Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker According to the UK’s Ministry of Defence [email protected] [email protected] FB: @uwcongress Home page » Topics » Ambassadors » Dolyna and Vyhoda as seen by Michael Shchur In the Ambassadors project famous people show the towns where they grew up: what they were like in the past the TV presenter and journalist Roman Vintoniv (better known as Michael Shchur learn about the culture of the Boiko ethnic group and if you visit the neighbouring village of Vyhoda Accompanying Roman on this trip was Bogdan Logvynenko entrepreneur Yurko Fylyuk and his partners took inspiration from the Urban Space project and are now turning an abandoned Soviet plant involving investments from individuals and businesses The project has become an example of the impact investment model in which investors support a social initiative and As the reconstruction of Promprylad advances The innovation centre of urban development created on the plant premises works in four directions: education The territory of Promprylad.Renovation is gradually being rebuilt for offices the communications manager of Promprylad.Renovation mentions that alongside the rebuilding and renovation they are taking the site’s historical value into account the plant used to produce rotary gas meters and other instruments We cleared the plant’s debts and are now trying to restore everything we can We produce the same gas meters and cooperate with Kazakhstan: they are our only buyer at the moment and it is said that the umbrella factory might have been a cover for a military production facility: every plant in Ukraine used to produce something for military purposes We are thinking of trying to make an umbrella here because the machines have been preserved well The project Promprylad.Renovation also involves the creation of open workshops on-site There is a plan to create a sewing workshop here as well as to equip a space for wood and metalwork one of the craftsmen at ‘Stoliari’ (Ukrainian for ‘carpenters’ — tr.) says that this space is going to be the first one in Ivano-Frankivsk where tools will be available to everybody: “We’re creating a coworking space for craftsmen for those who are looking for the space and the tools to make something with their hands It’s also a place for students of technical schools who can’t work in their workshops late in the evening after classes and remember having to make things in the basement while the boys from the dorm were working quietly at night.” The Boikivshchyna Local History and Culture Museum in Dolyna is the first state-owned museum dedicated to the cultural heritage of the Boiko ethnic group It was founded thanks to the charitable Omelan and Tatiana Antonovych Foundation Omelian and Tetiana Antonovych emigrated to the USA in 1949 they continued their work for the interests of Ukraine and founded a charitable foundation to support projects in Ukrainian studies including the construction of the new premises for the Boikivshchyna museum associated with the First Global Boiko Festival in Prykarpattia region and a hall dedicated to the Antonovych family the museum has gradually grown into the town’s scientific and educational hub as well as meetups for photographers who capture the ways in which Dolyna is transforming over time: “I believe that our town is the best in the region: it’s in the perfect location We’re now preparing for the annual photo exhibition We have come together to show all the photos we’ve taken over the past year Our album is called ‘Dolyna in the sun’s rays’ A unique narrow-gauge railway has been working in the Carpathian village of Vyhoda for over a century already the Austrians began to build the first 3-kilometre-long narrow-gauge railway branch running from Vyhoda to the sawmill in Staryi Mizun in the Carpathians severe flooding finally ruined half of the tracks which were renovated two years later by Uniplyt only 7 kilometres of the railway were usable; with the company’s contribution they managed to restore another 75 kilometres and a freight train started to travel along this line and has become increasingly popular among tourists The Carpathian Tram is one of the four narrow-gauge railways that have been preserved the director of the Carpathian Tram project says that despite the expense of maintaining the rolling stock the railway must be preserved: “There also was a narrow-gauge railway from Broshniv to Osmoloda which was dismantled completely in the 1990s we managed to buy one tractor unit from them There was a situation once when people from (a Ukrainian ski resort — ed.) came here to take a look at this attraction and started to ask around for the prices of constructing a railway When they realised how hard it was to find the rolling stock the Vyhoda Narrow Gauge Railway Heritage Centre opened It is housed in one of the village’s oldest buildings a former residence of the Austrian entrepreneur baron Leopold Popper von Podhragy visitors are introduced not only to the history of the narrow-gauge railway but also to the natural features of the region and the ecosystem of the Carpathians believes that what makes the centre unique is the exhibition: “It’s a modern interactive centre which has no equal in Ukraine in the field of natural science We use this interesting approach to introduce our visitors to what grows or runs in the Carpathians tell them about the history of our narrow-gauge railway and how the local timber processing industry was born Roman Vintoniv created the YouTube channel Toronto Television where he appears under the guise of a Canadian journalist named Michael Shchur The channel has featured programmes such as ‘Ale Ie Odne Ale’ (‘But There Is One But’) Roman Vintoniv was called to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine; he spent around a year and a half in the 169th training centre in the village of Desna Roman and his team launched a new programme called ‘#@)₴?$0’ which is broadcast every Sunday on three TV channels: UA:Pershyi Involved in the preparation of the material 15 volunteers Project support: Fundacja Euromaidan-Warszawa Use of materials is only permitted upon providing the source: Ukrainer.net Дизайн — Артем Зубкевич Розробка — Deluxcode — The Russian invasion of Ukraine is hitting close to home for Prairie Village Prairie Village has a sister city relationship with Dolyna the city has welcomed delegations of visitors and has sent Prairie Village representatives to Dolyna Prairie Village reps shared and learned about education and our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine Prairie Village has celebrated a sister city relationship with Dolyna Ukraine's health minister reported that 57 Ukrainians have been killed thus far in the invasion And on Thursday, President Joe Biden announced sanctions on Russia in response to the invasion Report a typo Prairie Village’s donation of $10,000 worth of radios to its Ukrainian sister city, Dolyna have been received and are being put into action Prairie Village developed a sister city relationship with Dolyna Though the two cities hadn’t been in touch often in recent years when the news about the Russian invasion broke Prairie Village city staff worked to rekindle the relationships Dolyna is located in the western part of the country in the Ivano-Frankivsk oblast The western Ukrainian city is acting as a hub for the collection of humanitarian aid Prairie Village city officials wanted to support Dolyna in some fashion Dolyna Mayor Ivan Dyriv put together a list of necessary but hard-to-find items such as walkie talkies body armor and heavy-duty portable power chargers Prairie Village Mayor Eric Mikkelson tossed out the idea of a $10,000 cash donation to help but Dyriv said it wouldn’t be helpful because the listed items aren’t easy to acquire even with cash flow The city landed on a $10,000 donation of about 200 walkie talkie radios to send to Dolyna Dyriv sent a “thank you” letter to Mikkelson for the walkie talkie donation He also thanked City Administrator Wes Jordan The American flag now flies outside of Dolyna City Hall as a sign of gratitude all the members of the Prairie Village City Council and all the residents of your city for allocating the funds to purchase such important radios for our defense and for all your support of our community and our country,” Dyriv wrote to Mikkelson via email “These radios will be sent to those branches of the armed forces of Ukraine where residents of our community serve.” This story was originally published on the Shawnee Mission Post. This issue is preventing our website from loading properly. Please review the following troubleshooting tips or contact us at [email protected] By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us Create an FP account to save articles to read later ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER? LOGIN Downloadable PDFs are a benefit of an FP subscription This article is an Insider exclusive Contact us at [email protected] to learn about upgrade options unlocking the ability to gift this article Standing in the ruins of his niece’s house in eastern Ukraine an upbeat 58-year-old man with a trim white beard seemed oddly at peace with the devastation caused by months of fighting after Russia’s invasion It wasn’t