Pentagon plans $250 M to aid Ukraine
The U.S. Department of Defense says it plans to provide $250 million to enhance Ukraine’s military capabilities as the nation continues to battle Russia-backed separatists in its eastern regions. The latest tranche of assistance will strengthen Ukraine’s naval and ground forces through additional training and provision of weapons, the Pentagon said in a statement on June 18. The list of weapons includes sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, counterartillery radars and night-vision equipment among other items, the statement said. The new tranche will bring total U.S. military support to Ukraine since 2014 to $1.5 billion. The United States “remains committed to helping Ukraine,” the Department of Defense said, adding that it would help Kyiv “strengthen civilian control of the military, promote command and control reforms, enhance transparency and accountability in acquisition and budgeting, and advance defense industry reforms.” The Defense Department also noted: “These reforms will bolster Ukraine’s ability to defend its territorial integrity in support of a secure, prosperous, democratic, and free Ukraine.” (RFE/RL)
Volker: Kremlin not ready to end war
Kurt Volker, the special U.S. envoy to Ukraine, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during a hearing on Ukraine that he had not seen “any indication” from Moscow that it wants to end the conflict. The hearing was held on June 18, after the Pentagon announced an additional $250 million in military aid to Ukraine. The envoy said Russia isn’t the only threat to the stability of Ukraine, pointing out that oligarchs often pull the strings behind the scene and stifle economic development. He called on Congress to give Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s new president, as much support as possible, saying the 41-year-old former comic has a window of opportunity to break the oligarch hold. Ukraine will hold parliamentary elections on July 21 which could see Mr. Zelenskyy gain significant support in the Verkhovna Rada to push through his reform agenda. Mr. Zelenskyy will come to Washington for a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the coming weeks, Mr. Volker said. “The future of Ukraine over the next five years will be shaped in the next three months,” he told the senators. (Todd Prince of RFE/RL)
Merkel backs extending Russia sanctions
German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her country’s backing for extending sanctions against Russia as she met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Berlin on June 18. Speaking at a joint press conference, Ms. Merkel said that the sanctions imposed on Russia over its seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea region and its support for separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine must remain in place until Kyiv’s sovereignty is restored there. “As long as there is no progress on this front, the sanctions cannot be lifted, and the sanctions related to Crimea can only be lifted if Crimea returns to Ukraine,” she said. The European Union, the United States and other countries have imposed sanctions on Russia over Moscow’s seizure of the Crimean peninsula in March 2014 and its support for the militants holding parts of the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in a conflict that has killed some 13,000 people since April 2014. Ceasefire deals announced as part of the Minsk accords in September 2014 and February 2015 have failed to hold. Ahead of his Berlin visit, President Zelenskyy told Germany’s Bild newspaper that the sanctions against Russia should be “expanded.” Sanctions “are the only means to liberate the occupied region and restore our territorial integrity and sovereignty and return them to our people,” he said, adding: “If this does not work, the mechanism must be expanded.” On June 17, during a visit to Paris where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron, Mr. Zelenskyy called for European Union countries not to ease up their “diplomatic and sanctions’ pressure” on Moscow. In Berlin, both Ms. Merkel and Mr. Zelenskyy insisted that the peace process in eastern Ukraine needed to be revived. The German chancellor said that talks between the advisers of the leaders of Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia are scheduled for July. The four countries are part of the so-called Normandy format for talks aimed at ending the conflict. (RFE/RL, with reporting by DW and DPA)
Former envoy to be chargé d’affaires
The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor, will lead America’s diplomatic mission in Kyiv during parliamentary elections in July, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said on June 18. The 72-year-old Taylor will serve as chargé d’affaires during the election campaign and July 21 vote, the embassy said in a statement. He replaces Kristina Kvien, the deputy chief of mission who took over as acting chargé d’affaires following the departure of U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch in May. Mr. Taylor was ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009 and most recently was executive vice-president at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Ambassador Taylor said in a June 18 statement that he wants to build “strong working relationships” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his team as well as “other Ukrainian officials and political forces.” He said the United States also wants to maintain its “strong partnerships with civil society organizations and the Ukrainian people” and noted that “The United States remains deeply committed to the success of a stable, prosperous, democratic, and free Ukraine, and we continue to stand in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” (RFE/RL)
