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Ukraine’s latest national security strategy document is yet another step in the country’s decades-long struggle to uphold its sovereignty and territorial integrity. October has already been a busy month for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He attended an EU–Ukraine summit in Brussels (6 October), followed by a visit to the UK (7–9 October), including an interview with BBC HARDtalk, and hosted a visit to Ukraine of Polish President Andrzej Duda (12–13 October). Reforms, the rule of law, fighting corruption and national security dominated these meetings. The UK and Ukraine signed a historic ‘Political, Free Trade and Strategic Partnership Agreement’ based on the EU–Ukraine Association Agreement. The UK continues training Ukrainian forces and…

According to a statement by the Ukrainian government, Zelensky will sign a bilateral military cooperation agreement during his visit. This agreement aims to have a big impact on security and peace in the Black Sea region. Defense relations between the two countries have developed rapidly, with military-technical cooperation between Ukraine and Turkey’s defense industries carrying various mutual benefits. In early July, Ukraine’s National Defense Minister Andriy Taran voiced an interest in Turkish-made drones at a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar in Kyiv. Ukraine already purchased the combat drones Bayraktar Tactical Block 2 (TB2) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from Turkey last year. The…

Disinformation works, and pro-Kremlin disinformation is often able to influence people’s opinions. This is the conclusion drawn from recent research on “online astroturfing”. The researchers investigated the psychology behind effective mitigation strategies and the effectiveness of three “vaccines” against online disinformation. The research by Thomas Zerback (University of Zurich) and Florian Töpfl (Free University of Berlin), shows that forged comments can change the political opinions of audiences online. Furthermore, it seems inoculation against manipulated messages only works when it debunks the exact fake argument. Sadly, the research also shows the effect only works for a short period and…

U.S. intelligence agencies warned the White House last year that President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani was the target of an influence operation by Russian intelligence, according to four former officials familiar with the matter. The warnings were based on multiple sources, including intercepted communications, that showed Giuliani was interacting with people tied to Russian intelligence during a December 2019 trip to Ukraine, where he was gathering information that he thought would expose corrupt acts by former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter. The intelligence raised concerns that Giuliani was being used to feed Russian misinformation to the president, the former officials said…

Over the last several years, the future of the European energy supply has become an increasingly geopolitical topic. It has become more and more linked to the questions of security, competing gas transportation routes, and continuously tense Ukrainian-Russian relations. In late 2019, Kyiv concluded a new and beneficial transit agreement with Moscow for the transfer of Siberian gas to the EU, in part due to fresh US sanctions against Russia’s off-shore pipeline projects. This 5-year deal is currently securing the continued use of a part of Ukraine’s large gas transportation system, and as long as Gazprom’s Nord Stream II pipeline through the Baltic Sea does not go forward, the Ukrainian gas transportation system will have some prospect, use, and income. These well-known confrontations and…

The Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Center (UCRDC), which is involved in research on victims of the Holodomor and on the events of World War II in Ukraine, recently launched a new oral history project: interviews with the children of Holodomor survivors – persons who did not themselves live through the famine but experienced it through their family history. Something similar has been done in the Jewish community, where it has been established that trauma can be transmitted from Holocaust survivor parents to their offspring. Under the guidance of archivist Iroida Wynnyckyj, the project is ongoing at the UCRDC. Ms. Wynnyckyj and sociologist Vsevolod Isajiw developed a questionnaire and…

James Bezan, Shadow Minister for National Defence and Member of Parliament for Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman today issued the following statement on Defender of Ukraine Day: “Today, I join Ukrainian Canadians and Ukrainians around the world as we celebrate the fifth annual Defender of Ukraine Day. “Ukrainians have fought hard for their independence and sovereignty. To honour the contributions of every Ukrainian who fought for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Government of Ukraine established this new holiday five years ago, following Russia’s illegal occupation of the Donbas and annexation of Crimea. “I offer my thanks to all who have stood on the front lines, protested on the Maidan, and supported democracy and the rule of law. These are the…

