Members of Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) in Toledo: Have faith in Ukraine

Members of Ukrainian Rada in Toledo. Oksana Shabas, PC Ukraine.  Elizabeth
Balint and Bill Hicks, (far right).

"Ukraine only achieved independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, so we are a relatively new independent country, and like the early days of the United States, we need time to work out our  future. We are on the right track, and we are making progress, but we have lots of challenges and it will take time." 

So began Ostap Yednak, a member of the Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada) and Secretary of  its Committee on Environmental Policy and Natural Resources, in giving an interested group of Toledoans some perspective on the history and present status of Ukraine.

His message: Have faith in Ukraine.  He spoke as a current elected legislator and also as someone who had participated in the Orange Revolution, along with his dad he lovingly recalled, and believed in its promise of a free and prosperous Ukraine.

Yednak was joined by two other members of the Ukrainian RADA who are in the U.S. to meet with our Representatives and Senators in Washington, as well as with Ohio local and state elected officials.  Rep. Marcy Kaptur and other Ohio representatives are helping with these meetings.  Five members were originally scheduled to come but the Russian attack on the Ukraine's navy in the Sea of Azov and the declaration of Martial Law prevented them from travelling.

The three Rada members are:
* Yuri Ihorovych Solovei, Petr Poroshenko Bloc, from Ivano-Frankivs'k, Ukraine, the Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Economic Policy.  He is actively working on enhancing the governing capacity of local governments and rural areas through decentralization reform, and also in the areas of pension and judicial reform.  He is interested in ways of increasing self-government in rural areas, as well as in anti-corruption efforts.  He is the author and co-author of more than 30 bills aimed at the development and implementation of local self-government bodies.

* Ostap Volodymyrovych Yednak, Power of the People party, from Brody, Ukraine, Secretary of the Committee on Environmental Policy and Natural Resources.  His areas of interest are public administration reform, anti-corruption activities, security and defense, energy, and the peaceful return of the Russian-occupied territories in Donbas and Crimea.

* Oleksandr Valeriiovych Opanasenko, the Samopomich party, from Hlevakha, Ukraine,  Deputy Head of the Committee on Freedom of Speech and Informational Policy. Before being elected to the Rada, he worked as a financial director for several large Ukrainian companies.  He has created, advocated and implemented legislation in the fields of open data, public information, and TV and radio regulation.  His interests include protecting journalistic activity, regulation of intellectual property, and developing an efficient system of tax administration.

The delegation is assisted by facilitator Oksana Shabas, Regional Manager for U.S. Peace Corps in Ukraine. It's lovely to have her in Ohio. Also in the delegation is Sergei Vladov, the interpreter, who did a fantastic job, although the Rada members were impressively fluent enough in English to share and converse.

The Ukrainian legislators are here as part of an Open World Leadership Center international exchange program, organized by Elizabeth Balint, head of the Great Lakes Community Action Partnership (formerly Great Lakes Consortium for International Training and Development) and the talented teacher Bill Hilt of the World Affairs Council of Northwest Ohio.

Peter Ujvagi, Toledo City Council member, was on hand to join Elizabeth and Bill in giving our visitors a warm Toledo welcome.  It was refreshing to hear Ujvagi talk about Toledo as a "City of Immigrants," like all of America. "We all came from somewhere else," he said. Ujvagi talked about escaping Communist-controlled Budapest in 1966 to come to the US in search of freedom and opportunity. He also stressed how important it is for Americans to learn about Ukraine, it's history, current situation, and its plans for the  future.

Members of an appreciative audience agreed. We were fortunate to be able to hear these Ukrainian leaders share news, information, and insight into what's happening in their country today. We got real live updates. We needed it, because it seems that news of Ukraine is under the media radar. I often wonder why the media doesn't cover what's happening there, and why our present administration doesn't seem to care (another story for another time). It seems unfathomable that the U.S. has hardly reacted to Russia's recent bold aggression in the Sea of Azov.  It's such a serious act of war. News reports indicate that the president has not yet answered calls from Ukraine's president Poroshenko.* Perhaps that's changed.

It is, afterall, Russia's illegal invasion and occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine that led to major economic sanctions against Russia. These are, indeed, the very sanctions that Putin desperately wanted lifted, sanctions that led him and his Russian operatives and oligarchs to intervene in the 2016 elections, sanctions that are center stage in the Mueller investigation of collusion and obstruction of justice.  Americans need to know more about Ukraine's history, the role Paul Manafort played on behalf of Russia in Ukraine and in the Trump campaign, and the nature and extent of Russia's war against a sovereign nation.

