UAFNN Channel 1

01/05/2021

Happy Easter to all those celebrating today!

01/05/2021

It started with the cruel death of a Russian tax lawyer and became a global push to target bad people with sanctions. Now it’s Australia’s turn to pass Magnitsky laws.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/weekend-australian-magazine/geoffrey-robertson-why-australia-needs-to-pass-magnitsky-laws/news-story/b405e88721d92493706668eb0d4ed2fd

Happenstance had me born on September 30, 1946 the very day of the judgment at Nuremberg, which inaugurated international criminal law by declaring that it was individuals, not sovereign states or political parties, who must be held responsible for crimes against humanity. So the length of my life c...

13/04/2021

"The UWC is in regular contact with high-level Ukrainian government officials to receive updates on the current situation and discuss strategies for engaging international governments to support Ukraine and condemn this Russian fear tactic.

The Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations (AFUO) has written to Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, calling on Australia to add its condemnation voice. Other UWC members have done likewise in their respective countries.

Our message to the international community is explicit: Don’t wait until it’s too late. Russian boots on Ukrainian soil in Donbas, the annexation of Crimea, the shooting down of MH17 are all examples of Putin’s modus operandi previously. It is time to toughen sanctions on Russia at this time. It is time for international sanctions to be put on Putin himself. Implementing a SWIFT payment ban on Russia would also be a significant step."

https://www.kyivpost.com/article/opinion/op-ed/stefan-romaniw-punish-russia-now-for-its-military-build-up-around-ukraine.html

Currently, there is a serious threat of a Russian strike on Ukraine. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is a challenge not only for Ukraine but the international community. The bigger the footprint in Ukraine, the more dangerous the situation for Europe and internationally. A broad coalition of c...

08/03/2021

As a perennial exercise, a group of cowards once again defaced Bandera’s grave in Munich, Germany, over the weekend, thinking that this somehow will diminish or eradicate the spirit. Your actions only highlight and strengthen the spirit and are a reminder of how strong the Bandera spirit is. If it was not, why would you bother risking sneaking around a cemetery at night to deface a place of rest.

The spirit of the Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera lives on in Ukraine and internationally. As a perennial exercise, a group of cowards once again defaced Bandera’s grave in Munich, Germany, over the weekend, thinking that this somehow will diminish or eradicate the spirit. Your actions...

05/03/2021

The world frequently associates Ukraine with negative things – war, corruption, Chornobyl, and other matters that form a negative image of the country and undermine trust as well as respect to it. Citizens themselves often perceive their state through a similar negative lens. Nevertheless, Ukraine is also a country of abundant successes and achievements to take pride in and tell about it.

The new project to counter disinformation and negative narratives as its element, “Ukraine Explained/Пояснюємо Україну” is aimed precisely at this. Initiated by 5 NGOs – Ukraine Crisis Media Center (UCMC), Euromaidan Press, StopFake, Internews Ukraine, and Texty.Org.Ua – and supported by National Democratic Institute aspires to remind the world and Ukrainians themselves about the brighter aspects of Ukrainian, historical and modern alike.

The world frequently associates Ukraine with negative things - war, corruption, Chornobyl, and other matters that form a negative image of the country and undermine trust as well as respect to it. Citizens themselves often perceive their state through a similar negative lens. Nevertheless, Ukraine i...

01/03/2021

US Department of Defense announced Monday a $125 million security assistance package for Ukraine.

"This action reaffirms the U.S. commitment to providing defensive lethal weapons to enable Ukraine to more effectively defend itself against Russian aggression," the department said in a statement.

The package for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) includes training, equipment, and advisory efforts to "help Ukraine's forces preserve the country's territorial integrity, secure its borders, and improve interoperability with NATO."

Action reaffirms US commitment to enable Ukraine 'to more effectively defend itself against Russian aggression' - Anadolu Agency

25/02/2021

Ukraine has registered an almost 40 per cent jump in new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said, just as the country starts its COVID-19 inoculation.

