INSIDE: l Kyiv accelerates pace of Minsk process – page 3 l A return to selective justice in Ukraine? – page 6 l Soyuzivka Heritage Center to reopen July 1 – page 13 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXXXVIII No. 26-27 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JUNE 28-JULY 5, 2020 $2.00 Freedom House awards Chrystia Freeland Number of active COVID-19 cases makes the 2019-2020 Mark Palmer Prize Lviv Oblast most infected region of Ukraine Freedom House WASHINGTON – Freedom House on June 19 awarded the 2019-2020 Mark Palmer Prize to Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland for her tireless work championing democracy through advocacy, journalism and policymaking. The Mark Palmer Prize, given in honor of the late U.S. ambassador and foreign pol- icy innovator Mark Palmer, recognizes dip- lomats and civil servants who have gone beyond their normal course of duties to promote democracy and human rights. “Mark Palmer was a brilliant diplomat and a relentless, effective and lifelong advo- Prime Minister of Canada cate for democracy and human rights,” Chrystia Freeland, deputy prime minis- Deputy Prime Minister Freeland said. “I am ter of Canada. deeply honored and humbled to accept this dom through her outspokenness against Ministry of Health award, which I think reaffirms our collec- dictatorial regimes, and in support of Ukraine’s Minister of Health Maksym Stepanov meets with doctors in Lviv during tive obligation to uphold human rights human rights defenders and activists his working visit to the Lviv region on June 22. everywhere and always; and to work hard worldwide,” said Michael J. Abramowitz, As a result, Lviv is among those regions of every day to build a world that is more president of Freedom House. by Roman Tymotsko Ukraine where quarantine restrictions have democratic, more just, and more free.” “Just as my husband Mark was active on LVIV – As of the morning of June 24, there not been lifted to the next level. The daily dis- Ms. Freeland has resolutely condemned the frontlines of supporting democratic were 4,423 confirmed cases of the coronavi- infection of entrances and public transport, authoritarianism and human rights viola- transitions, Freeland has time and time rus in the Lviv region – 120 of them fatal. and the washing of roads and sidewalks, as tions, including the Chinese authorities’ again used her position to elevate the There are currently 3,603 active cases of well as playgrounds, continue in Lviv. violent response to protests in Hong Kong, causes of people fighting for freedom,” said COVID-19 in the region, which makes it the “Monitoring groups work in the trams the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Sushma Palmer, founder of the Mark most infected part of Ukraine. (There are and trolleybuses, and they check whether Myanmar and the abuses of the antidemo- Palmer Prize. “Freeland’s courage and passengers enter public transportation in cratic Maduro regime in Venezuela. In addi- integrity are undeniable. She has been tar- about 3,000 active cases in the city of Kyiv masks. They also check that there are no tion, she has personally advocated for the geted with sanctions by Russia and person- and nearly 2,600 active cases in the standing passengers, only sitting,” said Lviv release of sibling activists Raif and Samar ally rebuked by China, yet remains unde- Chernivtsi region.) Deputy Mayor Iryna Marunyak. “We plan to Badawi in Saudi Arabia. terred in her commitment to human rights.” Furthermore, Lviv Oblast now has the “Freeland exemplifies Mark Palmer’s highest rate of increase in infections with the organize such groups on buses. Thanks to passionate commitment to advancing free- (Continued on page 11) novel coronavirus. the work of monitoring groups, we will have information on transport, trade estab- lishments, etc. This information is then sent to the crisis headquarters and ana- lyzed, and appropriate administrative deci- Three dead, hundreds evacuated after flooding in western Ukraine sions will be made,” she explained. One of the possible reasons that Lviv has rivers, a partially submerged village, and airplane and 150 soldiers have been RFE/RL registered such a high rate of infection is the fields and roads that are covered by water. deployed in the disaster zone. number of cafés and restaurants in the city. Rainstorms in western Ukraine have An Internal Affairs Ministry statement It was easy to observe how people filled the killed three people and forced hundreds of called it the most powerful flooding in Based on reporting by Reuters and center of this tourism capital once service others to evacuate their homes. The flood- many years. It said four helicopters, one Floodlist.com. was allowed at outdoor terraces. And quar- ing has affected Ukraine’s western regions antine fatigue brought people out into the of Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Zakarpattia streets with the arrival of warm weather. and Lviv. Another reason for the high number of The three deaths occurred in the