Author: Matthew Dubas

WHIPPANY, N.J. – St. John Ukrainian Catholic Church celebrated the centennial of its founding with a hierarchical divine liturgy on October 31, celebrated by Metropolitan Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia. The celebrations included a centennial banquet and the unveiling of a street sign that honors Ukraine’s national poet, Taras Shevchenko,...

SCOTCH PLAINS, N.J. – Diana Stinkova, a senior at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School and Scotch Plains, N.J., resident, originally from Chernivtsi, Ukraine, has been named to the 2022 class of New Jersey Governor’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Scholars. The statewide education initiative engages the next generation of research and innovation leaders by recognizing...

PARSIPPANY, N.J. – With the summer season at Soyuzivka Heritage Center once again impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the center’s staff took precautions to provide as safe an experience as possible. As a result, guests were able to enjoy weddings, retreats, camps and a variety of other events throughout the summer. Nestor Paslawsky, general manager...

NEW YORK – President Volodymyr Zelens­kyy met with dozens of leaders representing various Ukrainian community organizations at the Ukrainian Institute of America (UIA) on September 21 during his working visit to the United States. His primary reason for the visit to the U.S. was to participate in the opening of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Following the singing of the Ukrainian national anthem, Mr. Zelenskyy began his address by highlighting the active role of the Ukrainian community in the U.S. and its close working relationship with Ukraine.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Dayana Yastremska and Max Purcell of Australia lost in the mixed doubles semifinal on September 8 against Giuliana Olmos of Mexico and Marcelo Arevalo of Argentina 6-4, 4-6, 6-10 at the U.S. Open. In the quarterfinal, Yastremska and Purcell defeated Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan and Fabrice Martin of France 6-2, 6-3.

The World Boxing Council (WBC) has named Vitali Klitschko among the world’s best all-time heavyweight boxers, taking the eighth spot in the rankings. The news was posted to the klitschko-brothers.com website on April 8. The list is topped by Muhammad Ali, followed by Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Larry Holmes, Evander Holyfield, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Sonny Liston and Ken Norton. Lewis (Great Britain) and Klitschko (Ukraine) were the only non-American boxers on the list.

Soccer

• Dynamo Kyiv, ranked 12th in the list of top UEFA teams based on performance in the UEFA European Cup (1955-1991) and in its updated format since 1991, the UEFA Champions League.  With 231 matches played, Dynamo won 97 of them, drawn 51 and lost 83 for a coefficient of 245 points. Shakhtar Donetsk, in 31st place with 127 points, played 124 matches, with 51 wins, 25 draws and 28 losses. The ranking included 513 European clubs and the top-10 included Real Madrid (spain), Bayern Munich (Germany), Barcelona (Spain), Manchester United (England), Juventus (Italy), Benifica (Portugal), Porto (Portugal), Liverpool (England) and Ajax (the Netherlands).

Soccer • Ukraine lost 0-2 against Iceland on September 5 in Reykjavik as part of the World Cup qualifiers for Europe. In the previous match against Turkey on September 2, Andriy Yarmolenko scored a brace of goals for Ukraine at Metalist Stadium in Kharkiv. Ukraine won the match 2-0 with Yarmolenko scoring in the 18th...

Boxing • Junior lightweight (super featherweight), Vasyl Lomachenko (6-1-0, 4 KO) added the WBO title to his collection after a fifth-round KO of Roman Martinez (29-3-2, 17 KO) of Puerto Rico on June 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Lomachenko, 28, landed a series of hits followed by an uppercut that stunned Martinez,...

NEW YORK – The end of an era, some have called it, but then again nothing stays the same forever. Whatever we tell ourselves, the closing of the Surma Book & Music Company “The Ukrainian Shop” on Seventh Street is a tough one to process. Markian Surmach, the third-generation owner of the store and grandson...

UNITED NATIONS – The 30th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster was commemorated during the opening of the 92nd plenary meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on April 26 by Mogens Lykketoft of Denmark, president of the General Assembly, representatives of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, and speakers representing other regions of the world. Mr....

NEW YORK – Approximately 200 people attended the 40th anniversary banquet celebration for The Ukrainian Museum in New York on April 17 at the Tavern on the Green in Central Park. They came to honor an institution that has served not only the Ukrainian community, but the arts community at large, with its high-quality and...