Author: Ihor Stelmach

On his Facebook page in late February, Mike McSorley of the Conn-Grebb Boxing Club described the situation in Ukraine as “heart wrenching” for his team of Ukrainian boxers. Staying active was one way of fighting challenging circumstances in life, and boxer Oleh Dovhun has experienced a few of those in his time. “It’s dangerous, horrible,...

It turned out to be a really good day for Mykhailo Golod, simply because he lived to see another. It was well into the darkness of March 3 and Kyiv was suffering more fierce bombardment from the unprovoked assault by Russian forces. It is still hard to believe, this invasion of the country, the siege...

According to CBS Sports.com, there are seven native Ukrainian college basketball players hooping it up in the United States in the soon-to-be-concluding 2021-2022 season: Nikita Konstantynovskyi (University of Tulsa) from Kyiv Pavlo Dziuba (University of Maryland) from Kyiv Max Shulga (Utah State University) from Kyiv Rostyslav Novitskyi (Fordham Univer­sity) from Kyiv George Maslennikov (Canisius College)...

For 10 days, Ukrainians were battling it out on two separate continents – at home against Russian forces and in Beijing at the 2022 Winter Paralympic Games. The results have been surprisingly successful, on the one hand, in the battle against Russia’s unprovoked and premeditated war against Ukraine, and dominant as usual in the case...

SOUTH WINDSOR, Conn. – The man who played a president on television is today facing threats to his life and his presidency as he leads Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s unprovoked, premeditated war against his country. Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s life and career have been anything but typical, and he has faced a seemingly unending series of crises...

SOUTH WINDSOR, Conn. – Russia is disconnected from the rest of the world. In the two weeks since Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been banished economically (international sanctions have destroyed the ruble’s value), diplomatically (even by some of Russia’s allies) and culturally. Russia’s national and club soccer teams have been...

It is no secret that Ukraine is a Paralympics powerhouse, and, if anyone doubted the statement, proof was evident on day one of the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing. Ukraine jumped out to first place overall among all competing nations when their biathletes captured seven medals, including three gold medals. Taras Rad was first with...

On February 11 Ukrainian skeleton rider Vladyslav Heraskevych flashed his famous peace sign at the Olympic Games in Beijing. It include the words “No War in Ukraine.” A little over two weeks later he was hunkered down some 90 miles outside of Kyiv with weapons in case he needed to defend his country. “I am...

Russia spent some $50 billion to win hosting privileges of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, but then it hatched the most elaborate doping scheme in history simply to solidify itself as a global sports powerhouse. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, on the heels of still another drug scandal at the Winter Olympics in...

As of March 1, Ukraine was still planning to participate in the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games despite the mammoth challenge of getting the Ukrainian team to Beijing in light of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. Preliminary reports were that Ukraine was fielding a team of 20 athletes plus support staff and the teams was...

Dayana Yastremska gave her father one last hug with tears flowing down her cheeks. It was time to let go and board the small boat waiting to whisk her and her 15-year-old sister away from home. Her father had driven them from their home in Odesa, Ukraine, some 150 miles south to Izmail, Ukraine, a...

The reactions ranged in scope from joining the military to fight for their country, to an angry post on social media, to a remark on actually returning home in the midst of the invasion, to dressing down, to solemn, heartfelt words of prayer for a peaceful outcome to what is now a full-scale war in...