Friday, November 18, 2011

Darth Vader claims land plot in Ukraine


Couldn't pass on not posting this one :-))

An Odessite dressed as the Star Wars villain visited the mayor's office this week to claim a free land plot citing Ukrainian legislation which grants every citizen the right to own 1,000 square metres of land.

Click here to read article and view video.

National Holodomor Awareness Week - November 21– 27, 2011


McGill Ukrainian Students’ Association Screening: “Genocide Revealed”http://www.ucc.ca/2011/11/09/mcgill-ukrainian-students-association-screening-genocide-revealed/

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Harper 'deeply concerned' over jail term for Ukrainian leader


Prime Minister Stephen Harper, at an award reception in Toronto, reinforced Canada's opposition to the prison sentence given to a Ukrainian opposition leader.

Harper said he was "deeply concerned" by the case of Yulia Tymoshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhenko during a speech Friday to the Ukrainian Canadian Congress where he received the Shevchenko medal, the organization's highest award.

Tymoshenko, a former prime minister of Ukraine and a driving force behind the country's 2004 pro-democracy Orange Revolution, was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of abuse of power over a gas deal she signed with Russia in 2009.

Click here to read full article

Saturday, October 01, 2011

Can the European Union afford to lose Ukraine?


The European Union needs to give Ukraine a clear path to accession in order to take advantage of the country's economic potential and encourage democratic reform, argues Martin Nunn. Martin Nunn is the Communications Director of the Ukrainian Foundation for Democracy "People First".
"There is almost nothing worse than a noisy and unruly neighbour. In most cases we would try to ignore them, put up with the noise and hope that they don't lean over the garden fence to strike up a conversation.
True, Ukrainian politicians do behave like unruly children that have yet to learn some of the European social skills, the finer points of democracy, the sanctity of the rule of law and just how to do business in the real world. But ask yourself, can the EU really call itself a 'European Union' without a long term vision of just how to integrate the countries of the east into the wider European family.

Click here
to read full article.

Source: Euractiv

Friday, September 23, 2011

Ukrainian student slaps Tabachnyk with flowers (VIDEO)


Darya Stepanenko, a 17-year-old student of the prestigious Kyiv Mohyla Academy, slapped Ukrainian Minister of Education Dmytro Tabachnyk on the face with a bunch of flowers.

“It was a protest,” explained Stepanenko to journalists who circled around her after she was taken from the building by police officers. “Not only my protest, but also a protest of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, St.Luka’s brotherhood and of all those people who are not happy with him holding the position of Educational Minister.”


Click here to read complete article.

Source: Kyiv Post

PS. Brave young woman, but hopefuly this will be the worst that she faces?

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Free Soon...?


US, EU urge Yanukovych to end trial of Tymoshenko

The United States and Europe have urged President Viktor Yanukovych to end the trial of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, increasing Western pressure on the embattled leader.

Meanwhile, from the other side, Yanukovych is getting squeezed by Russia, whose leaders are refusing to lower natural gas prices from the 2009 deal that Tymoshenko now faces criminal charges for negotiating.

Click here to read complete article.

Also very interesting piece done up about Yulia Tymoshenko saga in Russian

За что судят Юлю?


Source: Kyiv Post

Thursday, September 15, 2011

УПА проти нацистів. Бій під Загоровим 6


Проти чоти з 44-х повстанців було кинуто роту німецької жандармерії, роту донських козаків і роту поліції - всього близько 400 осіб. Увечері до німців прибуло підкріплення - десять легких танків. Три німецькі літаки розпочали бомбардування монастиря.

Click here to read complete story in Ukrainian.

SOurce: Istorychna Pravda

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Happy 20th Anniversary Ukraine!!!!


‎3 Днем Незалежності! Нехай Господь береже усіх вас і ваші родини.
Happy 20th Anniversary Ukraine!!!!!!!!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

'Be kind. Save Somalia' urges Ukrainian genocidal famine Holodomor survivor


Stefan Horlatsch survived the Holodomor as a 12-year-old boy.

Horlatsch's family had their land in the Zaporizhia region of eastern Ukraine, livestock and grain forcibly seized by Soviet authorities during the famine-genocide. Eleven members of his family perished.

