The four months of life in antihuman conditions are over. The sailors have come home at last. The Faina’s crew have returned from Kenya to Ukraine on a special presidential airplane. On arrival, the sailors were first of all taken to the Feofania clinic for medical checkup and treatment. Yet some of the seamen refused to be checked up. They said they were not feeling very well and declined to reveal any details about their life in the pirates’ captivity. At the same time, one of the crew said that

Kalman Mizsei, European Union Special Representative for Moldova, visited Ukraine the other day and held consultations with Ukrainian government officials. He has been plying between Chi in u, Tiraspol, Kyiv, and Moscow for two years now in a hope to bring into motion the process of Transnistrian settlement. Is there any progress in the resolution of this 18-year-long conflict and what role can Ukraine, which borders upon Moldova and its Transnistrian region, play in this? This is the subject of

This has never happened before. A meeting of the National Security and Defense Council that had been put off for a long time and finally took place on February 10, dealt another blow to Ukrainian statehood, adding to the chaos in state administration and people’s minds. The only good news is that the country’s most influential roundtable did not consider revising contracts between Naftohaz Ukrainy and Gazprom. NSDC Secretary Raisa Bohatyriova made the announcement and added that the subject of RosUkrEnergo

Feb. 17 1919: The Directory approves a declaration to the governments of the Entente and the US, requesting assistance in the struggle against the Bolsheviks.

History becomes historical science when it transforms from a range of hypotheses, assumptions, and emotional statements into precise knowledge based exclusively on trustworthy sources and archival documents. In historical science these sources play the same role as experiments do in natural science. That is why every contribution to the Ukrainian National Archive is truly a good, early awaited event.

On Feb. 13, 2009, the Verkhovna Rada received the letter of resignation from the Minister of Finance Viktor Pynzenyk. This move was predictable after the sensational memo (immediately called a ‘secret letter’) he wrote to the prime minister and the government was given wide publicity in late January. In this letter he dared tell the truth about the impact of the world financial and economic crisis on Ukraine’s economy and the consequences Ukraine will have to face because of the government’s success

The beginning of 2009 has been extremely successful for our circus artists. The Day has already published an article about the trapeze artists Olesia Shulha and Dmytro Hryhorov, who won the Golden Clown Award at the Monte Carlo Circus Festival. Now another Ukrainian artist, the 19-year-old Oleksandr Koblykov, has won gold at the 30th Worldwide Festival of the Circus of Tomorrow in Paris in what was a triumphal victory. Moreover, the young juggler won special prizes from the St. Petersburg Circus

Lieutenant-General Wolf-Dieter Loeser, Commandant of the Rome-based NATO Defense College since March 2008, has every reason to be proud of his record. Having begun to serve in the Bundeswehr on July 1, 1968, at the 142nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion stationed in Coblenz, he was promoted brigadier general in 1998. In August 2003 Maj.-Gen. Loeser was appointed Deputy Commanding General of the Eurocorps in Strasbourg, took part in the operations of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)

Mr.Sherr, considering latest event: USA intention to push reset button on relation with Russia, Sarkozy’s and Merkel’s statements in Munich about need of engagement with Russia, talk about Europeanization of NATO — from one side; and, from the other, the Ukraine-Russian gas conflict and the creation by Russia Rapid Forces of ODKB (CSTO): does not all this mean that Ukraine will be left in a grey zone?

In January, Den’ published the article “Vasyl’s Day” by Serhii Stukanov, a PhD student at Donetsk National University. This marked the beginning of the editors’ direct participation in the Public Initiative for naming the university after its prominent graduate Vasyl Stus. Den’s journalists see this figure as an embodiment of a public and courageously uncompromising stand. In December 2008 Den’ and the Ostroh Club launched the Year of Vasyl Stus, staging Stus Readings at Ostroh Academy.

The easiest way to debase any public project or initiative in Ukraine is to tag it as another political stunt. This is precisely what happened after the Donetsk National University students and alumni came up with the initiative of naming their alma mater after Vasyl Stus. Den’/The Day has been closely following the events at and around the university. Here is the overall picture.

