Author: Staff

Twenty years ago on March 25, Vyacheslav Chornovil, a longtime leader of the Popular Movement of Ukraine (known as Rukh), died in an automobile accident while returning from a political meeting in Kirovohrad (now known as Kropyvnytsky). He was 61.

Kyiv’s new sanctions on RussiansUkraine has imposed economic and other sanctions on hundreds of individuals and entities for their alleged roles in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia over the Crimea region and the war in eastern Ukraine. President Petro Poroshenko on March 20 signed the order to implement the sanctions against 294 legal entities and 848 individuals, overwhelmingly Russian, as approved by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine the previous day.

Last week in this space we focused on the 24 Ukrainian sailors captured near the Kerch Strait by Russia back in November of last year – a deliberate and dangerous violation of international maritime law – and the fact that as of March 5 they had been held for 100 days. On the occasion of that distressing milestone, the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) wrote: “Russia’s behavior was condemned by the international community, but the sanctions thus far have been ‘like a pinprick to an elephant,’ according to Nikolai Polozov, the coordinator of the lawyers representing the 24 POWs.” 

Five years ago, on March 21, 2014, Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea was formalized in Moscow with pomp, flair and overcompensation for “normalcy” during a televised and showy signing ceremony that officially absorbed Crimea into the Russian Federation. 

Manafort gets additional sentence Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman for U.S. President Donald Trump, has been sentenced to an additional 43 months in prison, a ruling that will put him behind bars for seven and a half years. The new sentence, handed down by U.S. Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington federal court, was...

One hundred days. As of March 5, the Ukrainian sailors captured by Russia on November 25, 2018, had spent 100 days as prisoners of war. The men were seized off three Ukrainian Navy vessels – the artillery boats Berdyansk and Nikopol, and the sea mule tugboat Yany Kapu – as they were sailing in the Black Sea toward the Azov Sea. The incident near the Kerch Strait was a clear violation of international law and an incontrovertible act of war. The Russian coast guard first rammed the tugboat, then fired upon all three ships and took the ships and all aboard into custody. Since then, the men – who have been charged with trespassing on “Russian territory” – have been POWs. They face sentences of up to six years in prison.

Sixty years ago, on March 15, 1959, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, in his nationally syndicated weekly newspaper column, called for American action designed to aid the liberation of the people enslaved by Soviet Russia, listing Ukraine among the top on the list.

EU envoys approve more sanctionsEuropean Union ambassadors have agreed to impose asset freezes and visa bans on eight Russians involved in the capture and jailing of 24 Ukrainian seamen in an incident near the Kerch Strait in November 2018, according to several sources familiar with the discussions. The sanctions backed by the ambassadors on March 6 are measures that are expected to be formally approved next week, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.

As readers will see from the front page story in this week’s issue, February 22 marked a homecoming for the Ukrainian National Association. A delegation led by UNA President/CEO Stefan Kaczaraj and Chief Operating Officer/National Secretary Yuriy Symczyk traveled to the city of Shamokin in Pennsylvania to celebrate the founding of the UNA on that exact date 125 years earlier. 

Five years ago, on March 6, 2014, more than 2,000 people demonstrated in front of the White House in Washington to protest against Russia’s invasion of Crimea and President Vladimir Putin’s violation of international laws. The protest, which ran from 1 p.m. to approximately 3:30 p.m., was organized by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA). 

Poroshenko seeks U.N. peacekeeping 

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on February 20 called on the U.N. secretary-general to draw up options for a peacekeeping mission in eastern Ukraine, saying such a mission could be a “decisive factor” in ending the conflict there. Mr. Poroshenko told the U.N. General Assembly that Ukraine is ready to discuss a multinational, U.N.-mandated peacekeeping operation with “a clear objective to end the Russian aggression and restore Ukraine’s sovereignty.”

This week’s issues of both Svoboda (issue date February 22) and The Ukrainian Weekly (February 24) have special sections dedicated to a milestone anniversary of our publisher, the Ukrainian National Association – its 125th.