Top News

Poroshenko exhorts the West to continue sanctions on Russia

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WASHINGTON – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called on the United States and other Western powers to continue their sanctions on Russia to help end its “direct armed aggression against my state.”

Addressing a large forum at the Congressional Auditorium in the U.S. Capitol on March 30 discussing Ukraine’s continuing battle for freedom, Mr. Poroshen-ko pointed out that, after Ukraine abandoned the world’s third largest nuclear arsenal in 1994, it received security assurances under the Budapest Memorandum guaranteeing its sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. He asked: “But what has it turned [out] to be in reality?”

“Russia simply defied its assurances to Ukraine and committed a direct armed aggression against my state,” he said, referring to Moscow’s actions in Crimea and the Donbas region of Ukraine, where “Ukrainian patriots are losing their lives defending the same values that are dear to America and Europe.”

“We are of one blood, one mind and one values. Democratic values,” the Ukrainian president stressed. Mr. Poroshenko said that his country has “effectively stopped” the Russian offensive. But, he added, “The price we paid is striking”: almost 10,000 people have died and more than 2,700 Ukrainian soldiers were killed by combined Russian-militant forces – more than the number of American military losses in Afghanistan over the past 15 years.

News

Kyiv resolutely moving forward on reforms, says Presidential Administration official

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WASHINGTON – Ukraine is resolutely moving forward in implementing its national program of reforms necessary to raise itself to the standards of the European Union. That was the message brought to Washington recently by the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, Dmytro Shymkiv, the official responsible for overseeing the government’s efforts in this area. Speaking at the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars on March 3, Mr. Shymkiv focused on 18 of the 35 EU criteria Ukraine’s National Reform Council is striving to implement by 2020 and presented a scorecard on its progress thus far. “We have more than 70 percent of the decisions of the national reform council being implemented in legislative documents,” he told the full hall at the Wilson Center, adding that an increasing percentage of the people surveyed in Ukraine react positively to these changes. That is especially evident in their reaction to the “strong development” in the area of defense and security, where, he said, “Russia did everything possible to destroy the Ukrainian army, and we now have an army which is able to stand and defend the country.”

Mr. Shymkiv became the deputy head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine on administrative, social and economic reforms in July 2014, at the age of 40.

Columnists

Remembering Rostyk Chomiak

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This old journalist is not easily moved to tears, especially if his mind and eyes are also focused on what’s going on on the other side of his Nikon camera lens. But I did feel a bit of moisture in my eyes that sunny Saturday morning a month ago at St. Andrew Ukrainian Cemetery in South Bound Brook, N.J., as the priest and mourners began singing “Vichnaya Pamiat” for Ross Chomiak, visibly moving his wife, Martha Bohachevsky-Chomiak, daughters, Tania Chomiak-Salvi and Dora Chomiak, and their families to tears. Rostyk – as Ross is known to his Ukrainian friends – is an old journalist colleague and friend of mine who died that previous Monday morning, December 7, after a long illness and a few weeks shy of his 80th birthday. Since then, my mind hasn’t been able to stop thinking about him, his work in Ukrainian and African affairs, and the role he played in the development of my journalistic life since our professional paths merged in the 1970s in Washington.

Notes on People
WASHINGTON – Oresta Starak (left), the first secretary at the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington, who is responsible for liaison with the Ukrainian community, received a very warm send-off from that community at the conclusion of her four-year tour of duty in Washington. The Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family hosted a farewell reception for her after the liturgy on Sunday, November 29, to thank her for her service to Ukraine and to the community here. Among those expressing their gratitude were Bishop John Bura, Ukrainian National Information Service Director Michael Sawkiw and – musically – the church choir, with a premiere performance of Victor Morozov’s (far right) composition of “Mnohaya Lita.” In response, Ms. Starak thanked the United States and the Ukrainian American community for all that they have done for Ukraine, adding that she is leaving with a deep sense of love and respect for them. Her next diplomatic assignment has yet to be announced. Her earlier assignments included Poland and Turkmenistan. – Yaro Bihun

Ukrainian community bids farewell to Embassy’s First Secretary Starak

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WASHINGTON – Oresta Starak (left), the first secretary at the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington, who is responsible for liaison with the Ukrainian community, received a very warm send-off from that community at the conclusion of her four-year tour of duty in Washington. The Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family hosted a farewell reception for her after the liturgy on Sunday, November 29, to thank her for her service to Ukraine and to the community here. Among those expressing their gratitude were Bishop John Bura, Ukrainian National Information Service Director Michael Sawkiw and – musically – the church choir, with a premiere performance of Victor Morozov’s (far right) composition of “Mnohaya Lita.” In response, Ms. Starak thanked the United States and the Ukrainian American community for all that they have done for Ukraine, adding that she is leaving with a deep sense of love and respect for them. Her next diplomatic assignment has yet to be announced. Her earlier assignments included Poland and Turkmenistan.

