#48_1-8

SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 ISSUE No. 48 (1180) 

Tel.: +38(044) 303-96-19, 

fax: +38(044) 303-94-20 

е-mail: time@day.kiev.ua; 

http://www.day.kiev.ua 

Dear readers, our next issue will be published on October 4, 2018 

Photo by Ruslan KANIUKA, The Day 

Photo by Mykola TYMCHENKO, The Day 

A nation-state-building impulse 

Den launches a book commemorating 

Pavlo Skoropadsky’s Hetmanate 

By Dmytro PLAKHTA, The Day 

LVIV – The 25th Publishers’ 

Forum culminated in the 

launch of Den’s new book entitled 

Ave: The Centennial of 

Pavlo Skoropadsky’s Hetma - 

nate in the Mirror Hall of the 

Potocki Palace. 

The ceremony was presided 

over by the Project Coordinator 

and Editor-in-Chief, Larysa 

Ivshyna. Also present were Ihor 

Siundiukov, the compiler, and 

the authors of the features included 

in the book: Yurii Tere - 

shchenko, Tetiana Ostashko, 

Petro Kraliuk, Anna Danyl - 

chuk, and Ihor Smeshko. 

There was a special Ave 

Scent smell in the air during the 

launch of the book, courtesy of 

Partisan Perfumes CEO Oleksandr 

Perevertailo (his products 

were launched that same day at 

UAKrasa Boutique). 

● MAIN POINTS AND 

PROGRESS 

What do we know about 

Hetman Skoropadsky and his 

epoch? Why is this knowledge 

important for us after a hundred 

years, considering that 

much has been done to falsify 

this history under the Soviets? 

What political tradition are we 

to adopt? These and other questions 

were raised on a panel traditionally 

coordinated by 

Dr. Iryna Kliuchkovska, Director, 

International Institute of 

Education, Culture and Contacts 

with Diaspora, Lviv. 

Ms. Kliuchkovska told The 

Day: “I feel especially responsible 

when presenting your Library 

Series books. To quote 

Ms. Ivshyna, this project has 

worked out the concept of 

Ukraine’s humanitarian policy. 

This is true and your new book, 

commemorating centennial of 

Pavlo Skoropadsky’s Hetmanate, 

is a first rate intellectual 

product. The years named 

after prominent Ukrainians 

aren’t a formality but a signal 

for our society. Remember the 

years named after Prince 

Yaroslav the Wise, Prince 

Volodymyr Monomakh, and 

Konstanty Ostrogski? This 

prompted our society to ponder 

some important points, something 

without which our 

progress wouldn’t be possible. 

This was like a traffic light 

pointing the direction, but always 

with a green light, showing 

us the long-awaited way to our 

national identity. Much can be 

said on the subject, but I guess 

the reader will make the necessary 

conclusions – whether to 

drive on or wait for the red light 

that leads nowhere. 

“The Year of Hetman Pavlo 

Skoropadsky is an opportunity 

to study a period in our history 

which is marked by complex 

problems while trying to build a 

Ukrainian nation-state. Those 

problems weren’t solved and the 

state was never built a hundred 

years back. This is another lesson 

we should heed; we have to 

figure out what was done right 

and wrong at that period, and 

how to use this experience now. 

Personally, I’ve figured out 

three lessons worth listening to. 

“Lesson One: People who 

come to power must learn to 

place the national interests 

first and their 

own interests second. 

Continued 

on page 8 

LEARNING 

TO THINK BUSINESS 

Continued on page 3 

UF Incubator helps teenagers’ innovative ideas come true 

Photo by Artem SLIPACHUK, The Day 

Where are 

the promised 

surprises? 

Expert: “President 

Poroshenko’s address 

to parliament in fact 

voiced his main election 

messages” 

Continued on page 2

2 

No.48 SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 

DAY AFTER DAY 

WWW.DAY.KIEV.UA 

By Ivan KAPSAMUN, The Day 

Weheard no “new and surprising 

things” presidential faction 

representatives had announced 

in Petro Poroshenko’s address to 

the Verkhovna Rada. As always, 

we can appreciate the good work of 

speechwriters, but, judging by the speech, 

there will hardly be any radical changes in the 

approaches to the head of state’s policies. The 

only difference is that the address was shorter 

and generally comprised the main directions of 

Poroshenko’s upcoming election campaign. 

Incidentally, he did not announce, contrary to 

some expectations, the intention to run for the 

presidency again. In all probability, he will 

choose a different, more favorable, moment to 

do so. 