A total of 8,147 cases were registered on Wednesday, the highest figure since mid-January when the number of new cases stood at 8,199, Stepanov said on Facebook. There were 5,850 new cases as of February 24.

Ukraine's new daily Covid-19 cases have risen sharply by 40 per cent in 24 hours, as the country adminsters its first vaccination jabs.

19/02/2021

Nearly seven years after the Euro-Maidan protests in the Ukrainian capital reached a bloody climax, the site where protesters clashed with security forces remains a crime scene.

There is no police cordon to give away the forensic significance of the vacant lot atop Institutska Street, but investigators believe it may hold important clues to conclusively establish who gunned down dozens of anti-government demonstrators there on February 20, 2014.

The last and deadliest day of the months-long movement, it led to the toppling of Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych, who is widely held responsible for his security forces opening fire.

But an effort to honor the dead and their movement with a memorial and museum complex has stalled, highlighting the country’s difficulties in getting closure.

KYIV – Nearly seven years after the Euro-Maidan protests in the Ukrainian capital reached a bloody climax, the site where protesters clashed with security forces remains a crime scene.There is no police cordon to give away the forensic significance of the vacant lot atop Institutska Street, but in...

11/02/2021

Kyiv's District Administrative Court has declared unlawful and overturned the decision of the Kyiv City Council to rename Moskovsky (Moscow) Avenue into Stepan Bandera Avenue, as part of the decommunization drive.

That's according to a court ruling of January 28, published in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions.

https://www.unian.info/kyiv/decommunization-rollback-kyiv-court-cancels-avenue-renaming-news-kyiv-11317640.html

The ruling will enter into force after the appeal deadline expires, that is, in 30 days, while the Kyiv Council says the relevant paperwork is already being prepared.

09/02/2021

NATO’s doors are open, but Ukraine still needs to implement reforms, the military alliance’s secretary-general said on Tuesday.

“The more successful Ukraine is in implementing reforms, the closer Ukraine hopes to meet NATO standards, and the closer you can come to the NATO membership,” Jens Stoltenberg said at joint press conference following his meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

Stoltenberg stressed that “NATO’s door remains open,” adding that NATO leaders would discuss the military alliance’s enlargement policy during their meeting in Brussels.

Ukraine’s transatlantic integration depends on reforms, says Jens Stoltenberg - Anadolu Agency

07/02/2021

Ethnic minorities and different nationalities bring a rich and diverse cultural heritage to Ukraine. However, integrating them into a united Ukraine will require careful planning and implementation of government policies.

  LEMKOS According to one version, Lemko ancestors were the ancient tribes of White Croats who lived on the slopes of the Carpathian Mountains. The number of Lemkos on territories of pre-war Poland was estimated between 100,000 and 150,000 people. The Lemkos survived many tragic moments in their lo...

05/02/2021

Ukraine’s long quest to bring Russia to justice received a significant boost on January 14 when the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Ukrainian complaints of Russian human rights violations in occupied Crimea were “partly admissible.”

The court acknowledged that Russia has exercised “effective control” over Crimea and Sevastopol since February 27, 2014. Notably, this date is weeks before the widely condemned “referendum” on the Russian takeover of Crimea. Within the framework of international law, effective territorial control brings the responsibility to protect human rights. Russia can therefore be held responsible if it is found guilty of violating the European Convention on Human Rights.

Ukraine’s long quest to bring Russia to justice received a boost on January 14 when the ECHR ruled that Ukrainian complaints of Russian crimes in occupied Crimea were “partly admissible.”

03/02/2021

President Volodymyr Zelensky, on Feb. 2, signed a decree issuing personal sanctions against pro-Russian lawmaker Taras Kozak and his three nationwide TV channels – NewsOne, Channel 112, and ZIK.

As a result of Zelensky’s decree, the channels have been immediately shut down.

Zelensky’s decree enforced the sanctions drawn on by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine earlier the same day.

