Month: November 20, 2020 5:05 am

Turkey and Ukraine have been building the pillars of a promising defense cooperation partnership for some time. The two countries currently engage in joint endeavors in game-changing military areas such as drone warfare, aerospace engines and missile technology. Following the October 16-17 summit between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, Turkish-Ukrainian strategic ties look poised to bring about a new geopolitical reality in the Black Sea region.

The most notable current area of cooperation between Turkey and Ukraine is in unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Turkey’s forthcoming high-end combat drone, the Akinci (the Raider), was notably powered by Ukraine’s Ivachenko-Progress AI-450T turboprop engines during its prototype test flights.

12,496 new COVID-19 cases in one day

Ukraine’s Public Health Center reported that as of November 18, there are 12,496 officially confirmed case of COVID-19 in the country, including 535 children and 529 health-care workers. During the previous 24 hours, 1,668 persons were hospitalized, 256 patients died and 8,096 persons recovered. On November 17, 11,968 new cases of coronavirus were recorded. On November 16, there were 9,832 new cases; on November 15 – 10,681; on November 14 – 12,524; and November 13 – 11,787 and on November 12 – 11,057. (Interfax-Ukraine)

Whenever a major development occurs in one area of the post-Soviet space, many Moscow officials and analysts often hurry to ask whether it will be repeated in another. And when Moscow becomes involved, some in the Russian capital are inclined to think that the Kremlin can and should repeat such activity elsewhere.

While these types of Russian arguments typically understate the diversity of the situation across post-Soviet Eurasia, their almost inevitable appearance simultaneously reflects the continuing dominance of Soviet-era notions about the homogeneity of the region and drives Moscow’s policies in understandable but often flawed directions. That is exactly what appears to be happening now that Moscow has proclaimed a settlement for the Karabakh dispute (see Eurasia Daily Monitor, November 12, November 13) and is beginning to think about potentially copying the arrangements there in Ukraine’s Donbas and Moldova’s Transnistria.

“As part of a broader program to destabilize its sovereign neighbor, Russia has fomented and financed a deadly conflict in eastern Ukraine for more than six years now. Rather than playing a constructive role in negotiating an end to this conflict, and the opportunities and structures are there to do this, and fulfilling its commitments under the Minsk agreements, Russia cynically claims to be an uninvolved third party, pointing to unnamed outside ‘masters’ having orchestrated a coup d’état in Kyiv.

“In the Trilateral Contact Group, Moscow tries to frame Kyiv as the spoiler in negotiations, while attempting to hide its role of controlling Russia’s forces on the ground in eastern Ukraine. Frankly, none of this is believable.

OTTAWA – The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) expressed its deep condolences on the loss of Anna Kisil, a community leader, philanthropist, activist and volunteer, and president of the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations (WFUWO), who passed away on November 16 in Toronto.

The UCC noted that Ms. Kisil “will be remembered by all who knew her for her kindness, humor, compassion and wisdom. She had a deep commitment to helping others and for serving her community and Ukraine. She will be profoundly missed.”

NEW YORK – Ukraine’s Holodomor, the 1932-1933 genocide by famine of 7-10 million Ukrainians committed by Joseph Stalin, ranks among the worst cases of man’s inhumanity towards man. In memory of the innocent victims of this Soviet genocide, 3 million of whom were children, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), annually co-organizes an ecumenical commemoration at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City on the third Saturday of November, which regularly attracts thousands of attendees from across the tri-state metropolitan area.

This year, the organizers of the annual event advise our community not to travel to St. Patrick’s Cathedral on November 21. Case reporting of COVID-19 continues to spread in New York City, with increases in recent hospitalizations concerning local authorities enough to begin limiting non-essential gatherings in certain neighborhoods. On November 15, the UCCA encouraged the public to instead watch the livestream from St. Patrick’s Cathedral to mark the 87th anniversary of the Holodomor.

International Holodomor Memorial Day is on November 28, but the entire month of November is considered to be a time to remember the millions of our kinsmen deliberately killed in the genocidal famine of 1932-1933 by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and his henchmen.

A major commemoration of the Holodomor, or more precisely, the fifth anniversary of the unveiling of the Holodomor Memorial in Washington, was already held on November 7. Featured were remarks by Ukrainian and U.S. officials, and diplomats from Latvia, Poland, Lithuania and Hungary; information about the Holodomor and the striking memorial in Washington designed by architect Larysa Kurylas; as well as photos from the unveiling itself back in 2015, which was attended by thousands from across the United States. There were also comments by diaspora leaders, including Ukrainian World Congress President Paul Grod, Ukrainian Congress Committee of America President Andriy Futey, and Michael Sawkiw Jr., chairman of the U.S. Holodomor Committee.

Five years ago, on November 21, 2015, hundreds gathered at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York for an ecumenical requiem service and commemorative program dedicated to the memory of the Ukrainian Holodomor Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933.

The event was co-organized by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) and followed the official unveiling of the Holodomor Memorial in Washington that was on November 7. The event in Washington attracted 5,000 people.

The severely criticized decision rendered on October 27 by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine that declared certain provisions of Ukraine’s anti-corruption legislation unconstitutional and the impetuous reaction thereto of the president of Ukraine, who introduced legislation to dissolve the entire Constitutional Court, created a needless constitutional crisis of international proportions in Ukraine.

This crisis further destabilizes Ukraine as it continues to defend itself against the vicious military aggression from the Russian Federation that has been ongoing for over six consecutive years and as it tries to contain the number of new COVID-19 cases, which now surpass 12,000 in a single day.

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.

Dear Editor:

In my almost 50 years of voting I have never seen the Ukrainian community so politically engaged as I have in this past election year. It is refreshing to see Ukrainians take an active role in our democratic process.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the first Ukrainian-American, Victoria Spartz, to be elected to the House of Representatives. What an accomplishment! We need more people to emulate her.

Dear Editor:

In reference to “Ukrainians at Sadowa. A historical investigation” (November 8), as a child of the third Ukrainian Galician immigration wave to the U.S.A., I can relate to Andrew Sorokowski’s article on one’s forbearers fighting in foreign imperial wars. I, too, feel obligated to write down fragments of memory passed down within my family and share it with the community.