Month: August 19, 2021 10:20 pm

In the wake of the policies of glasnost, perestroika and demokratizatsia announced by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, there was ferment throughout the USSR. What follows is a timeline of events leading up to the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence on August 24, 1991, and its affirmation by a nationwide referendum on December 1, 1991

In the early morning of August 19, 1991, hardline Communist Party leaders in Moscow opposed to the liberalization and reforms enacted by then General Secretary of the Communist Party and President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev announced a state emergency and attempted a coup to oust their leader.

Marta Zielyk, a recently retired U.S. State Department civil servant, spent 25 years working as the United States’ senior diplomatic interpreter for Ukrainian. Prior to that, she was an international broadcaster working with the Ukrainian Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in New York, Washington and Munich, and with the Ukrainian Service of the Voice of America in Washington.

For many Ukrainians around the world, August 24 is a day to celebrate the moment when, 30 years ago on August 24, 1991, a long-held dream finally became a reality. It marks the day when the Ukrainian parliament adopted an act to reestablish Ukraine as an independent nation. While parliament proclaimed Ukraine’s independence, it also noted that the issue was subject to a nationwide referendum.

Sounding the alarm bell for the West to recognize the possible outcomes of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact (known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that was signed on August 23, 1939), 82 years ago, on August 26, 1939, The Ukrainian Weekly’s front-page editorial noted multiple areas of concern for Ukraine.

Dear Editor:
The August 8 column by Metropolitan-Archbishop Borys Gudziak (Gift, challenge and charge: on Ukraine’s 30th anniversary) was an amazing reminiscence that must have touched the heart of every Ukrainian patriot who recalls that climacteric period.

This is an exhilarating and emotional time! It is, after all, a celebration of the resurrection of a much-persecuted people, the proverbial spring of an old nation which has experienced glory in the past as well as incomparable tragedy. Nothing is as wonderful as at long last establishing oneself as master of one’s own land with great hope for the duration, retrieving what was once ours but lost because of the criminality of others.

On August 19, 1991, as hardline Communists stormed the Russian capital in an attempted coup d’état, a group of American teenagers and young adults – members of Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization – found themselves in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, just 865 miles west of Moscow. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s renewed independence, one of the individuals on that trip, Adrianna Melnyk, shared her recollection of being in Ukraine during that historic and momentous period.

Biden-Zelenskyy delayed to August 31
Talks between U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have been moved back to August 31 from August 30. Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba told reporters on August 19 that the decision was made due to an expansion of Mr. Zelens­kyy’s program during his visit to Washington in late August.

The 2020 Summer Paralympics are scheduled to take place in Tokyo on August 24 through September 5. This will be Ukraine’s seventh consecutive appearance at the Summer Paralympics since 1996. Ukraine will be competing in the following 10 sports: archery, athletics, badminton, cycling, goalball, rowing, shooting, swimming, table tennis and taekwondo.

Eight-time Paralympic medalist Oksana Masters is prepared to compete as a cyclist in the Tokyo Paralympic Games. The minute she’s finished with the 2020 Games, her attention will shift to Beijing 2022, where she will compete as a cross-country skier in the Winter Games.

Shakhtar advances after wins against Genk
Shakhtar Donetsk won against Belgium’s Genk in the first (2-1) and second legs (2-1) of the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League on August 3 and August 10.