The sanctions mean a five-year restriction on financial operations, freezing of assets, the nullification of all permits and licenses issued to Kozak and to companies he officially owns.

According to Ukrainian media, Kozak, representing the 44-member Opposition Platform – For Life faction in parliament, is only the nominal owner of the lucrative media empire, while the real owner is the party leader Viktor Medvedchuk, a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/zelensky-bans-media-empire-associated-with-putins-friend-medvedchuk.html

President Volodymyr Zelensky, on Feb. 2, signed a decree issuing personal sanctions against pro-Russian lawmaker Taras Kozak and his three nationwide TV channels – NewsOne, Channel 112, and ZIK. As a result of Zelensky’s decree, the channels have been immediately shut down. Zelensky’s decree e...

01/02/2021

Izolyatsia (“isolation” or “insolation”) is the name of an art center that emerged at the deserted Insolation Materials Plant in the East-Ukrainian city of Donetsk a few years before the Russian invasion of the region. In 2014 amid the then-unfolding occupation of the Ukrainian region, Russian-hybrid forces seized Izolyatsia and established a secret prison on the center’s premises.

The jail remains active to this day. “People who were unlucky to end up there now call the location a torture chamber, a concentration camp, or even hell,” the online newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda wrote earlier.

Despite a lot of testimonies of former prisoners, up until now only the “before-images” of Izolyatsia were available online that showed it as still an art center or a plant.

Cells, torture tools, and the yard: these are the first-ever public photos of the Russian-hybrid-forces-run Izolyatsia prison. The photo was posted by the anonymous Donetsk Tractorist channel on 27 January. Read also: Donetsk art center turned into concentration camp: former hostages share their mem...

29/01/2021

As a target of Russia’s hybrid warfare, Ukraine is a unique case study. Not only does it offer valuable data for analysis and lessons learned, but it is also arguably one of the most vulnerable victims. Its geographical and historical proximity to Russia, as well as Russian ambitions to take control of Ukraine as a part of its own heritage, likely mean that the Kremlin has trained the full force of its hybrid warfare machinery on Ukraine.

With this in mind, the resilience Ukraine has demonstrated since independence, and especially after 2014, is remarkable and worthy of detailed analysis. In particular, assaults on Ukraine’s politics, military, economy, social fabric, and information space have to be considered. This chapter offers an explanation of Ukraine’s successes, address its challenges, and concludes with lessons learned from its experience.

The primary goal of Russia’s military operations at this stage is to keep Ukrainians demoralized and stressed from the ever-present threat of ramped-up aggression.”

29/01/2021

Bellingcat earlier revealed that members of a clandestine FSB unit tracked Mr Navalny on more than 30 overlapping flights from 2017. Three of the officers followed him to the city of Tomsk, where their phone communications peaked on the day he was poisoned last year.

Earlier this month the squad was implicated by Bellingcat in the killing of Timur Kuashev, 26, a journalist, in the city of Nalchik, and Ruslan Magomedragimov, an activist in the republic of Dagestan.

Further examination of the squad members’ flight records has now hardened Bellingcat’s conclusions. Mr Kuashev’s body was found 10 miles from his home in the city of Nalchik in Russia’s North Caucasus region on August 1, 2014. It was lying on the road into a forest and his body and face were bruised.

A Russian journalist and an activist whose bodies both sported injection marks when they died mysterious deaths were assassinated by the same Kremlin hit squad which later poisoned the opposition

28/01/2021

According to leaks to the Russian media, Putin regime had been hoping to use the mass protests and disputed election in Belarus as a vehicle to tighten Moscow’s grip on its western neighbor and replace Lukashenka with a more pliant figure. But with the mass Russia-wide protests over Navalny’s imprisonment that broke out on January 23, and with more planned for the near future, such a move would set a dangerous precedent for the Kremlin. The last thing Putin needs at this point is the example of a dictator ousted by a popular uprising.