Here are some of the president’s chief messages: 

“I request you to support amendments to 

the Fundamental Law on irreversibility of the 

course towards Ukraine’s membership in the 

EU and NATO. 

“It is proposed that the clause that allows 

the Black Sea to base in Ukraine be deleted from 

the Constitution. 

“Ukraine has issued 10 million biometric 

passports. 

“I have brought into force the National Security 

and Defense Council’s decision not to extend 

the treaty on the so-called friendship 

with Russia. 

“Ukraine has closed its representation at 

the constituent bodies of the so-called Commonwealth. 

“The Ecumenical Patriarch’s envoys have 

arrived in Kyiv to prepare a decision to grant 

autocephaly to the Ukrainian Local Orthodox 

Church. 

“The National Television and Radio Council 

has published a report on Ukrainian-language 

quotas for radio stations. 

“I hope you will approve innovations to military 

regulations, which introduce the longawaited 

salute ‘Glory to Ukraine!’ – ‘Glory to 

Heroes!’ by October 14, Defender of Ukraine 

Day. 

“Each of these events confirms our break 

with the colonial past. Each of them is a step towards 

our full freedom from the empire.” 

Then the president in fact further explained 

and supplemented the abovementioned 

directions, repeating the slogans written on 

By Alla DUBROVYK-ROKHOVA, The Day 

The Ministry of Economic Development and 

Trade of Ukraine has presented, with 

support from the European Bank for 

Reconstruction and Development, Ukraine’s 

first export brand which will help 

market Ukrainian products worldwide. 

“Export brands strongly influence the country’s 

positive image. In other words, the stronger 

the brand of Ukraine is, the more successful 

Ukrainian export will be. It is a credit of trust in 

a commodity. At the same time, we are speaking 

of Ukraine as a reliable partner of other countries. 

The mission of an export brand is to project a 

strong image of Ukraine as a reliable partner in 

the world. It is a platform for building and 

strengthening the positions of Ukrainian exporters 

on the global market,” Stepan Kubiv, First 

Vice-Prime Minister and Minister for Economic 

Development and Trade of Ukraine, said. 

Project initiators promise that from now on 

every Ukrainian exporter can use the reputation 

of all the other Ukrainian exporters irrespective 

of the economic sector. 

In Kubiv’s words, the export brand of Ukraine 

will establish a stable visual link between various 

segments of the economy by applying the same 

style to the goods and services of different ranges 

and types. 

“For example, the success of Ukrainian IT will 

help other Ukrainian exporters, export commodities 

and services enter international markets 

and form class, quality, and innovativeness,” he 

pointed out. 

billboards throughout the country: “Army, 

language, and faith are not a slogan. It is a formula 

of contemporary Ukrainian identity. The 

army defends our land. The language defends 

our heart. The church defends our soul.” 

“Consider that you heard all the 70 minutes 

of Poroshenko’s speech – his address to 

himself, which he has failed to fulfill in the 

past four years,” MP Aliona Shkrum writes on 

her FB page. “It’s interesting to watch the atmosphere 

in the parliament hall. MPs do not 

listen much and chat with one another. The 

present government members think about 

something personal. The premier cannot hide 

outright boredom and sometimes laughter. I 

can understand him. For some reason, it is 

mostly women from the Petro Poroshenko 

Bloc who listen attentively. They feel it awkward 

to use cell phones and take a nap, as men 

do. Poroshenko repeats 20 times his mantra 

about the army, the faith, and the language. 

He reads off the teleprompter: ‘We failed, unfortunately, 

to end the war… We failed to… – 

‘Sell Roshen,’ some MPs behind me prompt. 

People smile. ‘Don’t smuggle capital out! Invest 

in the country!’ This causes a burst of 

laughter.” 

The Ministry of Economic 

Development and Trade 

presents Ukraine’s first 

export brand 


Where are the promised surprises? 

Trade with Ukraine 

Expert: “President 

Poroshenko’s address 

to parliament in fact voiced 

his main election messages” 

Poroshenko did not forget about the future 

elections either. “As a president, I guarantee 

the free, fair, and democratic elections 

of the head of state, a new parliament, and local 

government bodies,” he said. Meanwhile, 

the latest survey data show that Poroshenko’s 

rating is 9.9 percent among those who have 

made their choice and will vote and 7.1 percent 

among all of the polled people (third 

place). As before, Yulia Tymoshenko ranks 

first with 18 (13) percent, followed by Anatolii 

Hrytsenko with 10.4 (7.5) percent. 