The retired teacher from High Park pleaded for the world to offer its compass on in the form of immediate aid to Somalia.

"Ten-million Ukrainians perished. Ten million," Horlatsch said. "That is the population of Canada at the time. As a survivor, I say to the world: 'Be kind. Save Somalia.'"

Click here read complete article.

Source: Inside Toronto

More about Stefan Horlatsch visit:

http://www.ukemonde.com/horlatsch/aboutsh.html

Friday, August 19, 2011

Ukrainians unite for Somali famine relief


Stethan Horlatsch, a survivor of the 1930s Ukrainian famine, poses with Nawal Isse, assistant co-coordinator for the Aran Somali Canadian Relief Organization. Stethan will speak at Friday's news conference on the Ukrainian Canadian Congress's efforts to provide relief in Somalia.

Click here to read full story.

More about Stefan Horlatsch visit:
http://www.ukemonde.com/horlatsch/aboutsh.html

Also http://www.ukemonde.com/holodomor/remembering2008.html

Source: The Star

Friday, August 05, 2011

Ukraine's ex-PM Yulia Tymoshenko 'taken into custody'


According to Ukraine's commercial 5 Kanal TV, prosecutors had asked for Ms Tymoshenko to be arrested for showing contempt towards Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, who testified against her, and Judge Rodion Kireyev.

She has refused, as required, to stand up while addressing the judge, repeatedly insulted him and questioned his objectivity, another report said. Her supporters have also repeatedly disrupted hearings.

Click here to read complete article.

Source: BBC On-line

Friday, July 22, 2011

Montreal’s Luba on being 1980s pop icon in Canada – and looking for her next big break


Born in 1958 to Ukrainian immigrant parents, Luba – a.k.a Lubomyra Kowalchyk (Lubomyra which translates into ‘love and peace’) – studied piano, guitar, flute and voice, and during her teens travelled across Canada performing traditional Ukrainian folk songs at weddings and festivals.
“I have always been painfully shy, I blush when people pay me compliments, but I’ve always had my feet on the ground when it comes time to dealing with people [chasing me for fame or fortune],” Luba told me over lunch last week at Restaurant Bonaparte in Old Montreal. “It was weird for someone as shy as me to be a performer. But I never really had stage fright because I’d been performing onstage since I was 13. I’d been recording [in studios] since I was 15.”

Click here to read full story.

Source: Montreal Gazette

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Yanukovych's son unsteady on his feet


Viktor Yanukovych Jr., the youngest of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's two sons, was videotaped on July 12 having difficulty walking and cursing as he apparently was trying to find the door to his residence in downtown Kyiv.

Yanukovych Jr., a lawmaker in Ukraine's parliament, was gently guided by his concerned companions towards the right door on Kropyvnytska Street near the prestigious Besarabka Market.

The low-quality video made using a cell phone shows Yanukovych stumbling and rejecting the assistance of what appear to be bodyguards and companions. He is heard swearing along the way.

The younger Yanukovych is seen taking an elevator to his apartment. It was not immediately clear what he had been doing on the day of July 12.

Days earlier, on July 8, President Yanukovych boasted about his two sons http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifduringhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif a nationally televised press conference.

“I can ensure everybody that I am not ashamed of my children and grandchildren. And I sincerely wish you to have children no worse than mine,” he said.

The video was taken by Hanna Harbovska, a journalist from The New Citizen civic partnership.

The young woman said she was shocked with Yanukovych's behavior, but didn't hesitate filming him and posting the video on YouTube.

Source: Kyiv Post

Click here to see video of drunken Yanukovych.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Ukrainian Canadians celebrate their roots in Montreal


MONTREAL — Saint Michaels Ukranian Catholic Church is a lot like the Ukrainian community is serves: venerable, sturdy and admirable.

The church services one of five Ukranian-Catholic parishes on the island. It's also the oldest, built in 1917.

Saint Michaels is considered a home-base of the 30,000 Ukranian Quebecers which is celebrating 120 years in the province.

Many, like Bohdanna Monzczak are grateful for their lives in Canada which offered refuge from war-torn Eastern Europe where warring Russians and Germans had brought destruction to their land and many were imprisoned or killed.

"Right after the war, this was really paradise and I still think this is paradise," she said. "The church was full of people with a beautiful choir. Everybody was welcoming. We could have freedom and we could have whatever we wanted here," said Monzczak.