Holodomor

Candle-lighting remembrance is first to be held at new Holodomor Memorial

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WASHINGTON – This year’s candle-lighting remembrance ceremony in Washington for the millions of people who died in Joseph Stalin’s genocidal famine, the 1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine, was unique. For the first time, the annual commemoration took place at the site of the Holodomor Memorial, constructed this year and dedicated three weeks earlier. As the sun was setting that cloudy November 28 evening in Washington, a large group of people started gathering in front of the memorial. Many came with flowers and candles, which they then lit and placed at the base of the monument as the religious memorial service was about to begin, led by Bishop John Bura and members of the clergy from the local Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox churches. Then, Ukraine’s Ambassador Valeriy Chaly shared his thoughts about the meaning and historical context of the Holodomor, and Michael Sawkiw, chairman of the U.S. Committee for Ukrainian Holodomor-Genocide Awareness 1932-1933, which was responsible for getting the monument built, noted in his remarks that the memorial was erected not just for Ukrainians but for the entire world to acknowledge that the Holodomor was, indeed, a genocide directed against Ukraine.

Culture/Arts

Soprano Vira Slywotzky, pianist George Shevtsov perform at Lyceum

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WASHINGTON – It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon on November 1 in this capital area. A little bit of autumnal chilliness was beginning to arrive, but the audience arriving at The Washington Group Cultural Fund’s Music Series concert in Old Town Alexandria, Va., knew the temperature would quickly rise inside the historic Lyceum hall. And it did, when soprano Vira Slywotzky and pianist George Shevtsov began performing their program, titled “Solospivy, Chansons and Songs.”

Accompanied by Mr. Shevtsov, Ms. Slywotzky, who hails from Massachusetts and regularly performs at operatic and other musical venues on the East and West coasts of the United States, as well as in Paris, began the “solospivy” segment with Mykola Lysenko’s “The Sailboat” (Choven) and continued with five more Ukrainian songs composed by Kyrylo Stetsenko – “You Still Love Him,” “O, Poplar Tree,” “I Gaze at the Bright Stars,” “Don’t Ask if I Love You” and “The Skies Embraced the Seas.”

The audience was delighted by her rendition, as they were with Mr. Shevtsov’s performance of Viktor Kosenko’s “Etude” that followed, and later by his two other pieces – Claude Debussy’s “Etude” and George Antheil’s “Jazz Sonata” – that interspersed the soprano’s other groupings of Ukrainian, French and American songs in the program. A member of the faculty at Manhattan School of Music, Mr. Shevtsov has had a multi-faceted career as a solo performer and as a member of many eminent ensembles, among them the American String Quartet, Mivos Quartet and the International Contemporary Ensemble. The New York Times noted the “Mozartean elegance” and “perfect lucidity” in his performances, and the Miami Herald praised his “superb musicianship.”

In the chansons part of the concert, Ms. Slywotzky sang three songs each by Camille Saint-Saens and Debussy.

Scholarship/Education

Serhii Plokhy honored with Antonovych Award

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WASHINGTON – Serhii Plokhy, the Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History and director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University, was honored with this year’s Omelan and Tatiana Antonovych Foundation award for his work as a historian and author of history books that insightfully analyze Ukraine’s past and present and shed light on what may be in store for its future. As Ukraine’s Ambassador Valeriy Chaly noted in his opening remarks at the November 14 event at the Embassy of Ukraine, Prof. Plokhy’s work “has helped us to understand better our contemporary reality and predict further developments.”

Ukraine’s roots are in Europe and so is its future, the ambassador said, adding: “A nation that forgets its past has no future.”

Prof. Plokhy is the 68th laureate of the Antonovych Award since the annual presentations were initiated in 1981, with the first award going to Ukrainian poet Vasyl Barka. The list of honorees also includes such renowned writers and scholars as Vasyl Stus, Lina Kostenko, Ivan Dzyuba and Zbigniew Brzezinski. This year’s award ceremony came one week after the official dedication of the Holodomor Memorial in Washington, for which the Antonovych Foundation had provided $100,000 two years ago to help finance its construction. As the president of the Antonovych Foundation, Dr. Ihor Voyevidka, pointed out in his presentation, among the earlier Antonovych laureates honored for their work about the 1932-1933 Famine-Genocide in Ukraine were Robert Conquest, author of “The Harvest of Sorrow,” in 1987, and Ukrainian historian Stanislav Kulchytsky and Italian historian Andrea Graziosi in 2011.

