Year: 2018

Victor Hvozd

Geopolitical Consequences and Prospects

Like the similar resolution passed by the US Senate on October 3, 2018, the document also condemns systematic violations of human rights, including the freedom of self-determination and freedom of speech, committed by the Soviet government against the Ukrainian people. Thus, today both Houses of the US Congress have adopted a decision in which the Holodomor was recognized as a genocide against the Ukrainian people.

The Council (Sobor) of Unification elected the Metropolitan of Pereyaslavl and Bila Tserkva Epiphanius (Dumenko) to led the single local Ukrainian Orthodox Church. 192 delegates from the Church hierarchs, priests and parishioners representing three Orthodox churches existing in Ukraine — the UOC-KP, the UAOC and the UOC-MP took part in the Sobor. According to the Kyiv Patriarchate, the first two churches approved participation in the Sobor at the level of their Archierei Councils, while the UOC-MP was represented by individual representatives of the episcopate, clergy and parishioners. Now a long process of unification at the local level will begin in Ukraine.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has passed the Law of Ukraine “On Termination of the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation” from April 1, 2019. 277 MPs voted for the relevant draft law № 0206. The draft law, proposed by President Poroshenko, provides for termination of the Treaty after the 10-year term from the day of its last extension has expired.

The single Ukrainian church in unity with the world is a powerful symbol of Ukraine’s civilizational choice