Month: June 19, 2020 4:12 am

The Russian-controlled militants in the Donbas are actively using coronavirus quarantine restrictions as an excuse for denying access to monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), while Russia continues its secret night convoys across the border quite unimpeded. Even if there is no direct proof that the most recently spotted cargo and military-type vehicles brought military technology, ammunition or other instruments of death into occupied Ukraine, it is reasonable to ask why else would such movements occur at night, on dirt roads, in places where there are no border crossing facilities nearby.

Recent reports of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) drones coming under gunfire in the non-government-controlled Donbas may have nothing to do with the convoys, but this would not be the first time that the long-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) had been jammed or downed after sighting military hardware crossing into militant-controlled Ukraine from Russia.

Dear Editor:

I read with interest Dr. Thomas Prymak’s article about the conference session “The Generation of 1919: Omeljan Pritsak, George Luckyj and Ivan Lysiak Rudnytsky” (May 24). I would like to make two corrections to this article.

Firstly, Dr. Prymak mentions me as affiliated with the University of Toronto. I am affiliated with the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Alberta.

Secondly, Dr. Prymak suggests that I expressed a view that Prof. Luckyj’s books were “ ‘unoriginal’ and perhaps even derivative.” I have not expressed such a view. I stated that, by choice, Prof. Luckyj did not write literary scholarship per se; he did not provide analyses of literary texts but focused on the personalities of writers and the general evolution of Ukrainian literary culture. Thus, his books did not make the kind of contribution to Ukrainian literary scholarship that Dmytro Chyzhevsky’s writings did. This, however, does not diminish their importance.

The Ukrainian Weekly welcomes letters to the editor that react to articles published on its pages. Opinions expressed by letter writers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of either The Weekly editorial staff or its publisher, the Ukrainian National Association.

Letters must be signed (anonymous letters are not published) and the city from which they are sent will be published under the author’s name. However, the daytime phone number, e-mail address and complete mailing address of the letter-writer must be given for verification purposes.

“Vladimir Putin’s Russia doesn’t deserve a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council,” by Vladimir Kara-Murza, The Washington Post, May 13:

Last month, U.N. Watch, a Geneva-based human rights group, released a report on the upcoming election to the United Nations Human Rights Council. According to the group, governments seeking a place on the top human rights watchdog at the General Assembly session in October will include some of the world’s worst human rights abusers – among them Cuba, Saudi Arabia and Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

…The government in Moscow has long been eager to return to the forum, from which it was dropped nearly four years ago. …

June 20 marks the 100th anniversary of the close of Canada’s first national internment operations. Under this policy carried out between 1914 and 1920, 8,579 men, and some women and children, were interned as “enemy aliens” by the Canadian government, acting under the authority of the War Measures Act. That number included 5,954 Austro-Hungarians, most of whom were ethnic Ukrainians, although they were not recognized by that name at that time. Most often they were referred to as Ruthenians, or by the region they came from, as Galicians or Bukovynians.

That the majority of the internees were Ukrainian was no accident. They were singled out because they were considered the lowest of the low in Canadian society at that time. As a clergyman, Father Moris, stated in Calgary’s Daily Herald on January 27, 1899: “As for the Galicians I have not met a single person in the whole of the North West who is sympathetic to them. They are, from the point of view of civilization, 10 times lower than the Indians. They have not the least idea of sanitation. In their personal habits and acts [they] resemble animals, and even in the streets of Edmonton, when they come to market, men, women and children, would, if unchecked, turn the place into a common sewer.”

The statement below was posted by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. on June 11.

Dearly beloved Brothers and Sisters in our Lord:

Christ is among us! Is and ever shall Be!

“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:19)

“The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast. He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.” (Proverbs 5:22-23)

The following statement was issued on June 2 by Alexandra Chyczij, national president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. The UCC posted its “Statement on Anti-Black Racism” on its website.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress stands with the Black community in denouncing anti-black racism.

Racism has no place in Canada, yet is experienced every day by many Canadians who are mistreated because of the color of their skin and their ethnic background. In this time of pain and grief, we stand in solidarity with those who peacefully protest for the cause of racial justice. We recommit ourselves to work to combat racism and hate. The right of equal treatment before the law and the right to justice are fundamental and inalienable for every human being.

CHICAGO – March, April and May 2020 have been difficult and unprecedented times for the world. The COVID pandemic is disrupting and altering the lives of patients and health-care professionals, as well as medical and dental students. Every day brings changes in regulations and guidelines. Students’ classes are delayed or held online, and their graduation ceremonies went virtual with minimal celebration. Potential students wait eagerly through the uncertain times for their letters of acceptance into medical or dental schools.

The UMANA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization established to improve medical literacy and knowledge among Ukrainians worldwide. It is the educational and instructive arm of the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America (UMANA), awarding scholarships, sponsoring CPR classes, and supporting educational conferences.

TENNIS

Svitolina to play in Berlin in July

Ukraine’s top-seeded tennis player, Elina Svitolina, will perform at an exhibition tournament in Berlin in July, according to the BTU tennis news site. Svitolina’s opponents could be Julia Goerges and Andrea Petkovic from Germany, or Kiki Bertens from the Netherlands. According to media reports, participants in the men’s tournament will be German Alexander Zverev, Austrian Dominic Thiem, Italian Jannik Sinner and Australian Nick Kyrgios. The competition is to start on July 13 and will be held without spectators on grass and hard courts. The prize fund of the competition will be 100,000 euros for each tournament.

KYIV – Fifty-five national deputies on June 5 initiated a move to dismiss the minister of internal affairs, Arsen Avakov. Thirty-six deputies from the Servant of the People faction, 18 from Holos, and one from European Solidarity signed a statement and transmitted it to the Verkhovna Rada’s Secretariat.

To act on the initiative, Parliament needs four times as many votes, so this initiative by 55 national deputies has more of an informational impact. An actual dismissal of the powerful and controversial minister who has served under two presidents is unlikely.

At the same time, Internal Affairs Minister Avakov was summoned to the Verkhovna Rada for a report and a question and answer session with national deputies. The immediate cause was an incident in the town of Kaharlyk, near Kyiv, that happened on May 24. It was but the most recent incident in a chain of events involving police officers that point to the failure of police reform in Ukraine.

LVIV – On the feast of the Pentecost, June 7, Patriarch Sviatoslav of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC) performed the ordination of the Rev. Mykola Bychok as the ruling bishop for the Eparchy of the Holy Apostles Ss. Peter and Paul in Melbourne, Australia, which serves Ukrainians in Australia, New Zealand and other countries of Oceania.

During his sermon to the faithful gathered in St. George Cathedral in Lviv, the UGCC primate noted: “We have been looking for a new bishop for Ukrainians in Australia for a long time. We are grateful that, by the power and action of the Holy Spirit, the Lord anointed him today, on the Pentecost. And, as on the Day of Pentecost, the apostles spoke in different languages, today our Church speaks in different languages, preaching the great works of God, proclaiming the same Gospel of Christ. In Australia – in English, in Brazil – in Portuguese, in Argentina – in Spanish...”

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says its executive board has approved an 18-month, $5 billion stand-by arrangement for Ukraine aimed at helping the country cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The approval means Ukraine can receive an immediate disbursement of about $2 billion, with the remaining amount disbursed in phases over four reviews during the 18-month period, the IMF said in a statement.

The amount is $200 million more than originally planned, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Twitter.

“The new program funding will help us to overcome the challenges caused by #COVID19. The #IMF has proven itself to be a reliable partner to a friend in need,” Mr. Zelenskyy said.