As Russians took to the streets across eleven time zones on January 23 to protest the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, many of them also had protests in neighboring Belarus on their minds.

26/01/2021

It’s the sixth year of the war in eastern Ukraine, and events there are disappearing from both Ukrainian and international media coverage. The trend has several reasons, but the lack of coverage is in stark contrast to the ongoing war. Andriy Dubchak is a journalist who set himself the task of showing the true picture of Donbas to a wider audience. To achieve this, he launched a crowdfunding campaign for his media, Donbas Frontliner.

Andriy Dubchak came to journalism from the world of IT. Being familiar with new technologies, he became the first streamer at the Euromaidan Revolution. He also held video streams from all the key events of the Revolution. Later, he covered Russia’s occupation of Crimea in 2014. Realizing the powe...

25/01/2021

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that Ukraine will soon receive 1 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine from a leading international company.

The vaccination campaign in Ukraine will begin in February.

25/01/2021

Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba explained that Ukraine supports calls for the release of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, since he is an enemy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, but noted that we should not be fascinated by him from the point of view of the interests of the Ukrainian state.

Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba explained that Ukraine supports calls for the release of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, since he is an enemy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, but noted that we should not be fascinated by him from the point of view of the interests of the Ukra...

22/01/2021

Ukraine emerged out of the 20th century with a burden of trauma. The metaphoric bloodlands fell victim not only to the carnage of WWII. When the war started, Ukrainians were already overwhelmed by the massacres of the Holodomor and Stalin’s repressions. Overlay this on a persistent legacy of colonialism, and you have the recipe for a trauma nation. Is Ukraine learning to recover? A conference in Prague addressed precisely that.

Ukraine is gradually learning to discuss its history, analyze traumatic historical events, understand the consequences of colonialialism, and look for ways to overcome them. Yaroslav Hrytsak, Tamara Hundorova, Mykola Riabchuk and other prominent Ukrainian scholars from different countries - Italy, t...

21/01/2021

The European Parliament (EP) is concerned that large parts of Ukraine and Georgia are still occupied by Russian troops.

This is stated in an annual report on the implementation of the EU's common security and defense policy in 2020, which was adopted at a plenary meeting on January 20, DW reported.

Some 387 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted for the document, 180 were against, another 119 abstained.

MEPs passed two annual reports, condemning the Russian occupation of Ukraine and Georgia.

20/01/2021

Over the past seven years, one of the most striking features of Ukraine’s response to Russian hybrid warfare has been the country’s remarkable cultural revival. This renaissance of Ukrainian culture has helped defend against Russian soft power influence and provided a counterweight to damaging Kremlin narratives designed to undermine Ukraine’s social cohesion.

Ukraine’s relative success in the cultural sphere has owed much to a partnership between the private sector and the state authorities, who have played a significant but relatively low profile role in supporting and facilitating record levels of creative output. However, the future of this state support is now far from assured.

Culture and identity have been at the heart of the hybrid war waged by Russia against Ukraine for the past seven years.

19/01/2021

After the 1917 Russian revolution, the military occupation of the newly-created national republics, and the subsequent creation of the USSR, Soviet authorities attained political power. They then targeted still popular, so-called “bourgeois,” deeply rooted religious traditions. Obviously, Christmas was one of the strongest cultural links with the pre-Soviet period that was to be uprooted and eliminated. “Religion — the brakes of the five-year plan” — was the motto of the epoch.

By April 1923, the XIIth Congress of the Communist Party adopted a resolution, “On the Launching of Anti-religious Agitation and Propaganda.” The resolution facilitated the complete eradication of folk customs associated with religious celebrations, including musical works with religious and biblical themes.

Instead of koliady, songs marking the birth of Christ (Christmas carols); shchedrivky and vinshyvky, sung on the feast of St. Basil and St. Melany, coinciding with the New Year, the party proposed communist songs glorifying proletarians. Similar was the fate of St. Nicholas’ day, the Christmas tree, and even the symbol of the Christmas star.

