Month: July 30, 2021 5:03 am

In my last column I touched upon the extensive interaction between the Ukrainian pioneers and the First Nations of Canada, and noted that this is an aspect of history that is little known. Lately, however, the first steps have been taken to bring this issue to public awareness.

First woman conductor at Bayreuth
Ukrainian-born maestra Oksana Lyniv became the first woman to conduct a production in the 145-year history of Germany’s renowned Bayreuth opera festival. Ms. Lyniv opened the festival on July 25 with the premiere of The Flying Dutchman, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her husband in the audience.

JENKINTOWN, Pa. – The Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center (UECC) in Jenkintown, Pa., marked its 40th anniversary with a virtual celebration posted on its webpage, YouTube and Facebook. The video paid particular tribute to the nine presidents of the UECC who led the numerous Boards of Directors in serving the Ukrainian-American community of the greater Philadelphia area over those 40 years.

NEW YORK – Artist Susan Hwang released a music video on June 30 based on Ukrainian writer’s Serhiy Zhadan’s poem “Psalm to Aviation 58.” The video release event took place in New York City’s East Village with Yara Arts Group as the sponsor of the event.

Bilodid earns Ukraine’s first medal
Not only was it Ukraine’s first medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, but it was 20-year-old Daira Bilodid’s first ever Olympic medal and Ukraine’s first Olympic medal in women’s judo. In the women’s 48-kg competition, Bilodid defeated Serbia’s Milica Nikolic and Portugal’s Catarina Costa, was outpointed by Japan’s Funa Tonaki, and bounced back to win the bronze medal by besting Israel’s Shira Rishony on July 24.

The plan for covering the sports scene in 2020 certainly included Team Ukraine’s composition, performance and analysis at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Along came COVID-19 to put the world on hold for way too long. Ukraine’s elite athletes were granted an additional year of preparation for the Summer Games thanks to the pandemic.

KYIV – Ukraine is still pursuing a last-gasp effort to halt a Kremlin pipeline project to Germany despite an agreement reached between Washington and Berlin to allow its completion, leaving Ukraine vulnerable to further Russian military aggression.

Ukraine took a potential landmark step toward judicial reform in mid-July when members of parliament adopted two laws that should establish credible foundations for the reboot of the country’s legal system.

WALTHAM, Mass. – Svoboda, the oldest continually published Ukrainian-language newspaper in the world, has been awarded the 2020 Antonovych prize, according to the Omelan and Tatiana Antonovych Foundation.

There are several ominous signs for Ukraine’s desire to gain security guarantees from the U.S. and its main allies in NATO, Germany and France. None of the ‘big three’ are ready to support NATO membership or even a Membership Action Plan (MAP) for Ukraine.

World leaders rarely publish their visions of current affairs in the form of essays, but President Vladimir Putin developed a habit of doing just that since returning to the Kremlin in 2012. His latest treatise, “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,” stands out among his other works representing this vast body of literature.

HARTFORD, Conn. – For the third consecutive year, the Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation (UCEF) has won the highest four-star rating from the prestigious Charity Navigator rating service in recognition of its strong performance as a cost-effective and mission driven charity. UCEF is known throughout the Ukrainian community as the primary fundraising arm of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, widely recognized among the finest institutions of higher education in Ukraine.