UNA announces scholarship winners for 2021-2022 academic year

PHILADELPHIA – The Ukrainian National Association (UNA) has a longstanding tradition of assisting students in their pursuit of higher education. Despite the continuing challenges of the coronavirus, the UNA continued that tradition in 2021. The UNA Scholarship Committee met virtually on June 22 to review all applications for scholarships and awards.

NEWSBRIEFS

Merkel in Kyiv discusses geopolitics
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said natural gas should never be used as a geopolitical weapon and backed extending an energy partnership deal with Ukraine once it expires in 2024. Ms. Merkel made the remarks in Kyiv on August 22 at a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

August anniversaries in Russia: a litany of bad memories

Each August witnesses some critical and usually unhappy events for Russia, and this year is particularly rich with round anniversaries. Sixty years ago, on August 13, 1961, the Soviet leadership ordered the construction of a wall to separate West Berlin from the Socialist East Germany, until that barrier finally came down in November 1989.

30th anniversary timeline

In the wake of the policies of glasnost, perestroika and demokratizatsia announced by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, there was ferment throughout the USSR. What follows is a timeline of events leading up to the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence on August 24, 1991, and its affirmation by a nationwide referendum on December 1, 1991

Appeals from Rukh: reject the coup

In the early morning of August 19, 1991, hardline Communist Party leaders in Moscow opposed to the liberalization and reforms enacted by then General Secretary of the Communist Party and President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev announced a state emergency and attempted a coup to oust their leader.

30 years after independence, Ukrainian is now the lingua franca in U.S.-Ukraine diplomatic relations

Marta Zielyk, a recently retired U.S. State Department civil servant, spent 25 years working as the United States’ senior diplomatic interpreter for Ukrainian. Prior to that, she was an international broadcaster working with the Ukrainian Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in New York, Washington and Munich, and with the Ukrainian Service of the Voice of America in Washington.

Charting a path to independence

For many Ukrainians around the world, August 24 is a day to celebrate the moment when, 30 years ago on August 24, 1991, a long-held dream finally became a reality. It marks the day when the Ukrainian parliament adopted an act to reestablish Ukraine as an independent nation. While parliament proclaimed Ukraine’s independence, it also noted that the issue was subject to a nationwide referendum.

August 26, 1939

Sounding the alarm bell for the West to recognize the possible outcomes of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact (known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that was signed on August 23, 1939), 82 years ago, on August 26, 1939, The Ukrainian Weekly’s front-page editorial noted multiple areas of concern for Ukraine.

Thank you, Metropolitan-Archbishop Gudziak

Dear Editor:
The August 8 column by Metropolitan-Archbishop Borys Gudziak (Gift, challenge and charge: on Ukraine’s 30th anniversary) was an amazing reminiscence that must have touched the heart of every Ukrainian patriot who recalls that climacteric period.