Happy 20th Ukraine!
It may have a very long and interesting history, but ironically, this great country we live in is one of the youngest in the world. Later this month, Ukraine turns 20, and we here at What’s On would like to wish the country and every one in it, a very happy birthday. As part of this issue dedicated to this great celebration, we’re taking a look back at the last 20 years, noting the most important events in the country’s young life as it comes of age.

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Ukraine's football team coach Oleg Blokhin is a hero in his native land and remains well-remembered in the West for his exploits in the 1970s and 1980s which saw the great man crowned European Footballer of the Year, but he incurred the fury of the politically correct Western media during preparations for the World Cup finals, when a moan about the lack of domestic talent and the number of foreigners in the Ukrainian football league turned into a diatribe of racial stereotyping. "Let them learn from a Shevchenko or a Blokhin, and not from some Zumba-Mumba who they took off a tree in Africa, gave two bananas and now he plays football in Ukraine," the role model argued to a bemused press pack.

Throughout 2005 Viktor Yushchenko's modest son Andriy was busy defending his status as Prince of Orange and the country's leading 'major', but his title has been usurped in 2006 by Donbass challenger Yanukovich the Younger. Baby Yanu is the youngest ever member of the Ukrainian parliament, being just 24 when he took his seat in the new parliament following spring elections. Like all true majori he likes to maintain the public pretence that he is a self-made man, despite the rather obvious fact that he has been on the receiving end of the kind of nepotism that would make a renaissance prince blush. Definitely one to watch in 2007.

Real-life Barbi doll Inna was simply everywhere throughout 2006, with the highlights including donning a mini Lavra monastery novelty hat for the Miss Universe finals and appearing beside a bemused-looking Savik Shustov as co-host of the enormously popular 'Third Half nightly football show during the World Cup.

Not only did the Ukrainian football team make it to their first World Cup finals in 2006, but they showed that rarest of Ukrainian of characteristics, resillience, to come back from a disasterous 0-4 opening game drubbing at the hands of Spain to reach the quarter-finals before losing out to eventual winners Italy.

Turkish crooner Tarkan delighted one of the biggest crowds to take to the streets since the revolution with his massive September frere concert, courtesy of | mobile phonoe giants Life:), demon-' strating the cultural ties binding Ukraine and southern neighbour Turkey, where many Ukrainians spend their summer holidays each year.

As the coalition talks rumbled on into a fourth month and the return of Yanukovich began to look increasingly likely, Kyiv's Independence Square played host to a wide range of political camps, with rival parties erecting miniature tent cities popu-i lated by paid activists. The debacle proved the nadir of people ' power in Ukraine, demonstrating just how cynical the various parties have become in trying to exploit popular support to exert political pressure.

Two years ago PM Yanukov-ich went around dressed | like the Donbass Don while ' scowling at the cameras and flanked by likely lads in leather jackets, but the champion of Little Russia finally bit the bullet in 2006 and brought in a team of American advisers to brighten up his image and take the edge off his shady biography. The transformation was nothing short of miraculous, with the controversial figure appearing on TV and in election campagn materials smiling convincingly while sporting attractive tie and suit combinations.

Rank outsider Chemovetski was not fancied by any-| one to come between the f two main candidates, incumbent Mayor Sasha Om-elchenko and heavyweight champ turned crusader Vitaly Klitschko, but he came from nowhere to steal the biggest job in the Ukrainian capital.

The grand opening of oligarch Viktor Pinchuk's modern art centre was a hotly anticipated event for weeks in advance, but nobody expected the blazing inferno that followed, when stage props caught fire and the whole Arena Entertainment courtyard threatened to go up in flames. Luckily skilled staff were on hand to put out the blaze, with many of the thousands who'd turned up at the big opening left unsure whether it had been part of the show or not.

March in memory of Stepan Bandera, Shevchenko Monument in Shevchenko Park, 1 January at 18.00
Controversial Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera was born 1 January 1909 and this meeting has been organized by the UNI0N of Ukrainian Nationalists. The figure of Bandera continues to divide Ukrainian society particularly as UPA, the insurgent army he helped found, fought fellow countrymen fighting for the Soviet UNI0N against the Nazis during WWII. Often a flash point for conflict and strong words between communists and nationalists, the anniversary of the UPA leader’s birth will begin in Shevchenko Park after which supporters, their red and black flags aloft, will march to Askold’s Grave for a commemoration service.

A Man of Many Words
Young, good-looking and successful. But enough about me – let’s talk about Andriy Danilevych. At the tender age of 30, this baby-faced assassin is an editor at TRK Ukraina. He hosts political debates and interviews VIPs, up to and including presidents. He’s just finished for the summer, and What’s On caught up with him before he jetted off to New York.