Commentary

Baturyn, the erstwhile capital of Ukrainian hetmans, was razed to the ground by Russian troops in 1708; 314 years later, the Russian boot trampled it again. The quiet, picturesque and very hospitable small town of Baturyn used to be on par with Kyiv three centuries ago, when it was the capital of Ukrainian hetmans. “Hetmans’ Capital,” as the local history and culture preserve is named, comprises 39 unique sites and objects of history, architecture, archeology and wildlife. Historical research suggests Baturyn as a town is more than 900 years old. Granted the Magdeburg Rights in 1654, it emerged on the political arena in 1663, when Hetman Ivan Briukhovetsky and envoys from Moscow signed an agreement known as “the Baturyn Articles.”...

‘I cannot be quiet’: Ukraine’s chief rabbi calls out Putin’s lies. Since Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, he's falsely and offensively claimed he's liberating the country from Nazis. Among the loudest voices pushing back against that propaganda is Ukraine's chief rabbi. And as Jeff Semple reports, Rabbi Moshe Azman is taking his message to Canada. Moshe Azman, known as Ukraine’s chief rabbi, has swapped his kippah and kittel for a helmet and flak jacket. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion last year, Azman has traversed the war-torn country to deliver aid and evacuate civilians from some of the most dangerous areas. That humanitarian work nearly cost his life. During his trip to the flooded city of Kherson in June, Azman was recording a video message when a Russian shell struck nearby, sending the bearded rabbi diving for cover. Fortunately, no one was hurt...

Those who lived with Russian terror understand Ukraine must become a NATO member, because Ukraine is all that stands between them and a murderous despot. It demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of what this war is about, for it is about the total conquest and annihilation of the Ukrainian nation and its people and not about NATO. We will soon run out of Ukrainians to fight this fight unless NATO gets serious about defeating, and not appeasing Putin...

When is a security guarantee not a security guarantee? The answer, Ukrainians know all too well, is when there’s nothing committing your friends to fight by your side if your country is unfortunate enough to be invaded. The series of bilateral arrangements announced Wednesday at the NATO summit in Vilnius, which commit Canada and the other G7 countries to continue providing Kyiv with modern military equipment, training, cyberdefence and intelligence sharing, are significant. They represent the first formal promises the West has made to keep supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia, which is now in its 503rd day...

ussians in the temporarily occupied Berdiansk are not giving the parents of the murdered teenagers – Tyhran Ohannisian and Mykyta Khanhanov – a certificate of permission for burial. Removing the boys’ bodies from the morgue for burials is impossible without this “document.” In addition, the occupiers are closely guarding the morgue, citizens of Berdiansk told Ukrainska Pravda. “They will not issue a certificate – the case was sent to Melitopol, and that’s it. And without this piece of paper, the bodies are in the morgue and can’t be taken. You have no idea what place we are living in. We have no rights… And there is no one to turn to, to whom to complain… ” locals said...

Russian forces killed two Ukrainian teenagers – Tyhran Ohannisian and Mykyta Khanhanov – in temporarily occupied Berdiansk. Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets confirmed the information. Before his death, Ohannisian managed to record a video with the words: “Two for sure. That is, it is death, guys, goodbye! Glory to Ukraine!” Before that, the invaders pursued, held captive, and tortured the boys allegedly for preparing sabotage on the railway. The Investigative Committee of Russia charged the teenagers with “violations” of the article, which provides for 10 to 20 years of imprisonment. At that time, the European Parliament demanded that the minors be released to the territory under the control of the authorities of Ukraine. However, the Russians placed Ohannisian and Khanhanov under house arrest in Berdiansk...

The recent “almost civil war” and “imminent coup d'etat” in the Russian Federation has caused some turmoil and, at its conclusion, recognition that it was “much ado about nothing”. Putin and his former chef Yevgeny Prigozhin notwithstanding, Russians remain in control. The only positive result may be that the brutal Wagner forces may be out of the war in Ukraine, only to be replaced by equally brutal but less capable Russians. Those most hopeful or at least with the most vivid imagination perhaps forget that Putin and Prigozhin are peas in a pod or equally war criminals with the only difference that one has been issued a warrant for arrest by the International Criminal Court...

The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) calls on the international community to resolutely condemn and impose crippling sanction on Russia for its nuclear terrorism. “Russia is threatening to cause a nuclear incident at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant to stop Ukraine’s ongoing liberation of its occupied citizens. The United Nations (UN) and the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) must comply with their own rules to prevent any “incidents” at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), which has been occupied by Russian invaders for more than a year,” stated UWC President Paul Grod. On June 22, 2023, during his address to the nation, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russia was preparing a “terrorist act” at the Zaporizhzhia NPP...

On the eve of the NATO Summit on 10-11 July 2023 in Vilnius, the Ukrainian World Congress calls upon all Ukrainian communities, organizations, Ukrainians, and friends of Ukraine abroad to join the global advocacy campaign #UkraineInNATO. Ukraine is already a de facto part of the Alliance, aligning its national standards with NATO standards in a full-scale war, completing the transition from a Soviet-style to a NATO-style military in real-time, and, most importantly, already playing the role of the Alliance’s eastern flank...

In the 1940s, as Ukraine was squeezed between German Nazis, Russian communists, and Polish nationalism, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) sought to create an independent state. Eighty years later, some consider them national heroes, others traitors of the Soviet Union, and others as Nazi collaborators. Who and what was the UPA? Dr. Volodomyr Viatrovych, a Ukrainian historian, recently co-edited a book, in English, on this topic with a Canadian colleague: “Enemy Archives: Soviet Counterinsurgency Operations and the Ukrainian Nationalist Movement,” published by McGill-Queen’s University Press. In an exclusive interview for Kyiv Post, he explains what his research, involving delving into the former KGB archives, has uncovered...