The Ukrainian Weekly, 2018
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INSIDE: l Poroshenko’s speech on Ukraine’s Independence Day – page 3 l Photo report: Independence Day parade in Kyiv – page 5 l Our communities celebrate Ukraine’s national day – page 16 THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal W non-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXXVI No. 35 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2018 $2.00 Toronto celebrates 27th anniversary Kyiv severs more ties with Russia of Ukraine’s independence amid IMF visit and new Rada session Mykola Swarnyk Ruslan Hutsul Walking in Toronto’s Ukrainian Independence Day parade (from left) are: Ukrainian Activists placed crosses in front of the Russian Embassy in Kyiv on August 29 to rep- Canadian Congress National President Paul Grod, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie resent the more than 340 Ukrainian soldiers and volunteer fighters who were killed in Crombie, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, Toronto Mayor John the battle of Ilovaisk in August 2014, when Russia sent in regular army and armored Tory and Ukraine’s Consul General Andrii Veselovskyi. units to stop a summer offensive to re-take occupied towns and cities in the Donbas. Council, in his introductory remarks. by Nadia Prokopiw by Mark Raczkiewycz Fifty-two percent of Ukrainians are for UCC Toronto Ukraine’s Consul General Andrij joining the EU, a nationwide poll commis- Veselovskyi greeted the crowd with his KYIV – When the country’s legislature, sioned by the International Republican TORONTO – The Ukrainian Canadian encouraging words: “The tide is against our the Verkhovna Rada, reconvenes on Institute found in June. And 43 percent of Congress – Toronto Branch hosted the 27th invader because of all the international sup- September 4 after the summer break, it will the population supports NATO accession, annual Ukrainian Independence Day cele- port and because of Canada’s strong sup- have a presidential bill registered to have according to the same survey. bration on August 18 at Centennial Park in port at the G-7 meetings. We will win, and European Union and NATO membership Constitutional changes require two- Toronto – now deemed to be the largest we will become a strong European country.” enshrined in the Constitution. thirds, or 300 votes in Parliament. celebration of its kind in all of North Perhaps the most heartening remarks President Petro Poroshenko said that Additional bills considered a priority are America and in the Ukrainian diaspora. came from Minister of Foreign Affairs government lawyers have “found a formula on national security and defense, adopting Blessed with superb weather, an excel- Chrystia Freeland, who let the audience for doing this optimally and quickly,” during an election code, staffing the Central lent turnout and a robust succession of know that Canadian troops would be in a speech in Kyiv at the Ukrainian Election Commission, and laws for contin- prominent entertainment, the day was a Kyiv on August 24, marching in the parade Independence Day parade on August 24. ued cooperation with the EU, Verkhovna huge success. Many greetings and praises in support of Ukrainian independence, that “By the time of the autumn session… my Rada Chair Andriy Parubiy said at an were received from all levels of Canadian Canada will be hosting the third annual corresponding bill will have been regis- August 23 briefing. government and special guests. conference on Ukrainian Economic tered,” the commander-in-chief said. “Such He noted that the security and defense After prayers and blessings, UCC Reforms, and that she and President Petro integration is a 100 percent guarantee of law that Parliament passed in the previous Toronto President Taras Bahriy opened the Poroshenko agree that standing with our independence… Europe needs us as session is only a general “framework” and ceremonies and welcomed the crowd, well, because without us the EU will not introducing this year’s theme “100 Years of (Continued on page 4) become a completed project.” (Continued on page 15) Struggle for Freedom.” This dates back to 1918 when Ukraine rose up from the ashes of tsarist Russia to declare the establish- ment of the Ukrainian National Republic. Walesa nominates Sentsov for Nobel Peace Prize After this effort was brutally suppressed and defeated, the nation rose up again to RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service authorities for his work as the fight both the Soviets and the Nazis in leader of the Solidarity trade World War II. Thwarted but surviving, the Lech Walesa, the former union. spirit of the people surfaced again in 1991, Polish president and Nobel “I was also in a difficult situ- when Ukraine once again declared its inde- laureate, said he has nominat- ation,” Mr. Walesa said in an pendence and the USSR’s collapse followed. ed Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh interview published on August The struggle for “freedom from tyranny, Sentsov, who is imprisoned in 29. “I also struggled. This freedom from bondage, freedom from con- Russia, for the Nobel Peace award [the Nobel Peace tinuous