Turning the pages back... September 11, 2001 (09/08/02)

Turning the pages back...

September 11, 2001

One year ago, on a date that will forever be referred to simply as 9/11, Ukraine led the international response to the unprecedented terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11 when its Permanent Mission to the United Nations called a special meeting of the U.N. Security Council to coordinate global reaction. For security reasons, the meeting was held outside the confines of the United Nations at the mission headquarters of the Ukrainian delegation in New York.

Ukraine was then a non-permanent member of the Security Council, occupying one of the four rotating chairs. Ambassador Valery Kuchinsky, who chaired the meeting, condemned the terrorist attack and called for a global response. "The Security Council considers these acts a challenge to all humanity," said Mr. Kuchinsky.

President Leonid Kuchma issued a statement expressing shock and offering condolences. He called a special meeting of the National Security and Defense Council for the next day and then went on national television to call for an effective response to terrorism. "The whole of the civilized world must demonstrate unity, concord and coordination of efforts," said Mr. Kuchma. The Verkhovna Rada began the next day with a minute of silence in memory of the dead.

It was the Ukrainian people, however, who showed the most sincere sympathy for the victims of the tragedy. Individuals left scores of bouquets, wreaths and simple clusters of wild flowers along with candles and individual messages outside the fence that secures the compound of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. Many signed a memorial book placed at the Embassy's entrance.

On September 13, 2001, at 1 p.m. a moment of silence was observed across Ukraine in memory of the thousands who lost their lives in the disasters in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

Source: "Ukraine reacts to terrorist attacks on U.S.," by Roman Woronowycz, Kyiv Press Bureau, The Ukrainian Weekly, September 16, 2001, Vol. LXIX, No. 37.

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