Ukraine

Wuhan evacuees met in Ukraine with protests, miscommunication

Government reassures public that situation is under control

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KYIV – On February 20, a Ukrainian airplane evacuated 45 citizens of Ukraine and 27 foreigners from the city of Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. After stops in Almaty and Kyiv, and circling in the sky as it awaited clearance to land, the chartered plane arrived in Kharkiv. But the most challenging part of the journey was still ahead.

An angry mob attacked the bus transporting evacuees from Kharkiv’s airport to a sanatorium in the Poltava region for a two-week period of quarantine. The protest turned millions of eyes to the town of Novi Sanzhary and elicited countless questions; many cited the lack of pertinent information that should have been shared with the public.

All of the evacuees were reported to be healthy, but were placed under observation.

US

UNA concludes 125th anniversary celebrations with event in its birthplace, Shamokin, Pa.

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SHAMOKIN, Pa. – Bringing the Ukrainian National Association’s 125th anniversary Year to a close, a commemorative event was held on February 9 in the city of Shamokin, Pa., the birthplace of the UNA.

A hierarchical divine liturgy, celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Andriy Rabiy of the Ukrainian Catholic Metropolitan Archeparchy of Philadelphia, was held at Transfiguration of the Lord Ukrainian Catholic Church. Assisting in the liturgy was the church’s pastor, the Rev. Mykola Ivanov. Singing the responses in the Ukrainian language during the liturgy were members of the Dzvin Ukrainian Male Choir from Philadelphia. Joining them with responses in the English language was the Kazka Ukrainian Folk Ensemble. Tom Hasupa, cantor at Transfiguration Church, provided the scripture reading.

Ukraine

Yermak replaces Bohdan as the head of Presidential Office

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KYIV – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine, Andriy Bohdan, and appointed presidential aide Andriy Yermak in his place on February 11.

Mr. Bohdan served as chief of staff and Mr. Yermak worked as an aide to President Zelenskyy beginning on May 21, 2019. On February 10, according to Presidential Office insiders quoted by the news media, the president and Mr. Bohdan had a tough conversation, which allegedly ended with Mr. Bohdan offering to write a letter of resignation, to which Mr. Zelenskyy replied, “Go ahead and write it.” By that evening, sources in the Presidential Office shared the information that Mr. Bohdan was resigning. The next morning, an official statement was released confirming this information.

Ukraine

Pompeo visits Kyiv in the middle of Trump impeachment inquiry

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KYIV – On January 31, U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo visited Kyiv on January 31, becoming the first senior Trump administration official to travel to Ukraine since the House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump.
During his visit, Mr. Pompeo met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Foreign Affairs Minister Vadym Prystaiko and Defense Minister Andriy Zahorodnyuk to “underscore the United States’ strong support for Ukraine and the country’s Euro-Atlantic integration,” according to the Department of State. The secretary of state also met with Metropolitan Epifaniy of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, civil society activists and business leaders, and participated in a wreath-laying ceremony to honor those who have fallen in the Russian-Ukrainian war in the Donbas region while defending their homeland.

Top News

Oleh Sentsov: The nail that will not bend

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NEW YORK – Ukrainian film director and writer Oleh Sentsov arrived recently in the United States for his first visit and a multi-city speaking tour that included a late afternoon presentation at the Ukrainian National Home in New York City’s East Village on Saturday, January 25.
Since his release during a Ukraine-Russia prisoner exchange in September 2019, Mr. Sentsov has often stated publicly – most recently on January 22 during his appearance at the Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland – that he does not consider himself to be, foremost, a Russian political prisoner. He prefers to focus on his self-identity as a human rights activist and a fighter for Ukraine’s right to self-determination.
This position that Ukraine, and all those who consider themselves Ukrainian, must assume serious responsibility to help assure the nation’s success was Mr. Sentsov’s primary message on January 25.

Ukraine

Prime minister submits his resignation, president gives him a second chance

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KYIV – The internet was abuzz with speculation about Ukraine’s Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk on January 15. The first splash of activity came after an unknown source leaked a recording on which Mr. Honcharuk is allegedly heard discussing the economic incompetence of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a senior executive of the National Bank of Ukraine, the minister of finance and others. News about the leak was followed by the presumption that the prime minister would be resigning.
In subsequent days, Messrs. Zelenskyy and Honcharuk played what seemed to be a heavily scripted performance, which started with a statement by the prime minister and ended with the president giving him a second chance. The audience for this performance was confused, because the decision about a government’s resignation is the prerogative of the Verkhovna Rada and not the president.

Ukraine

President Zelenskyy signs law on state recognition of Plast

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KYIV – On January 13, Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the law on state recognition of the Plast movement. Almost a month earlier, on December 17, Ukraine’s Parliament passed the law with 316 votes (with at least 226 required) in the second affirmative vote on this legislation.
Considering that the earlier version of the law had been rejected by the president and then amended to take into account his comments, there were very few doubts that the president would sign and finally enact the legislation. The 215 votes for the bill from the presidential faction, Servant of the People, only strengthened confidence that Mr. Zelenskyy would sign the law. The main question was: When?

Analysis

Ukrainian plane crashes in Iran, killing all 176 people aboard

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A Ukrainian commercial airliner crashed on January 8 soon after taking off from Iran’s capital, Tehran, killing all 176 people on board, mostly Iranian nationals, but also Western and Ukrainian citizens.
On January 9, unidentified U.S. officials said they were confident that Iranian air defense systems accidentally downed the Boeing 737-800, based on satellite, radar and electronic data. Newsweek quoted a Pentagon and a senior U.S. intelligence official, as well as an Iraqi intelligence official, as saying they believed the Ukrainian plane was hit by a Russian-made Tor missile.
Debris and smoldering parts from the aircraft belonging to Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) were strewn across a field southwest of the Iranian capital’s Imam Khomeini International Airport as rescue teams with face masks retrieved bodies.

Ukraine

Latest prisoner swap provokes heated exchanges

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KYIV – Ukraine and the Russian-controlled occupation administrations in the Donbas on December 29 carried out an exchange of prisoners. Welcomed by many, it was strongly criticized by others because of the terms on which it was made.
Seventy-six Ukrainian prisoners were returned in a swap for 127 people handed over to Russia’s proxies who, controversially, included five ex-Berkut officers suspected of mass killings of protesters during the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, as well as three pro-Russian militants convicted of a deadly terrorist attack in Kharkiv in February 2015.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has defended his decision to “return our heroes” even at such a cost, and numerous Western leaders and institutions have supported his actions. At home, however, he has been accused by political opponents and civil society activists of conceding too much and undermining ongoing criminal proceedings.

US

Leaders of Ukrainian Catholic Church hold working session in Washington

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WASHINGTON – On December 9-12 the head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, Patriarch Sviatoslav, together with the bishops of the Permanent Synod – an executive committee that helps the patriarch in leading the Church – visited Washington.
In addition to their working sessions, the bishops met with the Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S.A. Archbishop Christophe Pierre, representatives of the State Department, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Catholic University of America, and others.
The Permanent Synod, which is elected for five years, now includes two Ukrainian American Catholic bishops, Metropolitan Borys Gudziak of Philadelphia and Bishop Bohdan Danylo of Parma, as well as Metropolitan of Przemyśl-Warsaw Eugene Popowicz (Poland), Auxiliary Bishop of Ternopil Teodor Martyniuk (Ukraine) and the secretary of the Synod of Bishops, Bishop Bohdan Dziurakh (Ukraine).