AUGUST 24 – UKRAINIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY Published by the Ukrainian National Association, Inc., celebrating its 125th anniversary Vol. LXXXVII No. 34 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2019 $2.00 British investigators: More evidence Leaders of Ukraine and Israel meet found of Russian role in the Donbas in Kyiv, seeking to bolster bilateral ties RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service An EHRAC news release to announce the hiring said, “29 members of a Ukrainian A London-based digital forensics agency volunteer battalion were… surrounded and says it has gathered an enormous body of taken captive by Russian armed forces, and evidence that Russia’s military was transferred into the hands of ‘separatists,’ “ deployed in the August-September 2014 during the battle. fighting around Ilovaisk, in eastern Ukraine, The Guardian reported that 25 of the in which Ukrainian forces were defeated by volunteers were members of the Donbas combined Russian and separatist troops. battalion, whose members were predomi- Forensic Architecture used “machine nantly from the easternmost regions of learning and computer vision” to amass Luhansk and Donetsk when it was formed. “the most comprehensive collection of evi- The Ukrainian prisoners were subse- dence for the presence of Russian military quently “verbally and physically abused, personnel and hardware throughout the stripped of their belongings and… put to battlefield,” its project website states. forced labor” for several months during Russia has denied involvement in the their captivity, the news release alleges. Donbas conflict that erupted in April 2014 The evidence of Russian military pres- and has killed more than 13,000 people. ence in the fighting around Ilovaisk will be After annexing Ukraine’s Crimean peninsu- used in their case and signifies the first la earlier in 2014, Moscow has rejected time “that EHRAC has relied on such inno- Presidential Office of Ukraine allegations of leading, fighting beside, train- vative techniques to substantiate our argu- ing, and supplying “separatists” in eastern Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin ments,” the human rights group said. Netanyahu before the start of their official meetings. Ukraine. Forensic Architecture said it found “evi- The group was hired by the British- dence of almost 300 Russian military vehi- by Bohdan Nahaylo two countries’ “long-standing historical ties.” based European Human Rights Advocacy cles around the Ukrainian towns of Ilovaisk “Our nations have together experienced Center (EHRAC) in September 2018 to and Luhansk.” KYIV – During Israeli Prime Minister all the tragedies of recent history – the assist with litigation against Russia by It used a machine-learning classifier to Benjamin Netanyahu’s official visit to Holodomor and the Holocaust, the second Ukrainian volunteer fighters at the analyze 2,500 hours of video frame by Ukraine on August 19-20, which is being world war, the totalitarian Soviet regime,” European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), hailed as “historic” by both sides, Ukraine’s Mr. Zelenskyy stated. The Guardian reported on August 18. (Continued on page 16) President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cited the Mr. Netanyahu, who cited “the excellent relationship between the two countries,” called for stronger ties between Israel and Ukraine, emphasizing, “We can seize the future separately, but we can do it better UCCA: Russia does not belong in the G-7 together.” Mr. Netanyahu’s two-day visit was NEW YORK – Responding to a question posed by a journalist At the same time, the G-7 countries issued the Hague indeed historic, as it was the first visit by an about whether Russia should be reinstated in the Group of Declaration, which unequivocally tied Russia’s expulsion from Israeli prime minister in 20 years, but it Seven, the world’s largest advanced economies, President the G-7 to its actions in Ukraine: “We condemn the illegal refer- also responded to pressing current chal- Donald Trump said that “it’s much more appropriate to have endum held in Crimea in violation of Ukraine’s Constitution. We lenges. The visit helped clear the air by Russia in [the G-7. …I could certainly see it being the G-8 again. also strongly condemn Russia’s illegal attempt to annex Crimea addressing some issues and downplaying And if somebody would make that motion, I would certainly be in contravention of international law and specific international other contentious ones, while at the same disposed to think about it very favorably.” obligations. We do not recognize either… Today, we reaffirm time bolstering existing ties and looking The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), the that Russia’s actions will have significant consequences.” ahead to future cooperation in various representative organization for over 1.5 million Americans of Since that declaration, Russia has only increased its trans- spheres. Ukrainian descent, reacted by saying that President Trump