For Ukrainians, all of these occasions were steeped in tradition and central to religious celebrations. The examples of rapidly created communist traditions were not only ridiculous but in many cases surreal. They also showcase how terrible and traumatic the totalitarian ideology was. At the same time, inspiring is the fact that the Ukrainian people were able to preserve — and later revive — these musical and religious traditions, despite 70 years of propaganda and repression.

At first, the party was eager to follow Lenin's recommendation that "it is necessary to replace the religious worldview with a coherent communist scientific system." Authorities printed more scientific books ridiculing and — by the late 1920s — outright banning religious holidays. “[The regime...

18/01/2021

Russian Wikipedia is proposing to delete its entry on the ‘Izolyatsia’ secret prison in Donetsk, with the reasons cited including problems with neutrality and, most incredibly, lack of importance. There are also notes suggesting multiple issues with both the Ukrainian and English entries, though no suggestion that these should be removed. All three entries provide references to the accounts of witnesses who were tortured at the prison, and to the latest Report on the human rights situation in Ukraine from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (0HCHR). They also all point out that Izolyatsia is a secret prison, making it hard to understand how Wikipedia can hope to achieve greater ‘neutrality’ and balance. The N***s never admitted to their death camps, however their existence was known (and shamefully ignored) from, at the latest, in November 1942. We are not dealing with death camps here, but the term ‘concentration camp’ is used by former hostages with good cause. There is considerable witness testimony and the accounts are consistent with one another, which is generally all that can be expected when one side has every reason to conceal the torture and other crimes they are committing.

Russian Wikipedia is proposing to delete its entry on the ‘Izolyatsia’ secret prison in Donetsk, with the reasons cited including problems with neutrality and, most incredibly, lack of importance

17/01/2021

Starting from Jan. 16, stores, cafes, gas stations and all other private businesses must provide their services to clients in Ukrainian.

The new provision is part of the ongoing implementation of Ukraine’s language law adopted under ex-President Petro Poroshenko in April 2019.

Businesses that don’t comply with the new rule face a $200 fine. The fine will be issued only after repeated violations.

However, not much will change for non-Ukrainian speakers. The law allows businesses to switch to another language at the client’s request. But those who prefer to be serviced in Ukrainian now can demand that businesses switch to it.

Starting from Jan. 16, stores, cafes, gas stations and all other private businesses must provide their services to clients in Ukrainian. The new provision is part of the ongoing implementation of Ukraine’s language law adopted under ex-President Petro Poroshenko in April 2019. Businesses that don....

16/01/2021

Ukraine: History, Culture and Identities

A short introductory course in the history, culture, and society of Ukraine from the Middle Ages to the present.

A short introductory course in the history, culture, and society of Ukraine from the Middle Ages to the present. - Free Course

15/01/2021

The story unfolding in the United States with the insurrection at the Capitol is one that’s been told before. The Russian Federation is at war with Ukraine, and its invasion began in 2014 with organized mobs seizing public buildings in Ukrainian cities. Whether they know it or not, Americans have become players in a familiar play.

Here’s the script of Putin at war. The time is the early months of 2014. The place is Ukraine. The conclusion, which is not yet written, will happen in 2021 in the United States.

Michael MacKay, Radio Lemberg, 12.01.2021 The story unfolding in the United States with the insurrection at the Capitol is one that’s bee...

15/01/2021

One of the biggest international landmarks in 2021 will be the thirtieth anniversary of the Soviet collapse. The historical significance of this event is not in doubt, but the nature of the coming commemorations is likely to differ strikingly in the various independent nations that make up the post-Soviet world.

For the Baltic States, the collapse of the USSR is an increasingly distant memory from a bygone era. In Putin’s Russia, it is an open wound and a lingering source of national humiliation. In Ukraine, it is unfinished business.

Many of the obstacles encountered by post-Soviet Ukraine have been equally evident elsewhere in the former Soviet Empire. From chronic corruption and over-powerful oligarchs to crumbling infrastructure and widespread poverty, the biggest practical problems facing Ukrainian society since 1991 have been entirely typical for the region.

