Month: February 21, 2020 3:28 am

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.

KYIV – Ukrainian officials opened a memorial at Kyiv Boryspil International Airport on February 17, marking the traditional 40th day of mourning after the tragedy of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752). The monument commemorates the 176 victims of the Ukrainian passenger jet that was shot down by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Tehran on January 8.

The five-country investigation – involving Canada, Ukraine, Sweden, Afghanistan and the United Kingdom – of the shootdown is still in progress, with some difficulty regarding cooperation by Iran.

KYIV – During the last week or so, talk of peace at the annual high-level Munich Security Conference was deafened by the sound of intensified gunfire from Russian forces in the Donbas. The flare-up in the fighting highlighted once again the gulf between the search for peace proclaimed by Ukraine’s Zelenskyy administration and the realities on the ground reflecting Moscow’s enduring intransigence.

On the eve of the Munich forum, held on February 14-15, there were hopes in some quarters that it would reinforce the beginnings of a new dialogue between Kyiv and Moscow created in Paris in December 2019 at the Normandy Four format summit. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to have the tactical advantage as his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, was not attending. Evidently, the Ukrainian leader hoped to make use of this major international event to promote Ukraine’s cause and interests and to counter its image as a hopelessly corrupt state generated most recently within the context of U.S. political infighting.

Ukrainian soldier killed, four wounded

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said one of its soldiers was killed and four were wounded in clashes that occurred early on February 18 near the town of Zolote in the Luhansk region. The ministry accused the Russian-backed separatists of violating ceasefire agreements by shelling Ukrainian positions on the line of contact. Meanwhile, the leader of the militants in the Luhansk region, Yakov Osadchy, said four separatist fighters were killed and four were wounded in the clashes, which he said started when a group of Ukrainian soldiers tried to enter separatist-controlled territory but entered a minefield. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv reacted to the events, calling on Moscow to fulfill its obligations outlined in earlier peace agreements. The 2015 Minsk agreement is a peace plan that was brokered by France and Germany in the Belarussian capital and set a series of ceasefires in eastern Ukraine that have generally failed to hold. Known as the Normandy format, the latest four-way talks between Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany were held in Paris in December.

CONCLUSION

Kyiv and Moscow finalized a bilateral deal to transport Russian natural gas to Europe through Ukrainian territory (See Part I in Eurasia Daily Monitor, January 22). Although the new five-year agreement on gas transit signed on December 30, 2019, represented a compromise for both countries, it proved an especially difficult and painful decision for Russia.

During the last five years, the Kremlin has been seeking to eliminate Russia’s dependency on the Ukrainian gas transit corridor. Two major Russian pipeline projects, the 55-billion-cubic-meter (bcm) Nord Stream 2 and the 15.75 bcm TurkStream (with a second 15.75 bcm going to Turkey), were supposed to be launched by the end of 2019, before the expiration of the previous 10-year transit contract with Kyiv. Together, these projects – two powerful pipelines that bypass Ukrainian territory to the north and south, respectively – aim to entirely remove the need to transport gas via Ukraine, with whom Russia has tense political relations (the two sides are de facto at war). But even with the launch of TurkStream on January 9, Russia is no closer to its goal of eliminating its reliance on the Ukrainian corridor (see EDM, January 16).

The proceedings of the annual Munich Security Conference always attract keen attention in Moscow, and the weekend of February 14-16 was no exception. The discussions at this high-level forum are indeed highly consequential most years, but Russian interest continues to be stimulated by reflections on Vladimir Putin’s speech at the 2007 conference, which he likely to this day sees as his stellar moment on the world stage. In retrospect, the Kremlin leader’s old complaints about insufficient attention in the West to Russia’s interests look rather banal; but at least before the August 2008 Russian-Georgian War, there had been a foundation of trust, which Moscow has since demolished. Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov used the Munich conference to once more try to sell Mr. Putin’s initiative on staging a summit of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, but U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo showed scant interest.

VATICAN CITY – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska of Ukraine had an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican on February 8.

The Ukrainian president stressed the important role that the Holy See could play in bringing peace to the Ukrainian land. “The main thing we talked about is peace. He even called me ‘president of peace’ – this is my image in Europe now,” Mr. Zelenskyy said after the audience.

According to Mr. Zelenskyy, it is important that the meeting with Pope Francis took place two months after the Paris summit held in the Normandy format and before the next scheduled meeting of the four countries – France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia – in Berlin.

Following is the text of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address at the Munich Security Conference on February 15. (Source: Presidential Office of Ukraine)

The Munich Conference is among the most important platforms for discussing global security issues. And I am grateful for the opportunity to speak here – this is important for me and my country. Especially in the context of the latest expert analysis. I am talking about this year’s annual Munich Security Report.

We have mixed emotions about it. On the one hand, I am frustrated, alongside 65 million Ukrainians worldwide, by the fact that the report contains only eight references to Ukraine.

WASHINGTON – Leaders and members of Ukrainian American organizations, Churches and the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington came together once again on February 16 in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington for the annual honoring of the Heavenly Hundred who were killed six years ago in Kyiv while protesting Ukraine’s pro-Russian government of Viktor Yanukovych. Standing among those in front of the crowd holding the huge Ukrainian flag and addressing the importance of that historic event were Ukraine’s Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko, Nadia McConnell of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, Michael Sawkiw of the Ukrainian National Information Service, Maryna Baydyuk of United Help Ukraine and Nadiya Shaporynska of U.S. Ukrainian Activists. Also there to lead the crowd in prayers for the 100 victims of that historic conflict were the priests of the local parishes of the Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

Seen on this page are the top members of the UNA Supreme Assembly in 1915 as they appeared in the 1915 Almanac of the Ukrainian National Association.

A year earlier, the 1914 “Kalendar Ruskoho Narodnoho Soyuza v Amerytsi,” the almanac of what was then called the Ruthenian National Association, marked the 20th anniversary of the fraternal organization, which was founded on February 22, 1894, in Shamokin, Pa. It is interesting  to note that the 1914 almanac was written in the Latin alphabet. Much of the jubilee almanac was devoted to the history of the organization; and there is a list of 372 branches, beginning with Branch 1 of Shamokin, Pa., the St. Andrew Brotherhood. The almanac also included Ivan Franko’s poetic work “Naymyt” (The Hired Hand) and the lyrics to the “Hymn of American Ukrainians” by Vasyl Shchurat.

The Ukrainian National Association concluded its 125th anniversary celebrations in the place where they began last year: Shamokin, Pa., the birthplace of this largest and oldest Ukrainian fraternal association. The quasquicentennial – yes, that’s the word for 125th anniversary – encompassed a year’s worth of notable observances.

On February 22, 2019, a UNA delegation led by President/CEO Stefan Kaczaraj and COO/National Secretary Yuriy Symczyk traveled to Shamokin on the exact date the UNA was founded 125 years earlier. A proclamation presented by Shamokin Mayor John J. Brown and the City Council cited the historic significance of Shamokin “as the birthplace of the Ukrainian National Association – and the foundation of organized community life of Ukrainian Americans in the United States.” A front-page story about the proclamation’s presentation appeared in the local newspaper, The News-Item, the following day.

Ten years ago, on February 25, 2010, Viktor Yanukovych was sworn in as Ukraine’s president, and his first steps and statements mirrored those of President Leonid Kuchma’s first presidential term (1994-1999).

Mr. Yanukovych selected Mr. Kuchma’s former secretary as head of his administration and demonstrated that in foreign policy he would revive the multi-vector approach of the Kuchma era; in economics, Mr. Yanukovych appealed to populism, focusing on increases in wages and pensions.