Month: February 21, 2020 3:08 am

The release below was sent by the Ukrainian World Congress on February 18.

The scandalous statement titled “Twelve Steps Toward Greater Security in Ukraine and the Euro-Atlantic Region,” released during the Munich Security Conference, prompted intense debate in Ukraine and beyond, and provoked fair criticism from Ukrainian and international experts and politicians.

This document is yet another attempt to distort reality and openly promotes the Russian position beginning with the opening words: the conflict “in and around Ukraine.” The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) once again reminds that it was Russia that invaded Ukrainian Crimea and eastern Ukrainian lands. There is no “conflict in and around Ukraine” – there is a war that Russia is waging against Ukraine.

Below are excerpts of the statement by Ambassador Karen Pierce, the United Kingdom’s permanent representative to the United Nations, at the Security Council’s February 18 briefing on Ukraine.

…Madam President, the Russian ambassador spoke at length about the failure of others in fulfilling their obligations under the Minsk agreements. His account was largely a falsehood, wrapped in a fiction inside a fairy tale. Rather than enumerate where we believe the Russian account is misleading, I will say simply that I endorse what the German representative said in laying out all those areas of the agreements that Russia has violated. Rather than reigning in its proxies in the non-government controlled areas of eastern Ukraine, Russia has furnished them with arms and personnel. Russia claims to act only in the interests of those Ukrainians living in those areas, but does nothing to ensure the safe delivery of international humanitarian aid so desperately needed by many of the communities there.

Two Crimean Tatar political prisoners – Osman Arifmemetov and Server Mustafayev – recently became laureates of the literary award “Krymsky Inzhir” (“Crimean Fig”), with Mr. Arifmemetov’s prize for a text poignantly titled “My Deportation.” The awards in Kyiv were handed out by Ukrainian filmmaker and former Kremlin political prisoner Oleh Sentsov, who was forced to pass them to the men’s representatives just as once his prizes were accepted by his cousin and lawyer while he remained imprisoned in Siberia.

As journalist Taras Ibragimov noted in an acceptance speech on Mr. Arifmemetov’s behalf, the award demonstrated that “Osman Arifmemetov is a journalist by vocation who has not ceased his work even after his arrest and imprisonment. Osman is a modern example of the dissident movement of Soviet times.”

Dear Editor: Five-year-old Maksym Atamaniuk from Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, will undergo selective dorsal rhizotomy surgery on March 16 in the U.S.…...

Dear Editor:

The well-written obituary for Prof. George Perfecky (February 2) correctly notes that “for years he served as the faculty advisor to the Ukrainian Club” at La Salle University.

It is worth mentioning that he was also instrumental in the creation of the club. In 1970, a few Ukrainian students at La Salle, discouraged by the Russophilic tendencies in the Slavic Club, approached Dr. Perfecky with the idea of creating a Ukrainian Club. Not only did he support this endeavor, but he also did everything possible to overcome bureaucratic obstacles and bring it to fruition.

NEW YORK – In late December, Yara Arts Group got together with Nova Opera, from Kyiv, and the Koliadnyky, from the Carpathians, to produce “Winter Songs on Mars.” The result was a fun and surprising performance that took place at La MaMa Experimental Theater Company in New York City’s East Village and was directed by Virlana Tkacz, with musical direction by Julian Kytasty.

Setting the traditional Koliada and Vertep nativity play on Mars led to a playful and imaginative show for the audiences. The performance on December 21, 2019, was enjoyed by both the hundreds of students of three Ukrainian studies schools that watched the show in the afternoon, and that evening’s audience, which was a more typical mix of downtown hipsters and the local Ukrainian community members Yara’s shows usually attract.

CHICAGO – The annual commemoration of “Unity Day,” marking Ukraine’s independence of January 22, 1918, and the unification of eastern and western Ukraine of January 22, 1919, was held at the Ukrainian Cultural Center of Ss. Volodymyr and Olha in Chicago on January 26. The event was organized by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America–Illinois Division with a themed focus on “Security and Independence.”