The Council of Europe’s Venice Commission gave a pretty damning assessment of major elements in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s judicial reform bill last week, although many Ukrainians might be forgiven for thinking the opposite was true. Deliberate manipulation of the facts have prompted fears that plans are underway to push through the entire bill, claiming this to have received the green light from the European experts. In their report on the Venice Commission’s conclusions, Stepan Berko and Mykhailo Zhernakov from DEJURE, together with Halyna Chyzhek from the Anti-Corruption Action Centre, said that the first bill that Zelensky proposed almost a year ago on judicial reforms did raise some hopes, and…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s state visit to the UK in early October was probably the most consequential foreign relations act of his presidency to date. It resulted in a range of important agreements on trade, security and other areas, taking UK-Ukraine cooperation to a new and much higher level. “This is a new page for Ukrainian–British cooperation and an unprecedented event for Ukraine,” noted the Ukrainian leader. The visit began with an audience at Buckingham Palace, where President Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska were met by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and his wife Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge. President Zelenskyy next traveled to the…

Since taking office in spring 2019, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made ending the Russo-Ukrainian War his top priority. However, almost one-and-a-half years later, he has little to show for his efforts. A ceasefire introduced in late July has succeeded in reducing the death toll in eastern Ukraine, but the Russian occupation continues and genuine breakthroughs towards a lasting settlement remain as elusive as ever. Zelenskyy’s commitment to peace was central to his success in Ukraine’s 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections. Despite this focus, his administration has yet to demonstrate a clear strategy for ending the six-year conflict. Instead, Zelenskyy has adopted a scattergun approach that…

Ukrainian political analyst, journalist and writer Vitaliy Portnikov wrote for espreso.tv, “Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that some sort of national polling will be held during the local elections on October 25. This is one of the strangest ‘polling’ of the population that one has ever heard of. The head of state announced a poll, but he doesn’t say what questions Ukrainian citizens will be asked to answer. It seems we are talking about polling entirely for the sake of polling, that Zelenskyy and his circle are creating an illusion of democracy in conditions of domination by populists and corrupt officials. And the President’s team isn’t even capable of explaining to citizens what they’ll be ‘voting’ on. To them, this is entirely…

Дисциплінарна палата Міністерства юстиції України винесла дисциплінарну догану експертам КНДІСЕ Ірхіну і Семенцю. Підставою стала так звана експертиза, на якій будувалися практично всі докази слідства у справі Шеремета. Дисциплінарна палата постановила, що методики, використаних експертами, не регламентуються жодним документом Мінюсту. Більше того, було визнано, що методики, використані в «експертизі» є особистою думкою Ірхіна. Сам експерт відкрито відзначив, що методики, якою він користувався… ще немає, вона в процесі створення. Разом з тим, МВС продовжує дезінформовувати та дезорієнтовувати суспільство, написавши, що…

For the past few days, Ukraine has been experiencing massive wildfires on its eastern border, particularly in Luhansk Region. The fire has already claimed the lives of dozens of people and destroyed many homes. The fires have covered an area of more than 100 sq km. There is direct evidence that these fires were the result of deliberate arson committed by Russian aggressors or their mercenaries. This is a well-organized military operation. The fires were started in the gray zone and then reached the frontline positions and nearby rear areas of the Ukrainian forces. History knows many examples when fire was used as a weapon against the enemy. After all, fire is not only an element that destroys material objects, it is also important as an instrument of psychological pressure, as something that…

Western democracies have expressed concern and outrage, at least verbally, over the Novichok poisoning of Alexei Navalny—and this is clearly right and necessary. But much less attention is being paid to the case of Yuri Dmitriev, a tenacious researcher and activist who campaigned to create a memorial to the victims of Stalinist terror in Karelia, a province in Russia’s far northwest, bordering Finland. He has just been condemned on appeal by the Supreme Court of Karelia to thirteen years in a prison camp with a harsh regime. The hearing was held in camera, with neither him nor his lawyer present. For this man of sixty-four, this is practically equivalent to a death sentence, the judicially sanctioned equivalent of a drop of nerve agent. After an…

