Poltavabloggen

New heavy snow storm plays havoc with Ukrainian roads

2010-02-16T09:26:00.002+02:00

Feb 15, 2010 (Interfax) A new heavy snowfall in Ukraine brought dozens of trains to a halt and blocked major roadways, the Interfax news agency reported. The worst snowstorms were reported in the southern Odessa, Luhansk, and Mykolaiv provinces, where accumulated snowfall reportedly exceeded 30 centimetres in some areas. Temperatures as low as minus 10 Celsius were complicating the rail and road clearance effort, the Transportation Ministry said.
Photo below shows one of blocked Ukrainain roads.

21st anniversary of Soviet troops' withdrawal from Afghanistan.

2010-02-15T16:11:00.002+02:00

The Soviet War in Afghanistan, also known as the Soviet–Afghan War, was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan at their own request, against the Islamist Mujahideen Resistance. The mujahideen found other support from a variety of sources including the United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt and other Muslim nations through the context of the Cold War. The initial Soviet deployment of the 40th Army in Afghanistan began on December 24, 1979 under Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. The final troop withdrawal started on May 15, 1988, and ended on February 15, 1989 under the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
After the war ended, the Soviet Union published figures of dead Soviet soldiers: the total was 13,836 men, an average of 1,512 men a year. According to updated figures, the Soviet army lost 14,427.
Foto: Afghanistan War monument in Donetsk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan

Yanukovych Officially Declared Winner; Tymoshenko Vows To Fight

2010-02-15T09:11:00.002+02:00

Kyiv Feb 13 (RFE/RL) Ukraine's Central Election Commission has officially declared Viktor Yanukovych the winner of the presidential election held on February 7, but Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is claiming fraud and has pledged to take the case to court. The election commission today confirmed the results that showed Yanukovych beating Tymoshenko by a 3.48 percent margin, or some 888,000 votes. The announcement comes three days ahead of the deadline for releasing the final official results of the vote. The announcement came after Tymoshenko said she plans to challenge the official result in court in a televised statement late on February 13. "Today I can firmly tell you that Ukraine's elections were falsified, and this is not a political declaration but a clear legal assessment by lawyers," Tymoshenko said. Tymoshenko's supporters are now expected to lodge an official appeal against the results and present evidence of fraud to a Kyiv high court. Reports say the court is expected to take several days to consider the evidence presented. The prime minister claimed more than 1 million votes had been falsified or miscounted, and she named the Crimean peninsula -- a Yanukovych stronghold -- as the site of "shocking" irregularities. International monitors described the election as “an impressive display of democracy.” The European Union, the United States, and NATO leaders have congratulated Yanukovych. But Tymoshenko said Yanukovych “will never become the legitimately elected president of Ukraine." However, she pledged not to call out her supporters for mass protests like those of the 2004 Orange Revolution.
http://www.rferl.org/content/Tymoshenko_To_Challenge_Election_Results_In_Court/1957513.html

The road from Poltava to Gadyach has turned into the snow trap for thousand cars, tracks and buses.

2010-02-13T14:29:00.002+02:00

Not far from the Monument to the Swedish warriors killed in the Battle of Poltava there is a big depression that has been marked on the old Swedish maps related to the battle as “Stora Ouvragen”. During the winter time there is a lot of snow there. Unfortunately Poltava local authority has forgot about this potential snow trap because the last time such a snowy winter happened was in 1980s. About 150 vehicles have been trapped in snow drifts in the depression close to the village Pobyvanka late evening February 12th. The Emergency Control Ministry’s quick reaction force came in time to relieve helpless local road service. A big tent has been installed to warm frozen driver and offer them a hot tea. Many cars and buses have been released by powerful tractors and snow plows. Up to the morning the length of the traffic jam has reached 10 kilometers. It took one day to release all vehicles and clear the road.
On the photo below you can see a panorama of the “Stora Ouvragen” taken by the author on summer 2009.