clear which army had destroyed the house battling to push out any Russians who had gained a foothold there But Myroneko didn’t have harsh words for the Ukrainian soldiers who may have shelled it I would have done the same,” he said on a gray day in October Myroneko had come back to visit his home of Dolyna after taking refuge for months in western Ukraine A sweeping Ukrainian counteroffensive in September had finally made it safe for Myroneko and his nieces Maryna’s home had been hit by direct artillery fire at least 12 times the tailfin of a Grad rocket stuck up like a flower Ukraine’s battlefield victories have electrified Ukrainian society Ukrainian forces punched through Russian lines near the eastern city of Kharkiv and swept south to the Donetsk region to liberate over 3,000 square kilometers of territory Ukrainian forces are now pushing to take back more territory in the country’s south and east they recaptured the entire Kherson region after Russian forces pulled out of Kherson city the only regional capital Russia had taken in nearly nine months of grinding warfare Others now find themselves facing winter in cities devastated by war the lives they led before Russia’s invasion are a distant dream had not expected the war to touch their village of 400 people Standing amid the rubble of Snizhinska’s house they recounted how refugees from the neighboring village streamed into town soon after Russia’s invasion in February “It’s going to be hell,” one soldier told the sisters Mykola Myroneko stands alongside his niece Maryna Snizhinska and her husband in her heavily damaged home in the village of Dolyna It wasn’t until they first sought shelter in March in a nearby monastery and Snizhinska and her son were wounded in a shelling attack there that they realized how bad the situation would get where they stayed first for three months with a volunteer and then with relatives Dolyna was gradually destroyed by fighting The basement in Myroneko’s general store became a base for Ukrainian soldiers its concrete walls sheltering them even as the store crumbled from successive strikes and other detritus left by the Ukrainian soldiers Myroneko and his nieces had returned to salvage what little was left Snizhinska had never actually moved into her house Its interior was still being finished when the war broke out Snizhinska showed me a photo on her phone of an orderly kitchen with gleaming appliances The same room had now been stripped by looters Myroneko and his family have no plans to return for good Other frontline villages suffered the same fate It’s hard to say if anyone will ever return to Ruski Tyshky since the Russian border is just about 20 kilometers away said he would never move back given the risk of attacks from Russian artillery whose operating range from behind the border easily covers the village Russian artillery continues to target villages just a few kilometers up the road was certain the village wouldn’t be shelled again though his reasoning was hardly reassuring “There’s no reason to shell it again,” he said Many Ukrainians have no choice but to continue living in the ruins 57-year-old Larissa Glukhova was moving back to her flat in October after taking refuge in central Ukraine she noted that of the five cats that had lived in the yard outside the apartment a towering Soviet-era apartment building was blackened by fire which was directly on Russia’s route to invade Kharkiv early this year became known internationally for the heavy damage it sustained from Russian fire echoing with the whir of passing cars rather than booming Russian shellfire A damaged house entrance in the Saltivka suburb on Oct Larissa Glukhova examines her apartment in the Saltivka suburb of Kharkiv the living room’s pink wallpaper casting a rosy glow in the afternoon sunlight But examining the space more carefully revealed small shrapnel holes in the walls and sofa and one gaping hole punched through a wall “I’m sad and happy at the same time,” said Glukhova who was seeing her flat for the first time since she fled she wondered if she should use plastic film to insulate them Even Ukrainians whose homes are untouched face challenges as winter sets in. Conditions are so bad in Izyum, a nearby city, that officials have started to offer voluntary evacuations to some residents. The city is also trying to heal from the horrors perpetrated there by Russian forces with some 440 people found at one mass grave site such as Lyman—a recently liberated city in eastern Ukraine—officials have said mines and unexploded ordnance have made it difficult to fix gas lines was stacking logs cut from a tree splintered by shellfire with his wife they would use the wood for heating and cooking “I’ll describe the occupation in one word,” Kutsevych said Residents receive humanitarian aid from a German nongovernmental organization at the central square in Lyman on Oct A man walks by a destroyed house on the road to Lyman in the Donetsk region on Oct “I’m alone here,” said 83-year-old Lyuba Savchenko in Lyman’s main square Her daughter was killed by Russian artillery fire “My relatives elsewhere aren’t inviting me Lyuba Savchenko stands for a portrait inside her home in Lyman on Oct a major center of Russian occupation in the region One of the few physical traces of war is in a school whose gym sports two enormous holes in the ceiling shining daylight onto a cheery mural that exhorts students to go “Farther Within days of Balakliya’s liberation, a small two-car passenger train was running to the town from Kharkiv, its two-and-a-half-hour journey passing briefly over a bridge partially destroyed by fighting. By Sept. 20, local media cited the Kharkiv regional government as saying that all but 10 percent of homes in the town had access to gas A Ukrainian flag waves above the ruins of the destroyed village of Dolyna on Oct after months of living abroad or elsewhere in Ukraine despite the uncertain economic future and the risk of Russian soldiers reoccupying their community the Kharkiv-Balakliya train was crammed with people young and old finally going home a woman on the train who did not provide her surname was heading back to Balakliya after living in Poland A former worker in a local artillery shell factory during the Soviet Union she once made ammunition that likely ended up stored in Russia and used in Russian cannons She pondered her small role in creating the kinds of shells that caused so much damage in the region Sam Skove is a Kyiv-based journalist from the United States. His work has appeared in the New Republic, Mother Jones, and Military Times, among other places. 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Sign In Register How would you celebrate if you won a lot of money she christened her recent $630,434,26 virtual victory with ice cream and doughnuts with her husband she's set to put aside some of the funds for several travel destinations on her bucket list "I couldn't believe it," Perrella said in a BC Lottery Corporation (BCLC) release explaining she played the game before going to sleep one night "I decided to take a screenshot on my phone so I could think about it but the next morning I was still thinking about it." Perrella wasn't so entirely sold on the winnings that she asked her husband to take a second look "He thought it was a joke or a prank even after I showed him the screenshot We were both pretty convinced it wasn't real!" Perrella also plans on gifting some of the money to charity The top prize for MegaJackpots® Cleopatra can reach up to $1 million it appears there were two other lottery winners in Burnaby recently One was a Lotto Max ticket from Sept. 15 worth $155,075.60, and a Lotto 6/49 ticket worth $73,147.50 from Sept. 27 Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information Ukrainian flag waves in the village of Dolyna in Donetsk Ukraine after the withdrawal of Russian troops 2022 at 5:59 AM EDTBookmarkSaveUkraine is reclaiming occupied land that President Vladimir Putin declared only days ago was now Russia’s “forever,” leaving the Kremlin with more headaches at home Hundreds of thousands of Russians have fled the country to avoid Putin’s mobilization order opinion polls report deepening public anxiety about the invasion and state TV analysts furiously criticize military chiefs After Putin annexed four Ukrainian regions his forces don’t fully control the Kremlin was unable even to say where Russia’s border now lies A pair of Ukrainian and Russian officials attending an economic conference in Turkey had to be physically separated after getting into physical and verbal spats.  