Andriy Yermak says unrest in Belarus means his country needs to strengthen defences. The UK is willing to provide a large lethal weapons contract to Ukraine and a £1bn loan to help Ukraine’s navy build new ships capable of use in the Black Sea, according to a senior aide to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky. Andriy Yermak, the head of office to Zelenksy also warned that the suppression of post-election unrest in neighbouring Belarus posed a potential direct threat to Ukraine, and said his country was seeking assurances from the European Union and the UK about helping to safeguard its security. An EU or Nato centre to combat Russian disinformation and counter propaganda based in Ukraine was…

Наспіває час, коли звичайна людина яка працює майже ціле своє життя в українській громаді у діаспорі приходить до сумного висновку, що дуже багато осіб котрі уважають себе громадськими діячами це фактично малі особи котрі керуються вузькими інтересами, а то і здебільша власними егоїстичними. Це явище фактично більш помітне сьогодні, тому що майже все наше “найкраще покоління” відійшло і залишилися здебільша маргінесові його представники та діти і онуки того покоління які в більшості позбавлені ідеології, а до принципів ставляться дуже гнучко. Мої батьки були зареєстровані американські виборці як Республіканці. Це були Республіканці Айзенгавера, Голдвотера і Рейгена. Їхня ідеологія яка керувала їхнім…

A series of crises in Russia’s neighbors is upending the Kremlin’s plans for deeper economic and defense ties with the former Soviet republics, leaving a vacuum for regional competitors such as China and Turkey to exploit. Russian President Vladimir Putin has long tried to strengthen economic and defense relations across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, from Belarus in the west to Kyrgyzstan in the east. Russia still has military bases in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, and there are strong commercial and cultural ties with those regions. But the chaos encircling Russia—including an upsurge in fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan—together with subtle diplomatic and economic shifts is eroding…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hoped to use his October 6 summit with European Union leaders in Brussels to demonstrate his continued commitment to the reform agenda underpinning Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration. However, events in Kyiv on the eve of the summit will only have served to amplify concerns over the country’s direction under Zelenskyy, as was evident in an anodyne joint summit statement highlighting “the importance of accelerating and reinforcing reform efforts.” On the day before this year’s EU-Ukraine Summit, the Council of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) issued a reprimand and expression of no confidence in First Deputy Governor Kateryna Rozhkova and Deputy Governor Dmytro Sologub, who…

In early September 2020, the United States imposed sanctions against Ukrainian MP Andriy Derkach, who was identified as “a Russian agent for more than a decade, who coordinates his activities closely with Russian intelligence agencies.” Unfortunately, Derkach is far from the only Russian agent currently serving as a member of the Ukrainian parliament. There are dozens of MPs in today’s Ukrainian parliament who are actively spreading anti-Western propaganda and promoting Russian interests. They attack the independent state institutions that serve as pillars of Ukraine’s cooperation with the European Union and International Monetary Fund, while also working to discredit civil society activists and…

В продовження публічної дискусії навколо проектів Меморіалу і Музею Голокосту на території Бабиного Яру в Києві, звертаємо увагу на Звернення української культурної та наукової спільноти щодо меморіалізації Бабиного Яру (травень 2020): https://cutt.ly/Df0hDT0 та Звернення українських євреїв до громадянського суспільства України (вересень 2020): https://cutt.ly/nf0h9Wh Йдеться про протистояння двох проектів вшанування пам’яті жертв Бабиного Яру: російського та українського. Відповідно російський проект в основному фінансується підконтрольними путінському режимові російськими мільярдерами, які також фінансують проекти, що сприяють зміцненню воєнного…

The Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan plunged into political chaos on Tuesday after opposition groups seized control of Parliament and released their imprisoned leaders in protests over parliamentary elections they called rigged. Under mounting pressure from the protesters, the country’s Central Electoral Commission annulled the results of the Sunday vote, a day after having awarded the majority of seats to two political parties with ties to the president, Sooronbai Jeenbekov. Overnight, a small group of protesters broke away from the main body and tried to gain entry to the White House, the main government building that houses the Parliament and the presidential administration in Bishkek, the capital. After the…

The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) reported, “A petition calling on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to help dissolve the notorious District Administrative Court in Kyiv (OACK) has already gained well over 10 thousand signatures, with the numbers in recent days rising rapidly. The President is the only person able to table a draft bill to dissolve a court which has lost any credibility following judicial corruption scandals and an endless stream of highly dubious rulings. The petition was initiated by journalist Danylo Mokryk on 30 July this year, following the publication by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau [NABU] of yet more compromising conversations held in the office of the head of the…

Charles Michel, President of the European Council, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, and Josep Borrell, Vice-President of the European Commission on behalf of Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, met in Brussels today for the 22nd EU-Ukraine Summit and issued the following statement. We gathered today to reaffirm our continued commitment to strengthening the political association and economic integration of Ukraine with the European Union, on the basis of the Association Agreement and its Deep and…

Комітет «Саду Праведників – Ґаріво» м. Мілан визнав митрополита Андрея Шептицького Праведником, вписавши його ім’я серед «Праведників Монте Стелла». Церемонія вручення відзнаки відбулась 7 жовтня у Саді Праведників Мілану. «Під час Другої світової війни український митрополит Андрей Шептицький прийняв в митрополичі палати та греко-католицькі монастирі сотні переслідуваних євреїв, рятуючи їх від смерті. Ризикуючи власним життям, він писав до Гітлера та Гімлера, завзято протестуючи проти винищення євреїв та забороняючи українцям брати участь в нацистських акціях», — йдеться в пергаменті відзнаки. Для отримання відзнаки Блаженніший Святослав, Отець і Глава УГКЦ, делегував владику…

The European Union on October 1 announced asset freezes on four companies and two individuals responsible for the construction of the Kerch Strait railway bridge. It also imposed visa bans on the two individuals, Alekandr Ganov and Leonid Ryzhenkin. Ganov is the director of the JSC TC Grand Service Express, which operates the railway service between Russia and Crimea, and Ryzhenkin is the deputy director for infrastructure projects at Stroigazmontazh, the firm that supervised the construction of the bridge. The following entities will have their EU assets frozen: Crimea Railway, the owner and operator of the railway tracks on the bridge; the First Crimean Insurance Company, which insured the…

Imperial ambition could again cost Russia. On Sept. 14 in Sochi, Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled that Russia was throwing its weight behind embattled Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. But any move by Putin to enforce his will in Belarus with force could invite tougher Western sanctions and scare investors, exacerbating problems of the already flagging Russian economy. Since a fraudulent presidential vote on Aug. 9 which allegedly gave Lukashenko an 80% vote for a sixth term, hundreds of thousands of people have peacefully protested calling for an end to his 26-year dictatorship. Lukashenko appealed to President Vladimir Putin, who said he had created a police reserve in case…

The Kyiv Post reported on October 2, “After a wave of protests under the European Union and Ukrainian flags erupted on Kyiv’s Independence Square in November 2013, disinformation ran rampant about the motives and values of people who participated in the demonstrations. But in late December 2013, one piece of fake news particularly stood out. A video filmed on a mobile phone on Kyiv’s central Khreshchatyk Street, right next to the protesters’ camp, showed several women who presented themselves as sex workers and said they came to Independence Square to service clients among protesters. […] The story became memorable and was followed by a news article about thriving prostitution on…