91 year-old Ukrainian Canadian, Olga Kotelko, appointed for Olympics 2010 Torch Relay

2010-02-13T12:10:00.002+02:00

Olga Kotelko, known as the oldest long jump competitor in the world, was nominated as one of the 12,000 XXI Winter Olympic Games Torch Bearers. She will hold history in her hands, carrying the Olympic flame in the Vancouver 2010 Torch Relay. Olga will carry the torch on Wednesday, February 10 at 7:45 p.m., on Marine Drive in West Vancouver between 15th and 17th Street.
“I am so very happy and so overwhelmed to have this once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said an emotional Kotelko. “Carrying the Torch represents inspiration, dedication, hope, perseverance and community spirit. To me, this Flame is a shining symbol saluting good health and well being.”
This diminutive and personable former teacher from Burnaby, B.C., Olga is a role model for youngsters, masters and seniors. Since 1997, at the age of 77, Olga Kotelko has been running, jumping and throwing – and breaking Canadian and World records in the W80, W85 and W90 age categories.

http://www.ukrcdn.com/2010/02/10/91-year-old-appointed-for-olympics-2010-torch-relay/

Number of Yanukovych's supporters outside Central Election Commission increases

2010-02-11T11:01:00.002+02:00

Kyiv 08.02.2010 The number of Regions Party leader Victor Yanukovych's supporters rallying outside the building of the Central Election Commission in Kyiv has increased to 3,000, an Interfax-Ukraine reporter has said. Those supporters who attended a rally on Feb. 9 afternoon have been replaced by other participants. The protesters are moving around the square to keep warm, and dancing to music coming from a stage. Some participants in the rally are warming themselves in the underground crossing of the Pechersk subway station, while the others remain inside the subway station itself. Kyiv's main police department told Interfax-Ukraine that 116 buses with 4,150 supporters of the Regions Party had arrived in the Ukrainian capital during the day.
http://www.kyivpost.com/news/city/detail/59123/

Ukrainian Election 2010: Many trials probably lie ahead

2010-02-11T10:47:00.002+02:00

09.02.2010, Kyiv 10:13a.m. Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko plans to legally challenge the results of the presidential runoff that opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych appears to have won, her campaign said Tuesday. Tymoshenko has canceled two planned appearances since the polls closed Sunday night. Her allies say she will not concede until appeals have run their course and recounts have taken place at a number of polling stations.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_ukraine_presidential_elections

10.02.2010, Kiev 01:10 p.m. Ukraine's Central Election Commission has tallied 100 percent of the electronic protocols submitted by regional polling stations. According to the final count, leader of the Party of Regions Viktor Yanukovich secured 48.95 percent of votes cast in the second round of the presidential election, while Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko came in close behind with 45.47 percent of votes. Some 4.36 percent of Ukrainians chose not to support either candidate. Voter turnout stood at 69.15 percent, the commission reported. According to Ukrainian law, the new president must take office within one month from the official announcement of the election results.
http://rbcnews.com/free/20100210131008.shtml

"Oranges and lemons in Ukraine" by Gideon Rachman

2010-02-09T17:01:00.002+02:00

"......At first sight, the prospect of a Viktor Yanukovich presidency in Ukraine looks like part of a depressing pattern for democracy around the world. Mr Yanukovich was the “bad guy” during Ukraine’s Orange Revolution in 2004. He was backed by Russia and accused of electoral fraud. The western world cheered when he was swept aside in favour of the heroic, pro-western Viktor Yushchenko.

But now Mr Yanukovich is back and history seems to have gone into reverse...".

The full text of this article is available at:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d9463cfc-14e3-11df-8f1d-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1

Current results

2010-02-09T16:37:00.003+02:00

February 8, 2010 4:42 p.m.

Current results of election of President of Ukraine

Victor Yanukovych - 48.96%

Yulia Tymoshenko - 45.47%

Against everybody - 4.36%
Bulletins processed: - 99.98%

The Times: Ukraine braced for conflict as polls signal end of Orange Revolution

2010-02-08T11:07:00.002+02:00

TIMESONLINE ".....Ukraine faced the prospect of renewed political confrontation on the streets after exit polls predicted that the man closely allied to Moscow was heading for victory in the fiercely contested presidential election last night.
According to exit polls published immediately after voting ended, Yuliya Tymoshenko, the glamorous, firebrand leader of the Orange Revolution and Prime Minister, was narrowly beaten by Viktor Yanukovych, her bitter rival.
The margin of defeat, however, was as little as 3 percentage points, paving the way for a potential challenge in the courts — and in the streets, if her campaign alleges widespread ballot fraud.
Two polls gave her 45.5 per cent against 48.7 per cent for Mr Yanukovych, while two others put him at between 4 and 5 percentage points ahead. All four polls gave the election to Mr Yanukovych, and the first official figures, based on just over 25 per cent of the votes counted, put him eight points ahead....