Read complete article here.

Source: ctvmontreal.ca

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Dynamic young leader takes helm of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church


The names of two esteemed religious figures resonate when Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the new head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, speaks.

One died well before the archbishop was born. The other when he was rooted in his religious career. The spirits of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky – the pious, savvy and bold leader of Ukraine’s Greek Catholic Church during World War II – and John Paul II promise to be guiding forces as Shevchuk embarks on his journey of leading a global church which numbers five million faithful.

At 41, Shevchuk is one of the youngest people to head the church, which adheres to Catholic tenets but practices Byzantine rites. He is only a few years older than Sheptytsky was when he took office in 1901.

Click here to read full article.

Source: Kyiv Post

Monday, May 16, 2011

Sheftel: Demjanjuk Verdict is a ‘Farce’

Sheftel said that he is convinced that the Israeli Supreme Court’s ruling regarding Demjanjuk was the true verdict he deserved.

“Nothing has changed since then,” he said. “Even during the trial in http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifGermany,http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif there was not one person who testified that Demjanjuk was Ivan from Sobibor, by virtue that he was seen there, and as such the conviction is a farce.”

Click here for complete article

Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/144135

Thursday, March 03, 2011

St. Michael's Ukrainian Catholic Parish in Montreal - 100th Anniversary Celebration


Have been busy working on the 100th Anniversary Celebration Webpage for St. Michael's Ukrainian Catholic Parish in Montreal. We welcome you to come and visit us at:

http://www.ukemonde.com/stmichael/
Also check out the historic photo album and virtual tour of the parish at:

http://www.pbase.com/saintmichaels/stmichaels (Photo Album)

http://www.pbase.com/saintmichaels/tour&view=slideshow (Virtual Tour)

We are also on FaceBook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001116692360

If anyone has stories or pictures we welcome you to send them in to us so we can add them to our album.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Ukraine reporter's bunny costume sparks parliament scandal


Now this is creative and hilarious!!! Merry Christmas to all the clowns in Ukraine's Verchovna Rada!!!!

KYIV — A journalist for national Ukrainian television sparked a scandal Tuesday by turning up at work in parliament dressed as a bunny in protest at the sometimes farcical behaviour of MPs.

Dressed head-to-toe as a white bunny with two huge ears comically sprouting from his head, Roman Vintoniv somehow managed to keep a straight face as he conducted lobby interviews with besuited lawmakers.

He said his action was a protest against the sometimes comic behaviour of lawmakers in the Verkhovna Rada who last week exchanged blows in a bloody punch-up that wounded several lawmakers.

"If the Verkhovna Rada is turning into a circus, then this needs to be officially acknowledged and people need to dress appropriately," Vintoniv told the influential news website Ukrainska Pravda.

Ukrainska Pravda said the parliament press service tried to have him expelled on the grounds that his external appearance was not in line with the rules.

But his colleagues then pointed out that the parliament has no dress code and he was able to carry out his work, carrying out interviews with some MPs, video footage posted on the Internet showed.

However some of his normal contacts refused to talk to him, Ukrainska Pravda said.


Friday's brawl -- which saw punches thrown and chairs hurled -- was one of the worst for years in the Rada and started after opposition deputies blockaded themselves inside the chamber.

Kiev prosecutors Tuesday said they had opened a criminal inquiry into the fighting, which came amid a legal probe against former prime minister and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.

Ukrainians regularly express exasperation over their notoriously fractious parliament, suspecting that many lawmakers act in the interests of local oligarchs rather than ordinary citizens.

Source: AFP

Friday, December 17, 2010

Bloody parliament brawl in Ukraine


Ukraine's opposition on Friday called for a criminal probe after several of its deputies were badly injured in a bloody brawl in parliament that saw punches thrown and chairs hurled.

The fight late on Thursday was violent even by the fractious standards of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada and came amid tensions after a criminal probe was opened this week against opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.

Deputies from Tymoshenko's BYuT-Batkivschyna party and the Regions Party of President Viktor Yanukovych slugged it out for several minutes behind the speaker's chair leaving at least three opposition MPs injured.



Click here to read complete article.

Source: News 24 and RFE/RL