Marikovski lands a punch on the Russian official and corners him retrieving the flag before the two are quickly separated by security staff An earlier video shows officials from the two camps verbally clashing and pushing each other as Russia's Ola Timofeeva speaks during the conference While Russia has occupied swathes of territory in the south and east of the country Ukraine has put up a stronger fight than anyone expected and often humiliated Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion forces that Not only have the Ukrainian defenders fended off a total conquest from Russia they have also retaken parts of the country by launching well-organized audacious counter-offensives in the east and south While the largest war in Europe since 1945 seems to have entered an attritional phase there are several ways the conflict could play out temporary cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine the director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies that would be the state of active warfare declining and it becomes something closer to a frozen conflict that can heat up or cool down depending on the range of factors," he said Jones pointed to the two Chechen Wars that took place in the 1990s but then restarted another war three years later and ramped up its onslaught Russia could hope that the US and other Western countries lose interest in the conflict and in supporting Ukraine "That would eventually change the balance of power in Russia's favor and allow it to reconquer territory the way it ideally wanted to in February," Jones said It is possible that the war could end with a peace deal though a settlement is difficult because of Russia's and Ukraine's different goals and what they both view as their rightful territory "I think Vladimir Putin is in too deep at the moment He's committed far too much political and military capital right now to extract himself from the war without very clear successes," Jones said Jones said that while it is not clear what Putin would accept as a "success," he might settle for Russia taking parts of Donetsk which he could then frame as his intended goals The more complicated question is what Ukraine would be willing to give up in any peace deal Jones said it would be almost "politically suicidal" for any leader in Kyiv to give away any Ukrainian territory When it began its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine Russia's goal was to take over the country completely Jones said it is important to note that Ukraine has already achieved a significant victory in preventing Russia from achieving that goal.  the third most powerful military army in the world behind the US and the Chinese was the Russians So they've already prevented a Russian blitzkrieg operation to take the capital and either integrate it into Russia or establish a puppet government," he said It is unlikely now that Russia would be able to turn the war around entirely and achieve its original aims but it could accept a "victory" in the form of a peace deal in which it takes more territory than it had before the invasion began it would be very unlikely that Russian forces would retreat entirely "In Russia, bad things happen to rulers who lose wars," Mark Cancian, a retired US Marine colonel and CSIS senior advisor, previously told Insider he appears to show no signs of backing down Not all wars end with a clear victory for one side Another possibility is that fighting continues to rage on without any cease-fire or settlement It could involve special forces fighting back and forth on contact lines guerilla action from Ukraine in Russian-controlled territories and long-range bombardment of Ukrainian territory from Russia or Belarus the conflict appears to have become a war of attrition Russia's objectives in the current stage of war seem to be to weaken Ukraine's resources According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the newly appointed Russian General Sergey Surovikin plans to build a solid line of defense in occupied territories and effectively freeze the war over the winter Russia would not seek to begin any new large-scale offensive into Ukrainian territory at this time and would take the time to build back up its fighting capabilities Putin has repeatedly made nuclear threats since he began the invasion of Ukraine and, in September, claimed that it was "not a bluff." Western countries and experts are divided on how seriously to take the threats Jones said that there were big risks involved in using nuclear weapons especially if Putin detonates them in territories he has been claiming are Russian There would also be a risk of nuclear fallout on Russian territory due to proximity If Russian forces face a full-scale military rout Putin could use a battlefield nuclear weapon but Jones said the risks of using nuclear weapons would likely outweigh any benefits "There are a lot of risks involved in making that nuclear taboo What would that spell for Vladimir Putin's regime I think the US has already communicated pretty forcefully that all bets are off if Russia were to use nuclear weapons," he said Jones said that NATO declaring war on Russia could create a major war that could pull in other countries like China which is an outcome that the organization likely wants to avoid.  NATO would likely first turn to increased sanctions and support Ukraine with weapons The reform process has enabled the approval of a range of important laws but their actual enactment requires additional delegated legislation and adequate funding The state budget of Ukraine for 2018 plans to allocate UAH 2 billion for energy efficiency which exceeds by 150% the sum allocated the previous year the Government planned to provide just UAH 800 mln Experts claim that one of the positive phenomena contributing to the introduction of energy efficiency policy in Ukraine is the introduction of energy management Regions where the decentralization process has become an additional stimulus are actively involved in the process of introducing energy management as municipalities got the opportunity to be in charge of their own budget CEO of the Energy Efficient Cities of Ukraine association asserts that cities which established an energy management system managed to save funds from the municipal budget and minimize the negative effect on the environment It is worth mentioning that the first steps in this direction were taken long before the issue of energy efficiency became a national trend some cities undertook the initiative to form the Energy Efficient Cities of Ukraine (EECU) association that was founded by Anatolii Kopets The inaugural member cities of the association were Lviv ”I remember our trip to Ireland for the ”Energy Cities” Convention Alliance in 2008 Having communicated with mayors of European cities who had already been working in environmental protection and energy efficiency for a few years I realized how interesting this area is and what opportunities it gives to reduce the risks facing the cities” Cities that expressed interest in the energy efficiency issue were greatly assisted by international aid programs namely the European initiative called the Covenant of Mayors the European Commission introduced the Third Energy Package aimed at increasing competitiveness on the energy sources market particularly through alternative energy sources and reducing prices for consumers This package also contains directives on environmental protection In order to implement the project at the local level in 2008 the European cities launched the Covenant of Mayors initiative aimed at supporting local and regional authorities member cities voluntarily commit to reduce about 20% of СО2 emissions by 2020 or 30% of emissions by 2030 as well as to inform the population on the importance of community assistance in the implementation of energy efficiency measures and reduction of harmful emissions One of the first Ukrainian cities that joined the Covenant of Mayors at the end of 2008 was Kamianets-Podilskyi the other 11 cities that joined the initiative were: Bakhmut (Donetsk Oblast) The number of member cities joining the Covenant significantly increased in 2015 the year when it turned from merely being a European initiative into a global one called the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy the Covenant of Mayors unites more than 7,500 signatories worldwide more than 160 members have joined the initiative where approximately 82 of them have developed an action plan and are actively working in accordance with it Establishing the post of energy manager in cities is a key factor assisting the process of creation of energy development strategies this position is occupied by young specialists with technical education who analyze existing problems and monitor energy consumption at municipal levels On the basis of their analysis and estimates they suggest ways of saving energy and take responsibility for the policy-making process the process of establishing the energy manager position was rather problematic as the post was not included in the officially ratified list of positions and required additional spending that was not incorporated into the budget an energy manager in Dolyna worked on a voluntary basis for half a year the city managed to reduce spending by budgetary institutions on energy by 15%-20% It was a convincing example to provide the professional with a full-time position The following cities have managed to make great progress in implementing energy efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions: 1) With a population under 25,000: Dolyna (Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast) Zhovkva (Lviv Oblast); 2) With a population under 50,000: Voznesensk (Mykolaiv Oblast) Myrhorod (Poltava Oblast); 3) Among administrative centres: Lviv It is worth mentioning that Dolyna has managed to completely decline district heating services the local authorities have obtained approximately