Experts estimate that the main rivalry will 

be between Tymoshenko and Poroshenko, but 

it is not ruled out that other candidates may 

fray the leaders’ nerves. These are the abovementioned 

Hrytsenko, Yurii Boiko, and even 

Oleh Liashko, to say nothing about showman 

Kubiv also said the export brand would be first 

presented at the national stand of Ukraine at a 

large-scale China International Import Expo in 

Shanghai on November 5-10. 

The first vice-premier emphasized that the 

brand’s creation “did not cost the Ukrainian 

budget a single kopeck.” 

According to Stefan Schleuning, Team Leader 

on Financial Cooperation, Support Group for 

Ukraine at the European Commission, the total cost 

of financing the brand was about 50,000 euros. 

“The European Union allocated this money as 

part of the EU4Business initiative,” he said. 


Volodymyr Zelenskyi and singer Sviatoslav 

Vakarchuk if they choose to run in the race. 

Coming back to the president’s speech, we 

can note another particularity which still remains 

crucial. “How many nice words which run counter 

to reality and disguise the desire to defeat opponents 

and remain in power at any price!” MP 

Taras Batenko wrote in a social media. 

How do experts appraise the president’s Address 

to the Verkhovna Rada “On the Internal 

and External Situation in Ukraine in 2018?” 

● “TO SOME EXTENT, THE SUBJECT OF 

REFORMS AND THE ECONOMY HAS 

RECEDED TO THE BACKGROUND” 

Petro OLESHCHUK, political scientist: 

“This is a pre-election statement, rather 

than a presidential address. He in fact voiced 

his main election messages. We can see that 

emphasis will be put on patriotic rhetoric, 

face-off with Russia, and the religious question. 

I think all of these things will be reflected 

in the president’s election program 

and further statements. To some extent, the 

subject of reforms and the economy has receded 

to the background, but we heard some 

symbolic promises the fulfillment of which 

the president will not have to account for. For 

example, he called Russia Muscovy – this political 

position is of great symbolic importance 

and shows that the president is resisting 

the aggressor. He did not say whether he 

would be running for the presidency, maybe, 

because his team is so far afraid to make a 

false start. For if he announces his participation 

in the elections, his next steps will proceed 

from this only. But now he can maneuver 

and does not afford grounds to speak that 

he does not fulfill his presidential duties. 

“The step towards constitutional amendments, 

as far as European and Euro-Atlantic 

integration is concerned, is also a political positioning. 

But it should not be forgotten that 

these amendments are not a mandatory condition 

for joining NATO. Integration into this 

organization is impossible without the consent 

of the Alliance itself and the political will 

on the part of the Ukrainian leadership. Of 

course, the populace should take a positive attitude 

to this and certain standards are to be 

met. However, making certain changes to the 

Constitution will not guarantee a political will 

or inevitable admission because power constantly 

changes in Ukraine, as do the priorities. 

Accordingly, any decision can be revised. 

We can remember the way constitutional reform 

was canceled under Yanukovych. Figu- 

Ukrainian Cabinet 

adopts sanctions 

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine 

has adopted proposals concerning 

“special personal economic and other 

restrictive measures (sanctions)” 

against 35 Russian publishing 

companies in Ukraine that keep producing 

“anti-Ukrainian materials.” According to the 

Press Service of the State Television and 

Radio Committee, the draft resolution reads 

that such sanctions are to be submitted to the 

National Security and Defense Council 

(RNBO). Such sanctions will be imposed on 

Russian-language publishing companies found 

to have been producing anti-Ukrainian 

materials on a regular basis. 

Media reports say the State Television 

and Radio Committee has been closely watching 

for such anti-Ukrainian productions 

for the past three years and there is a list of 

such publishers, that their publications are 

aimed at destroying Ukrainian national independence, 

inciting interreligious and interethnic 

violence, as well as acts of terrorism 

– all this contrary to universally recognized 

human rights and freedoms. A report 

dated August 15, 2018, lists 167 publications 

put out by 35 Russian publishing companies. 

This Cabinet decision is emphatically aimed 

at ensuring Ukraine’s national interests, defense, 

sovereignty, territorial integrity, 

and an independent economy.


DAY AFTER DAY No.48 SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 3 

ratively speaking, if Boiko becomes president 

tomorrow, nothing will prevent them 

from revising constitutional changes. I 

think NATO is also very well aware of this. 

Therefore, by all accounts, this decision 

carries nothing but the president’s declarations.” 