National Deputy Dmytro Tymchuk dies
Ukrainian lawmaker and journalist Dmytro Tymchuk has died from a gunshot wound that a fellow lawmaker says he sustained while cleaning a handgun. Anton Herashchenko, a member of Ukraine’s Parliament, told the 112 Ukraina television channel that the apparent accident occurred on June 19 at Mr. Tymchuk’s home in Kyiv. “Tymchuk’s wife called the police. She said that her husband was cleaning his pistol and, while cleaning it, fatally wounded himself,” Mr. Herashchenko said. “Before the ambulance arrived, Tymchuk died.” Mr. Herashchenko also said the authorities were at Mr. Tymchuk’s home on June 19 to investigate the shooting. The 46-year-old national deputy gained prominence as a blogger after he reported details about Russia’s seizure and annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in February-March 2014. He also reported on activities by Moscow aimed at inciting separatism in Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in April 2014. Mr. Tymchuk then created a group called Information Resistance that seeks to counter Russian propaganda by exposing disinformation. He was elected to the Verkhovna Rada in October 2014 as a candidate of the People’s Front political party. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by 112 Ukraina, Gordon and UNIAN)
Russian court jails five Crimean Tatars
A court in Russia has sentenced five Crimean Tatars to lengthy prison terms on extremism charges that they say are politically motivated. The North Caucasus Regional Military court in the city of Rostov-on-Don on June 18 found the five men guilty of organizing and/or participating in the activities of the Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic group that is banned in Russia but legal in Ukraine. Teymur Abdullayev was sentenced to 17 years, Rustem Ismaiylov received 14 years, and Uzeiyr Abdullayev 13 years, while Ayder Saledinov and Emil Dzhemadenov were sentenced to 12 years in prison each. The men were arrested in October 2016 after Russia-controlled authorities in Ukraine’s Crimea searched their homes. Two months later, they were transferred to a detention center in the Russian city of Rostov-on Don. Last week, eight other Crimean Tatars were arrested in Crimea and charged with belonging to Hizb ut-Tahrir. Since Russia seized the peninsula in 2014, Russian authorities have prosecuted dozens of Crimean Tatars for allegedly belonging to Hizb ut-Tahrir. Earlier, in March-April, Russia’s Federal Security Service detained 24 Crimean Tatars, also on suspicion of being members of the group, following house-to-house searches in Crimea. (Crimea Desk, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
More Crimean Tatars’ homes searched
Police in Ukraine’s Russia-occupied Crimea region have searched the homes of a Crimean Tatar activist and his mother – the latest in an ongoing crackdown by Russian authorities against members of the Turkic-speaking Crimean Tatar community. Crimean Solidarity, a rights group that has members in Crimea and other parts of Ukraine, said Russian police and security officers on June 19 searched the homes of Akseit Dzhandzhakov and his mother in the village of Sary-Su in Crimea’s central Bilohirsk district. The rights group quoted Mr. Dzhandzhakov’s relatives as saying he was absent during the search. It was not immediately clear why the searches were conducted, and the Russian-imposed authorities have not commented on the operations. The searches came a day after a court in Russia sentenced five Crimean Tatars to prison terms ranging from 12 to 17 years after finding them guilty of being members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic group. Rights groups and Western governments have denounced what they describe as a campaign of repression by the Russian-imposed authorities against Crimean Tatars and others who have spoken out against Moscow’s military seizure and occupation of the peninsula. In its annual global report on freedom of religion, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said on April 29 that “Russian authorities continued to kidnap, torture, and imprison Crimean Tatar Muslims at will” in Russia-occupied Crimea. (Crimea Desk, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
One Ukrainian soldier killed in east
Ukraine’s government says one of its soldiers has been killed and six others wounded in clashes with Russia-backed militants in the eastern part of the country. Meanwhile, both sides in the conflict on June 19 accused the other of violating a ceasefire under the Minsk peace agreements by firing mortar and heavy artillery. Since April 2014, more than 13,000 people have been killed in fighting between Kyiv’s forces and the militants who control parts of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. (RFE/RL, with reporting by TASS)