EUR 50 mln worth of European investment on the implementation of energy efficiency projects which enabled it to switch the bulk of budgetary institutions to using alternative energy sources and provide heating to a majority of residential buildings in 2016 Dolyna became the first city in Eastern Europe to receive a Certificate of Conformity to energy efficient management it is planned to continue a project aimed at reducing of СО2 emissions in the residential housing area This initiative has been awarded a grant from the European Commission of EUR 772,600 managed to significantly cut down on its use of natural gas for heating purposes thanks to the implementation of projects on increasing energy efficiency The allocated grant funds enabled the purchase of solid fuel boilers that produce energy by burning woodworking waste such as woodchips and sawdust The total cost of the project is EUR 860,000 of which EUR 700,000was allocated by the EU and the rest by the local and regional budget It took two years for Zhovkva to save approximately UAH 7 mln for the city and regional budgets the authorities were able to replace 4.7 km of central heating systems which enable permanent temperature control in automatic mode and insulate kindergartens a city that has been a member of the Covenant of Mayors since 2012 recently received a grant from the European Commission for the implementation of energy efficiency measures in particular: modernization of the boiler room (installation of a new biomass boiler) construction of part of the heating system and carrying out the comprehensive thermo-modernization of one of the kindergartens The implementation of the aforementioned plans requires approximately EUR 1 billion 75% of which will be allocated by the EU and the rest by the local budget political freedom maintained among the city mayors plays a significant role in unifying successful energy efficient cities This aspect enables a strategy of sustainable energy development at the local level to be devised the enlisting of qualified personnel that can effectively cooperate with international partners and to change the attitude of the community towards the topic “Only under such conditions will international aid be effective thus enabling investors to be attracted to the cities” A question regarding the ratification of the energy management institute at legislative level has arisen nationwide the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine issued the draft resolution “On approval of the action plan aimed at implementing energy management systems in budgetary institutions” the idea of introducing an energy management system at local level is supported by the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine which has developed a general Resolution on the implementation of energy management systems in budgetary institutions in close cooperation with the USAID Municipal Energy Reform Project These documents are merely of a recommendatory nature to date an expert of the Center for Environmental Initiatives Ecoaction “Only when a considerable number of cities establish the energy management system it will be possible to discuss the implementation of a mandatory norm at the national level So far everything depends on the initiative of cities: whether they are ready to plan in advance and consume the energy more efficiently thus improving the state of the environment and comfort of citizens” there is an ongoing process of working on a bill on energy efficiency which will declare the necessity to implement an energy management system The current experience of Ukrainian cities serves as an indication that the future of Ukraine’s energy independence lies in increasing the level of energy efficiency this policy has an additional motivation as it will enable deteriorating environmental effects to be reduced “It is always pleasant to solve local tasks but is it far more pleasant when you realize that you contribute simultaneously to the process of tackling global problems This article has been first published at The Reforms Guide He and his team-mates were a few days into a warm-weather training camp as their club looked to boost their bid for promotion to the Ukrainian Premier League A day of intense training lay ahead but that morning there had been worrying reports of growing tensions back in Ukraine with Russian troops and tanks moving into the Donbas region on what Vladimir Putin ominously called a “peacekeeping mission” were terrifying updates from reporters and citizens alike: missile strikes and explosions in Kyiv Odesa and his parents’ home city of Kharkiv And life was never going to be the same again feel relieved to be sharing their story in a coffee house on the A38 in Worcestershire he went from being a professional footballer with his eyes on promotion to Ukraine’s top flight so grateful to the family who have offered them a home and a sanctuary in the UK as he and Alina come to terms with everything and they look to get their lives back on track the 28-year-old wants to be a footballer again — even if that means dropping down to the Southern League Premier Division Central Yan was one of those footballers who had done it the hard way he had been in the academy at three big clubs (Metalist Kharkiv Arsenal Kharkiv and Metalurh Donetsk) and then dropped down to amateur level only to be offered the chance to force his way back up again with FC Alians only founded in 2016 and turning professional upon promotion to the third tier three years later It took the name of Lypova Dolyna because the club’s president wanted his village to be recognised but Yan says: “We never went there The team played in the city of Sumy (in north east Ukraine about 30 miles from the Russian border and a 90-minute drive from Lypova Dolyna) “I started playing when it was an amateur team so I went all the way from amateur level to the Second League (third tier) to the First League (second tier) we had the objective to get to the Premier League We were third in the table at the start of the winter break We trained the whole winter to be ready when the season restarted.” “Yan was my student,” she says with a laugh as she interprets on his behalf Alina is from the south-eastern Donbas region which has suffered years of conflict with pro-Russian forces She and her family fled the region in 2014 when Russian forces began to annex the area everything was going better and better in Ukraine Alina didn’t wake up with a “feeling” on the morning of February 24 she was confronted with a sudden sense of chaos “So many missed calls and messages on my phone,” she says “I called my parents in Kharkiv,” Yan says “They were OK but they told me about all the explosions “We (he and his team-mates) were in Turkey and we were all very worried We wanted to talk to our families because that was the only way we could be sure everyone was OK.” Russian forces attacked Sumy the same morning Ukrainian soldiers and militia quickly mobilised to defend their city but the fighting and the air strikes continued for five weeks before the region’s governor claimed Sumy had defeated the Russian invaders stranded in Turkey with no prospect of getting home and joining friends and relatives in the war effort Alina managed to escape Sumy and get to her parents’ house in a village nearby “It felt safer there but we couldn’t leave there because the area was surrounded,” she says Things were very bad but one thing is that my father thinking we were going to have to try to escape.” Yan says he has “lost” people in the conflict “Some of my friends are soldiers,” he says “We know a lot of people there and you can’t call them or contact them You call them and the phone doesn’t connect We hope they’re OK but there’s no internet or the lines are down were reported to have been killed in a Russian airstrike on Sumy on March 8 Ukrainian authorities managed to open a “green corridor” to evacuate people from Sumy and several other cities football and promotion were the furthest things from their thoughts It was all about trying to find somewhere safe where his family could join him from Sumy and Kharkiv in the north east of Ukraine they could safely get from one side of their vast “Yan’s family left Kharkiv on March 2,” Alina says “It was very difficult because there were still explosions and fighting There was a risk that the car could be blown up because there were lots of Russian soldiers around It was his parents and his young brother… and their cat.” They got out of the city alive and began to make that perilous journey across Ukraine as she and her family tried to join the green corridor out of Sumy “The first time they opened a green corridor we couldn’t join because there were so many people — it was getting dark and there were explosions,” she says and there were two corridors: one for private cars and one for buses there was a special route from Sumy to Poltava We were very lucky because we were able to spend the night in a hotel We stayed upstairs at a nice old woman’s house He and Alina were able to keep each other informed of their movements and ever-changing itineraries grateful for the wonders of modern technology but every day was filled with anxiety over whether his family and Alina would join him The dream of a reunion in