INSIDE: l A new exarch and a new bishop – page 3 l The first Ukrainian-born member of Congress – page 6 l Our community: Ukrainian FCU, Plast, UOL – page 9 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXXXVIII No. 46 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2020 $2.00 NEWS ANALYSIS Ukrainian government implements Ukraine – between Trump and Biden “weekend quarantine” restrictions by Bohdan Nahaylo Trump’s position and at the same time give Ukraine a bad name. But the entire matter Zelenskyy battles case of COVID-19 As final counting of the votes continued hinging on the “Ukrainian connection” got in the U.S. presidential election, by so serious that in December 2019 the November 7 it had become clear that House of Representatives voted to impeach whether or not the incumbent, Donald President Trump, who was subsequently Trump, accepted the result, the victor in the saved by the Senate, with its Republican presidential election was Joe Biden. majority. While the U.S. and international media So the first casualty of the Biden victory have focused on what his victory would is this campaign pursued by the likes of mean for the U.S. and global politics gener- Rudy Giuliani in Washington with the help ally, both in Kyiv and in the U.S. itself there of an array of discredited or suspect char- was also immediate recognition that Mr. acters in Ukraine ranging from former Trump’s replacement by Mr. Biden will prosecutors general, Viktor Shokin and his have significant implications for East-West successor Yuriy Lutsenko, to a national relations and Ukraine in particular (and in deputy, Andrei Derkach, who has since the present context, probably also Belarus). been branded by Washington as a Russian In Ukraine, there has largely been relief agent. It has also included proxies of anti- and a newfound, if still somewhat tempo- Western rogue oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, rarily guarded, sense of inspiration. such as National Deputy Oleksandr Ukrainian politicians, particularly senior Dubinsky. ones, seem to have learned the lesson from It is not purely coincidental that on the previous U.S. presidential election in November 11 a representative of Ukraine’s Presidential Office 2016, when Mr. Trump defeated Procurator General’s Office only now President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a videoconference. Democratic Party candidate Hilary Clinton, announced that charges of impropriety lev- that it is not wise to show preference for elled against Mr. Biden by Mr. Shokin and a by Roman Tymotsko “I was even a little surprised how I one candidate over another with so much senior judge suspected of corruption, escaped the infection when my family fell riding on the outcome in these situations. Serhiy Vovk, had been dropped as far back KYIV – On November 9, Ukraine’s ill [in June]. Unfortunately, we have to And in Ukraine there were additional as September 23. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy informed accept this axiom: everyone is at risk until complications. Commentators agree that at least this the public that he had tested positive for there is a reliable vaccine. The only thing During the last few years, the Ukrainian ugly factor complicating U.S.-Ukrainian COVID-19. “Despite all the quarantine mea- we can do is try to break the chains of political snake pit was exploited by external relations will be removed and no longer sures, I also received a + result. I have 37.5. infection and thus significantly reduce the and domestic forces to influence the U.S. serves as an embarrassing distraction. I wish everyone 36.6!” Mr. Zelenskyy wrote load on the hospitals,” the president added. political process. The aim was to besmirch Ukraine’s President Volodymyr on his Facebook page. (The reference was The next day, President Zelenskyy held Mr. Biden on purported charges of impro- Zelenskyy, who as a newcomer to politics to his body temperature.) He added that he several calls in self-isolation. One of them priety regarding his son’s business dealings was feeling well and would continue to was a phone conversation with German with Ukraine, and thereby strengthen Mr. (Continued on page 10) work in isolation. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who wished Ukraine’s president good health and a speedy recovery. The leaders discussed developments in Ukraine and Germany Veterans Day marked at Ukrainian Orthodox Metropolia Center related to the second wave of the coronavi- rus pandemic. Mr. Zelenskyy requested SOUTH BOUND BROOK, N.J. – Hierarchs that Ukraine’s access to the coronavirus and clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox vaccine, which is currently being developed Church in the U.S.A., Ukrainian American within the framework of the COVAX Veterans and Ukrainian community mem- International Fund, be broadened. bers gathered on November 11, Veterans “We welcome the breakthrough Day, before the Ukrainian American achieved by the German company Veterans National Memorial here at the BioNTech together with the American com- Metropolia Center of the UOC-U.S.A. pany Pfizer in the development of a corona- A service at the memorial