.....Hundreds of Mr Yanukovych’s supporters were gathering outside key government buildings in Kiev last night as well as the Central Election Commission. The Interior Ministry disclosed that his Party of Regions had submitted plans to gather 50,000 people outside the election commission for a demonstration today.
The election had been billed as a verdict on the pro-Western revolution led by Ms Tymoshenko and her former Orange ally, Viktor Yushchenko, against Mr Yanukovych’s fraudulent, Kremlin-backed victory in 2004. History may now repeat itself if the ballot-box verdict is challenged on the streets...."

Read a full story at

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7018451.ece

Yanukovich wins Ukraine election: preliminary results

2010-02-08T08:39:00.002+02:00

http://www.unian.net/eng/

Viktor Yanukovych is a winner of Presidential race in accordance with exit polls

2010-02-08T00:10:00.002+02:00

Viktor Yanukovych, leader of the Party of the Regions and seen as pro-Moscow, has defeated prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko in the February 7 2010 second round of presidential elections in Ukraine, according to various exit polls, media reports from Kyiv said. Russian news agency Itar-TASS said that the Research and Branding Group exit poll gave Yanukovych 50.26 per cent and Tymoshenko 44.3 per cent. Exit polls gave Yanukovych a three to six point lead, the BBC said. The National Exit Poll, a consortium partly funded by Western embassies, said Yanukovych had secured 48.7 per cent of the vote against Tymoshenko's 45.5 per cent. Another exit poll, by ICTV, said he took 49.8 per cent of the vote against her 45.2 per cent, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said. Incumbent president Viktor Yushchenko lost in the first round. If confirmed, it would be a remarkable comeback for Yanukovych, who was swept aside five years ago by the peaceful "Orange Revolution", RFE said. However, the Tymoshenko camp said that it was too early to concede and irregularities could not be ruled out. Russia’s RIA Novosti quoted the head of the delegation of observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe as saying that the elections had been transparent and the loser should accept the result.

You can trace a vote counting on the official site of the Central election commission of Ukraine at
http://www.cvk.gov.ua/vp2010/wp0011.html

President Yuschenko thinks Ukrainians will be ashamed for their choice at the presidential election, he has told after casting his own ballot

2010-02-07T16:16:00.002+02:00

"I think Ukrainians will be ashamed for their choice, but this is democracy," he said. In his opinion, now Ukraine's number one task is holding fair and licit election to prove the world community that Ukraine is capable of a democratic demise. As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Central Electoral Commission allowed for the presidential election runoff Viktor Yanukovych, the leader of the Party of Regions, and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko as the two candidates who won most of others votes in the first round of the election on January 17. In the first round 35.32% of the electorate voted for Yanukovych and 25.05% for Tymoshenko with 100% of original protocols from precinct election commissions counted.
http://un.ua/eng/article/246568.html

Many hold that such statement of the President of Ukraine could be regarded as evidence that our country is at the beginning of the long way to the real democracy. It is inadmissible to say such things about decision taken by tens of millions of his countrymen. Another question is what these millions think about 5 years of Ushchenko's presidency? Probably many could also say that President has to be ashamed for these wasted 5 years....

