INSIDE: l First UNA Heritage Scholarships are awarded – page 5 l Ukrainian Sports Hall of Fame inducts new honorees – page 9 l Conference on 125 years of U.S. Ukrainian community – page 11 THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association, Inc., celebrating W its 125th anniversaryEEKLY Vol. LXXXVII No. 41 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2019 $2.00 Millions in Ukraine’s As protests against Kyiv’s “capitulation” occur nationwide, eastern regions endure Zelenskyy offers reassurances about Steinmeier formula invisible wounds of war by Bohdan Nahaylo by Iryna Tymchyshyn KYIV – Despite continuing reassurances UNHCR from the Zelenskyy administration that it will not yield on fundamental issues con- SITLODARSK, Ukraine – While the cerning Ukraine’s sovereignty and territori- recurrent shelling outside is terrifying, al integrity, protests against what many see it is the drawn-out silence between the as Kyiv’s “capitulation” before Russia by blasts that frightens her the most. accepting the controversial “Steinmeier for- “When everything gets quiet, I feel mula” have intensified and spread. like nothing will ever change,” says On October 6 more than 10,000 people Maryna, a dressmaker and mother of demonstrated on Kyiv’s Maidan, making it two. “I feel like the conflict is endless.” the largest public protest since the Maryna is among millions living in Revolution of Dignity. Protests were also the conflict zone who are paying a held in numerous cities all across the coun- heavy psychological price for the ongo- try. Several city and oblast councils in both ing violence in Ukraine. western and eastern Ukraine have come To date, the conflict has uprooted out against the Steinmeier formula. around 1.4 million people, while many On October 9 there was a new ominous more endure cold, hunger, hardship and development. Scuffles broke out near the the threat of sudden death at home. In village of Zolote in the Donbas between all, 3.4 million are in need of humanitar- police and radical activists seeking to pre- Danylo Dubchak/RadioSvoboda.org vent the pullback of government troops. ian assistance and protection. Thousands rallied in Kyiv on October 6 to protest what they see as the Zelenskyy Almost 40 percent of people who Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Chumak, administration’s capitulation to Russia. live in the Donetsk and Luhansk who is the chief prosecutor for the military, regions have experienced trauma called on the demonstrators to operate about what was happening and really at February 12, 2015, contained numerous resulting in stress, depression, anxiety within the law and not try to take matters stake to the population. But he also claimed steps to initiate a peace process in the and post-traumatic stress disorder into their own hands. But the leader of the that his political opponents were spreading Donbas. They included a ceasefire, disen- (PTSD) as a result of the violence, activists, Andriy Biletsky, a former national confusion and fear for political purposes. gagement of forces, disarming of armed according to a recent study. deputy and now head of the far-right vigi- The key bone of contention remains the bands, amnesty for those involved on the For many like Maryna, a cancer sur- lante group known as the National Corps, now notorious and still vague Steinmeier “separatist” side, Ukraine regaining con- vivor who lives with her elderly moth- responded that they would “keep pressing formula. It was proposed by the German trol of the border with Russia, free elec- er just two kilometers from the front- until the end.” side and accepted by President Petro tions under Ukrainian law and OSCE mon- line, living amid conflict has been dev- Not surprisingly, these issues received Poroshenko on behalf of Ukraine in 2016 as itoring, temporary local self-government, astating. considerable attention at the “media mara- a means of activating the stalled Minsk economic rehabilitation, and constitution- “I was on the edge, not wanting to thon,” a free-ranging press conference con- accords of 2014-2015 on regulating the al amendments to be made by the live. Nothing could help me. For the vened by President Zelenskyy on October Russian-Ukrainian conflict in the Donbas. Ukrainian Parliament providing for a per- first time in my life, it felt like I was 10. Pressed hard by journalists, he The original Minsk accords, particular- manent special status for the areas cur- going to die,” she says. “Even when I acknowledged that part of the reason for ly the Package of Measures for the rently occupied. was diagnosed with cancer in 2005, I the current situation is shortcomings on his Implementation of the Minsk Agreements didn’t feel this bad.” administration’s side in communicating agreed by the Trilateral Contact Group on (Continued on page 18) She is far from alone. One in five people who have experi- enced war or other conflict over the last 10 years have mental health condi- tions, according to the World Health Kyiv museum presents exhibit dedicated to Mark Paslawsky Organization. Some 5 percent suffer by Olena Maksymenko he belonged to the Ukrainian scouting serious disorders, such as bipolar dis- organization Plast. He graduated from the order, psychosis, severe forms of KYIV – Five years ago, on August 19, U.S. Military Academy at West Point and depression or PTSD, whose symptoms 2014, 55-year-old Mark (Markian) Paslaws- served in the 75th Ranger Regiment of the may include flashbacks, nightmares ky (codename “Franko”) – a Ukrainian U.S. Army Special Operations Command. and severe anxiety. American volunteer with the Donbas After demobilization, he got a degree in Fortunately, for people living on the Battalion of the Ukrainian National Guard – economics, and after Ukraine declared frontline in eastern Ukraine, some help was killed in the battle of Ilovaisk. He was independence, he returned to his historic is at hand. Proliska, an organization that covering for his retreating unit and saved homeland. He established a profitable agri- partners with UNHCR, the U.N. Refugee the lives of several fellow soldiers at the cultural business called Rosava-K in the Agency, is among aid groups redoubling expense of his own. Kyiv region (which was forcibly taken over their efforts to provide psychosocial On the eve of the anniversary of his after his death). He took part in the Orange assistance to people whose lives have death, the National Museum of the Revolution and later in the Revolution of been shattered by the conflict. Revolution of Dignity together with the Dignity. He became a Ukrainian citizen and Since October 2018, Proliska’s 11 Museum of the Ukrainian Diaspora opened went to war. He was killed, but left his psychologists have been reaching out the exhibition “New York – Ilovaisk: The mark. He is buried at Askold’s Grave in Kyiv. to communities in government-con- Choice,” dedicated to Paslawsky and the At the entrance to the exhibition at the fifth anniversary of the events in Ilovaisk. Bohdan Poshyvailo Museum of the Ukrainian Diaspora (vulyt- Markian Paslawsky was born in 1959 in (Continued on page 18) Ihor Poshyvailo, director of the National an immigrant family in New York. As a child Museum of the Revolution of Dignity. (Continued on page 14) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2019 No. 41 ANALYSIS Russia entraps Ukraine’s president Kremlin sees U.S. role in resolving conflict policy,” the current Spanish foreign minis- ter told members of the European The Kremlin says the United States Parliament. During his opening 15-minute in the Steinmeier formula could play a role in helping resolve the speech, Borrell argued that the EU cannot controlled/occupied territories such as Russia-Ukraine conflict given Washington’s “have ambitions to be global players if we by Vladimir Socor influence in Kyiv. “The U.S. can undeniably Eurasia Daily Monitor Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria and cannot sort out problems at our own bor- Crimea. Such a shift by the OSCE would be a use the influence it has over Kyiv to make ders.” He emphasized a “balanced” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy major concession to Russia. Ukraine fulfill its Minsk agreements obliga- approach toward Russia, amid uneasiness has yielded to Russia in accepting the In that case, the Steinmeier formula shall tions as soon as possible,” Kremlin spokes- among Poland and the Baltic states over Steinmeier formula, a procedure for imple- operate in accordance with the documents man Dmitry Peskov told reporters on what they see as rapprochement efforts by signed on October 1. Ukraine would bring menting the Minsk accords on Russian- October 8, noting that Moscow wouldn’t countries like France and Finland toward defined terms (see Eurasia Daily Monitor, the law on the special status of Donetsk- back Washington joining the Normandy Moscow. Mr. Borrell, 72, said the best way September 17, 24, 25, 26). On October 1 in Luhansk into temporary effect on election format talks to settle the conflict. Russia, “to address Russian expansionism is to help the Minsk Contact Group, Ukraine agreed to day at 8 p.m. (closure of the balloting sta- Ukraine, Germany, and France currently incorporate the core part of the Steinmeier tions). The OSCE would determine whether and reinforce Ukraine, their resilience and comprise the so-called Normandy Four, capacity for reforms and become a pros- formula into Ukraine’s legislation. Russia, the the elections adhered “on the whole [sic]” to though they have not met for peace talks Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” this