On the day Stalin announced he was going to deliver a devastating blow to “individual collective farmers and farms,” he made two important appointments within the OGPU system. Yevdokimov, OGPU’s polpred (plenipotentiary representative; in this context, head of the regional OGPU directorate — Ed.) for Central Asia, became polpred for the North Caucasus, whereas OGPU deputy head Balytsky was posted as polpred to the Ukrainian SSR. Both had worked in these regions: Yevdokimov in 1924–29, and Balytsky

I became a witness of one interesting situation in a clothes store. One girl came up to the shop assistant and asked to be shown a reasonably priced, decent, non-synthetic dress. The shop assistant advised her to go to a signature store for good quality items or to a second-hand store for a reasonable price. How did it happen that Ukrainians began to buy quality and clothes separately? Why is it so that for 17 years now domestic markets have been brimming over with junk and second-hand items, while

The sociological survey “Governmental and Economic Crisis in the Public Opinion of Ukraine” conducted by Research & Branding Group experts Jan. 20–30, 2009, showed an irrefutable fact: there are far more “minuses” and unwelcome trends. This country’s residents regard the beginning of 2009 as the most alarming period in the past three years. People are increasingly dissatisfied with life, all the leading politicians and statesmen of Ukraine have a negative rating, about 71 percent of Ukrainians say

February 15 was marked as the International Childhood Cancer Day. The problem of cancer is equally topical all over the world, although the incidence rate among Ukrainian children is somewhat lower than in other European countries: an average of 11 cases per 100 children, compared to 13-15 cases elsewhere in Europe. Experts say inadequate statistics can be the reason.

Only 16 out of 68 contenders have been shortlisted this year for the National Taras Shevchenko Prize. Among the most interesting are Viktor Baranov for the book of prose Death in White, Pavlo Hirnyk for the collection of poems The Dawn Is Breaking, Viktor Hontarov for a series of canvases “My Gogol,” and the cycle of paintings “1933. Ukraine”, “Eclipse”, “Evil Years” and “1933. The Last Kobzar”, Kost Lavro for illustrating the classical works of national literature and monumental wall paintings based

Ukrainian publishers have managed to take part in the prestigious international book fair in Minsk, despite the fact that Ukraine’s budget expenditures on the support of our country’s participation in international exhibits have been reduced to one-tenth of the previous amount.

Three young artists — Ihor Pankratov, Liudmyla Hlushenkova, and Tetiana Kovalenko — have opened a joint exhibit, “Three Steps to Spring” to present their landscapes and still lifes. What is common to them all is that they are alumni of the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts.

The 80th anniversary of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), being marked one of these days, is unlikely to draw too much attention. What is being hotly debated in Ukraine is the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Amy), the OUN’s armed branch, Roman Shukhevych, who held various posts in the organization and even headed it, and Stepan Bandera, known as the OUN top leader. These subjects and personalities have their followers and adversaries. But the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists itself

At 2p.m. the envoys were surprised to hear a drumbeat — this was a call for the citizens of Pereiaslav, both the Cossacks and burghers, to come to an “assembly of all people,” in the words of Vasilii Buturlin. This was the Pereiaslav Treaty Council. The envoys from Moscow were not present there, so the well-known picture by Ivan Khmelko does not reflect the real events and is just one of the myths. There were no ceremonies. The next day hetman left for Chyhyryn, while the envoys headed back for Moscow

If you picture a country as the human organism, the students are its blood, young blood capable of setting the whole society in motion. It feeds the pragmatic brain, the sentimental heart, and all the other vital organs. The condition of the entire organism, its ability to recover after traumas, and its capacity for returning to the normal condition all depend on the amount of nutrients carried by the blood.

Halyna Mykhailychenko, a master of gobelin tapestry and member of Ukraine’s Union of Artists, long ago solved for herself the question of how to decorate the ceiling and what to hang on the walls in the sitting room. In the course of her creative life she has made over 200 woolen carpets and wall panels. She keeps them at home, gives to her friends, and also displays at exhibits in Ukraine and abroad. The tenth exhibit of her works has recently been launched at the Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative

Photo by the author The Hutsul town of Kosiv is a true center of folk craftsmen: inimitable wood carvers, potters, weavers, and embroiders live and work here. Famous Kosiv ceramics is so well-known all over the world that collectors from different countries come to the local market to make purchases.