● “I APPRAISE THIS MESSAGE 

POSITIVELY” 

Vitalii BALA, director, Situations Modeling 

Agency: 

“The speech was rather short – up to an 

hour, which is good for perception. It is also 

positive that the president spoke about 

his shortcomings because others usually 

emphasize their achievements. By all accounts, 

the clear-cut statements we can see 

on billboards – ‘Army, Language, Faith’ – 

also occurred in the speech, which shows 

accents in the domestic policy. On the 

whole, I appraise this message positively. I 

feared that the speech would be the beginning 

of the president’s election campaign, 

but this did not happen. And this is good.” 

● “ON THE WHOLE, I AM 

DISAPPOINTED… HE COULD 

HAVE DONE MORE IF HE WERE A 

PRESIDENT, NOT A BUSINESSMAN 

IN THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT” 

Serhii HARMASH, editor-in-chief, 

online publication OstroV (facebook.com): 

“I heard the president’s address to parliament. 

Where are the promised surprises? 

It’s one of the many pre-election 

speeches of a presidential candidate in 

front of the TV and radio audience with 

subtle jibes against other presidential candidates. 

Nothing new – just a list of his 

own achievements and general words about 

long-term strategic goals! Everything has 

been said hundreds of times. Even the figures 

of speech are the same. There are neither 

concrete things about the Donbas (except 

for the claim that there is no alternative, 

as before, to Minsk) nor any prospects 

for the liberation of Crimea. But there is a 

warning that UN peacekeepers should be 

stationed throughout Ukraine. 

“There are also some alarming tendencies. 

He speaks of democracy, but, judging 

by the number of times he mentioned the 

Tomos, the impression is that those who do 

not go to church (any church) will soon be 

pronounced agents of Moscow. The same 

applies to those who speak Russian. It’s a 

clear misconception of patriotism and nationalism. 

I favor the official status of the 

Ukrainian language and autocephaly of the 

Ukrainian church, for Ukraine will not exist 

without this. But if the state puts the 

factors that differentiate us from other 

countries and peoples above the economic 

wellbeing of people and common human 

values, this state is doomed to self-isolation 

and self-destruction. The point is that 

this works in wartime, but you can’t possibly 

fight eternally. People get tired of a 

war that has no prospects of victory. But 

we are talking about war but not even striving 

for victory – neither in the Donbas nor 

in the economic battles with Russia. This is 

why the military do not see the reason why 

they are stationed there, while trade 

turnover with the aggressor is growing. 

“The Opposition Bloc and Poroshenko 

are telling us about peace without victory 

and war without victory, respectively. Not 

exactly rosy prospects… This is why people 

are leaving this country. ‘Do the oxen bellow, 

when their mangers are full?’ Those 

old women in Luhansk and Crimea wouldn’t 

be running about with Russian flags in 

hand, if pensions in Ukraine were higher 

than in Russia. But we, instead of ‘filling 

the mangers,’ are adorning them with patriotic 

slogans. On the whole, I am disappointed. 

Poroshenko is perhaps not the 

worst president. He must have done very 

much. But he could and was to have done 

much more if he were a president, not a 

businessman in the office of president.” 

Learning to think business 

UF Incubator helps teenagers’ innovative ideas come true 

By Mariia PROKOPENKO, 

photos by Mykola TYMCHENKO, The Day 

want a compliment or the 

truth?” asked an expert after the 

launch of another project in the 

All-Ukrainian School UF Incubator 

StartUp Week Finals. “You 

In fact, experts and potential investors were 

frank and friendly. Ten teams of senior high school 

students had spent a week working on inventions before 

submitting them to the jury – a board of experts. 

The event took place at the UNIT.City Park of Innovations 

in Kyiv. Below are brief interviews with 

some of the contestants and members of the jury. 

● INVENT AND DEFEND 

A total of 27 senior high school students 

were selected for the first government-run business 

school known as UF Incubator, based on the 

Small Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The organizing 

committee selected most interesting 

and practical innovative projects dealing with 

the economy. The contestants were divided into 

teams, each made up of the author of the project, 

a financier, and a marketologist. 

The first challenge was to quickly put together 

an effective team, considering that its members 

were total stranger. Business trainers, scholars, 

and market experts spent a week coaching the 

teenagers. Their main task was to teach them lean 

production [a systematic method for waste minimization 

– aka Muda – within a manufacturing 

system without sacrificing productivity – Ed.]. 