the Hungarian capital still felt distant so we didn’t know how I could get there,” Alina says “We had my parents’ car but they couldn’t drive me to Budapest I was lucky because there was an evacuation train to Lviv It went very quietly in the night with the lights switched off There was a rumour that this train was going to be bombed hence travelling under the cover of darkness “We were sitting on the train in complete darkness for maybe 15 hours trying to hear what was going on,” she says “It was probably the scariest part of the whole journey.” The relief of arriving in Lviv was tempered by the realisation that there were so many others trying to cross the border into Poland It was one of the largest refugee waves ever seen in Europe with around 1.8 million Ukrainians entering Poland in the first three weeks of the conflict Those who were only just arriving in Lviv were being urged to consider other routes “People were standing there for two or three days.” the last Ukrainian city before the border with Hungary they managed to get a train out of the country and seven nerve-racking days after leaving her parents’ home on the outskirts of Sumy “We got there at five in the morning and I was crying because I was so happy to be with Yan again,” she says “Yan and his mother were in a hotel in Budapest there were four of us in a double room with one bed but it was so nice just to have a shower again after this horrible trip Yan and Alina considered trying to stay in Budapest for a few weeks to try to work out their next step but the life of a refugee does not lend itself to that They couldn’t see a future for themselves in Hungary So they said an emotional farewell to Yan’s family and they kept on moving west: onwards “First we went to Vienna but there was nowhere for us to live,” Alina says We lived there for about one and a half months It was while we were in Austria that we learned there might be an opportunity to come to England We were very happy because Austria is a German-speaking country and although I studied some German in the past “We learned there was an opportunity to apply for a UK visa but before you can do this you have to find what they call a sponsor — someone who can provide you with a room or somewhere to stay There are different websites to help you find sponsors There was a really big number of British people who wanted to help Ukrainians.” The offer that appealed most was from the Hartley family who lived near Droitwich in Worcestershire — a short drive south of Birmingham in the English Midlands They sent pictures of a happy family and various pets and also they told us their daughter goes to school with a girl whose mother came to the UK from Ukraine 10 years ago,” Alina says “They offered for us to talk to the girl’s mother and — I couldn’t believe it — she used to live very close to where I used to live and she went to the same university as I did We talked on the phone with her and she told us It was the end of April when they learned that their UK visa application had been successful For the first time in two harrowing months they had a clear view in their minds of what a happy future might look like And now it was just a case of getting over 1,000 miles from Graz to Worcestershire — “trains Rail companies across Europe had allowed free travel for Ukrainian refugees on services where there were places available They plotted a route by rail that took them across a succession of international borders via Cologne They managed to take a selfie outside the Louvre in Paris but this was no time for sightseeing “We didn’t have a chance to look around anywhere and we were exhausted — especially Yan who was carrying the big bags,” Alina says we got the train from Paris to London to Birmingham to Worcester It was as if they had arrived in another world “It felt like being in a film,” Alina says we learn about different parts of life here — about the Queen the countryside and so on — so we had somehow felt connected to England since our childhood It didn’t happen to us in other countries we went through.” The Hartley family have been the perfect hosts They have helped Alina find a job as a liaison officer for the local council the realities of the war had been stark and visible from an early stage her mind had been on getting out of Ukraine and finding their way west to find some kind of safe haven He had spent almost three weeks in a kind of limbo existence in Turkey feeling utterly helpless as he spent long hours watching terrifying news reports from back home He arrived in Budapest still feeling dazed and confused the only clothes he had were the various kits and tracksuits he had taken to Turkey for the training camp football was almost the last thing on his mind He was a footballer who had become a refugee How on earth was he supposed to become a footballer again Some of his former Alians team-mates have been confronted with the same question over recent months Kostyantyn Yaroshenko and Konstantin Pikul have moved to Icelandic second-tier club Throttur Reykjavik Six of them got to Paris and started training with AS Poissy the regionalised fourth tier — later joined by their former coach at Alians Yuri Yaroshenko — as part of an initiative by the club’s owner Olivier Szewczuk it hasn’t really worked out as planned due to a lack of financial assistance their promotion bid was effectively aborted due to the war while Alians have withdrawn from the coming season citing “the impossibility of ensuring a safe training and competition process on the territory of the Sumy region which is subject to artillery shelling from the territory of the aggressor country every day” Mr Hartley began to make enquiries on Yan’s behalf, calling various clubs out of the blue and asking whether they might be interested in signing a 28-year-old defender who had been challenging for promotion to the Ukrainian Premier League He even set up a conversation with an agent wondering if that might be the best hope of finding a club “But nobody could really help because nobody here knows Yan,” Alina says “We were told no good team wants to sign a player they don’t know there are so many players and it’s very hard to find a club if they don’t know you and that’s why he started with semi-professional clubs.” He started out at Kidderminster Harriers of the sixth-tier National League North but training with their under-23s team didn’t feel like a springboard to anything so he started training at Redditch United in the Southern League Premier Division Central — four divisions down from League One the level which he believes is probably English football’s closest equivalent to the standard in the Ukrainian First League “He has played in some friendly games and he is having to get fit again because that was a very “Five months,” Yan says in English — and in that time he had to content himself with a couple of improvised solo training sessions on a basketball court in Austria “We invited Yan in and you could see straight away that he was talented but you could also tell that he hadn’t really kicked a ball for a long time,” Redditch manager Matt Clarke tells The Athletic “He has been with us just over two weeks and he has played in three games He has got better in every game and every training session.” hence the rather confused team sheet for Saturday’s friendly at Rugby Town ⚽ STARTING XIHere's how we lineup against @fcrugbytown A strong team as we look to carry on our preseason form Kick off to come soon…#UnitedForAll#PaintTheTownRed pic.twitter.com/Rk0oFoma5E — Redditch United (@RedditchUtd) July 16, 2022 Redditch were delighted to announce that one particular trialist had agreed to sign for them on a semi-professional basis subject to gaining international clearance: an unlikely coup for a club playing in English football’s seventh tier Yan has been playing for the club for nothing he was unsure if or when that would change but after his performance on Saturday Redditch offered to register him on a short-term semi-professional basis — “and we’re expecting him to take that,” Clarke says “We know where we are in the league pyramid and we know Yan was playing as a professional at a really good level in Ukraine He wants to do well for us to catch the eye of one of the professional clubs further up the pyramid “The difficulty Yan might have is that when clubs higher up the pyramid look at players from our level they tend to be looking for younger players It’s a question of whether clubs higher up will see an older player as a viable option.” The Southern League Premier Division Central might appear quite a fall from grace but he is ready to embrace the challenge of playing for Redditch and getting a job just as he did in his early days as an amateur back home Under the UK government’s “Homes for Ukraine” scheme refugees from there are allowed to stay in the country for three years Yan and Alina don’t know how things will work out in the long run Nor do they know how things will be resolved back home The international news agenda might have moved on from the conflict but five months after the Russian invasion the fighting and the airstrikes continue in eastern Ukraine “I wish they would leave us alone,” Alina says They also wish for greater understanding of what is happening in Ukraine “I understand that not every Russian person is a monster It would not be reasonable to think that,” she says “But Yan and I both know a lot of people who live in Russia and they don’t believe us when we tell them what’s going on in our country so I don’t know who to believe’ — and they don’t believe us Alina tries to avoid the TV news these days She finds it too upsetting and doesn’t want to be confronted with constant reminders Last week brought a particularly brutal update: the news that Yan’s old school in Kharkiv has been bombed I think it’s only more recently that he realised our old life doesn’t exist anymore,” Alina says Yan has the opportunity to resume his football career (Top photos: Instagram; design: Sam Richardson) Before joining The Athletic as a senior writer in 2019, Oliver Kay spent 19 years working for The Times, the last ten of them as chief football correspondent. He is the author of the award-winning book Forever Young: The Story of Adrian Doherty, Football’s Lost Genius. Follow Oliver on Twitter @OliverKay This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Heavy fighting continues in east and south of Ukraine; Moscow says Kyiv must accept ‘demilitarisation and denazification’ as a result of Ukrainian military pressure Heavy fighting continues in the east and south of the country amid no sign of imminent peace talks Recapturing Kreminna and nearby Svatove could open the way for Kyiv to launch an offensive on Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk The Guardian could not independently confirm the battlefield developments Russian troops continued to focus their efforts on capturing the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said in its daily military briefing on Tuesday The strike was the second recent attack on the Soviet-era airbase Aid raid alerts were issued across Ukraine There were no immediate reports of attacks has said Kyiv must accept Moscow’s demands of “demilitarisation and denazification” or suffer defeat on the battlefield Lavrov’s statements indicate the Kremlin has no intention of climbing down from its maximalist goals of regime change in Ukraine despite Vladimir Putin’s claims on Sunday that Russia was ready for talks to end the war Putin hosted leaders of other former Soviet states in St Petersburg on Monday In televised remarks he said threats to the security and stability of the Eurasian region were increasing “Unfortunately challenges and threats in this area “We also have to acknowledge unfortunately that disagreements also arise between member states of the commonwealth.” The Russian president’s comments that he was “ready to negotiate with all parties” involved in the conflict in Ukraine are part of a deliberate information campaign aimed at misleading the west into making concessions US thinktank the Institute for the Study of War said the Russian president did not offer to negotiate with Ukraine on Saturday twice over the course of 24 hours to “finalise many issues” Belarusian state-owned Belta news agency reported over breakfast on Tuesday at the Russian Museum as well as at an informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on Monday evening Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he sought India’s help with implementing a “peace formula” in a phone call with the Indian prime minister “I had a phone call with PM Narendra Modi and wished a successful G20 presidency,” Zelenskiy wrote on Twitter “It was on this platform that I announced the peace formula and now I count on India’s participation in its implementation.” The Indian government said in statement late on Monday that Modi “strongly reiterated” his call for an immediate end to hostilities in Ukraine and conveyed India’s support for any peace efforts The bodies of 42 servicemen who died while fighting have been returned to Ukraine Work on bringing back the bodies of Ukraine’s fighters “does not stop for a day” which Grozev took as the Putin ally essentially endorsing the attack on Gerasimov A Russian sausage tycoon who reportedly criticised the war in Ukraine has died after falling from the third-floor window of a luxury hotel in India was discovered just two days after his friend and another local Russian politician was found dead in the same hotel after an apparent heart attack Kherson city was liberated by Ukrainian forces in November. But for some, the horrors of the Russian occupation are still not over. Hundreds of Ukrainian children as young as six and as old as 16 from the Kherson and Kharkiv regions have been stuck in Russian summer camps for weeks and in some cases months Today's print edition Home Delivery As we approach the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion later this month the Ukraine war remains the world’s dominant geopolitical conflict The big-picture structural issue is the post-Cold War order in Europe and the place of a shrunken and much-diminished Russia in the European security order and architecture History did not end with the defeat of the Soviet Union in the Cold War Nor was the power status of post-Soviet Russia settled The immediate conflict parties are Russia and Ukraine.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); Ukraine’s territory is the battleground for a proxy war between Russia and the West that reflects the unsettled questions since the end of the Cold War Oxford professor Hedley Bull argued that war is the arbiter of the creation survival and elimination of actors in the system especially the major powers; of the ebb and flow of political frontiers; and of the rise and decline of regimes In a time of both misinformation and too much information quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing Your subscription plan doesn't allow commenting. To learn more see our FAQ Sponsored contents planned and edited by JT Media Enterprise Division This article originally appeared at TomDispatch Empires don’t just fall like toppled trees they weaken slowly as a succession of crises drain their strength and confidence until they suddenly begin to disintegrate French and Soviet empires; so it now is with imperial America America’s post-Cold War victory lap suffered its own crisis early in this century with disastrous invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq looming just over history’s horizon are three more imperial crises in Gaza Taiwan and Ukraine that could cumulatively turn a slow imperial recessional into an all-too-rapid decline let’s put the very idea of an imperial crisis in perspective has always involved a succession of crises — usually mastered in the empire’s earlier years only to be ever more disastrously mishandled in its era of decline when the United States became history’s most powerful empire Washington’s leaders skillfully handled just such crises in Greece and somewhat less skillfully but not disastrously in a Korean War that never quite officially ended Even after the dual disasters of a bungled covert invasion of Cuba in 1961 and a conventional war in Vietnam that went all too disastrously awry in the 1960s and early 1970s Washington proved capable of recalibrating effectively enough to outlast the Soviet Union “win” the Cold War and become the “lone superpower” on this planet can be traced at least in part to a growing imbalance between a domestic politics that appears to be coming apart at the seams and a series of challenging global upheavals the Washington of President Joe Biden is clearly failing to align domestic political constituencies with the empire’s international interests crisis mismanagement has only been compounded by errors that have accumulated in the decades since the Cold War’s end turning each crisis into a conundrum without an easy resolution or perhaps any resolution at all the mishandling of these crises is likely to prove a significant marker of America’s ultimate decline as a global power which also had the largest Soviet nuclear weapons plant at Dnipropetrovsk During an August 1991 visit, President George H.W. Bush told Ukrainian Prime Minister Leonid Kravchuk that he could not support Ukraine’s future independence and gave what became known as his “chicken Kiev” speech, saying: “Americans will not support those who seek independence in order to replace a far-off tyranny with a local despotism They will not aid those who promote a suicidal nationalism based upon ethnic hatred.” He would Lithuania and Estonia as independent states since they didn’t have nuclear weapons When the Soviet Union finally imploded in December 1991 Ukraine instantly became the world’s third-largest nuclear power though it had no way to actually deliver most of those atomic weapons To persuade Ukraine to transfer its nuclear warheads to Moscow Washington launched three years of multilateral negotiations while giving Kyiv “assurances” (but not “guarantees”) of its future security — the diplomatic equivalent of a personal check drawn on a bank account with a zero balance that “a wounded Moscow would lash out in response to NATO expansion.” In 1994, Defense Secretary William Perry warned Bill Clinton would “become members of NATO.” In other words having pushed NATO right up to the Ukrainian border Washington seemed oblivious to the possibility that Russia might feel in any way threatened and react by