The Battle of Ilovaisk lasted from August 7th to September 2nd, 2014, and six years later it remains the deadliest battle in Russia’s war against Ukraine in the Donbas. Ukrainian forces consisted of various volunteer regiments from different regions of Ukraine. Their mission was to capture and restore government control over the separatist-occupied city of Ilovaisk. Enemy forces were made up of various battalions from the Donbas People’s Militia supported by Russian ground forces and airborne troops, a fact which the Russian government continues to deny. The approximate number of Ukrainian troops deployed during the Battle of Ilovaisk was less than two thousand with hundreds of soldiers killed during…

Dear Mr Arakhamia, We heard you only reply to letters, so we wrote you one. We also heard that you consider the danger of losing the Visa-Free regime and financial assistance to be only “rumors”. Allow us to explain why that is not the case: The people of Ukraine have many true friends in the European Union and this is important to remember. We, the handful members of the European Parliament, consider ourselves to be a few of that many. Since 2014 alone, the EU invested over €15 billion in Ukraine. We share this rather unknown fun-fact with you, not to solicit your gratitude but to reaffirm that the fate of your country is very dear to us and we deeply care about its future. We also share it to remind you that…

Over the last decade Russia has managed to liquidate essentially any organized Ukrainian ethnic community in the Russian Federation, invade Ukraine, annex a portion of its territory by force and illegitimate referendum and forge a largely frozen conflict with only Russia disturbing the peace occasionally in two of Ukraine’s easternmost regions. The methodology employed in all instances has been quite simple. Lies, extortion, political pressure and overt fire accompanied by the willingness of some observers to believe have enabled Russia to proceed as planned despite pervasive global condemnation which Russia ignores. Russian lies are predicated on a disingenuous debate and the inability of Russia’s opponents to…

За останнє десятиліття Росії вдалося ліквідувати по суті будь-яку організовану українську етнічну спільноту в Російській Федерації, вторгнутися в Україну, силою анексувати частину її території нелегітимним референдумом і створити значною мірою заморожений конфлікт з тим лише, що час від часу Москва турбує мир у двох найсхідніших регіонах України. Методологія, що використовується в усіх інстанціях, була досить простою. Брехня, здирництво, політичний тиск і надмірний вогонь, що супроводжується з готовністю деяких спостерігачів вважати закономірним, дозволили Росії діяти так, як планувалося, незважаючи на всепоглинаючому глобальному засудженні, яке і так ігнорує…

Єдина Київська Церква в єдиному патріархаті, без взаємного поборювання, але з діленням тими дарами, які ми назбирали по дорозі до цієї єдності, є мрією Блаженнішого Любомира і його заповітом для усіх нас. Про це сказав Блаженніший Святослав, Отець і Глава УГКЦ, в рамках проєкту «Прилучитися до великого», розповідаючи про роль Любомира Гузара в розбудові УГКЦ та зміцненні Церкви в Україні. «Блаженніший Любомир назавжди увійшов в історію, як Глава Церкви, переслідуваної, гнаної, який повернувся зі своїм осідком до її витоків. Він повернув осідок Глави Української Греко-Католицької Церкви до Києва», – ствердив Блаженніший Святослав. Цей поворот…

After many months of delays, President Zelenskyy finally approved Ukraine’s new National Security Strategy in mid-September. This is the fourth Ukrainian security strategy document to be produced during the country’s nearly thirty years of independence, and follows the publication of similar documents in 2007, 2012, and 2015. Ukraine’s new security blueprint has little of the ambiguity or euphemistic language often associated with President Zelenskyy. Instead, Russia is repeatedly identified as an aggressor and NATO membership is frequently mentioned as Ukraine’s key national security objective. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether the subsequent actions of the Zelenskyy administration will…

