Month: March 22, 2019 12:09 pm

KYIV – Presidential front-runner Volodymyr Zelensky continued to meet with mostly foreign stakeholders in semi-private meetings this week while his two closest competitors stayed on the campaign trail as the March 31 election draws near. 

KYIV – At least two nationwide exit polls, one Western-funded and the other paid for by Russian-leaning television channels, will be conducted during the March 31 presidential election. 

BRUSSELS – The European Union’s foreign policy chief has marked the fifth anniversary of Russia’s seizure and “illegal annexation” of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula with scathing criticism of the Kremlin.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew issued a letter on March 14, providing historical precedents that support his decision to grant autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. 

PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Metropolitan Theodoritos of Laodicea, in the closing sermon of the day, expressed support for the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s decision to grant a Tomos of autocephaly for the Orthodox Church of Ukraine during the Sunday of Orthodoxy celebration on March 17 that was led by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the Phanar in Istanbul, Turkey.

Five years since the Euro-Maidan and the Revolution of Dignity fervently rejected systemic corruption and graft, Ukrainian politics continues to experience enormous influence from local oligarchs. In this environment, Ukraine’s presidential election campaign is in full-swing, with the vote scheduled for March 31. To date, 59 declared and 28 registered candidates are vying for the country’s top position in government (Ukrayinska Pravda, February 1).

By mid-March 2014, Russian “little green men” took full control of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. And on March 18, President Vladimir Putin made a jubilant address to the Russian Federation Council (upper chamber of Parliament) on the “reunification” with Crimea, asserting, “In people’s hearts and minds, Crimea has always been an inseparable part of Russia” (Kremlin.ru, March 18, 2014). 

The United States, together with the European Union and Canada, imposed new sanctions on March 15 on more than a dozen Russian officials and businesses in response to the country’s “continued aggression in Ukraine.”

OTTAWA – The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) applauded the March 15 announcement by Canada’s Department of Global Affairs that 114 individuals and 15 entities have been sanctioned in response to Russia’s aggressive actions in the Black Sea and the Kerch Strait and Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea. 

LONDON – Jewish communities have lived on the territory of contemporary Ukraine since the late ninth century, yet the Jewish-Ukrainian identity is a very recent phenomenon. Jews in Ukraine who previously self-identified as Soviet Jews or Russian Jews increasingly see themselves as Ukrainian Jews, particularly following the Euro-Maidan revolution of 2013-2014.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Employees of the UNA Home Office (seen above) celebrated the 125th anniversary of the Ukrainian National Association’s founding with a celebratory luncheon on March 7. They were addressed by the three key operating officers – President/Chief Executive Officer Stefan Kaczaraj, Chief Operations Officer/National Secretary Yuriy Symczyk and Chief Financial Officer/Treasurer Roma Lisovich – who spoke about the milestone anniversary’s commemoration on February 22 in Shamokin, Pa., birthplace of the UNA, as well as the UNA’s long history of service to the Ukrainian community.

Seen on right are members of UNA Branch 125, the Sisterhood of the Holy Mother of God, in Chicago. This photo appeared in the Ukrainian-language “Jubilee Book of the Ukrainian National Association” published in 1936 in commemoration of the UNA’s 40th anniversary. A treasure trove of information about the Ukrainian community of the time, the book was edited by Luke Myshuha, editor-in-chief of Svoboda. Branch 125 was founded on March 15, 1908, by the Rev. Mykola Strutynsky with 16 members. Its first president and secretary, respectively, were Maria Ruda and Kateryna Vakulinska