Holodomor

Several days of events in D.C. devoted to Holodomor

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WASHINGTON – The dedication of the Ukrainian Holodomor Memorial in Washington on Saturday, November 7, was not a single-day event in front of the U.S. capital’s Union Station and the nearby memorial site. It was accompanied by several noteworthy related events: a large informative exhibit about the Holodomor, special liturgies in local Ukrainian churches, two receptions and a grand concert in one of Washington’s leading concert halls. The commemoration of this historic tragedy began on November 1 with the opening of a two-week-long exhibit inside the main hall of Union Station. Titled “National Holodomor – Genocide by Famine,” it enlightened visitors about how Stalin brought about this horrendous crime against the Ukrainian people and humanity. Organized by Andrij Chornodolskyj, and with the help of a number of volunteer guides, visitors deepened their knowledge about this barbaric crime by studying the informative texts and photographs on some 50 large panels placed in the center of the station’s entrance hall.

Culture/Arts

The Washington Group Cultural Fund begins 2015-2016 season

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WASHINGTON – The fall 2015 Ukrainian classical concert season in the nation’s capital area was launched on Sunday, October 4, with Ukrainian violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv and Georgian pianist Angelina Gadeliya launching The Washington Group Cultural Fund’s 2015-2016 Music Series at the historic Lyceum in Old Town Alexandria, with a program presenting a century of Ukrainian compositions for violin and piano. Two days later, a Ukrainian duo – violinist Aleksey Semenenko and pianist Inna Firsova – were the featured artists at another historic building, the Embassy of Ukraine, as part of the Embassy Series, which presents artists at embassies and ambassadors’ residences in Washington. The audiences at both venues were astonished by the presence of some unexpected awe-inspiring guests. Organized by The Washington Group Cultural Fund, the Ivakhiv-Gadeliya concert, titled “Ukraine: Journey to Freedom,” began with Viktor Kosenko’s “Dreams” (1919), Valentyn Silvestrov’s “Sonata Post Scriptum” (1990), and Myroslav Skoryk’s “Hutsul Triptych” (1965) – his arrangement for violin and piano from the string chamber orchestral original in the film “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” – which brought the audience to its first standing ovation that afternoon. The second half of the program began with two 21st century compositions: Yevhen Stankovych’s “Angel’s Touch” (2013), which was commissioned by New York’s Ukrainian Institute of America for Ms. Ivakhiv to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its music series, and Alexander Shchetynsky’s “An Episode in the Life of a Poet” (2014) – another anniversary composition written for Ms. Ivakhiv and Ms. Gadeliya to celebrate the Taras Shevchenko bicentennial at Merkin Hall in New York.

US

Forum on “Ukraine’s Ongoing Battle for Freedom” held in Washington

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WASHINGTON – As world leaders – among them the presidents of the United States, Ukraine and Russia – began arriving in New York in late September to address the United Nations General Assembly and discuss some of the major world issues, including the crisis in Ukraine, representatives of the Ukrainian and U.S. governments, Ukrainian American and other organizations, and Washington think tanks gathered at the Congressional Auditorium in the U.S. Capitol on September 25 for a discussion of that crisis, its causes and effects, and how they could and should be resolved. The day-long forum, “Ukraine’s Ongoing Battle for Freedom: The Risk of Western failure in Political, Economic and Humanitarian Assistance,” also featured a video-recorded speech by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, in which he expressed his country’s gratitude for the support of the U.S. government and American people and for standing with them in their fight for freedom. “Ukraine needs firm trans-Atlantic unity and world solidarity to push Russia into the framework of international law,” he told the more than 400 registered participants of the forum, which was organized by the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation. He stressed that Ukraine also needs adequate aid for the people suffering from this war and for the implementation of the Ukrainian “comprehensive agenda for reform.”

President Poroshenko singled out the “critical assistance” received from the International Monetary Fund and other institutions in helping Ukraine “to keep our economy afloat” and the humanitarian assistance gracefully provided by the United States, the United Nations, the European Union, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other organizations, which, he said, “is a huge help for the many thousands of misplaced civilians, wounded soldiers and civilians… and a push for peace and security.”

Among other Ukrainian officials participating in the forum were Ukraine’s ambassador in Washington, Valeriy Chalyi, Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak and Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko. Ms. Jaresko focused her presentation on the current humanitarian and economic crisis in Ukraine, which has killed approximately 8,000 people and injured 18,000 more, most of them civilians, she said.