oppression, exploitation and injus- Prize. Prize)] helped me, as well as tice” is continuing today in eastern Ukraine Mr. Walesa told RFE/RL’s Poland, in regaining freedom. as “the people are still fighting and dying Ukrainian Service that he sees “For this reason, support is similarities between Mr. needed. First of all, thanking Russian High Commission for Human again against a relentless aggressor who is Rights Pres Center (EPA-EFE) determined to once again subjugate the Sentsov’s situation and his him for fighting. Secondly, Ukrainian film director Oleh Ukrainian people under the Imperial boot RFE/RL own in the 1980s, when he Sentsov in the penal colony of Russia,” explained Bohdan Wynnyckyj, Lech Walesa was imprisoned by Polish (Continued on page 13) in Labytnangi on August 9. president of the UCC Ontario Provincial 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2018 No. 35 ANALYSIS Russia bets on internal conflict in Ukraine Ukraine ‘has cut all ties with Russian Empire’ Ukrainian move came after President Petro Poroshenko earlier this year signed a President Petro Poroshenko marked Other examples: “raising gas tariffs is a decree recalling Kyiv’s envoys from CIS by Oleksiy Minakov Ukraine’s Independence Day by announcing crime against the people,” “the educational bodies and announced plans to quit the Radio Svoboda at the military parade in Kyiv that his coun- reforms are turning us into a backward organization, criticizing its “failure to try “has cut all ties with the Russian Empire The presidential race has started in country,” “the police is a bloody mess,” denounce Russia’s aggression [in Ukraine].” and the Soviet Union.” Mr. Poroshenko also Ukraine, creating rather favorable condi- “decentralization – money granted and Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimea tions for Russia to intensify its influence in then stolen,” “the economy is on the brink said during the August 24 event that Ukraine needs to cut all ties with the region in March 2014 and is backing sepa- the country. Using its “assistants and help- of default,” “Ukrainian officers are desert- ratists in the country’s east in a conflict that ers,” the Kremlin is legitimizing an “alterna- ing the army,” “health care reforms are kill- Russian Orthodox Church “that blesses” Russia’s “hybrid war against Ukraine.” He has killed more than 10,300 people since tive” political discourse in the Ukrainian ing Ukrainians,” etc. April 2014. Mr. Poroshenko, who was elect- media and, what is even more dangerous, is stated: “Our generation’s major goal is to Moreover, the Kremlin is intent on build- ed after Russia-friendly President Viktor actively preparing to provoke internal con- make our independence irreversible, to turn ing mistrust, trying to convince Ukrainians Yanukovych fled in February 2014 follow- flicts in Ukraine. that both the Ukrainian authorities and Ukraine into a strong and great country ing months of mass street protests, has The Ukrainian state has taken two inde- their Western partners should be regarded without the possibility of returning to the repeatedly said that Ukraine’s future is in pendent actions that have obliged Russia to suspiciously. For example, twisted interpre- zone of Russian influence.” (The full text of accelerate its preparations for intervening in tations of U.S. President Donald Trump’s his address appears on page 3.) “The issue Europe, and not with Russia. Ukraine has Ukraine and fomenting internal conflicts – statements regarding Russia’s return to the [of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s split been an associate member of the CIS since first, Ukraine has asked Ecumenical Patriarch Group of Seven and rumors about Crimea, from the Russian Orthodox Church] is of the the grouping was established following the Bartholomew to grant the Tomos on as well as gross exaggerations and specula- same importance as such issues as strength- collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Full Autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox tions on Mr. Trump’s meeting with Mr. ening of our army, defending our language, members include Russia and eight former Church and, secondly, President Petro Putin in Helsinki. And, of course, the fact our struggle to join the European Union and Soviet republics: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Poroshenko has submitted to Parliament sev- that some European leaders visited Russia NATO,” he said. “That is another aim of our Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, eral amendments to Ukraine’s Consti tution during the FIFA World Cup and that the historic path, a significant component of our Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. (RFE/RL, based in order to consolidate Ukraine’s aspirations construction of Nord Stream 2 is still under independence.” Dispensing with a tradition- on reporting by TASS and Interfax) to join the European Union and NATO. discussion are presented as Europe’s obvi- al Soviet-era military greeting used in previ- Pompeo calls on Russia to free Sentsov The key features of the Kremlin’s strate- ous neglect of Ukraine’s interests and the ous years, Ukrainian Defense Minister gy are very clear.