Commentary

Autumn 2019 will see the official launch of Lifeline Ukraine, the country’s first professional suicide prevention and mental health support hotline. Recruitment of counsellors has focused on Ukraine’s pool of approximately 400,000 combat veterans from the country’s undeclared but ongoing war with Russia. After completing training with international specialists in veteran mental health issues, they will begin working around the clock at the Lifeline Ukraine offices in Kyiv’s Podil district. The launch of Lifeline Ukraine cannot come too soon. Mental health problems among former military personnel are a major social issue, and one that the country remains ill equipped to address. Prior to the...

The twentieth floor offers a spectacular, panoramic view of Kyiv. There’s limitless coffee, yellow cushions, plenty of space to stretch out, and fast, free WiFi. A small, fluffy puppy of Hero’s Companion waits on one side of the floor to greet those who pass by. One could be forgiven for mistaking the Veteran Hub for a coworking space, but it’s far more. “The space is constructed so that people have complete freedom,” Ivona Kostyna, the co-founder of Veteran Hub, told me in April. Opened in November 2018, the hub is home to twelve organizations that provide free services from legal advice to psychotherapy to Ukraine’s 361,000 veterans who have fought Russia to a stalemate in the Donbas. Housed in the Kyiv Telecenter, it should be a must-visit place for foreign diplomats, aid workers, and journalists to understand just how...

Ukraine’s celebration on Saturday, August 24 of its Independence Day marks 28 years since the country split from the Soviet Union. But freedom hasn’t come easy for Ukraine. And the country’s freedom struggle isn’t over. For more than five years, Ukrainian troops have been bogged down in a war in the country’s eastern Donbas region, where they face a combined force of Russian regulars, pro-Russian separatists, and foreign mercenaries. “Our state and independence exist because of you,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday, speaking at an event honoring military veterans. “What you have done for Ukraine, for its independence, for the protection of our sovereignty, is simply invaluable.”...

While 7 September was certainly a day for rejoicing at the return to Ukraine of 35 Ukrainian political prisoners (including 24 PoWs), there was also huge sadness for the families who are still waiting the release of their fathers or sons. The fact that at least 87 Ukrainian political prisoners are still imprisoned in occupied Crimea or Russia, as well as a minimum of 227 hostages in occupied Donbas makes the upbeat noises in western media about a new page in Ukrainian-Russian relations seem at very least premature. Russian President Vladimir Putin clearly saw the need to organize an exchange of prisoners at this time, with a key reason probably the capture by Ukraine on 27 June of Volodymyr Tsemakh, a Donbas militant commander who can provide critically important information about the downing with a Russian BUK missile of Malaysian airliner MH17. Putin is probably also hoping for an improvement in relations with western countries in return for releasing Oleg Sentsov, Roman Sushchenko and other prominent political prisoners. This will only happen if we fail to ensure that the West knows the names of all Russia’s Crimean Tatar and other Ukrainian victims of repression and to draw attention to the mounting scale of persecution, especially of civic activists and journalists in occupied Crimea...

On September 7, Ukraine and Russia exchanged 35 prisoners in a long-awaited swap. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the move “the first step to end the war.” The exchange was praised widely by European leaders. We asked UkraineAlert contributors the following questions: Who got the better deal? What might this signal about Russia’s willingness to finally negotiate and end the war? What does this mean for Zelenskyy? In what ways does the Kremlin benefit? What impact will this have on upcoming Normandy Format dialogue? How will the rest of the international community view this? Concession or negotiation? Willem Aldershoff, former head of unit in the European Commission and international affairs analyst: It would be very difficult for any Ukrainian leader not to agree to this deal. So many important Ukrainian prisoners returning will play out very positively for Zelenskyy domestically and also benefit him internationally...

The first piece of advice to the West is to help rather than brake. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his top advisors have made clear that they want to carry out key reforms swiftly. One of the first votes in the new parliament should abolish parliamentary immunity, as Zelenskyy demanded in his inauguration speech. The likely new Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka wants to clean up the leadership of the Prosecutor General’s Office and thoroughly reform that dysfunctional institution. Strong voices in the Zelenskyy team want to abolish the odious Department K for organized crime and corruption in the SBU. During his recent visit to Turkey, the president declared that he wanted to abolish the moratorium on private land sales this year. The West must not raise concerns about the speed of reforms in vital areas and call for delays, as it has done in the past. Progress in...

Russia’s $12 billion Nord Stream 2 is not a natural gas pipeline. It’s a weapon, in the form of an underwater pipeline, that will give President Vladimir Putin the power to plunge the Soviet Union’s former satellites and republics in Europe into darkness or recession. It must be stopped. The pipeline is an all-water route linking Vyborg, Russia to Lubmin, Germany, and will bypass Ukraine’s pipeline and strand Poland, the Baltics, and others. Germany supports the line and would become the hub and distributor throughout the region for Gazprom, Russia’s giant gas corporation...

A passion for justice and human rights, and a commitment to public service, are some of the defining qualities of the long and illustrious career of Conservative Senator A. Raynell Andreychuk. The well-known Saskatchewan resident was appointed to the Upper House in 1993 on the advice of former prime minister Brian Mulroney. On August 14, after 26 years in the Senate, Andreychuk will retire on her 75th birthday. Canadian senators are required to retire when they reach this age. During an interview on the University of Saskatchewan campus, where she obtained her arts and law degrees in 1966 and 1967, Andreychuk referred to herself as the “dean” of the Senate. She noted it feels strange to be facing retirement, given that she’s been employed in some capacity since the age of 15...

A Russian court has rejected the appeal against an almost four-year prison sentence passed on Ukrainian coach driver Oleh Chaban despite the lack of any proof to back the charges against him. Everything about this case and the virtually identical circumstances behind the arrest and imprisonment in Moscow of Ukrainian train conductor, Serhiy Buhaichuk, suggest that was really only one reason for the two arrests and for Chaban’s sentence, namely their Ukrainian citizenship. The clear signs of discrimination on the grounds of nationality in Chaban’s case are just one of the reasons why the defence will now be taking this case to the European Court of Human Rights...

Your Holiness: As a Ukrainian Catholic I find myself even more deeply disturbed by your recent meeting with the Russian President. Frankly, I have questioned your authority in my relationship with God and the Catholic Church, more specifically the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church since your earlier meeting with Moscow Patriarch Kirill. They say that time heals wounds, but my wound has been reopened, aggravated and deepened by the latest meeting. Inasmuch as no tangible good came from your earlier meeting, I fail to comprehend the benign or strategic purpose of the latter as well as your thinking in this regard...