This image is 2 years old, but the situation has only
 gotten worse because Putin refuses to withdraw  his
troops, weapons, operatives, & cyber warfare.

Yurii Solovei noted that because of Russia's aggression--a relentless hybrid war so costly in economic and human terms-- Ukraine has been forced to expand its military. "Over 10,000 Ukrainans have been killed, over a million people displaced," and there is no end in sight.  Ukraine was no match for the military might of Russia in 2014, when Crimea was invaded.  As a result, Ukraine has increased its military strength probably a hundred fold. Ukraine "now has the largest army in Europe," Solovei informed us, a fact that surprised this audience. The U.S. has helped make this possible, giving Ukraine sophisticated anti-tank missiles called Javelins and other defensive weapons systems.**

Solovei reminded us that in 1994 Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for promises that its sovereignty would be protected (the Budapest Memorandum).***   But that is not what has happened, a painful but important lesson. The question arises: Would Russia have invaded Crimea if Ukraine still had its nuclear arsenal?

"We have learned that we alone are responsible for our future.....We alone have to make the changes our country needs to survive," Solovei emphasized. He saw hope in a rising generation of people "born in an independent Ukraine."  He also thinks that it is in the West's best interest to have a strong Ukraine, as well as strong information sharing policies that cut through propaganda and present the truth. Pravda, truth, must prevail.

Oleksandr Opanasenko, of the Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information Policy, agreed with Solovei on the need for strong information policies. He talked about insuring an independent media that educates and informs public opinion. "We have to be committed to creating and implementing legislation to promote open data, public education, and media literacy," he said.  Ukraine is making progress on these issues even in these most difficult of times.

One of the most important things I learned as a PCV in eastern Ukraine is that the people of this nation are strong, they are survivors, resiliant and resourceful. Their NGOs and civil society organizations are working for change from the ground up.  Ostap Yednak noted that much of the reform in Ukraine "is being driven" by these grassroots efforts. The people themselves are preserving and honoring their own traditions and culture, their music, art, and poetry.  They are keeping a Ukrainian spirit alive, and they are more unified than ever in their patriotism for Ukraine.  They might not always sound optimistic about cutting through the corruption and the economic gaps that make life hard for them, but they know how to survive, they help each other, they make due. And many of them are working every day to bring positive change that helps the people. It's a long and winding road, it takes time, as we know from the history of change in our own country, as Ostap Yednak reminded us.

The saying about "turning lemons into lemonade" applies many times over to the people of Ukraine.  The visit from the members of the Ukrainian Rada affirms the strength of the Ukrainian people.  That is the greatest hope of all for the Ukrainian nation.  We hope that a hundred years from now, Ukraine will be a beacon of hope to the world. "Give us time.  Have faith in Ukraine."

* https://www.yahoo.com/news/putin-briefs-trump-over-ukraine-eu-leaders-pressure-012804684.html?soc_src=hl-viewer&soc_trk=fb&fbclid=IwAR2V9jlpv-MXxPVPYTIhPHms_jUBANOsRI9OntcN_4znNa3bXXNr0JGhz8M
"Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko kept up the pressure from Kiev, saying Putin had refused to take his calls since the crisis started." Poroshenko told France 24 in an interview that Ukraine would try to resolve the standoff diplomatically but insisted Russian forces withdraw from Crimea, and return its ships and sailors "captured illegally in the neutral waters of the Black Sea.""

** https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/world/europe/ukraine-mueller-manafort-missiles.html.  a quid pro quo necessitated by war.

***  https://www.huffingtonpost.com/blake-fleetwood/too-bad-ukraine-didnt-kee_b_5235374.html
"In 1994, through an accident of fate, the newly independent country of Ukraine found itself in possession of the world’s third largest nuclear arsenal./ At first, Ukraine planned to keep its nuclear weapons. But, at the insistence of the two strongest powers in the world — Russia and the United States — Ukraine agreed to give up their nukes in exchange for perpetual guarantees of sovereignty and territorial integrity. This supposedly ironclad treaty, signed 20 years ago, was the Budapest Memorandum. /  The world was a different place then. The Soviet Union was breaking up, and many of the former Russian satellite states in Eastern Europe were becoming independent countries.

Why not give up their nukes? Russia was their protector and would always be there, and the U.S. lived up to its treaties. Ukraine didn’t need nuclear weapons. The Treaty was signed by Bill Clinton, Boris Yeltsin, John Major (of England) and Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma./All of these leaders agreed to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, meaning any Russian support for Crimean independence would be in violation of Russia’s international obligations." That's why we ask: Would Russia have invaded Crimea if Ukraine still had nuclear weapons?  And doesn't the US and the West have an obligation to defend Ukraine against outside aggression?