Ukraine

Husband of Fulbrighter uses time in Ukraine to trace ethnic roots

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KYIV – Greg Stricharchuk, 67, grew up in the multi-ethnic Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland believing he was Russian. He worshipped at the St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral and attended wedding receptions at Lemko Hall, both of which were featured in the Oscar-winning 1978 movie “The Deer Hunter.”

His father, Josip, was a crane operator at a local steel plant in the Flats of Cleveland for 40 years. His mother, Eva (née Ziatyk), was a homemaker before working at Perfection Stove for 13 years and prior to that ran a food stand for 10 years at the old Cleveland Stadium until 1967, the year that Mr. Stricharchuk graduated from high school. The retired journalist with nearly 50 years of experience even took Russian language lessons upon his parents’ urging at the church.

News

Crucial health care reform begins, NATO membership becomes priority

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Ukraine moves closer to Europe
KYIV – Ukraine’s acting Health Minister Dr. Ulana Suprun flew to the U.S. this week to meet with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, as well as the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America to further garner support for health reform. Ukraine’s Parliament on June 8 passed the American physician’s set of bills in the first of two required readings. The bills are designed to completely overhaul the country’s inefficient, Soviet-era health care system. Two weekly plenary sessions remain before the Verkhovna Rada goes on summer break in mid-July. If passed, some of the measures could go into effect as early as that month and would validate the tenacious advocacy campaign that the Health Ministry has conducted via social, digital and print media.

Sports

Kyiv Patriots take down visiting Falcons from UAE

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KYV – A running back for the visiting Falcons (United Arab Emirates) gets his legs wrapped up by a Kyiv Patriots player on June 10 at the Valeriy Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium in Kyiv. The Patriots won the friendly match 18-14, scoring three touchdowns. “The game with the Falcons was huge for the development of American football in Ukraine,” said Patriots coach Jeff Vinall, a native Californian. “The Falcons gave us a great game, but we held on for the victory, which our players well deserved… and we certainly appreciate the Falcons invitation to play a rematch in Dubai.” The Patriots are currently placed fourth in the Ukrainian League of American Football (ULAF) among 18 teams. 

News

Russia’s denial of Ukrainian identity at heart of library closure in Moscow

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KYIV – Russia’s timeworn orchestrated efforts to denigrate Ukrainian identity and culture were on full display this week when a judge convicted the head of the country’s only state-run Ukrainian literature library located in Moscow for “extremism.”

A municipal court on June 5 in the capital gave Natalia Sharina, a native Muscovite and ethnic Russian, a four-year suspended sentence for “inciting national enmity or hatred.”

Ostensibly, it was because a banned book authored by a Ukrainian nationalist was found at the library. Ms. Sharina insists the book was planted at the library, which was established in 1989 during the twilight of the Soviet Union. Human rights groups, including London-based Amnesty International, Russia’s Memorial and the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, as well as pro-Ukrainian advocacy groups, denounced Ms. Sharina’s prosecution. The former chief librarian, age 59, was also given a four-year probation term and told the court the case was not about a single book among the 52,000 periodicals and books that she oversaw. “The state prosecutor herself admitted during the proceedings that this was a political case,” Ms. Sharina told reporters after the ruling.

News

Ukraine delivers legal knockout to Russia in multi-billion-dollar gas case

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KYIV – Ukraine dealt a legal blow to Russia in their multi-faceted war when a Swedish arbitration tribunal on May 31 “rejected” claims by state-owned Gazprom over natural gas supplies to Ukraine worth more than $45 billion. Ukraine’s state-run energy holding company, Naftogaz, said in a news release that the tribunal dismissed Gazprom’s “take or pay” claim that stems from a 2009 contract and which required Kyiv to pay for unpurchased gas volumes. Historically, Ukraine has been reliant on Russian gas and Moscow has used energy as a geopolitical tool against Kyiv, including via supply cuts during harsh winter months. In its ruling, the Swedish court said the gas price should be “market-reflective,” Naftogaz said, adding that a ban was lifted for the re-export of gas, which was part of the controversial contract. “This is an important step towards energy security,” President Petro Poroshenko said in a statement.

