Month: November 28, 2019 1:14 pm

On April 1-3, 2005, the Ukrainian National Association held a District Chairpersons’ Meeting and Secretaries’ Course at Soyuzivka. Represented were eight districts and 16 branches. In addition, eight members of the UNA General Assembly attended. See above are participants of the meeting. Seated in the front row (from left) are: Alexander Serafyn, auditor and Detroit District chairman; Martha Lysko, first vice-president; Stefan Kaczaraj, president; Christine E. Kozak, national secretary; Stefan Hawrysz, advisor and Philadelphia District chairman; Gloria Horbaty, advisor and branch secretary; and others. National Secretary Kozak organized the event and planned the agenda for the meeting, while First Vice-President Lysko conducted one of the sessions. Oksana Trytjak, national organizer, presented the scope of her newly created position, and Robert Mitchell from Western Catholic Union gave an excellent seminar on annuities. Each of the four speakers presented a different but vital aspect of UNA history, community involvement, business and Home Office innovations.

Following are the texts of greetings received by the Ukrainian National Association on the eve of its gala 125th anniversary concert (November 2).

Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.)

Dear Friends,
I am honored to welcome you to the Ukrainian National Association’s 125th anniversary concert at the Dolan Performance Hall of the College of St. Elizabeth. This is the finale of a wonderful year-long commemoration of this important milestone!
Established in 1894 to cover Ukrainian immigrant families working in mining communities, the Ukrainian National Association (UNA) has grown into a fraternal society insuring tens of thousands of members. Since the beginning, your organization has focused on supporting and uniting the Ukrainian community, and on celebrating Ukrainian culture.

In our September 29 issue, when we commented in this space about Ukraine being on the front pages of our newspapers, little did we know that the situation would evolve as it has. Back then, we worried that Ukraine had become a political football in the U.S. as the 2020 presidential election draws nearer. Now, as the impeachment inquiry – looking into whether President Donald Trump used the power of his office to pressure Ukraine into discrediting a political rival – has progressed, we see Ukraine not only being depicted as hopelessly corrupt, despite all the evidence that major progress has been made on battling corruption, but also being falsely accused of having intervened in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Five years ago, on December 1, 2014, Russia announced its surprise abandonment of its South Stream pipeline project that would have run across the Black Sea from Russia to Bulgaria.
The European Union said Moscow’s move to forgo the project underscored the need for diverse energy sources, while Moscow vowed to find other ways to get its natural gas to paying clients.
The announcement was made by President Vladimir Putin in Turkey, and the decision followed years of wrangling between the EU and Russia over energy supplies. Many in the West claim Moscow uses its energy exports as a geopolitical tool and it reflected the severe strain in ties caused by Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its support of military action in eastern Ukraine.

Below is the text of remarks delivered by Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) on November 16 at the Holodomor commemoration at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.

Good afternoon, everyone. It’s an honor and a privilege to be here with you.
I’d like to thank Andriy Futey, Tamara Olexy and the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America for organizing this meaningful remembrance.
I also want to recognize the Ukrainian ambassador to the United Nations, Volo­dy­myr Yelchenko, and the consul general, Oleksii Holubov, for being here with us today.
And if you can see close-up, I’m wearing yellow and blue in honor of the Ukrainian flag. May it wave forever!

The following statement was made by U.S. State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus on November 23.

This November we honor and remember the millions of Ukrainians who perished 86 years ago during Holodomor, the catastrophic famine created by the barbaric policies of the Stalin regime.
Through the deliberate seizure of Ukrainian land and crops and forced collectivization, the Soviet Union caused widespread starvation and death and immeasurable human suffering.
While this horrific tragedy was one of the most atrocious of the 20th century, the Soviet Union could not break the spirit of the Ukrainian people.

At first glance, the entire Trump impeachment probe looks like terrible news for Ukraine. With Russian forces still firmly entrenched in the Donbas and Russian President Vladimir Putin eager to exploit the inexperience of the country’s new president, the last thing Ukraine needs now is a crisis in relations with its most important ally.
While the potential security implications of impeachment are ominous enough in their own right, the optics of the scandal are arguably even worse. As U.S. coverage has intensified, Ukraine has become a byword for graft and political sleaze, with Donald Trump’s defenders frequently dismissing the nation as “one of the most corrupt countries in the world.” This is not a winning message, by any stretch of the imagination. Nevertheless, the fact remains that in the space of a few short months, the impeachment story has garnered Ukraine far more international attention than the country has enjoyed in the previous 28 years of its independent existence. The question Ukrainians should now be asking themselves is whether there really is no such thing as bad publicity.

The Ukrainian World Congress issued the following media release on November 21.

On November 21, 2013, the people of Ukraine gathered in the capital’s Independence Square in defense of their will to live freely in a democracy that respects the choice of the people. This day, which began a spiral of events leading to the Revolution of Dignity with tragic consequences, is now marked as the Day of Dignity and Freedom.

COHOES, N.Y. – Members of the Ukrainian community of New York’s Capital District gathered on Saturday, November 16, to commemorate the victims of the Holodomor.
At 10 a.m., braving 20 degree temperature and a blustering wind chill, participants observed the Holodomor’s 86th anniversary with solemnity and reverence.
The program opened with the laying of a wreath at the Cohoes Holodomor Memorial located in a small meditation park, followed by the singing of the U.S. national anthem by Iryna Petryk.
Dr. Andrij Baran, chairman of the New York Capital District Holodomor Committee, then spoke about the “The History and Meaning of Holodomor,” reminding all why we were there. This was followed by a moment of silence.

HARTFORD, Conn. – The Hartford branch of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America organized the annual bus trip to the New York City Holodomor memorial service at St Patrick Cathedral on Saturday, November 16. Shown here are the students from St. Michael Ukrainian School of Hartford before the services.

SOCCER
Ukraine draws the Netherlands in Euro 2020

Ukraine was placed in Group C with the Netherlands (group hosts) as part of the group stage of the UEFA Euro 2020. The remaining two teams in Group C are to be named based on results of the play-offs (if Romania wins Path A of the play-offs it will be placed in Group C, otherwise the remaining teams – Bulgaria, Hungary and Iceland – will be placed in Group F, with the play-off finals on March 31, 2020; should the latter happen, the winner of Path D play-offs will advance to Group C, if Romania wins Path A, the winner of Path D – Georgia, Belarus, North Macedonia, Kosovo – will enter Group F). Matches are set for June 14, 18, 22, and if Ukraine finishes in first or second place in its group, will advance to the Round of 16, which begins on June 27.  Ukraine’s goalkeeper, Andriy Pyatov, was ranked in 19th place (1,459 points) among the best players of the qualification tournament. The ranking was determined by the FedEx Performance Zone algorithm, which evaluated the contribution of players to the success of their national teams.

NEW YORK – Since 2010, the Ukrainian American Youth Association (UAYA) has sent young adults to Ukraine to participate in an exchange program. The exchange occurs with UAYA’s sister organization, the Ukrainian Youth Association of Ukraine (UYA). The mission of this program is to facilitate the exchange of ideas, best practices and life experiences between the counselors and junior counselors of the two countries.
In previous years, UAYA members went to Ukraine to work at children’s camp for UYA members, but the focus of the exchange program has changed for the U.S. participants since 2017. For the last three years, starting a year after the Euro-Maidan, the U.S. participants have volunteered at a Charitable Camp (Blahodiynyi Tabir) for orphans of the warriors of ATO and the refugee children of the war in eastern Ukraine.