News from Ukraine

The airborne branch of Ukraine’s armed forces has a new top commander: Major General Yevhen Moysiuk. Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak appointed Moysiuk to this new position on Aug. 21. The new top Ukrainian paratrooper replaces Lieutenant General Mykhailo Zabrodskiy, an iconic commander who holds the title of “Hero of Ukraine” for his successful combat operations against Russian and Russian-backed insurgent forces in Donbas in 2014-2015. In particular, Zabrodskiy gained fame for leading the elite 95th Airborne Brigade in an unprecedented 470-kilometer hit-and-run raid through hostile territory in July-August 2014, which later became known as “Zabrodskiy’s raid.” In July 2019, the general was elected to...

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to recognize the Holodomor as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people, reports Interfax-Ukraine. "I appealed to the Israeli side to recognize the Holodomor as an act of genocide of the Ukrainian people," Zelensky said at a briefing on Monday after bilateral talks with Netanyahu. "Today, together with Prime Minister Netanyahu, we will visit Babi Yar and honor the victims of mass shootings in Babi Yar and the Holocaust. All these bitter moments of our common history should unite us with the hope for a bright future and the impossibility of repeating such tragedies," Zelensky added. Babi Yar is a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and a site of massacres carried out by German forces during their campaign against the Soviet Union in World War II. The Holodomor was a man-made famine of...

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Andriy Parubiy and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland at a meeting in Kyiv discussed the holding of international Ukraine reform conference scheduled for July 2-July 4, 2019 in Toronto. “I am sure that we have a unique chance to reach a qualitatively new level of cooperation, which gives reason to hope for concrete, significant results of the conference. In fact, we can lay down an effective action plan for the next five years with clear goals, objectives and time frames,” the press service of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine reported on Wednesday, citing Parubiy...

Bitter divsions among Ukraine's religious leaders were laid bare Wednesday, May 15 when honorary Patriarch Filaret accused the young head of the newly created united church of governing single-handedly despite earlier agreements. For more than 300 years, Moscow controlled part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church but Kyiv last year won religious independence in a huge coup for the ex-Soviet country's pro-Western authorities. The 90-year-old Patriarch Filaret had been widely tipped to become the head of the united church but Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine, 40, was then suddenly chosen to the post last December...

On May 15, 2019 Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed bill No. 5670-d into law "On ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as an official one." During the signing he referred to it as one of the most important acts for the formation of Ukrainian statehood. "The language is definitely a platform, a foundation on which the nation and state are built," the Head of State said. “On this day, I, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, am honored to be given the unique opportunity of signing the bill to ensure the functioning of Ukrainian as the state language,” Poroshenko said during an official ceremony in which he signed the bill into law on Wednesday, May 15, 2019. “Today is a very big day, an epochal one, even. Ukrainians have been waiting for this day for many years. (…)An act is being made; one of the most important in terms of forming Ukrainian statehood,” Poroshenko said...

Comedian Volodymyr Zelensky will face incumbent President Petro Poroshenko in a runoff vote for Ukraine's presidency, official preliminary results have shown. With more than 80 percent of votes counted, Ukraine's Central Election Commission showed Zelensky, a political novice who is better known for playing a president in a TV sitcom, had secured 30.3 percent of the votes cast on Sunday. "This is just a first step towards a great victory," he told supporters on Sunday after the publication of the exit polls which showed a similar result. According the official early count, only 16 percent of votes were cast in favour of Poroshenko, who has been in power since 2014. "I critically and soberly understand the signal that society gave today to the acting authorities," he said, accepting the results...

The National Museum Memorial to Holodomor Victims is the creation of Warsaw-based design studio Nizio Design International owned by Miroslaw Nizio. The practice prepared an architectural design for the Kiev museum with Ukrainian studio Project Systems. Last November marked official celebrations to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the 1932-1933 Great Famine, which gripped Kyiv. Events were attended by the several national presidents. Miroslaw Nizio, who heads Nizio Design International, met the president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, along with Ukrainian architect Andriy Myrhorodsky, and Ivan Vasyunyk who is helping organise the design of the Museum of the Great Famine: Holodomor...

Ukraine has begun joint military exercises with 10 NATO countries in western Ukraine amid ongoing tensions with Russia over Moscow's illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed separatists. The Rapid Trident 2018 drills officially opened on September 3 at the Hetman Petro Sahaida­ch­nyy National Ground Forces Aca­demy in the western region of Lviv. Taking part are about 2,200 troops from 14 countries, including the United States and nine other NATO member states. The maneuvers are scheduled to continue until September 15. For Ukrainian forces, the...

The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's Parliament, has adopted presidential draft law No. 8497 on the establishment of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC). A total of 265 lawmakers of 351 MPs registered in the session hall backed the relevant decision, an UNIAN correspondent reported on June 21. According to the document, the HACC location, territorial jurisdiction, and status are determined by the law "On the High Anti-Corruption Court." Deputy Head of Presidential Administration Oleksiy Filatov says the HACC will be located in Kyiv. "The adoption of the law will allow starting procedures related to the creation of the High Anti-Corruption Court, and holding of a competition for the positions of judges in this court and...

On the military front, not a lot has changed since Roman Waschuk became Canada’s eighth and first fluent Ukrainian-speaking ambassador to Ukraine since the country gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. When he took up his post in October 2014, Russia had already annexed Crimea, and the conflict between Russian-backed militants and Ukrainian troops had begun. But Mr. Waschuk has noticed a difference in the mood on the ground in Ukraine, where he has spent considerable time prior to his ambassadorial appointment...