The guests of honor were Lt. Gen. My­khailo Zabrodskyi, commander of Ukrainian Airmobile Forces, and Dr. Philip Karber, president of the Potomac Founda­tion. Also in attendance were Democratic Congressmen from Illinois Danny K. Davis, Michael B. Quigley (co-chair of the Cong­ress­ional Ukraine Caucus), Raja Krishna­moorthi and Sean Casten; Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas; Commiss­ioner Dan Patlak of the Cook County Board of Review; and representatives of the Azerbai­jani, Hungarian, Lithuanian and Polish communities.

CHICAGO – Mykhailo Zabrodskyi, Hero of Ukraine, is a lieutenant general and a member of the newly elected Parliament of Ukraine. In 2014, Lt. Gen. Zabrodskyi launched a unique military raid, attacking the enemy from the rear of the enemy lines in Russian- and separatist-held territory to recover a significant area of the Russian-occupied territory and liberating 3,000 Ukrainian troops from their posts. This raid made history – it is being studied in military schools and the general himself has become a living legend. He is uniquely familiar with Ukraine’s military problems and understands what changes are required.

Lt. Gen  Zabrodskyi spoke at a celebration of Ukraine’s Unification Day in Chicago on January 26, giving an hour-long presentation on how the Ukrainian Army has been rebuilt during recent years. He elaborated on the military support from the Verkhovna Rada and improved morale, and the differences between Western and post-Soviet military. Afterwards, he consented to an interview.

BOSTON – On Saturday evening, February 1, almost 300 people from the greater Boston area and as far away as Rhode Island, Connecticut and upstate New York gathered at the Venezia Waterfront Banquet Facility and Restaurant to celebrate a Ukrainian Winter Ball/Malanka 2020 with a “Welcome to the Roaring ‘20s/Great Gatsby” theme.

The venue’s ballroom, which was filled to capacity, has windows overlooking Dorchester Bay and Boston Harbor, with the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library directly across the bay and the major buildings of the downtown towering in the distance behind it.

NORTH PORT, Fla. – The Ukrainian American Club of Southwest Florida held its first monthly meeting in 2020 at St. Andrew’s Religious and Cultural Center in North Port, Fla. The group of over 85 members and guests was shown a short video by Victor Lisnyczyj of the Ukrainian Christmas display at the Punta Gorda Historical Park.

The speaker for the evening was Judge Bohdan Futey, who serves on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington and has been actively involved with democratization and rule of law programs organized by the Judicial Conference of the United States, the Department of State and the American Bar Association in Ukraine since 1991. He has participated in judicial exchange programs, seminars and workshops, and was an advisor to the working group on developing Ukraine’s Constitution, which was adopted on June 8, 1996.

LOS ANGELES – When most of our American friends and neighbors have long since disposed of their Christmas trees, holiday lights and decorations, Ukrainian are still joyfully singing “Koliady” and “Shchedrivky.” And so, on Sunday, January 19, almost 300 people gathered at the Ukrainian Culture Center in Los Angeles to “ring out” the Christmas season.

The guests were escorted to the festive tables and chatted among themselves while enjoying the beauty of the lit Christmas trees, lights and decorations that adorned the stage and the Ukrainian Culture Center (UCC). A small table covered with a Ukrainian embroidered tablecloth on which a “kolach,” “kutia,” candles and a “didukh” were prominently displayed, reminded everyone of the cherished traditions of Ukrainian Christmas.

MAPLEWOOD, N.J. – The Very Rev. Oleh Hucul of Holy Ascension Ukrainian Orthodox Church was recognized by the parish board on February 9 for his 25 years of service in the priesthood with a luncheon after divine liturgy.

Parishioners and guests came from great distances to greet the celebrant and his family. The Rev. Hucul, with wife, Pani Matka Lidia, and children Aleksandra and Elizabeth, is assisted by the recently ordained Rev. Sviatoslav Hot, whose wife, Pani Matka Victoria, and child, Arsen, are recently arrived from Ukraine.