Selkirk-Interlake MP James Bezan tabled a bill today that would recognize the forced Ukrainian famine of 1932-33 as an act of genocide and designate a memorial day honouring the memory of the victims of the Ukrainian famine. “I am a Ukrainian-Canadian and want to put forward this bill so that our government will acknowledge the deaths of10 million victims as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people,” said Bezan. “I am also calling upon historians, journalists, and educators to record and include the facts from this horrible genocide so that all Canadians can learn from this tragic piece of Ukrainian history...”

President Viktor Yushchenko urged Parliament on Wednesday to stop meeting and officially dissolve itself so that early parliamentary elections can be held in September. Yushchenko and his main political rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, agreed on the date of the vote last month in a bid to defuse a political crisis that had threatened to escalate into clashes between troops loyal to both leaders...

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko found time in their schedules to meet on the fringes of the St. Petersburg economic forum on June 10. They discussed measures to settle Moldova's Transnistria issue, which they agreed not to make public, and said they would prepare a Russia-Ukraine action plan for signing some time later this year. The most interesting issue for the local media was the problem of entry bans, which have recently spoiled relations. It was not solved this time, however, as Kyiv and Moscow apparently agree to differ on this as well as many other issues...

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said he took seriously Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent threat to target Europe with ballistic missiles, and said such talk has heightened his country's desire to quickly join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In a wide-ranging interview with The Globe and Mail, Mr. Yushchenko also complained of Russian interference in his country's turbulent domestic politics. Despite heated opposition from the Kremlin, the pro-Western politician said he still plans to take his country into NATO and the European Union...

In yet another indication of the political standoff challenging Ukraine, President Viktor Yushchenko on Monday suspended a government resolution that had been seeking to prevent him from taking command over the Internal Ministry’s troops. Yushchenko, apparently seeking to forcefully resolve a standoff with the government over his attempt to dismiss Parliament, cited national security concerns in ordering on May 25 some 30.000 troops technically under the command of the Internal Affairs Minister to be under his direct command...

Microsoft Corporation has introduced its Ukrainian-language Windows Vista operating system and Office System 2007 software to the Ukrainian market. Microsoft Ukraine director general Valerii Lanovenko announced this at a press conference. He said the process of localization of these products started almost two years and a half ago, and there have been some difficulties in translation as 350 new terms are in use in the new products in all...

Russian political interference and the lack of transparency around energy supplies coming mainly from Russia threaten Ukraine as it struggles with serious political turmoil, the head of the security services in Kyiv has warned. “We are a young country. For any country it is dangerous when domestic politics is being interfered with by foreign sources,” said Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, the acting chief of the SBU, the state security service, in his first foreign media interview...

Armaments-related issues were the focus of discussions at a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Joint Working Group on Defence Technical Cooperation, which took place in Kyiv on 22 May, according to the NATO web site. The Joint Working Group is responsible for promoting cooperation in the areas of armaments, research and technology, air defence, air space management, standardization and consultation, command and control...

TAKE my leave of Ukraine on this occasion with a long walk through Kiev-which Mikhail Bulgakov, in "The White Guard", called, simply, "the City": "Beautiful in the frost and mist-covered hills above the Dnieper, the life of the City hummed and steamed like a many-layered honeycomb...All night long the City shone, glittered and danced with light until morning, when the lights went out and the City cloaked itself once more in smoke and mist."...

The All-Ukraine Orthodox Brotherhood of Alexander Nevsky is planning to march in Kyiv on 22 June. Its participants want to show their disagreement with “the entrance of Ukraine into NATO, the policy of the USA, and the expansion of the Catholic Church in Ukraine.” RISU’s Ukrainian-language site posted the news on 6 June 2007. “The crusade march on the anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, which has already became a tradition, is a prayerful and spiritual event to defend against Western anti-Orthodox influence and is also a symbol of the resistance of our nation against the aggressive invasion of the West,” Yurii Ehorov, head of the brotherhood...