gressions, while continuing to undermine democracy in It was also the latest test for Ukraine’s “gave the wrong answer.” The president’s comment had come Europe, the UCCA pointed out. new president as to his projection of the on August 20, while he sat alongside President Klaus Iohannis “To be clear, it would not be ‘more appropriate to have country’s interests and his understanding of Romania in the Oval Office. Russia in’ the G-7,” stated UCCA President Andriy Futey. “Until of how to move forward. Mr. Zelenskyy In a statement released on August 21, the UCCA strongly the Russian Federation ceases its actions in Ukraine and commented on his Facebook page that he’d denounced the suggestion that Russia be allowed back into the removes itself from all internationally recognized Ukrainian met with an Israeli leader “in whom I sense G-7. territory, Russia must remain suspended from membership in a reliable partner and friend of Ukraine.” The UCCA had denounced similar proposals made by the group of the world’s largest advanced economies, as its Ukrainian-Israeli relations, Mr. President Trump in 2018, which were met with rejection by the actions in Ukraine contravene the principles and values on Zelenskyy elaborated, are entering “a new leaders of Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom and France at which the G-7 operates.” phase.” The bilateral free trade agreement the 2018 G-7 summit, as well as by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), The UCCA release argued: “The United States, as the bastion signed in January has already been Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) among other of democracy in the free world, and the president, as its execu- endorsed by the Ukrainian Parliament, and leaders in Congress. tive, must take the lead in promoting international norms, it awaits ratification by the Knesset. New A UCCA release noted: “In proposing this change in United defending basic human rights and freedoms, and charting a bilateral agreements were signed during States policy, President Trump either disregarded, or was course of geopolitical stability. The president could start by vis- Mr. Netanyahu’s visit in the areas of educa- unaware, that in 2014 the G-7 canceled its planned summit in iting Ukraine in the coming months, and see first-hand why tion, culture and sports, and there are pros- the Russian city of Sochi, following Russia’s invasion of Russia does not belong in the G-7.” pects for cooperation in the agriculture Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula – the first forced annexation sector and economic relations, as memo- Europe had seen since the second world war.” Source: UCCA (Continued on page 16) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2019 No. 34 ANALYSIS Ukraine sets its sights on the Arctic: Putin, Macron discuss peace prospects president announced in June that he planned to host Mr. Putin “in order to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his explore all the forms of cooperation on key A viable prospect, or wishful thinking? French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, topics of destabilization or conflict, without strained military cooperation (RIA Novosti, have discussed efforts to advance negotia- naiveti but without closing the door.” The by Alla Hurska tions to curb the conflict between Ukrainian Eurasia Daily Monitor April 9, 2019). Russian president’s visit to southern France In April 2015, diplomatic friction forces and Moscow-backed separatists in comes days before Mr. Macron and other Ukraine’s ambassador to Norway, reached a new high when Russia’s Deputy eastern Ukraine. Mr. Macron, who held talks world leaders are set to gather in the south- Vyacheslav Yatsiuk, on June 12 visited the Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin (despite a with Mr. Putin at the Palace of Versailles western city of Biarritz on August 24-26 for Svalbard archipelago, where he stated that sanctions ban on entering Norway) visited near Paris in 2017, this time hosted him at a Group of Seven (G-7) summit. France holds his country “may become an Arctic player” Svalbard. The scandal-prone Russian politi- his summer retreat at Bregancon Fort, near the presidency of the G-7 this year. The (Vestifinance.ru, July 5), even though Kyiv is cian declared that the Arctic is a “Russian the village of Bormes-les-Mimosas. The grouping also includes Britain, Canada, not currently directly involved in the Mecca” and questioned Norway’s sover- talks lasted two and a half hours and Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. region’s affairs. In 2017, Ukrainian Prime eignty over the Arctic island chain. In many touched upon the Syrian conflict, the situa- Russia was part of what was called the G-8, Minister Volodymyr Groysman, on an offi- ways, the situation began to resemble the tion in Libya, the Iran nuclear deal and but it was thrown out following its seizure of cial trip to Canada, articulated Kyiv’s deter- October 2003 Russian-Ukrainian dispute “prospects” for a four-way summit on the Crimea.