The Difficulty of Being Ukraine

2010-02-06T15:25:00.003+02:00

This article was written by Mark Medish, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment, served as senior director for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian Affairs on the National Security Council under President Clinton and published in New York Times on December 22, 2009. Here are some cuitations taken from this article that currently available at

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/opinion/23iht-edmedish.html?_r=4&scp=4&sq=ukraine&st=cse

"......The country of 46 million has been one of the hardest hit by the global financial meltdown, suffering a sharp currency devaluation and a projected 14 percent drop in G.D.P. this year.
President Viktor Yushchenko, once the Orange hero, is now polling in low single digits. Much like Lech Walensa in Poland a generation ago, the out-of-touch Mr. Yushchenko has unceremoniously morphed from national icon of change into political footnote.
The January ballot is likely to lead to a run-off between Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a feisty populist, and Viktor Yanukovich, a drab but steady former prime minister and Yushchenko rival, whose Party of Regions boasts the strongest organization.
Both are pragmatic leaders. But whichever wins will face enormous challenges, foremost restarting the anti-crisis program with the I.M.F., which suspended its $16 billion lending facility last month due to the bitter political impasse between Mr. Yushchenko and Ms. Tymoshenko.
The winner will also need to remember that to lead Ukraine is to balance East and West. This imperative reflects the pressures of both external geopolitics and internal demographics.
Russia and the United States tend to view Ukraine as a key battleground in a cosmic proxy war between East and West. Both have a bad habit of trying to pick winners in Ukrainian politics. These interventions, naïve in their own ways, tend to backfire, often at Ukraine’s expense.
Russian meddling fueled the Orange backlash against the mediocre Leonid Kuchma and his cronies and ended in a series of crippling winter gas cut-offs and sabre-rattling over Crimea.
Meantime, the U.S. expected far more from Mr. Yushchenko than he could deliver, deepening his isolation at home. The curse of U.S. foreign policy idealism, whether neoconservative or liberal, is to make the best the enemy of the good.
By putting more emphasis on the symbolism of a failed NATO membership bid than the unglamorous work of energy reform, the U.S. did no favor for Ukraine’s security. It should be clear that an independent Ukraine must not consume Russian-sourced energy as though it were still part of the Soviet Union.
By contrast, Russia’s designs on Ukraine are hardly idealistic. At the NATO summit last year, Vladimir Putin reportedly remarked to former president George W. Bush, “You understand, George, that Ukraine isn’t even a country. What is Ukraine? Part of its territory is Eastern Europe, and part of it, a significant part, was given by us.”
Political bullies can be clever at implanting a grain of truth in their predatory barbs. Like other European nations, Ukraine’s ethnicity is mixed and its borders were not God-given. These things emerged through collisions of tribes, ethnic intermingling and considerable bloodshed over centuries.
Western Ukraine — Galicia and Bukovina — were Hapsburg lands and never part of the czarist empire. The Crimean peninsula was transferred from the Russian Republic to Soviet Ukraine by Nikita Khrushchev in 1954, when both were part of the Soviet Union.
Ukraine faces deep identity issues. Ethnic Russians are roughly 20 percent of the population, and many more Ukrainians speak Russian. The languages are close, like High German and Bavarian or Danish and Swedish.
Europe prides itself on what Freud called “the narcissism of small differences.” However, Ukrainian nationalists would be wise not to overplay their hand, as Mr. Yushchenko often has done on sensitive language and historical issues.
In the 21st century, Ukraine needs to pursue its own path as a pluralist democracy and emerging market, balancing Western integration with a respect for its older cultural roots and affinities. Despite the present economic crisis and wide dissatisfaction with the political elite, Ukraine has a bright future. It has fertile land, solid industry and well-endowed human capital....."

Princess Ingegärd Olofsdotter of Sweden

2010-02-05T18:33:00.001+02:00

Princess Ingegärd Olofsdotter of Sweden (1001–1050) was a Swedish princess and a Grand Princess of Kiev, the daughter of Swedish King Olof Skötkonung and Estrid of the Obotrites and the consort of Yaroslav I the Wise of Kiev. Princess Ingegärd was born in Sigtuna, Sweden, and was engaged to be married to Norwegian King Olaf II, but when Sweden and Norway got into a feud, Swedish King Olof Skötkonung wouldn't allow for the marriage to happen. Instead, Ingegärd's father quickly arranged for a marriage to the powerful Yaroslav I the Wise of Novgorod. The marriage took place in 1019. Once in Kiev, her name was changed to the Greek Irene. According to several sagas, she was given as a marriage gift lake Ladoga and adjacent lands, which later received the name Ingria (arguably a corruption of Ingegerd's name). She set her friend jarl Ragnvald Ulfsson to rule in her stead. Ingegärd initiated the building of the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev that was supervised by her husband, who styled himself tsar. Ingegärd had the following children:
Elisiv of Kiev, queen of Norway
Anastasia of Kiev, queen of Hungary
Anne of Kiev, queen of France
(Disputed) Agatha, wife of Edward the Exile
Vladimir of Novgorod
Iziaslav
Sviatoslav
Vsevolod
Igor of Volynia
Vyacheslav of Smolensk.