Vitalii LISOVYI, Project UF Incubator Coordinator: 

“The kids met within the project’s limited 

time frame. They prepared their startups, using 

their projects. Today, we have prototypes, I mean 

effective solutions. Our children don’t make scholarly 

presentations like during an inter-college intellectual 

competition. They submit their projects 

to the potential investor. Our emphasis is on teaching 

them to think business, to sell and defend their 

ideas. Among our tutors was an expert on intellectual 

property rights. Our project isn’t about 

scholarly projects. It’s about starting in business, 

being prepared at an early stage. Expert opinions 

during the finals will help some upgrade their projects 

or work out new ones. Each team has been invited 

to take part in the international forum Innovation 

Market.” 

● BLOGGERS’ HIT 

Viktor DOLGOPIATOV, Everest Group of 

Companies, was very impressed by the three high 

school students’ Project Explore Your Mind in 

the UF Incubator StartUp Finals. Its neural network 

selects music for videos and even generates 

a new track: “The whole idea is really great!” 

Nazar PONOCHEVNYI, author of the project 

(the other two team members are Mykola LY- 

SENKO and Yulia SALII, both from Konotop, a town 

in Sumy oblast): “On the first day of the competition, 

each author of the project submits it. The financiers 

and marketologists who like it raise their hands and 

tell what they could do to help the project. Then the 

author of the project selects his team.” 

His team members are into music. Nazar 

plays the piano and composes electronic music. 

Mykola plays the ordinary and button accordion, 

and is learning to play the guitar. Yulia is attending 

a music school, majoring in the guitar. 

Mykola Lysenko: “A number of project authors 

have upgraded their ideas this week. Our 

Project Explore Your Mind was first meant for 

scientists, but then it occurred to us that it could 

be used by bloggers in the first place. Just imagine 

them using and advertising it! We could become 

as popular as a first class TV show!” 

Nazar adds that the idea was conceived a 

long time ago, when he started thinking about 

the kind of music that would best reflect his sentiments 

and his attitude to what was happening 

around him. Then he shelved it – until there appeared 

music-composing programs. It was then 

he realized he had to keep working on his project, 

upgrading it, including his own audio or 

video track. 

Mykola Lysenko doesn’t hide his enthusiasm: 

“Our product has no analogs and it can be 

implemented technologically. If we don’t do this 

now, someone else will do it, in six or twelve 

months.” 

Yulia Salii, the team’s marketologist, says 

that the blogger’s profession is a product of the 

21st century and that their project will help it: “I 

once helped a blogger, editing his videos. It was 

really tough. The music would be good, but the 

lyrics would be way behind, or the other way 

around. Also, I couldn’t use my playlist. I had to 

make do with what was considered a top hit that 

best fitted the video.” 

Nazar says there are lots of similar programs 

and that all it takes is reconfiguring them a bit, 

unifying them, and producing the final neuro 

network model that will integrate all music and 

video characteristics, ending up in harmony. 

Probably the biggest project would be one with a 

database with top commercials, music, and characteristics 

analysis. Nazar wants freelancers and 

teenagers for his project. 

● IDEAS AND COMMANDS 

Anatolii KHRAMCHENKO, Shostka, Sumy 

oblast, demonstrates a WI rotor wind turbine 

model. It can be used on modern highways. The 

way it works is simple: the speeding cars create a 

wind stream, the generator rotates, and the mechanical 

energy is converted into electricity. Anatolii 

proposed a generator made of vinyl plastics, 

but after the launch and after hearing experts say 

that it would be a long time before his device paid 

off, he will most likely look for other options. 

In his own words, “alternative power engineering 

is quite popular. The wind turbines are 

expensive and what I propose is a relatively inexpensive 

analog. The government could install 

such rotor wind turbines alongside highways. 

Private home owners could have several such 

turbines on the roof and this would save them 

money in terms of electricity bills. One such turbine 

mounted by a highway could generate electricity 

enough for a home, depending on the 

traffic, of course.” 

When working on an innovative project, team 

work is about as important as the innovative idea. 

According to Viktor Dolgopiatov, “the idea may turn 

out to be not so good, but the team will remain topnotch. 

If you can keep this team working in the right 

direction, the result will be rewarding. There are also 

cases when the idea is as bad as the team working 

on it, yet the people are determined to achieve 

some results. In such cases you have to figure out 

what has brought these people together, what’s making 

them work on their startup. Take a look around. 

Same economic dislocation. Nothing has practically 

changed behind the official, outwardly attractive, 

facade over the years. What will happen in 20 years 

if we don’t start investing in our future now? Half 

the people on this planet are talking Mars, and we 

keep talking street market potatoes, that the price 

is up today, compared to yesterday. We have to start 

paying serious attention to such issues now, because 

we’ll have no time for this later.” 