News

Poroshenko urges G-7 states to keep sanctions against Russia intact

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KYIV – President Petro Poroshenko urged the leaders of the G-7 group of industrialized nations to maintain sanctions against Russia for illegally taking over Crimea and for waging war in the Donbas.

Due to Russia’s persistent warmongering, there are “no grounds for the EU to cancel or ease economic and sectoral sanctions against the Russian Federation,” Mr. Poroshenko said during a telephone conversation with European Council President Donald Tusk ahead of the G-7 summit taking place on May 26-27 in Sicily, Italy.

News

Poroshenko lauds closer ties with EU, admits ‘there’s much left to be done’

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KYIV – President Petro Poroshenko touted Ukraine’s deepening integration with the European Union and fielded questions about law and order, corruption, progress on reforms and his businesses on May 14 during his first news conference in 16 months. Speaking of the EU’s decision to waive visa requirements on May 11, the president said: “Only crazy people can consider Ukraine to be part of the so-called ‘Russian world.’ Ukraine is part of a united Europe stretching from Lisbon to Kharkiv. For three years Russia has tried everything to block Ukraine’s path towards the EU. But nothing will stop our path to Europe.”

He said that on May 17 he will visit Strasbourg, where the Council of Europe is located, to attend a signing ceremony of the visa-free travel legislation on the back of a working visit to Malta on May 16. Mr. Poroshenko, 51, will also start a series of meetings with the leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations, starting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on May 20.

News

Yanukovych trial for treason starts as Interpol removes him from wanted list

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KYIV – A day before the trial of Viktor Yanukovych for treason started in Kyiv on May 4, his lawyers announced that the disgraced former president of Ukraine is no longer wanted by Interpol. The world’s largest international police organization subsequently confirmed the information. “Interpol has thus confirmed the fact that criminal cases against Yanukovych are politically motivated,” said Yuriy Kirasir, the exiled politician’s spokesman. The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine said it will appeal the decision. Now living in Russia at an undisclosed location, the former head of state, whose truncated administration is widely accused of large-scale embezzlement of up to $40 billion, is being tried for aiding Russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine.

News

Ukraine media environment improved, challenges remain, says Freedom House

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Occupied Crimea among worst in press freedom

KYIV – Crimea is the fourth least press-friendly territory or country in the world, independent democracy watchdog Freedom House found in its latest report on press freedom published in April. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s media environment, according to the Freedom of the Press report, “has significantly improved since a change in government in 2014, and ongoing reforms continue to strengthen the legislative environment for journalists and outlets.”

Notably, only North Korea, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were rated worse than Crimea, which was rated separately from Ukraine. Human Rights groups in and outside Ukraine have said civil liberties, including freedom of the press, have sharply deteriorated since Russia illegally occupied the Ukrainian peninsula of 2.3 million people in March 2014. Crimean Tatars, who numbered around 300,000 before the Russian invasion, and ethnic Ukrainians have been subject to kidnappings, arbitrary detentions and prosecution on trumped of charges of either “extremism” or “terrorism.” Only Russian state-controlled media currently operate in Crimea. Over all, the report covering the year 2016 said, only 13 percent of the world’s population lives in countries that boast a free press.

Ukrainian Summer

Discover little-known venues in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv

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KYIV – Given the Ukrainian capital’s prolifically storied history, there is no shortage of buildings that have a story to tell or areas with historic significance. The best part is, access to them is free. All that is needed is pocket change for public transportation rides that cost less than 50 cents and good footwear for walking. LYSA HORA (BALD HILL)

For example, an entire day can be spent exploring the legendary spooky woods of Lysa Hora, or Bald Hill. Practitioners of the occult and pagan rituals favor this urban forested area of 137 hectares situated about 500 meters from the Vydubychi subway station.