Україна у вересні відзначила 75-і роковини початку примусової депортації жителів Лемківщини, Надсяння, Холмщини, Південного Підляшшя, Любачівщини, Західної Бойківщини в 1944–1951 роках. Комуністичні режими СРСР та Польщі шляхом масштабниx репресій, терору та конфіскації майна виселили майже 500 тисяч жителів у різні регіони тодішньої УРСР. На Донбасі поблизу Бахмута в селах Званівка, Верхньокам’янське та Роздолівка оселилося 340 родин із Західної Галичини. За понад пів сторіччя вони зберегли культуру, віру та традиції. А нещодавно створили об’єднану територіальну громаду. Команда спільного проєкту Радіо Свобода та «Настоящего времени» в Україні зняла документальний фільм…

Наспіває час, коли звичайна людина яка працює майже ціле своє життя в українській громаді у діаспорі приходить до сумного висновку, що дуже багато осіб котрі уважають себе громадськими діячами це фактично малі особи котрі керуються вузькими інтересами, а то і здебільша власними егоїстичними. Це явище фактично більш помітне сьогодні, тому що майже все наше “найкраще покоління” відійшло і залишилися здебільша маргінесові його представники та діти і онуки того покоління які в більшості позбавлені ідеології, а до принципів ставляться дуже гнучко. Мої батьки були зареєстровані американські виборці як Республіканці. Це були Республіканці Айзенгавера, Голдвотера і Рейгена. Їхня ідеологія яка…

Russia is seeking to destabilise countries around the world by sowing disinformation about coronavirus vaccines that is shared rapidly across social media, the head of the armed forces has warned. Gen Sir Nick Carter, the chief of defence staff, said the propaganda tactic reflected a strategy of “political warfare” aggressively undertaken by Beijing as well as Moscow “designed to undermine cohesion” across the west. The senior general accused “autocratic rivals” of “manipulating the information environment” to exploit the Covid-19 crisis for strategic gain – including “pro-Russian vaccine politics” – in a…

An elderly lady friend of mine, who was a medical doctor in Ukraine and immigrated to America some fifteen years, brought my attention to a particular moment during the recent presidential circus debate where Donald Trump’s behavior was anything but presidential. There was a point which particularly impacted my friend since she lives emotionally in the land she left, when Joe Biden accused Donald Trump of being Putin’s puppy. Trump did not deny the accusation. Instead he interrupted and tried to go after Biden’s son at which point the moderator stepped in. The lack of a denial was not an oversight nor…

Моя старша за віком і досвідом знайома, яка була лікарем в Україні і приїхала в Америку десь п’ятнадцяти років тому, звернула мою увагу на особливий момент під час нещодавніх президентських циркових дебатів США, де поведінка Дональда Трампа була чимось інакшим чим пасувало б президенту. В один момент, який особливо вплинув на мого знайому, оскільки вона живе емоційно далі на землі, яку вона залишила, Джо Байден звинуватив Дональда Трампа, що він немов цуценя Путіна. Трамп не заперечував. Замість цього він перервав і намагався вдарити по синові Байдена, в який момент модератор вступив і перервав. Відсутність відмови…

One of the rare successes chalked up by the regime of Europe’s last dictator has been the establishment of a kind of East European Silicon Valley, which spawned a booming industry of Belarusian programmers and tech start-ups. The autocratic president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, now fears he has created a monster. An army of 30,000 tech-savvy professionals is turning against its creator. Coders and software engineers, many of whom are linked to the state-sponsored Hi-Tech Park in Minsk, have formed a hacking collective called Cyber Partisans which is wreaking havoc as Lukashenko tries to…

A Russian court has sentenced a historian who helped uncover Stalin-era mass graves to 13 years in prison, abruptly increasing his sentence by 10 years, in a highly unusual step that rights groups said was revenge for his work and part of a broader campaign to whitewash the dark chapters of Russia’s Soviet history. The case of Yury Dmitriyev attracted international criticism when he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison earlier this year on charges condemned by human rights organizations as fabricated. He had, however, been due to be released within weeks because of time served in…