On the attached photo you can see 11th-century fresco of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev representing the daughters of Ingegärd Olofsdotter of Sweden and Yaroslav I, with Anna probably being the youngest (1), Yaroslav I the Wise’s forensic facial reconstruction (2) and his sarcophagus in St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev (3).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingegerd_Olofsdotter_of_Sweden

Outgoing President Viktor Yushchenko has signed into law a change in Ukraine's electoral legislation three days before the vote on his successor

2010-02-04T19:30:00.003+02:00

The amendment allows vote-counting at polling stations across Ukraine to go ahead whether or not representatives of both candidates are present. PM Yulia Tymoshenko said the change would help supporters of her opponent, Viktor Yanukovych, to commit fraud. Mr Yanukovych said his rival's complaints were a sign of weakness. Sunday's vote is a run-off, between the winner and runner-up of the first round on 17 January. President Yushchenko was ejected in the first round.
Mrs Tymoshenko has called on her supporters to take to the streets if she is defeated in Sunday's poll, saying the protests could be larger than those of 2004's Orange Revolution, which swept Mr Yushchenko to power. "If we are unable to guarantee the honest expression of the people's will and honest results, we will mobilise the people," said Mrs Tymoshenko in Kiev on Thursday. "I ask you not to allow Yanukovych to rape our democracy, our election and our country!"
But former Prime Minister Mr Yanukovych, who finished 10% ahead of his rival in a first round of voting last month, said her threat was merely an act of desperation. "This is a sign of her weakness and an indication that she is losing," he said during a penultimate day's campaigning in central Ukraine. "If people go (to the protests), it will just be a handful, lovers of the same kind of meals that Tymoshenko loves to cook - filth, lies and slander."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8499026.stm

EU castigated over Ukraine visa issue

2010-02-04T12:00:00.002+02:00

Ukraine's deputy foreign minister has launched a scathing attack on EU member states for refusing to discuss the thorny issue of visa liberalisation.

At present, Europeans wishing to visit Ukraine do not need a visa and Kiev eventually wants reciprocal visa-free facilities for its citizens travelling to the EU.Speaking at a breakfast briefing in Brussels on Thursday, Kostiantyn Yelisyeiev stressed, "We are not asking for the immediate introduction of a visa-free regime because we realise we have to take certain measures."But what we are saying is that the EU should be doing much more to help facilitate this."He singled out four member states – Germany, Belgium, Austria and the Netherlands – for particular criticism, saying they were obstructing the start of "serious" negotiations on the issue.Yelisyeiev, who is in Brussels for meetings with commission officials, said it was "unfair, selfish and unjust" that the "free movement" of Ukrainian citizens was being restricted.In particular, he said it was "humiliating" that some EU embassies seek personal health details, such as whether a visa applicant has HIV."This needs to be corrected as soon as possible," he added.He said that pending the introduction of a full visa-free regime, arrangements should be put in place to ease travel restrictions for certain groups.These include people wishing to visit Europe for tourism purposes, members of religious minorities and NGOs."We have been trying to talk to the commission about this for 18 months but the EU seems to want to avoid the matter," he said. He said it was wrong for the EU to cite the supposed threat of illegal migration as a reason for keeping existing visa restrictions in place.The issue, he said, would be one of those under discussion at the EU-Ukraine summit in Kiev on 4 December. Other issues will include climate change, the eastern partnership and the agreement of association between Ukraine and the EU.On this, he said there had been "significant progress."Speaking at the same briefing, Ukraine's EU ambassador Andri Veselovsky said he was optimistic his country would "be ready" for consideration for EU membership by next spring."It will then be time to start talking seriously about this issue," he said.

http://www.theparliament.com/

Heavy snowfall hit Poltava

2010-02-03T13:54:00.002+02:00

Heavy snowfalls caused serious traffic problems in many Ukrainian cities and villages including Poltava. Our lovely land flowing with milk and honey is in a lack of snow-removal vehicles. That is why we can count only on primitive tractors and of course on our brave and courageous snowfighters i.e. street cleaners!