began at the virus vaccine. This is very encouraging 11th minute of the 11th hour, on the 11th news. I would like to ask for your assis- day of the 11th month, to mark the anni- tance in taking into account the interests of versary of the signing of the armistice that Ukraine when planning the supply of ended the first world war. Officiating were COVID-19 vaccine,” Mr. Zelenskyy said. The Archbishop Daniel, himself a veteran, parties agreed to further coordinate efforts Metropolitan Antony and clergy, assisted to overcome the impact of the pandemic. by seminarians. “We will win this difficult battle,” Mr. Members of the Ukrainian American Zelenskyy wrote on his Facebook page on Veterans, headed by New Jersey State November 9. “Mankind has learned a lot Commander Michael Hrycak, placed a this year. There are treatment protocols, wreath at the foot of the national memorial. Orest Hrycak and there are effective drugs; there is an Hierarchs, clergy and Ukrainian American Veterans at the conclusion of a reli- understanding of how and when the world (Continued on page 10) gious service marking Veterans Day. (Continued on page 14) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2020 No. 46 ANALYSIS Ukraine looks for applicable lessons Ukraine relieved at U.S. election result withdrawing the United States from inter- national agreements, and work to repair When U.S. media began to call the presi- the trans-Atlantic relationship that he con- in latest war in Karabakh region dential race in Joe Biden’s favor on tends has been the key to stability in November 7, it was about 6:30 p.m. in Kyiv. in Karabakh, has underlined the impor- Europe over the past 75 years. He has said by Yuri Lapaiev Within hours, a former president tweeted tance of modern interconnected communi- he would take a tougher stand on Russia, Eurasia Daily Monitor that his country was “blessed,” an invest- cation and control systems for the armed expressed strong support for Ukraine, and ment banker voiced hope for reforms, and a From the earliest days of war in forces. Artem Vyunnyk, the CEO of the would rejoin the 2015 nuclear agreement political analyst said fears that Washington Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, some company Atlon Avia, which develops the with Iran, if Tehran holds up its end of the might use Ukraine as a pawn in a bid for a bloggers and security experts noted key newest Ukrainian strike drone Hrim deal. He said he would take “immediate Russia reset would fade. For many politi- similarities between the situation in the (Thunder), has argued that this type of (loi- steps” upon entering office to strengthen cians, civil-society leaders and citizens in temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk tering munition) UAV is uniquely suited for alliances “and once more have America Ukraine, the news came as a relief. Barack and Luhansk and that of Azerbaijan’s carrying out high-precision strikes against lead the world.” In contrast to President Obama’s former point man on Ukraine is a Karabakh and surrounding areas. In both military targets such as radar installations. Donald Trump, who in 2016 called NATO relatively familiar face in Kyiv, and Mr. cases, war had de facto created self-pro- Notably, Azerbaijani forces fighting in “obsolete,” Mr. Biden has called it the “most Biden, in turn, may be more familiar with claimed and unrecognized republics, the Karabakh clearly demonstrated the capa- effective political-military alliance in mod- Ukraine than any previous U.S. president. separatists enjoyed quasi-unofficial sup- bilities of loitering munition drones, using He made six trips to Kyiv as vice-president, port from a neighboring country, and popu- them to destroy large numbers of while adapting to new kinds of threats five of them from 2014 onward – after lar desires have burned for liberating the Armenian tanks and convoys (Radio fromern history” Russia. and “To said counter it must Russian remain aggres strоng- Russia seized the Crimean peninsula and occupied territories. Even the international Svoboda, October 18). sion, we must keep the alliance’s military fomented separatism following the down- platform for solving the Karabakh crisis – Yet aside from purely military issues, an capabilities sharp while also expanding its fall of Viktor Yanukovych, the Moscow- the Minsk Group under the auspices of the important political question must first be capacity to take on nontraditional threats, friendly president pushed from power by Organization for Security and Cooperation resolved. For now, Ukraine officially such as weaponized corruption, disinfor- the Euro-Maidan movement. Mr. Biden in Europe (OSCE) – superficially resembles remains committed to the Minsk peace mation and cybertheft,” he wrote in the once joked that he spoke more over the the Trilateral Contact Group for Ukraine, process, which implies that Kyiv does not journal Foreign Affairs earlier in 2020, in phone with then-President Petro mediated by the OSCE and having negotiat- see a clear option for militarily retaking the an article setting out his positions on a Poroshenko than with his wife during those ed two ceasefire documents in Minsk.