Month: July 17, 2020 3:47 am

WASHINGTON – The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), which monitors positions and statements made throughout every election cycle concerning U.S. foreign policy, has submitted a position paper titled “United States Relations with Ukraine” to the Democratic and Republican National Committees.

The UCCA’s monitoring of U.S. policy has become imperative given the ongoing war being waged against Ukraine by Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

In past election cycles, UCCA representatives had reached out to both the Demo­cratic and Republican parties in advance of their respective conventions and the general election to promote awareness and support of the benefits of the strategic partnership that exists between the United States and Ukraine.

NEW YORK – The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) took to the Internet to mark its milestone 80th anniversary. Unable to celebrate as had been planned, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the UCCA deliberated options and adjusted its strategy to celebrate with virtual programs.

The first of the celebrations was on May 26, when at 7:30 p.m., the coordinated airing of UCCA’s celebratory anniversary was streamed on the organization’s website, Facebook page and YouTube channel.

The virtual event opened with a few words from UCCA’s president, Andriy Futey. Setting the tone for the evening, Mr. Futey warmly welcomed the community and special guests to the virtual celebration.

On June 9, Russian parliamentarian Viktor Vodolatskiy declared that this year, 600,000 to 800,000 inhabitants of the unrecognized “republics” on the occupied territory of Ukrainian Donbas will receive Russian citizenship (TASS, June 9). Mr. Vodolatskiy is the first deputy chairperson of the State Duma Committee on CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) Activities, Euro-Asian Integration and Relations with Nationals.

President Vladimir Putin had notably signed a decree on April 24, 2019, that simplified the procedure for obtaining Russian passports for residents of certain areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions. And one week later, on May 1, he added to this category residents of Ukraine born or residing in Crimea before March 18, 2014, as well as their children (Kremlin.ru, May 1, 2019). According to Mr. Volodatskiy, more than 180,000 Ukrainians have already received Russian citizenship, and nearly 100,000 additional applications are presently being processed (TASS, June 9).

Ukraine: 836 new cases of COVID-19

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Ukraine reached 55,607 as of July 15, including 836 new cases that were reported over the course of the past day, according to data provided by the coronavirus spread monitoring system of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. The city of Kyiv confirmed 147 new cases of COVID-19 during the past 24 hours, which is the highest single-day increase in coronavirus cases in the city since the beginning of the pandemic, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko. (Ukrinform)

Russia’s presidential envoy for conflict-management in Ukraine, Dmitry Kozak, has unilaterally announced a pause in the Normandy negotiation process, pending “clarifications to Ukraine’s positions.” Mr. Kozak’s announcements concluded and followed the Normandy format (Germany, France, Russia, Ukraine) meeting held on July 3-4 in Berlin, at the level of diplomatic advisors to the four heads of state and government.

The Berlin meeting was held in spite of the coronavirus emergency and lasted 11 hours without breaks, apparently reflecting a sense of urgency on the part of Berlin, Paris and Kyiv (each from its own considerations) to energize the Normandy process. Moscow’s envoy, Mr. Kozak, however, saw to it that the meeting failed to produce a concluding document or any decision by quadripartite consensus. Some concluding document is supposed to be coordinated among the four sides by telephone, at an unspecified later time.

“I had an open discussion today with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on concerns about the pressures being put on the National Bank of Ukraine. The reform of the NBU and its performance over the past five years is a clear success story for Ukraine.

 “An independent central bank helps macroeconomic stability, supports investors’ confidence, and protects the financial system – all crucial preconditions for investment and growth. The credible policy actions of the NBU have been instrumental in stabilizing the economy. The successful clean-up of the financial sector – which was ravaged by fraud – is also credit to the supervisory work of the NBU.

The following statement was released by the National Office of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America on July 17.

 
Six years ago, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17), a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down while flying over eastern Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew were killed by a Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missile launched from Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine. Today, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), the representative organization of the over 1.5 million Americans of Ukrainian descent, joins the world community in solemnly commemorating the tragic anniversary of the downing of MH17 and the 298 innocent lives lost on July 17, 2014.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Ukrainian American community organizations and institutions have been holding numerous events online due to the coronavirus pandemic. Though the way that Ukrainians host events has changed, the activity never stops. Featured below is just a sampling of the latest events held virtually.

The Ukrainian History and Education Center (UHEC), located in Somerset, N.J., has organized a number of online events (as evidenced by listings in this newspaper’s “Out & About” section). On July 11, a “Ukrainian Music of Summer” concert was held, featuring Zoya and Sana Shepko of the Korinya Ukrainian Folk Band. The UHEC-hosted exhibit “Visible Music: The Art of Yukhym Mykhailiv” has been made available online.

Following is the appeal of His Beatitude Sviatoslav to the faithful of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and people of good will in Ukraine and throughout the world in response to the flooding in western Ukraine.

Your Graces and Excellencies,

Very Reverend and Reverend Fathers,

Venerable Brothers and Sisters in monastic and religious life

Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

One of the elements which gives us and all that surrounds us life, and provides comfort in our homes, in these past days in areas of western Ukraine has been transformed into a veritable disaster that is being characterized as the worst flood over the past century.

The letter below was released by the Ukrainian Catholic Church’s Metropolitan Archeparchy of Philadelphia on June 26.

Glory be to Jesus Christ!

Dear Reverend Fathers, Venerable Monastics and Beloved Faithful of the Philadelphia Archeparchy!

As you may already know, parts of western Ukraine are under water due to strong torrential rains that have been falling for several days earlier this week. Two regions, Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi, were affected the most.

The Council of Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. issued the following appeal, requesting prayers and donations for those affected by the floods in western Ukraine.

Seeing the face of Christ in others is a primary responsibility of all Christians. The Council of Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. kindly requests prayers for the people of western Ukraine, who recently suffered from major flood destruction.

On July 16, Ukraine, and Ukrainians around the globe, remembered the historic Declaration on State Sovereignty of Ukraine adopted on July 16, 1990, by the Supreme Soviet (Verkhovna Rada) of the Ukrainian SSR. That consequential declaration proclaimed “the state sovereignty of Ukraine as supremacy, independence, fullness and indivisibility of the republic’s authority within the boundaries of its territory, and its independence and equality in external relations.” (The first English translation of this remarkable document appeared in The Ukrainian Weekly’s issue dated July 22, 1990. To see that issue of our newspaper, which featured a large banner headline reading “Ukraine proclaims sovereignty,” go to the PDF Archive section of our website, www.ukrweekly.com.)