annexing that nation to create its own security corridor only weeks after hosting the Winter Olympics In an interview soon after Moscow annexed that area of Ukraine, President Barack Obama recognized the geopolitical reality that could yet consign all of that land to Russia’s orbit is going to be vulnerable to military domination by Russia no matter what we do.” after years of low-intensity fighting in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine Putin sent 200,000 mechanized troops to capture the country’s capital and establish that very “military domination.” At first as the Ukrainians surprisingly fought off the Russians Washington and the West reacted with a striking resolve — cutting Europe’s energy imports from Russia expanding NATO to all of Scandinavia and dispatching an impressive arsenal of armaments to Ukraine at least “stalemated,” if not now beginning to turn in Russia’s favor contributing to Kyiv’s recent reverses on the battlefield Between March 2022 and December 2023, the Pew Research Center found that the percentage of Republicans who think the U.S. gives “too much support” to Ukraine climbed from just 9% to a whopping 48% All of this is certainly signaling to the world that Washington’s global leadership is now anything but a certainty Just as in Ukraine, decades of diffident American leadership, compounded by increasingly chaotic domestic politics, let the Gaza crisis spin out of control. At the close of the Cold War, when the Middle East was momentarily disentangled from great-power politics, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed the 1993 Oslo Accord they agreed to create the Palestinian Authority as the first step toward a two-state solution Washington’s ineffectual initiatives failed to break the deadlock between that authority and successive Israeli governments that prevented any progress toward such a solution Not surprisingly then, the day after last year’s tragic Oct. 7 Hamas attack, the Times of Israel published this headline: “For Years Netanyahu Propped Up Hamas Now It’s Blown Up in Our Faces.” In her lead piece senior political correspondent Tal Schneider reported: “For years the various governments led by Benjamin Netanyahu took an approach that divided power between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank — bringing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to his knees while making moves that propped up the Hamas terror group.” including the behemoth 2,000-pound “bunker busters” that were soon flattening Gaza’s high-rise buildings with increasingly heavy civilian casualties Biden has damaged American diplomatic leadership in the Middle East and much of the world, and weakened his domestic support in constituencies that were critical for his win in 2020 In an inept intertwining of international and domestic politics the opportunity for an October surprise of more devastation in Gaza that could rip the Democratic coalition apart and thereby increase the chances of a Trump win in November — with fatal consequences for U.S Its breaches of the island’s airspace have increased from 400 in 2020 to 1,700 in 2023 Chinese warships have crossed the median line in the Taiwan Straits 300 times since August 2022 “There soon may be no lines left for China to cross.” After recognizing Beijing as “the sole legal Government of China” in 1979, Washington agreed to “acknowledge” that Taiwan was part of China Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 requiring “that the United States maintain the capacity to resist any resort to force … that would jeopardize the security … of the people on Taiwan.” would defend Taiwan “if in fact there was an unprecedented attack.” Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter But Beijing could cripple Taiwan several steps short of that “unprecedented attack” by turning those air and sea transgressions into a customs quarantine that would peacefully divert all Taiwan-bound cargo to mainland China With the island’s major ports at Taipei and Kaohsiung facing the Taiwan Straits any American warships trying to break that embargo would face a lethal swarm of nuclear submarines Given the near-certain loss of two or three aircraft carriers Navy would likely back off and Taiwan would be forced to negotiate the terms of its reunification with Beijing Such a humiliating reversal would send a clear signal that American dominion over the Pacific had finally ended Washington now finds itself facing three complex global crises Any one of them would challenge the skills of even the most seasoned diplomat in the unenviable position of potential reverses in all three at once even as its politics at home threaten to head into an era of chaos Moscow and Tel Aviv are all holding a long hand (or at least a potentially longer one than Washington’s) and hoping to win by default when the U.S Biden must bear the burden of any reversal with the consequent political damage this November Donald Trump may try to escape such foreign entanglements and their political cost by reverting to the Republican Party’s historic isolationism even as he ensures that the former lone superpower of Planet Earth could come apart at the seams in the wake of election 2024 American global hegemony would fade with surprising speed soon becoming little more than a distant memory Alfred W. McCoy is the Harrington professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of "In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power." His new book is "To Govern the Globe: World Orders and Catastrophic Change." Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon.com Associated Press articles: Copyright © 2016 The Associated Press As of 10:00 PM Kyiv time, there have been 152 combat clashes on the front since the start of the day. The most intense fighting today is happening in the Pokrovsk, Lyman, Toretsk, and Kursk directions, reports the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces They deployed 844 kamikaze drones and carried out more than 4,100 shelling attacks on Ukrainian military positions and populated areas Russian forces attacked near Kamyanka once the enemy made six attempts to advance on Ukrainian positions near Petropavlivka Ukrainian forces successfully repelled all attacks Russian forces launched 20 attacks around Novoyehorivka Ukrainian forces repelled three enemy assaults in the areas of Bilohorivka and Verkhniokamianske Ukrainian forces repelled three enemy attacks in the areas of Chasiv Yar and Hryhorivka Russian forces launched 18 offensive actions on Ukrainian positions near Kurdiumivka the enemy has attempted to break through Ukrainian defenses 65 times in the areas of Kotliarivka Russian forces also carried out airstrikes with guided bombs on the areas of Zoria and Stara Mykolaivka the enemy's losses in this direction today total 292 killed and wounded and four UAV control points have been destroyed," the General Staff reported Ukrainian troops repelled three Russian attacks in the areas of Rozliv the enemy launched a single attack on Ukrainian positions near Rivnopil Ukrainian defenders successfully repelled four enemy attacks near Stepove and in the direction of Mala Tokmachka and Novoandriivka Aviation strikes targeted the settlements of Stepnohirsk and Lukianivske Ukrainian forces repelled two unsuccessful enemy attempts to advance on their positions As a reminder, on the previous day, April 4, 145 combat clashes were recorded on the frontline 40 battles took place in the Pokrovsk direction The enemy launched attacks in that direction near the settlements of Andriivka Sign In Subscribe Now Dancing is an important part of the Ukrainian culture and it varies in different parts of the Ukraine The Capital News spoke with treasurer Peter Bihun of the Dolyna Ukrainian Cultural Society after the dancers’ performance as part of the Lake Country Indoor Children’s Festival held March 3 Q: Tell me about the Ukrainian dancers in Kelowna A: There has been Ukrainian dancing in the Okanagan for many The present group started in 2009 with about 15 dancers and right now we’re up to 52 dancers Q: Why do you think so many people have an interest in this style of dance A: They want to get in touch with their culture A lot of them have grandmas and grandpas that are Ukrainian that came to this area quite awhile ago and there’s a renewed interest in that every Tuesday and Thursday we have our practice nights so the kids go for an hour of dance and an hour of culture Easter eggs and all sorts of things like that Q: Why did Ukrainians decide to live in the Okanagan it was 125 years since they arrived in Canada One of the original people that came to this area was my grandma and grandpa and they settled in Vernon Most of the Ukrainians settled on the prairies when we went back to Ukraine and looked at their village it was fruit growing area They were involved in growing fruit and processing it and I thought wow I would say since the early 1900s there have been Ukrainians here There have been churches started that are still rolling Q: What’s a traditional style of dance in Ukraine A: The dances that we do are from central Ukraine It’s flat and long and the steps reflect that Guys have embroidered flowers on their shirts A lot of it is based on the Ukrainian Cossacks of the 