What makes the Ukrainian experience stand out is the role of Russia. Among all the former Soviet republics, Ukraine occupies a unique place in the Russian imagination that positions it close to the heart of Russia’s own sense of self. Even today, many Russians have difficulty dealing with the notion of Ukraine as a separate and independent nation.

Thirty years since the collapse of the USSR, Ukraine is no longer part of Vladimir Putin's informal empire but the country continues to struggle with the legacy of centuries spent under Russian domination.

15/01/2021

It took frustratingly long to get there, but the European Court of Human Rights [ECHR] has finally paved the way for multiple judgements over Russia’s violations of human rights in occupied Crimea. The Grand Chamber decision on 14 January 2021 found Ukraine’s complaints against Russia over violations in Crimea partly admissible and essentially determined that Russia has occupied Crimea since 27 February 2014. The only reason it was deemed partly, not wholly, admissible, was because ECHR considered that Ukraine had not provided sufficient proof to back a very small part of the huge number of complaints.

It took frustratingly long to get there, but the European Court of Human Rights has effectively determined that Russia is an occupying state and has paved the way for multiple judgements over its violations of human rights in occupied Crimea

13/01/2021

Wishing all of our followers a very happy "Old" New Year!

12/01/2021

On December 29, the Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences held its annual New Year's gathering for researchers and other employees. The institute's director and his deputy duly greeted the crowd with traditional seasonal speeches and well-wishes.

But at one point during the proceedings, an unknown man appeared on the dais. He calmly introduced himself as the institute's "curator," or resident agent, from the Federal Security Service (FSB).

"We were absolutely petrified," senior researcher Irina Levinkaya said. "No one expected anything like this, and we were all shocked by his openness. He wasn't embarrassed at all to say openly that he was monitoring the institute for the FSB. It turns out, he's been with us since September."

Workers at several research and educational institutions in St. Petersburg have reported that the Federal Security Service has assigned resident agents to monitor their work. "They are monitoring our loyalty," a former instructor at the world-famous Vaganova Ballet Academy said.

11/01/2021

Yet another prominent participant in the events of 2014 in eastern Ukraine has acknowledged that the ‘people’s uprising’ in the Donetsk oblast was nothing of the sort, and that without Russian involvement, it would have remained a “usual, unarmed and toothless street protest”. For those in Donetsk, or following what was happening, Pavel Gubarev’’s admission is hardly a revelation. It is, nonetheless, worth noting, and not only, as Denis Kazansky points out, because of Russia’s constant narrative about a ‘civil war’ in Donbas. Gubarev’s ‘uprising’ closely followed the scenario, being pushed and financed by Sergei Glazyev, a senior adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and, without Russian machine guns and specially trained fighters, it failed.

Pavel Gubarev has acknowledged that the ‘people’s uprising’ in the Donetsk oblast in 2014 was nothing of the sort, and that without Russian involvement, it would have remained a “usual, unarmed and toothless street protest”.

11/01/2021

With the seventh anniversary of the outbreak of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine now approaching, many people have recently asked me, “What’s next?” As a negotiator in the Trilateral Contact Group formed to end the conflict in Ukraine, and as Ukraine’s minister in charge of the reintegration of the temporarily occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts and Crimea, I view this question from both perspectives.

The overall impression I have is of Ukraine’s readiness to take steps towards peace along with Russia’s refusal to reciprocate. This makes it difficult to remain optimistic over the chances for a sustainable settlement. Nevertheless, we are not merely waiting for the Kremlin. Instead, Ukrainian policies geared towards future reintegration are already taking shape in anticipation of possible progress.

Ukraine has repeatedly demonstrated its readiness to make compromises in order to secure peace with Russia but Moscow has so far refused to reciprocate, argues Ukraine's Deputy PM Oleksii Reznikov.