Month: January 31, 2020 9:44 am

I doubt that anyone could have imagined back last summer that Ukraine would be at the center of an impeachment of an American president. Yet, since late September, when the story broke of allegations of President Donald Trump’s campaign to pressure Ukraine to publicly commit to investigating a political opponent, notably by withholding military aid, Ukraine has been in the news on a daily basis.
How has impeachment impacted America’s public perceptions of Ukraine? More importantly, how has it affected U.S. support for Ukraine? First, as tragic as this scandal has been for the United States, it has not been the unmitigated disaster for Ukraine or its standing with America’s public and political elites that some fear. Mr. Trump’s politicization of the U.S.-Ukraine relationship has harmed and complicated U.S.-Ukraine relations in the short-term.

The following statement by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America was released on January 22.

This January 21 marked 30 years since half a million smiling, flag-waving and independence-seeking people joined hands across the 300 miles between Kyiv and Lviv. Organized by Narodnyi Rukh Ukrayiny (the People’s Movement of Ukraine) when the country still suffered under the yoke of Soviet oppression, Ukrainian activists from across this largest country in Europe managed to inspire enough of their countrymen to come out for a peaceful demonstration of national unity and pride to demonstrate the national will “for a united, independent Ukraine.” At one end of the chain, Kyiv residents began their section from St. Sophia’s Square; winding for kilometers out of the city and westward, thousands of youth and elderly, Catholics and Orthodox, ethnic Ukrainians, Jews, Poles and others linked themselves through the streets of Zhytomyr, Rivne, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk.

The following statement was released by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress on January 27.

On January 27, the world marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this day, we honor the memory of the millions of victims of the Holocaust.
Over 6 million Jews, and millions of other victims – Ukrainians, Poles, Roma, and many others – were murdered by the Nazi German regime. May the Memory of the Victims Be Eternal. Vichnaya Pamiat.

For Ukrainians in the U.S., notable events included Holodomor commemorations and exhibits, the 75th anniversary of the United Ukrainian American Relief Committee (UUARC), the 125th anniversary of the organized Ukrainian diaspora, the centennial of the unification of the Ukrainian National Republic and the Western Ukrainian National Republic, and the expanding work of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA).
The United Ukrainian American Relief Committee sent the first humanitarian aid shipment of 2019 to Ukraine on January 12. The shipment included medical equipment and supplies, medical consumables, surgical instruments, patient hospital beds with mattresses, regular and electric wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, canes, adult diapers, hygiene products, equipment for children with severe disabilities, clothing, shoes, linens and books. The items were distributed to Ukrainian soldiers and civilians who are suffering from the ongoing war in Ukraine.

One hundred twenty-five. That was how many years of service to our community the Ukrainian National Association celebrated in 2019. And the celebrations, which took many forms, lasted all year long.
Issues of Svoboda dated February 22 and The Ukrainian Weekly dated February 24 included special sections dedicated to the milestone anniversary of their publisher, the UNA, the oldest and largest Ukrainian fraternal organization. Indeed, the UNA is among the oldest fraternal organizations in the United States.

Ukrainians celebrated a landmark anniversary in 2019: 125 years of continuous service to Ukrainian communities in the United States and Canada by the Ukrainian National Association (UNA). Several major cultural events commemorated all the work done by the UNA.
On July 12-14, the 13th annual Ukrainian Cultural Festival at the Ukrainian National Foundation’s Soyuzivka Heritage Center in Kerhonkson, N.Y., included a gala honoring the important role of the UNA’s two newspapers – Svoboda (the oldest continuously published Ukrainian-language newspaper in the world, founded in 1893) and The Ukrainian Weekly (published in the English language and founded in 1933). The UNF is an affiliated company of the UNA that performs charitable activities on its behalf.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. – The Ukrainian National Association’s 125th anniversary celebrations will culminate with an anniversary concert in Shamokin, Pa., the birthplace of the UNA, on February 9 at Transfiguration of Our Lord Ukrainian Catholic Church.
The celebrations began on February 22, 2019, in Shamokin with an anniversary proclamation and the presentation of a golden key to the city to UNA executives.
The February 9 event begins with divine liturgy at 9:30 a.m., with the Dzvin Ukrainian Male Folk Choir and the Kazka Ukrainian Folk Ensemble participating during the liturgy.

MINNEAPOLIS – Ukrainian community members recently gathered at the University of Minnesota for a reception marking the official transfer of materials from a recently completed oral history project, titled “Holodomor Impact on Minnesota’s Ukrainian Community,” to the institution’s Immigration History Research Center Archives (IHRCA). The event took place on November 20, 2019.
Professionally recorded video files and written, annotated transcripts of 11 interviews with Holodomor survivors, and children and grandchildren of survivors, will be permanently housed at the IHRCA, located at the University’s Elmer L. Andersen Library.

NEW YORK – “Great Balls of Fire”! Shades of Jerry Lee Lewis and his flaming keyboards! The smash-mouth destruction of a honky-tonk pianino was merely the most obvious assault on the audience during performances of “Opera GAZ,” a co-production of Yara Arts Group and Kyiv’s Nova Opera on December 19, 20 and 22 at La MaMa Experimental Theater in New York City. By itself, the violent “pianicide” concluding this “opera” might be shrugged off as passé – a “happening” dating back to the 1950s. However, this show also evoked the bleak landscape of much of today’s opera and theater productions.

WHIPPANY, N.J. – The Newark, N.J., branch of Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization on January 4 held its annual Christmastime “Svichechka” (candle lighting) ceremony, a tradition that symbolically unites the diaspora with Ukraine. As the Plast scouts’ candles were lit from the Bethlehem Peace Light, Plast members of all ages sang Ukrainian Christmas carols. Also during the gathering, the Newark branch of Plast, which is headquartered at the Ukrainian American Cultural Center of New Jersey in Whippany, gained 11 cub scouts – seven girls and four boys – who received their yellow neckerchiefs.

HILLSIDE, N.J. – St. Nicholas visited Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Catholic Church in Hillside, N.J., on Sunday, December 8, 2019. The children presented a beautiful program in honor of the visit, including performances on the flute, clarinet, trumpet, piano, guitar, and a poem in Ukrainian. There was also full audience participation in the Christmas/St. Nicholas Trivia Challenge.
St. Nicholas thanked all the children and adults for being very good this year. He was very happy to hear that the audience knew several of the trivia questions, but also had the opportunity to learn more about the saint and Christmas.

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.