Ukraine

U.S. sanctions more Ukrainians suspected of interfering in 2020 presidential election

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KYIV – The U.S. Treasury Department on January 11 sanctioned several Ukrainian individuals and entities linked to a Verkhovna Rada lawmaker that a Washington intelligence agency says is a Russian agent who allegedly attempted to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

Joining lawmaker and suspected Russian agent Andriy Derkach, who does not belong to a political party, on the department’s “Specially Designated Nationals List” is Oleksandr Dubinsky, who leads the party Servant of the People.

Ukraine
A sign asking “Who killed Pavlo?” in front of the new memorial to Pavlo Sheremet in Kyiv

New twist in Sheremet murder case as audio recording allegedly implicates Belarusian KGB

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KYIV – Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka allegedly ordered the country’s security agency to plot the assassination of journalist Pavlo Sheremet with an explosive device in 2012, according to audio recordings that a former Belarusian spy chief released to a European news outlet.

Per those recordings, which were given to the EU Observer, Vadzim Zaytsau, who headed the Belarusian State Security Committee in 2008-2012, discussed a plan with his subordinates to assassinate Mr. Sheremet.

Ukraine
Ambassadors of the G-7 States and the European Union in masks

Ukrainian government adopts COVID-19 vaccination plan to combat pandemic

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KYIV – Ukraine’s Ministry of Health recently approved a plan to immunize the country’s population against COVID-19. The program, developed by experts from the Public Health Center of Ukraine together with experts from WHO and UNICEF, will provide Ukrainians with a vaccination funded by the state. The goal of the plan is to ensure that at least half of Ukraine’s population of about 42 million people receive a COVID-19 vaccine in 2021-2022.

“This plan will be flexible. It will be updated depending on the situation with COVID-19, updated data on vaccines, the availability of the vaccine itself,” said Ihor Kuzin, the director general of the Public Health Center.

Analysis

Stolen Childhood: Russian Propaganda and Militarization of Youth in Crimea

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On December 7, the General Assembly of the United Nations (UNGA) adopted the resolution “Problem of the militarization of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as parts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov,” initiated by Ukraine (Mfa.gov.ua, December 16, 2020). The declaration indicates that the transformation of the peninsula into a huge Russian military base “represents a threat to peace and security well beyond the Black Sea region” (Un.org, December 7, 2020). This was the third year in a row that the UNGA raised such concerns, but this time, new key elements were included in the document. Solomiya Bobrovskaya, the secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Policy and Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation, mentioned that for the first time, the U.N. resolution includes information regarding the militarization of Crimean youth.

Newsbriefs

NEWSBRIEFS

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Court will hear case on rights violations in Crimea

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will hear part of a case brought by Ukraine alleging Russian human rights violations in the Crimea peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014, the court said on January 14.  Abuses alleged by Ukraine – including enforced disappearances, unlawful detention and suppression of non-Russian media – had been deemed admissible and would be followed by a judgment at a later date, an ECHR statement said. The court said there was not enough evidence for Ukrainian allegations of a pattern of killings and shootings and detentions of foreign journalists or the alleged confiscation of Ukrainian soldiers’ property. Relations between Ukraine and Russia collapsed after Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in the Donbass conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed 14,000 people since 2014.

Analysis

2020: Ukraine grapples with pandemic, vested interests, stalemate with Moscow

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As in many other countries, COVID-19 dominated the agenda in Ukraine in 2020. Kyiv locked down domestic trade, services, education, and passenger transportation as well as closed its state borders earlier than did most neighboring countries in March. That swift reaction may explain why, during the first half of 2020, the scale of the pandemic in Ukraine was relatively low. But even after the lockdown was lifted in the summer, the country faced the consequences of a GDP plunge of more than 11 percent in annual terms in the second quarter. As a result, the team of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shied away from reintroducing tough restrictions when the pandemic peaked in Ukraine in late fall.

Community Chronicle

UNWLA’s North Port branch hosts virtual Christmas celebration

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NORTH PORT, Fla. – Branch 56 of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America held an annual Christmas celebration for members throughout the state on January 10. It did so, however, in a not-so-traditional way, via Zoom.

Members of Branch 56 and the remaining Florida branches of the UNWLA were invited to attend the celebration virtually.  More than 60 guests took part in the celebration, which included various musical performances and poetry readings.

Community

New data released on the First Wave of immigrants from Ukraine to the United States

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The following article is the second part of a two-part series.  Part 1, which was published in the previous issue of The Ukrainian Weekly, addressed the timing, place of birth and mother tongue of Ukrainian immigrants to the United States, as well as their distribution within the U.S. Part 2 addresses Ukrainian immigrants’ characteristics, such as age and sex, education (literacy), knowledge of English, family structure, employment status, class of worker, occupation and homeownership.

Part 2

The first part of this article presented new results about the First Wave of immigrants from Ukraine to the United States.  These results were based on recently released census data for 1910, 1920 and 1930.  Immigrants from Ukraine were defined using two different criteria: “place of birth” and “mother tongue.” 

For the record

Appeal of the hierarchy of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the United States

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Below is a statement issued by the Ukrainian Catholic Hierarchy of the U.S.A. on the events of January 6.

As Christians, on the Feast of the Theophany, we continue to celebrate and welcome the Emmanuel – “God is with us,” the Prince of Peace, “the Beloved Son of the Father,” who calls us all to be His sisters and brothers in the Father’s house. But as a nation, today, we witness an appalling assault on the central seat and process of American democracy which must stop.

Letters to the Editor

Historic details are stubborn

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Dear Editor:

With the U.S. presidential campaign behind us, it’s important for history’s sake that partisan mythologizing not gut sobering details of how American figures influenced tragic developments in Ukraine’s recent history. Already several times The Ukrainian Weekly’s columnists have penned paeans skirting inconvenient items related to then Vice-President Joseph Biden’s part in events affecting Ukraine. Sadly, Mr. Biden played a role in getting Ukraine to forgo armed resistance while Crimea was being invaded. The loss of Crimea – likely long-term – has been independent Ukraine’s great geopolitical tragedy (chances for eastern Donbas’s return are better).