Quiz of the day!

Can you tell pictures taken in Ukraine from those taken abroad?

If you’re in trouble, just turn your monitor over and read an answer!

Government of Canada Announces Chief of Election Observer Mission to Ukraine

2010-02-02T11:25:00.002+02:00

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(MARKETWIRE - Feb. 1, 2010) – It was announced today that Senator Raynell Andreychuk will be heading the independent Canadian election observer mission for the second round of Ukraine's presidential election. Ukrainians went to the polls on January 17th to elect a new president, triggering a final run-off vote on February 7th between the leading two contenders. The Government of Canada sponsored 66 election observers to travel to Ukraine for the first round of voting as part of a multilateral mission led by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Canada's contribution to the OSCE mission for the first and second rounds of voting also includes four Canadian embassy staff in Kyiv - resulting in a Canadian commitment of 70 observers that will participate in both rounds. Canada is sending an additional 200 observers as an independent Canadian observer mission for the second round of voting. The second mission is organized by CANADEM with funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Observers will monitor the electoral process to ensure compliance with OSCE commitments, international standards for democratic elections and national legislation, further to an official invitation from the Ukraine Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Canada has a special historical relationship with Ukraine. More than 1.2 million Canadians trace their ancestry to Ukraine, and Canada was the first Western country to recognize Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

www.marketwire.com

Victor Chernomyrdin arrived in Kyiv because of election

2010-02-01T13:05:00.001+02:00

Feb 1, 2010 (RIA Novosti news agency) Former Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Ukraine, special representative of President of Russia on economic cooperation with CIS countries Victor Chernomyrdin arrived in Ukraine. In the interview to RIA Novosti V. Chernomyrdin said that his visit is not connected with arrival of new Ambassador of Russia Mikhail Zurabov in Ukraine on January 25. “My visit was planned earlier, I wanted to visit the Ukrainian capital in a break between the first and second rounds of the presidential election. Arrival of M. Zurabov did not influence my plans”, said the interlocutor of the agency. V. Chernomyrdin also said that he would like to meet with Yulia Tymoshenko and Victor Yanukovych.
http://www.unian.net/eng/news/news-359595.html

The Golden Gate of Kyiv

2010-02-01T12:24:00.002+02:00

The Golden Gate of Kyiv is a historic gateway in the ancient city walls of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. This gateway was one of three constructed by Yaroslav the Wise, Prince of Kyiv, in 1037 and it’s initial name was Southern Gate. Soon the golden-dome Blahovist church which was established in the close proximity to the gate was built and consecrated. Since that time the gate was known as the Golden Gate of Kyiv. It was reputedly modelled on the Golden Gate of Constantinople, from which it took its name. In 1240 it was partially destroyed by Batu Khan's Golden Horde. It remained as a gate to the city (often used for ceremonies) through the eighteenth century, although it gradually fell into ruins. In 1982, the gate was completely reconstructed for the 1500th anniversary of Kyiv, although there is no solid evidence as to what the original gates looked like. Some art historians called for this reconstruction to be demolished and for the ruins of the original gate to be exposed to public view. In 1997, the monument to Yaroslav the Wise was unveiled near the west end face of the Golden Gate. It is an enlarged bronze copy of an experimental figuring by famous Ukrainian sculptor Ivan Kavaleridze.

