Onyshko’s concussion case challenging NCAA

May 2019 saw Matthew Onyshko in his wheelchair at the front of a Washington County, Pa., courtroom, face to face with an attorney representing the NCAA. The Ukrainian was a football player for Division II California University of Pennsylvania from 1999 to 2003.

After graduating, he became a fireman in his hometown of Pittsburgh. On a November 2007 day while fighting a fire, he had difficulty putting on his gloves, becoming aware his hands were losing strength. The father of two was diagnosed a couple of months later with the degenerative brain disease ALS. After viewing a report about former New Orleans Saints Steve Gleason’s experience with ALS on Super Bowl Sunday of 2012, Onyshko questioned whether the head injuries he’d suffered playing football were the cause of his condition. His personal physicians agreed with him, concluding he had no genetic precondition for the disease.

Amid surge in Ukraine’s coronavirus cases, opposition to ‘weekend quarantine’ grows

LVIV – On Saturday, November 14, Ukraine entered the first weekend of its new quarantine regime, whereby there are additional restrictions on weekends. On Saturdays and Sundays, bars, restaurants, cafes and other catering establishments are closed. Shopping centers and entertainment establishments are closed. Establish­ments of trade and consumer services are closed, with few exceptions. Gyms and swimming pools are closed. The government’s “weekend quarantine” is slated to last until November 30. In addition, previous anti-epidemic restrictions that affected regions with the worst coronavirus outbreaks will now apply to all regions.

Ukraine and the ongoing Belarus factor

As Ukraine prepares to mark the anniversaries of the beginning of the Orange Revolution on November 22, 2004, and the Euro-Maidan, which was launched on November 23, 2013, and by the beginning of the following year evolved into the Revolution of Dignity, Belarusians on November 16 marked the 100th day of their white-red-white national revolution.

They have revolted against the dictatorship of Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who after 26 years in power has once again imprisoned rivals and rigged the August 9 presidential election. The Belarusian people’s resistance has now lasted longer than the 95-day Ukrainian popular insurrection against the kleptocracy of President Viktor Yanukovych and his pro-Russian lurch when Ukraine was poised to enter into an Association Agreement with the European Union.

UCC’s first-ever online annual meeting begins celebrations of its 80th anniversary

OTTAWA – The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) held its annual general meeting (AGM) on Saturday, November 7. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AGM was held online for the first time ever, with over 80 delegates and guests in attendance.

This meeting marked 80 years since the founding of the UCC, and special greetings were presented by dignitaries to mark this auspicious anniversary. These video greetings will be available on the UCC’s website in the coming days. The UCC’s 80th anniversary project was launched at the AGM. The video can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBm17SNFjso.

Turkey and Ukraine boost mutual ties in defense sphere

Turkey and Ukraine have been building the pillars of a promising defense cooperation partnership for some time. The two countries currently engage in joint endeavors in game-changing military areas such as drone warfare, aerospace engines and missile technology. Following the October 16-17 summit between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, Turkish-Ukrainian strategic ties look poised to bring about a new geopolitical reality in the Black Sea region.

The most notable current area of cooperation between Turkey and Ukraine is in unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Turkey’s forthcoming high-end combat drone, the Akinci (the Raider), was notably powered by Ukraine’s Ivachenko-Progress AI-450T turboprop engines during its prototype test flights.

NEWSBRIEFS

12,496 new COVID-19 cases in one day

Ukraine’s Public Health Center reported that as of November 18, there are 12,496 officially confirmed case of COVID-19 in the country, including 535 children and 529 health-care workers. During the previous 24 hours, 1,668 persons were hospitalized, 256 patients died and 8,096 persons recovered. On November 17, 11,968 new cases of coronavirus were recorded. On November 16, there were 9,832 new cases; on November 15 – 10,681; on November 14 – 12,524; and November 13 – 11,787 and on November 12 – 11,057. (Interfax-Ukraine)

Some in Moscow view Karabakh settlement as model for Donbas, Transnistria

Whenever a major development occurs in one area of the post-Soviet space, many Moscow officials and analysts often hurry to ask whether it will be repeated in another. And when Moscow becomes involved, some in the Russian capital are inclined to think that the Kremlin can and should repeat such activity elsewhere.

While these types of Russian arguments typically understate the diversity of the situation across post-Soviet Eurasia, their almost inevitable appearance simultaneously reflects the continuing dominance of Soviet-era notions about the homogeneity of the region and drives Moscow’s policies in understandable but often flawed directions. That is exactly what appears to be happening now that Moscow has proclaimed a settlement for the Karabakh dispute (see Eurasia Daily Monitor, November 12, November 13) and is beginning to think about potentially copying the arrangements there in Ukraine’s Donbas and Moldova’s Transnistria.

Quotable notes

“As part of a broader program to destabilize its sovereign neighbor, Russia has fomented and financed a deadly conflict in eastern Ukraine for more than six years now. Rather than playing a constructive role in negotiating an end to this conflict, and the opportunities and structures are there to do this, and fulfilling its commitments under the Minsk agreements, Russia cynically claims to be an uninvolved third party, pointing to unnamed outside ‘masters’ having orchestrated a coup d’état in Kyiv.

“In the Trilateral Contact Group, Moscow tries to frame Kyiv as the spoiler in negotiations, while attempting to hide its role of controlling Russia’s forces on the ground in eastern Ukraine. Frankly, none of this is believable.

UCC expresses condolences on death of Anna Kisil, noted community leader

OTTAWA – The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) expressed its deep condolences on the loss of Anna Kisil, a community leader, philanthropist, activist and volunteer, and president of the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations (WFUWO), who passed away on November 16 in Toronto.

The UCC noted that Ms. Kisil “will be remembered by all who knew her for her kindness, humor, compassion and wisdom. She had a deep commitment to helping others and for serving her community and Ukraine. She will be profoundly missed.”

Holodomor service to be livestreamed from St. Patrick’s

NEW YORK – Ukraine’s Holodomor, the 1932-1933 genocide by famine of 7-10 million Ukrainians committed by Joseph Stalin, ranks among the worst cases of man’s inhumanity towards man. In memory of the innocent victims of this Soviet genocide, 3 million of whom were children, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), annually co-organizes an ecumenical commemoration at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City on the third Saturday of November, which regularly attracts thousands of attendees from across the tri-state metropolitan area.

This year, the organizers of the annual event advise our community not to travel to St. Patrick’s Cathedral on November 21. Case reporting of COVID-19 continues to spread in New York City, with increases in recent hospitalizations concerning local authorities enough to begin limiting non-essential gatherings in certain neighborhoods. On November 15, the UCCA encouraged the public to instead watch the livestream from St. Patrick’s Cathedral to mark the 87th anniversary of the Holodomor.