coronavirus cases may be that Lviv Oblast is Verkhovyna district of the Ivano-Frankivsk among the regions conducting the most region, an area that has been cut off by COVID-19 tests. On June 23, for example, the flooded roads. laboratory center processed 861 samples, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal of which 203 were positive – meaning that and Internal Affairs Minister Arsen Avakov 24 percent of those tested had COVID-19. have visited the disaster zone – an area Lviv Deputy Mayor Marunyak reported: where one emergency service report said “Monitoring groups go around and check about 5,000 houses in 187 villages on all facilities’ compliance with quarantine remained flooded early on June 24. conditions. First of all, they check that visi- While many residents stayed behind to tors are in masks, that social distance is guard their property, Mr. Avakov said about maintained. Also, that the sellers and 800 people had been evacuated since the employees of an institution follow the rules rains began on June 22. and that the institution has disinfectants,” Footage from regional authorities and State Emergency Service of Ukraine on social media showed raging mountain A view of the flooding in western regions of Ukraine. (Continued on page 14) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JUNE 28-JULY 5, 2020 No. 26-27 ANALYSIS Ukraine-NATO: Politicians 940 new COVID-19 cases in one day the WHO Country Office according to the needs of the health-care facilities identified Ukraine, as of the morning of June 23, by the Ministry of Health in Ukraine. The struggle, while military acts had 20,554 COVID-19 cases, according to supplies are part of a larger assistance the National Security and Defense Council’s ter for European and Euro-Atlantic integra- package of the European Union, and its by Yuri Lapaiev epidemic monitoring system. Meanwhile, Solidarity for Health Initiative, which is Eurasia Daily Monitor tion), this document was prepared much the Public Health Center of the Health earlier, on October 2019, and yet remained implemented in partnership with the WHO Ministry of Ukraine reported that in the pre- Regional Office for Europe and aims to help Relations between Ukraine and the unsigned until late May of this year. She vious 24 hours 940 new cases of COVID-19 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) sees that as a negative sign, which sends a prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the were registered, 453 of those previously country. “The delivery of laboratory sup- have long been complicated, sometimes very clear signal of skepticism or at least infected had recovered, and 16 people had even uncertain. From hopes for member- hesitation to Ukraine’s international part- plies (equipment, consumables, reagents) died. There were 681 cases on June 22; 735 is also ongoing with further deliveries ship after the Bucharest Summit in April ners (Zn.ua, June 5). Moreover, alliance on June 21; 841 cases on June 20; and 921 2008, to effectively declaring Ukraine neu- experts are scheduled to travel to Kyiv to expected within two weeks,” the EU cases on June 19. In turn, on the website of Delegation to Ukraine said. (Ukrinform) tral during Viktor Yanukovych’s presiden- check on the implementation of the ANP the National Security and Defense Council’s cy; from the reactivation of a Euro-Atlantic already in September, which gives the COVID-19 epidemic monitoring system, the Iran to send black boxes to France integration course following Russian Ukrainian government too little time to number of people infected totally since the aggression in early 2014, to new doubts implement any concrete actions. Iran says it will send the black boxes of a beginning of the pandemic as of the morn- downed Ukrainian airliner to France for after Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s victory in the Despite all these problems, on June 12, ing of Tuesday amounted to 39,014 people, last presidential election. the North Atlantic Council recognized analysis in the “next few days” and some 17,409 people recovered and 1,051 expressed readiness to resolve the issue of For the last several years, there was at Ukraine as an Enhanced Opportunities people died. The largest number of new least one important sticking point on Partner (EOP) – the result of the long coop- compensations to the families of the victims. cases was detected in the Lviv region (203), Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammad Ukraine’s path toward membership in the eration between Ukraine and the alliance, Rivne region (126) and Zakarpattia region organization: the position of Hungary, in particular in operations in Afghanistan Javad Zarif made the remarks in a phone call (78). (Ukrinform) with his Canadian counterpart, Francois- whose government had officially blocked and Kosovo, as well as Kyiv’s contribution Philippe Champagne, his ministry said in a important progress at the NATO-Ukraine to the NATO Response Force and NATO EU and WHO deliver PPE to Ukraine statement on June 22.