Month: November 13, 2020 4:44 am

Ukraine relieved at U.S. election result

When U.S. media began to call the presidential race in Joe Biden’s favor on November 7, it was about 6:30 p.m. in Kyiv. Within hours, a former president tweeted that his country was “blessed,” an investment banker voiced hope for reforms, and a political analyst said fears that Washington might use Ukraine as a pawn in a bid for a Russia reset would fade. For many politicians, civil-society leaders and citizens in Ukraine, the news came as a relief. Barack Obama’s former point man on Ukraine is a relatively familiar face in Kyiv, and Mr. Biden, in turn, may be more familiar with Ukraine than any previous U.S. president. He made six trips to Kyiv as vice-president, five of them from 2014 onward – after Russia seized the Crimean peninsula and fomented separatism following the downfall of Viktor Yanukovych, the Moscow-friendly president pushed from power by the Euro-Maidan movement. Mr. Biden once joked that he spoke more over the phone with then-President Petro Poroshenko than with his wife during those turbulent years.

As the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in the United States became clear, many Russians began to reflect on what the result might mean for Russia’s position in global affairs. While most Russians did not have a preference for the winner, the fierce political contestation in the U.S. attracted massive attention, and not merely because of the entertainment value (Rossiiskaya Gazeta, November 4). Official Kremlin propaganda has unsuccessfully sought to present this exercise of public will on the other side of the world as a political circus or to interpret the divisions within the U.S. electorate as a profound crisis of democracy (Republic.ru, November 5). The predictions of violent chaos in the streets of Washington and other U.S. cities were disappointed; and in the days of meticulous counting of votes, Russians have had time to contemplate the issues that motivated millions of Americans to opt for change – or against it (see Eurasia Daily Monitor, November 5).

PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Pope Francis on October 24 appointed Bishop Dionysiy Lyakhovych, OSBM, as apostolic exarch for Ukrainian Catholics of the Byzantine Rite residing in Italy.

The announcement of the creation of the Apostolic Exarchate for Ukrainian Catholics of the Byzantine Rite residing in Italy had been made on July 11, 2019, by Pope Francis.

There are reported to be 70,000 Ukrainian Catholic believers in Italy, united in 145 communities and served by 60-plus priests. The Cathedral Church and residence of the Apostolic Exarchate are the Parish Church of Ss. Sergius and Bacchus in Rome.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Archimandrite Mykhailo Onyshchenko, exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate since 2018, was elected by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on October 6 to be elevated to bishop. His titular see is Comana, an early Christian city in Turkey that is recognized as the place where St. John Chrysostom was originally buried.

Having served as a priest in Lutsk, Volyn Oblast, the Rev. Onyshchenko served as an inspector of the theological seminary in Lutsk. He studied in Greece for 10 years, and later served as rector of the Church of St. Alypius the Stylite of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Antalya, Turkey.

U.S. allies from Europe to East Asia have congratulated Joe Biden on his election as the next U.S. president, with Germany hailing it as a “new and exciting chapter” in trans-Atlantic ties and Japan’s leader pledging to work to ensure “peace, freedom and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.”

While many allies were quick to offer warm words after Mr. Biden was declared the winner on November 7, a number of other prominent European and world leaders either stayed silent or issued more tempered statements of support.

The following statement was released by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress on November 11.

Today we honor the sacrifices and courage of those who have served in Canada’s Armed Forces defending our freedom. On Remembrance Day, Canadians from coast to coast to coast pause in tribute to those who bravely defend the liberty and peace that we enjoy.

Throughout the decades – on battlefields of Vimy, Hill 70, Juno Beach, Ortona, Kapyong, the mountains of Afghanistan and countless places around the world, in the skies above Europe and Asia, in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans – Canadians have fought with honor defending our country from the scourge of tyranny.

With much of the mainstream media focused on the 2020 presidential election results, a lesser-known candidate for U.S. Congress made history.

In a Facebook post, Andriy Futey, president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, stated: “For the first time in history, there will be a Ukrainian-born in the U.S. Congress. Congratulations to Ms. Victoria Spartz on her election to the U.S. House of Representatives from the 5th District of Indiana. She hails from the town of Nosivka, Chernihiv Oblast, and has lived in Indiana since 2000. We wish her much success and look forward to building a strong working relationship with the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and the entire Ukrainian American community.”

Fifteen years ago, on November 19, 2005, President Viktor Yushchenko delivered a radio address that marked the first anniversary of the Orange Revolution, noting the ideals of the Maidan and the challenges facing Ukraine at the time.

The anniversary is celebrated on November 22, and Mr. Yushchenko added that “Ukraine proved that we were citizens ready to importunately defend our major right – the right of choice. All of us standing in squares in Kyiv or Lviv, Odesa or Donetsk will forever preserve this feeling of unity and pride in the people and the country. …But we would never have gained our victory without other squares, no matter which banners and flags they were carrying. Donetsk patriotism, Lviv composure, Kharkiv responsibility, Sumy courage and Cherkasy optimism were all bricks of the foundation of our new country.”

Leonid Kravchuk, Ukraine’s former president and leader of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group, has presented a roadmap envisaging elections in occupied Donbas by March 31, 2021. While any chance of such elections being free and fair are effectively nil, the anger expressed in Parliament, and any accusations of “capitulation” or “treason” are probably premature, since the prerequisites in the roadmap are also impossible. The initial plan put forward by Russia, via its proxy “Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics” [hereinafter referred to as ORDLO], is equally unrealistic, albeit for different reasons.

The list of “joint steps” presented by Mr. Kravchuk on November 5 followed publication by the pro-Russian Strana.ua of an ORDLO roadmap containing 15 points presented two weeks earlier. These propose adding to Ukraine’s Constitution recognition of “special status” for the so-called “republics” until 2050 and the holding of elections without reinstatement of control over the border with Russia and very vague words about demilitarization.

On October 28, the international election observation missions of the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) and the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) presented their preliminary observations of Ukraine’s local elections.

The purpose of the UWC and UCCA missions is to support an open and transparent electoral process in Ukraine. The UWC and the UCCA support Ukraine’s commitment to international standards for free and fair elections, which reflect the will of the electorate, and do not support any candidate, political party or bloc.

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:

The November 5 issue of The Ukrainian Weekly featured an RFE/RL analysis “U.S. Congressional Ukraine Caucus worried Nord Stream 2 sanctions bill could be dropped.”

This is a disconcerting development because, as members of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus have noted, any attempt to include language that waters down current U.S. sanctions against Nord Stream 2 will be detrimental to Ukraine’s interests and undo President Donald Trump’s efforts to halt construction of the pipeline. If a revised version of the bill passes, it will do irreparable harm to Ukraine and, at the same time, put Germany and Europe in a position to be permanently blackmailed by Vladimir Putin and Russia.