Just over a year ago on July 7, 2018, a Ukrainian moral icon was laid to rest. Levko Lukianenko was a Ukrainian nationalist by his own appellation, a freedom fighter, dissident and one of Ukraine’s longest termed political prisoner. After independence Lukianenko became a politician, diplomat, but frankly he was never suited for that line of work. Politicians and diplomats are rarely moral icons.  

I knew Levko Lukianenko personally, having had  many opportunities to meet and converse with him. I attended his funeral in Kyiv and bade him farewell on behalf of Ukrainians abroad.