16th century The other part of Ukraine is very much like the Okanagan you can’t do these big leaping steps or you’ll go right over the edge of a cliff sort of up and down steps and they have their own particular music and costumes warmer materials and their shoes are turned up at the tips for going down mountains Q: What type of dance did the Doylan dancers perform during the Children’s Festival The type of dance done at the Children’s Festival was mainly from the plains The boys wear the big baggy pants which are designed for riding on horseback These steps of what the boys do come from a Ukraine martial art feminine and to bring forth a beauty of the female Q: How many Ukrainians are in the Central Okanagan A: The last census said we have more than 1.5 million Ukrainians in Canada and the Okanagan has about 10 percent of that Ukrainian history in the Kelowna area Q: Why do you think it’s important to continue passing the culture along you’re not going to repeat your mistakes and if you know your history you can appreciate the arts and crafts encourage knowing the past and have a connection with Ukraine Q: Where can people find out more about the Ukrainian society A: Our website, www.dolynadancers.com Our year-end performance is coming up in May at the Rotary Theatre of the Arts This year’s show will be focusing on fairy tales the Capital News will feature a different culture as part of the video segment for Carli’s Cultural Connections To get involved email carli.berry@kelownacapnews.com Dialogue and debate are integral to a free society and we welcome and encourage you to share your views on the issues of the day. We ask that you be respectful of others and their points of view, refrain from personal attacks and stay on topic. To learn about our commenting policies and how our community-based moderation works, please read our Community Guidelines Swan River connections stay strong in the Ukrainian Dance world Myley Brunel with Zirka (Dauphin) and McKayla Hnatiuk with Bratsva (Dauphin) were all on the big stage at Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival in Dauphin from Aug 4-6.McKayka HnatiukMcKayla has been dancing with Bratsva in Dauphin for eight years She is the daughter of Jason Hnatiuk as well as Sylvia Hnatiuk’s grandaughter.She received four gold medals for her solo dances at different competitions and this year her dancing group was chosen from the talent competitions to perform at the grandstand on the final night of the festival.Myley BrunelMyley attended her first Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival as a spectator with a family friend the summer of 2014 and fell in love with the costumes especially the red boots and floral Vinoks her parents Robert and Erin Brunel (nee Immerkar) registered her with Zirka and she has loved Ukrainian dancing ever since Myley is the grandaughter of Evelyn Immerkar of Swan River.Myley started dancing in Grade 2 in 2014.Myley competed in competitions in Brandon Regina and Dauphin.She received most outstanding effort award with Zirka in 2014-2015 dance year and the Dedication Award in 2022-23 in memory of Chris Perih.Presently Myley and her group are preparing to perform in Disney World both on stage at Epcot and during the Disney evening parades in 2024.Myley loves the opportunity to meet with her dance group at practices and enjoys meeting other dancers.She is now old enough to wear the red boots that she fell in love with all those years ago.Sara SynkSara is the daughter of Niomi (nee Hrappstead) and Joe Synk (former RBC Bank manager in Swan River).Sara started dancing at the age of three with the Dolyna Dancers in Swan River.She continued dancing joining Troyanda Ukrainian dance group when she moved to Brandon The highlight of these years was travelling to Ukraine to dance at numerous dance festivals and workshops was an amazing experience for Alexis.Upon graduation she moved to Edmonton where she successfully auditioned for the Vohon Ukrainian Dance Ensemble She was honoured to dance at the 50th Vegreville Pysanka Festival She also performed in Portugal’s International Dance Festival with the Vohon dancers where she shared the stage with multiple countries.The National Ukrainian Festival in Dauphin was where she was reacquainted with Myley Olivia and Sara.It was an honour to Alexis to return to her home roots and experience dancing on stage in her home province alongside so many talented dancers Alexis is very grateful for the lifelong friendships she has made during her Ukrainian dance career.Olivia ChmelowskiOlivia started dancing at the age of three and never looked back as she absolutely loved it from the get-go.Throughout her years as a Dolyna Dancer she was privileged to have incredible and dedicated instructors: AnnaLee Fuhr-Parnetta Becca and Jen Guay and Maks Zabutnyy (the latter three drove out from Regina weekly to teach them) and finally Amanda Yaschyshyn were all instrumental in fostering her love of dance and in her eagerness to give back she also helped out with the instruction of the younger students in her last few years with Dolyna.As she made her way to Regina for university Olivia had fallen into a comfortable school/work routine but missed dancing so returned to the familiar world of Ukrainian dance when she joined Regina’s Zabutnyy Dance Company They practice twice per week and she’s had the opportunity to perform at many events in Saskatchewan and Manitoba most recently Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival in Dauphin When asked what she enjoys the most about dance Olivia says she obviously loves the actual dancing but the best part is the friendships she’s formed along the way Russia attacked the Ukrainian president’s hometown with suicide drones on Sunday and Ukraine pushed ahead with its counter-offensive after taking back control of Lyman which it had been using as a transport and logistics hub is a new blow to the Kremlin as it seeks to escalate the conflict after Moscow’s formal recognition of four Ukrainian regions under Russian control since the early stage of the Russia-Ukraine conflict as Russian territory “The Ukrainian flag is already in Lyman,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address there have been more Ukrainian flags in the Donbas A ceremony was held on Friday for the signing of treaties to incorporate Donetsk Zaporizhzhia and Kherson into the Russian Federation in the Kremlin which Kyiv and its international partners condemned as “shams and a violation of international law.” Zelenskyy’s hometown Krivyi Rih came under Russian attack by a suicide drone that struck a school early Sunday and destroyed two stories of it the governor of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region Russia in recent weeks has begun using Iranian-made suicide drones to attack targets in Ukraine the Ukrainian air force said it shot down five Iranian-made drones overnight while two others made it through air defenses Call for the possible use of low-grade nuclear weapons Ukraine’s recent successes have prompted a close ally of President Vladimir Putin to call for the possible use of low-grade nuclear weapons right up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and the use of low-yield nuclear weapons,” Ramzan Kadyrov the leader of Russia’s southern Chechnya region including former president Dmitry Medvedev have suggested that Russia may need to resort to nuclear weapons but Kadyrov’s call was the most urgent and explicit Putin said last week that he was not bluffing when he said he was prepared to defend Russia’s territorial integrity with all available means and on Friday made clear this extended to the new regions claimed by Moscow Washington says it would respond decisively to any use of nuclear weapons spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern forces said before the capture that Russia had 5,000 to 5,500 troops at Lyman The Russian side did not immediately comment on the report Arguments over Moscow’s formal recognition of the four regions Ukraine has adopted sanctions on more than 3,600 Russian individuals and legal entities according to a statement from Ukraine’s economy ministry published on Saturday The United States responded to Moscow’s formal recognition of the four regions as Russian territory by imposing more sanctions on Russia targeting hundreds of people and companies including those in Russia’s military-industrial complex and lawmakers Russia vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution introduced by the United States and Albania condemning Moscow’s acceptance of the Donetsk Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions into Russia following referendums that took place from September 23 through 27 China on Friday urged all sides to leave space for diplomatic negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis “China calls on all parties concerned to exercise restraint refrain from actions that exacerbate tensions and leave space for settlement through diplomatic negotiations,” Zhang Jun China’s permanent representative to the United Nations said in his explanation of China’s vote on a Security Council draft resolution on Ukraine Copyright © 2025 | The Zimbabwe Mail Online - Your News! 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