Zelenskyy pays a visit to Mariupol
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the Ukrainian port of Mariupol to take part in activities to mark the fifth year of the city being liberated from Russia-backed separatists. Sitting on the shores of the Sea of Azov, Mariupol lies about 20 kilometers from the frontline of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where some 13,000 people have died since April 2014. Mr. Zelenskyy attended joint military exercises and was on hand for the opening of a demining center. “We must now thoroughly redistribute the maximum of our attention to the Donbas,” the president said, referring to the Luhansk and Donetsk regions under the control of Russia-backed militants. “This is our land, our territory, and we want people from the other side, in the temporarily occupied territories, to see that Ukraine is flourishing here,” he said. After the official part of the visit, Mr. Zelenskyy visited the city center, took selfies with people, and even ran through a park fountain with children. Earlier, thousands of people attended a military parade in Mariupol to mark five years of being free from the militants’ control. “The lesson for Donbas is that when Russian forces leave, peace begins,” Kurt Volker, U.S. special envoy for Ukraine, tweeted on June 14. In 2015, rocket strikes hit a residential area of Mariupol, killing 30 people and wounding more than 100. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, with reporting by UNIAN, AFP and Interfax)
Russia begins handing out passports
Russia on June 14 began handing out Russian passports to Ukrainians from separatist-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine, a move condemned by Kyiv as “legally void.” Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to simplify the process for Ukrainian citizens in the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions to get Russian citizenship just days after Volodymyr Zelenskyy won the country’s presidential runoff on April 21. The move was slammed in Ukraine and abroad as an attempt to undermine the new president. According to Russian state media, more than 60 Ukrainians from Donetsk and Luhansk were reportedly handed Russian passports at a ceremony in Russia’s Rostov region on June 14. The Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry said the Russian move won’t “have any legal consequences and won’t be recognized by the Ukrainian side and the world,” a statement quoted by Ukrainian media said. Ukraine has threatened to revoke the citizenship of those who accept Russian passports through the program. Earlier this week, the European Union threatened that it would not recognize Russian passports obtained through what it denounced as an illegal method. Giving Russian citizenship en masse to people in Ukrainian regions “runs counter to the spirit and the objectives” of the ceasefire commitments, the EU said in a statement. Russia’s Internal Affairs Ministry has received 12,000 passport applications under the program in the Rostov region, the state-run TASS news agency reported. President Zelenskyy has mocked the passport offer, telling Ukrainians not to bother since Russian citizenship means “the right to be arrested for peaceful protests,” and “the right not to have free and competitive elections.” (RFE/RL, with reporting by 112.international, DPA and TASS)
Poroshenko to donate funds won from BBC
Ex-President Petro Poroshenko will donate the 1.75 million hrv (over $66,400 U.S.) that he won in a defamation case against the BBC to the NGO Come Back Alive and a volunteer organization from Lviv, the NGO Help the Front, as reported by Ukrainian media at the end of May. In May 2018, some media outlets reported that Mr. Poroshenko allegedly paid $400,000 to Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen to arrange for a meeting with President Trump. That allegation was reportedly based on the BBC’s journalistic investigation. Ukraine’s officials denied the allegations and sued the BBC for defamation. On March 28 of this year, the BBC apologized to Mr. Poroshenko for unsubstantiated allegations and announced it would pay him damages. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
Lithuania recognizes Crimean Tatars’ genocide