Learn more about Golden Gate at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate,_Kiev

See other photos of Ukrainian capital Kyiv at
http://goeasteurope.about.com/od/othercountries/ss/photoskievsights_3.htm

Victor Yanukovych not to take part in television debates with Yulia Tymoshenko

2010-01-31T01:12:00.003+02:00

Kyiv (UNIAN news agency) Jan 29, 2010 Lawmaker from the Party of Regions Ganna German says that candidate for the post of President of Ukraine Victor Yanukovych did not change his decision and he will not take part in the television debates with Yulia Tymoshenko. According to an UNIAN correspondent, she said this at the news conference today. At the same time G. German underlined that this is own decision of V. Yanukovych. According to her words, “when I hear that I can influence this, it makes me smile”. G. German said that everybody, who knows V. Yanukovych, understands that it is impossible to have an influence on him.
“If in any country a presidential candidate refused to take part in officially scheduled debates, it would be a scandal that would never allow this candidate to become president. That is why, as a law-abiding person, I will come to debates envisaged by the law and scheduled by the national state television,” Tymoshenko stressed.
“I have a strong conviction that the debates between the two candidates will become the final argument for those Ukrainians who haven’t made their choice yet. I invite Yanukovych to a debate, if he has anything to tell these people,” she added.
Many ordinary Ukrainians hold that Victor Yanukovich simply dreads to show his low intellect to the general public. His inability to hold public debate is well known. He also has a serious problem with speaking Ukrainian language he is still not familiar with.

It seems that we unfortunately will never see this undoubtedly admirable show....

http://unian.net/eng/

New Russian stealth fighter makes first flight

2010-01-29T23:40:00.004+02:00

Jan 29, 2010 MOSCOW (Reuters news agency) - Russia test-flew a long-awaited new fighter aircraft on Friday, determined to challenge the United States for technical superiority in the skies and impress weapons buyers.
The "fifth-generation" stealth fighter -- Russia's first all-new warplane since the collapse of the Soviet Union plunged the defense industry into poverty and disarray -- flew for 47 minutes, planemaker Sukhoi said.
"It's a remarkable event," Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told his cabinet, but he suggested the plane still needed work.
"There is very much to be done, in part as regards the engine," Putin said. "But the fact that the plane is already in the air is a big step forward."
Russia's main television networks led news programs with reports of the flight and showed footage of the needle-nosed, camouflage-painted plane taking off from a snow-lined airstrip at a Sukhoi factory in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, in Russia's Far East.
"The plane performed very well. All our expectations for this first flight were met," Sukhoi spokeswoman Olga Kayukova said on Rossiya 24 television. "The premiere was a success."
Foreign journalists were not invited.
Fifth-generation aircraft are invisible to radar, have advanced flight and weapons control systems and can cruise at supersonic speeds. The new plane is Moscow's answer to the U.S.-built F-22 Raptor stealth fighter -- the world's only fifth-generation fighter yet in service -- which first flew in 1997.
Putin said the plane would first be delivered to the Defense Ministry in 2013 and serial production would start in 2015. Analysts have said it would probably be five to seven years before Russia's military gets to fly the new fighter.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/01/29/world/international-us-russia-fighter.html

Video is available at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22fN4fVoFdY

Eyewitnesses of Viking Age in Poltava

2010-01-29T17:45:00.002+02:00

Polovetsky stone women (babas) are found on a huge territory from Southwest Asia to Southeast Europe. They are regarded as monuments of the sacral art of tribes of Polovtsy (Kipchaks or Cumans) of 9-13 centuries. Such babas were mostly left on mounds, where they buried. Scientists are not sure whether the sculptures are portraits of the dead, or they are idols of paganish gods (or rather goddesses, as most figures found in Ukraine are female). During the 9th century Vikings penetrated deep into Russia. Their development of trade, particularly down the Dnieper River (a route which becomes known as Austrvegr, or the “Great Waterway”), laid the foundation of the Russian nation. So, probably these babas have been seen by your valiant forefathers going downstream Dnieper River. A few babas shown in the picture are preserving in the back yard of Poltava Regional Museum.

Learn more about Cumans at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumans

New big TV in Poltava.

2010-01-29T16:25:00.003+02:00

Not long ago poltavities got a new big TV set in Poltava. It is located close to the City Council. During weekends it shows cartoons for kids, movies and news for adults, but now when we are getting close and close to the second round of Ukrainian Presidential race it operates as a BIG supporter of Yulia Timoshenko. That is why this place is not so crouded now as usially.