positions in the Donetsk region on August 6, using grenade-launchers, machine guns and assault rifles.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is promoting his closest Ukrainian confidant, Viktor Medvedchuk, on the international level. This effort was manifest ahead of Ukraine’s parliamentary elections and is set to continue thereafter.

On July 17, Viktor Medvedchuk, the leader of the pro-Russia opposition in Ukraine’s newly elected Parliament, visited the European Parliament in Strasbourg, where he launched a “Concept Plan to Resolve the Crisis in the South-East of Ukraine.” A long-time Kremlin ally, Mr. Medvedchuk is also the foremost local proponent of Ukraine’s federalization but has now replaced that incendiary term with some euphemisms. He offers this project as a means to implement the political terms of the Minsk armistice.

NEW YORK – The Protect European Energy Security Act, bipartisan legislation introduced by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in May of this year, was approved on July 31 by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. By a vote of 20-2, the committee approved a bill (S 1441) that would impose targeted sanctions against vessels used to construct deep sea pipelines for Russian energy export projects, including Nord Stream 2.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expresses its strong protest in connection with the decision of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office to recognize the activity of the Ukrainian World Congress as “undesirable.” This decision once again demonstrated the immutability of Russia’s repressive policies aimed at eliminating public organizations of the Ukrainian minority on the territory of the Russian Federation.

CHICAGO – The Ukrainian Medical Association of North America (UMANA) held its 45th Scientific Conference and 38th Assembly of Delegates on June 19-23, in Park City, Utah.
Sixty-five attendees, representing nine chapters of UMANA, gathered to hear presentations on “Current Concepts in Emergent Care – Emergent Threats to Medicine” and conduct the association’s corporate biennial business meeting. The Scientific Conference was jointly sponsored with Trinitas Regional Medical Center of Elizabeth, N.J., and made available up to 10 hours of continuing medical education (CME) credits to the participants.

Seen on the right are participants of the 1969 annual meeting of the Ukrainian National Association’s Supreme Assembly which was held at Soyuzivka on May 26-30. Standing immediately in front of the bust of Taras Shevchenko are Supreme President Joseph Lesawyer (right) and the noted writer Ulas Samchuk. Also in the group are UNA Executive Committee members: Supreme Vice-President Stephen Kuropas, Supreme Vice-Presidentess Mary Dushnyck, Supreme Vice-President for Canada Bohdan Zorych, Supreme Vice-President and Recording Secretary Walter Sochan, Supreme Secretary Dr. Jaroslaw Padoch and Supreme Treasurer Peter Pucilo.