Lithuania’s Parliament has recognized the deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944 by the government of the Soviet Union as an act of genocide. A resolution on the issue, approved by Lithuanian lawmakers on June 6, calls the deportation “crimes committed by the Soviet Union against Crimean Tatars” and calls on the world community “to express solidarity with the Crimean Tatars” and continue “the policy of nonrecognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea” by Russia in 2014. Seventy-seven lawmakers voted for the resolution, while one abstained. A similar resolution was adopted by Latvia last month. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine recognized the Crimean Tatars’ deportation as an act of genocide in November 2015. In May 1944, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin ordered the mass deportation of the entire Crimean Tatar population from Crimea to Central Asia, collectively accusing the community of collaborating with Nazi Germany. Tens of thousands of Crimean Tatars died while being transported on cattle trains or during the first few months after they arrived in Central Asia. The mass deportations are a reason for the Tatars’ deep-seated mistrust of Russian authorities and many still associate Moscow’s rule with oppression, exile, and suffering. Survivors and offspring of the survivors began unauthorized returns to Crimea in the late 1980s. Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula was seized and illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Since then, the Crimean Tatar community has been subjected to repression by the Russia-installed authorities for voicing opposition to the annexation. (RFE/RL)
Six killed in Odesa psychiatric hospital fire
Six people have died as fire swept through a psychiatric hospital in Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa, authorities say. Five people were hospitalized with carbon-monoxide poisoning after the fire erupted late on June 10 in the one-story building, Ukraine’s Emergency Service said. The dead included a nurse and five patients, according to an RFE/RL journalist. The cause of the blaze was not immediately clear. Police opened a criminal investigation into possible fire-safety violations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he regretted the “terrible tragedy” and directed Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman to immediately set up a commission to investigate. Deadly fires are not uncommon in Ukraine due to outdated infrastructure and poor security measures. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, with reporting by AFP)
Bartholomew: Kyiv Patriarchate doesn’t exist
The Patriarchate of Constantinople has reinstated the episcopal status of former head of the (non-canonical) Kyiv Patriarchate Filaret as former metropolitan of Kyiv, while the so-called Kyiv Patriarchate “does not exist and never existed,” Patriarch Bartholomew said in a statement. The dead of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, Sergey Tomilenko, posted a scan of the official address to Ukrainian journalists from Patriarch Bartholomew, who met with him in Istanbul last week, on his Facebook account. In his address, Patriarch Bartholomew reiterated his support for Ukraine and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and insisted that granting it autocephaly “had nothing to do with politics or geopolitics,” as the Mother Church of Constantinople has seen that, “for decades, if not centuries, Ukraine was not able to enjoy complete freedom from external influences, especially from the Russian State.” He continued: “As for Filaret, he was restored to his episcopal dignity as former Metropolitan of Kyiv. The so-called ‘Patriarchate of Kyiv’ does not exist and never existed.” Patriarch Bartholomew added: “We also profess, now that autocephaly has been granted, that it is the responsibility of the primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, His Eminence Metropolitan Epifaniy, to lead this historic Church, strengthening the unity of the Ukrainian people, inspiring Christian values based on the Gospel, and making the gift of freedom a means to spread the good news of the New Testament.” (Interfax)
Manitoba agreement with high school in Ukraine
The government of Manitoba said on June 3 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with a school in Ukraine. The agreement will allow students at Novopecherska School in Kyiv to study the Manitoba high school curriculum and earn a Manitoba high school diploma. “Manitoba is proud of its strong ties to Ukraine and excited for this new partnership that will allow students in Kyiv to study the Manitoba curriculum,” said the province’s Training Minister Kelvin Goertzen. “We hope international high school students who graduate with a Manitoba diploma will consider Canada as an option for their post-secondary studies. The province’s post-secondary education system is internationally recognized for its leading-edge facilities and first-rate educators, and is an excellent choice for international students.” The agreement authorizes Novopecherska to offer a Manitoba Blended Program for grades 9 to 12, and allows students who complete all credits and program requirements to graduate with a Manitoba high school diploma and a Ukrainian high school diploma. Students will be encouraged to use the Manitoba diploma to apply to Canadian post-secondary institutions. “We are currently developing global educational partnerships as a part of our strategic plan,” said Irena Korbabicz-Putko, principal, Novopecherska School. “Ukraine has a historical relationship with Manitoba via diaspora and we are looking to collaboratively develop educational opportunities for students and teachers.” The agreement between Manitoba and Novopecherska School is the first Canada-Ukraine bilateral agreement that supports a dual program of studies leading to a high school diploma. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)