Turning the pages back... January 20, 1991 (01/21/01)

Turning the pages back...

January 20, 1991

Ten years ago, this newspaper announced a historic first: its Associate Editor Marta Kolomayets had arrived in Kyiv (still spelled Kiev at that time) to serve as its first correspondent in the Ukrainian capital and to set up the Kyiv Press Bureau - the first full-time Western news bureau in Ukraine. Five months after her arrival in Kyiv, Ms. Kolomayets moved from her temporary "home office" at the Dnipro Hotel into an apartment in the city center.

Ms. Kolomayets, who had been with The Weekly in 1982-1983 and since 1988, arrived in Kyiv on January 13 on a multiple entry/exit visa obtained with the assistance of the Information Department at the Ukrainian SSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Her arrival was the culmination of a resolution passed at the 1990 Convention of the Ukrainian National Association that urged the Supreme Executive Committee to look into opening a news bureau in Kyiv and/or Lviv.

Efforts to establish the bureau began in earnest in October 1990 when a UNA delegation (composed of Supreme President Ulana Diachuk, Supreme Secretary Walter Sochan, and Supreme Advisors Eugene Iwanciw and Roma Hadzewycz) attending the second congress of Rukh met with officials of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Ukraine. The delegation presented a letter from The Weekly Editor-in-Chief Hadzewycz concerning the opening of the press bureau and accreditation of its correspondent. Several months of dealing with red tape followed; there were times when The Weekly thought the plans would come to naught. But, in the end, the efforts bore fruit.

It was quickly demonstrated that the UNA's decision to open the bureau at that time was correct as our correspondent provided invaluable information and The Ukrainian Weekly once again proved to be a principal source of news emanating from Ukraine.

During her first tour of duty, Ms. Kolomayets covered a variety of stories, including expressions of solidarity with the Lithuanian people following the bloody massacres of January 1991, Ukrainian Independence Day (January 22) celebrations, the fact-finding visit of the John Demjanjuk defense team, formation of the Galician Assembly encompassing the Lviv, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivske oblasts, miners' strikes, the case of People's Deputy Stepan Khmara, the union referendum and the poll on Ukrainian state sovereignty, as well as the work of the Ukrainian SSR Supreme Soviet. In addition, she traveled to Rome in order to be able to journey with the entourage of Cardinal Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky as he arrived in Lviv to take up his work as metropolitan of Lviv and Halych.

Other Weekly editorial staff members who later served at the Kyiv Press Bureau were: Chrystyna Lapychak, Khristina Lew and Roman Woronowycz (our current bureau chief).

Source: "Weekly correspondent now in Kiev," The Ukrainian Weekly, January 20, 1991, Vol. LIX, No. 3.; 1991 Report of The Ukrainian Weekly Editor-in-Chief Roma Hadzewycz.

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