The Ukrainian Weekly (https://www.ukrweekly.com/uwwp/tag/premium/page/15/)
The following column discusses the work of the Helsinki Commission beginning in the late 1980s, as the Soviet empire began to unravel, to the present day. Part 1 of this two-part series, which ran in the May 30 issue of The Ukrainian Weekly, discussed the work of the Helsinki Commission from its founding up to the late 1980s.
MORRISTOWN, N.J. – A wide circle of members and friends of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America (UNWLA) Branch 75 of Morris County, N.J. were treated to an afternoon of delightful entertainment this past winter: a Zoom cooking class led by renowned and beloved chef Andrey Sonevytsky of Soyuzivka Heritage Center in Kerhonkson, N.Y.
Mr. Sonevytsky has spent nearly his entire life cooking. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1995 with a degree in Culinary Arts. As part of his credentials, Mr. Sonevytsky interned at three well-known restaurants in New York City: the Tribeca Grill, Montraché and NOBU. Soon after, he started to work at Soyuzivka, training under the mentorship of Andrij Lesiw. Shortly after, Mr. Sonevytsky took over as head chef at Soyuzivka, where has worked since.
HARTFORD, Conn. – On the eve of U.S. President Joe Biden’s historic NATO summit, Ukrainian American veterans, community leaders and activists from 12 towns across Connecticut came to the Ukrainian National Home in Hartford on June 14 for an early morning meeting with U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).
SOUTH WINDSOR, Conn. – From the first 70 minutes of action, the Netherlands out-shot, out-hustled and out-played Ukraine. Ahead 2-0 in its opening Group C match of UEFA’s Euro 2020 Championship on June 13, the home team in Amsterdam was cruising toward a one-sided victory over Ukraine, who hadn’t scored a goal in Euro soccer action since 2012. The Dutch team’s total control then abruptly switched to collapse when the underdog Ukrainians tallied two quick goals to even the match at 2-2. A game that seemed comfortably sealed away required some wild saving at the end, and the Netherlands’ eventual 3-2 win left its fans more concerned than triumphant.
Yakiv Khammo (+100 kg) won bronze at the World Judo Championships on June 6-12 in Budapest, Hungary. In the third-place match, Khammo won against Gela Zaalishvili of Georgia, and in the lead-up match Khammo won against Martti Puumalainen of Finland. Ukraine was represented by 13 athletes – nine males and four females. Anastasiia Turchyn, who qualified after she finished in fifth place at the tournament, will join Khammo in representing Ukraine at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s invitation to the White House in July comes as Kyiv is reeling from what it says is not reciprocal support from its Western partners, including from the U.S., amid escalating Russian belligerence and being shunned from the high-level summit in Brussels at the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Europe’s soccer governing body, UEFA, ordered Ukraine on June 10 to change its men’s national soccer team’s jersey based on a complaint from Russia that came a day before the month-long quadrennial tournament begins.
While attention this month has shifted to the foreign policy sphere, the unprecedented offensive recently launched by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy against Ukraine’s hitherto seemingly all-powerful oligarchs has intensified.
BRUSSELS – In advance of the 2021 NATO Allied Leaders summit on June 14 in Brussels, the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) calls on global Ukrainian communities and friends of Ukraine to petition leaders of NATO-member countries to accelerate a NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) for Ukraine. This summit takes place amid the unprecedented escalation of Russian aggression in the region clearly indicating that Russia is an imminent threat to Europe and all NATO member countries.
DETROIT – An earlier story in the May 30 issue of The Weekly noted that the Kobzarska Sich leadership team and the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus planned to hold a summer bandura camp at the All Saints Camp of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. in Emlenton, Pa.