● YOUNGER GENERATION, PROPERLY 

TRAINED 

Oksen LISOVYI, Director, Small Academy of 

Sciences of Ukraine, says UF Incubator is in possession 

of the former Movie Theater Yerevan on 

Chokolivskyi Blvd., that paperwork is in 

progress, aimed at revitalizing the premises, 

that repair is underway and is expected to be 

completed before September 2019. Also, there is 

hope for receiving funds from the state: “This is 

a state-budget-financed project. We’re waiting 

for the 2019 budget bill [to be passed by parliament]. 

We hope that it will be financed by the 

state. We’ve done all the legally required paperwork 

and we have our Prime Minister’s support.” 

A total of 32 teams of high school students 

are expected to be handled by UF Incubator on 

Chokolivskyi Blvd. this year. 

Oksen Lisovyi: “The younger generation, 

properly trained, is the main purpose of the Small 

Academy and UF Incubator. This project is aimed 

at producing individuals with a higher IQ. The 

current event is being held in a friendly atmosphere, 

but we’re making our priorities clear; we 

need the kind of experience our children will need 

in order to implement their ideas. Our children 

can receive this experience in high school, before 

enrolling in college/university, before receiving 

their academic degrees and embarking on their 

first startups, aged 25-27, and confronting unfriendly 

investors. In other words, our children 

stand a chance of winning success much earlier 

than their peers outside our project.”

4 


TOPIC OF THE DAY 


By Oleksii SAVYTSKYI 

Ukraine has placed second 

among the countries that 

achieved the greatest progress 

over the past four years 

in the field of information 

disclosure. Meanwhile, this country 

holds the 17th position overall out of 

the 30 countries that have joined the 

International Open Data Charter. 

Within Ukraine, Drohobych has been 

the leader in data disclosure this year. 

Recently, this 100,000-strong city won 

the national competition Open Data 

Awards 2018. 

Drohobych can offer the rest of 

the country a real master class in making 

routine and uninteresting bureaucratic 

documentation useful to the 

community as it creates new services 

and even makes money. 

Even as recently as two years ago, 

most decisions, reports, or routine statistics 

remained confined to the internal 

servers of the city council or even 

old paper journals. However, local officials 

then began to publish the entire 

information about the city’s life: from 

real estate registers to tender procedures 

and the number of patients admitted 

by the outpatient hospital. All 

these data are now made available to 

residents at the city’s website, which 

can be accessed from any Internet-capable 

gadget. 

“You can see a whole picture after 

just three or four clicks, whether it concerns 

finances, alliances, and conflicts 

involving local councilors, or decisions 

they make,” local civic activist, editorin-chief 

of the Media Drohobychchyny 

newspaper Mariia Kulchytska shared 

her impressions. 

According to her, the work of local 

journalists has become much simpler. 

After all, if earlier one had to submit 

dozens of requests to get some figure 

having to do with the city budget or tender 

procedures, now it is enough to go 

to the city’s website. Local authorities 

post all their decisions there of their 

own accord, without waiting for requests. 

And these are not just scanned 

bureaucratic documents, but also analyzed 

data. 

How open data improves Ukrainians’ lives 

A master class from Drohobych 


A good example of turning dull statistics 

into useful services was shown in 

the case of the local outpatient hospital. 

The Drohobych hospital was among the 

first in Ukraine to open its registry data 

for citizens, enabling them to schedule 

a doctor’s appointment online. In just 

20 days of this September, over 9,000 citizens 

did so through the e-registry. 

“We save both patients’ and doctors’ 

time. There are no queues at the doctor’s 

cabinet’s door anymore. Everything is 

scheduled hour by hour, everything is 

scheduled online,” acting chief doctor of 

the Drohobych City Outpatient Hospital 

Yuliia Honcharenko told us. 

Moreover, local patients have their 

own electronic medical records. People 

can access them, too, using their own 

smartphones, if need be, and doctors 

can do the same: a patient may well 

need urgent advice or be in some kind 

of emergency. 

“We had a case when a person had 

become unconscious, so the doctors 

saw in his electronic declaration that he 

had diabetes, and already knew how to 

proceed further, how to help him.” 

This kind of healthcare reform has 

also been of interest to residents of the 

district and neighboring towns. According 

to Drohobych officials, electronic 

innovations have attracted hundreds 

of so-called medical tourists to 

the city. People go to Drohobych to take 

advantage of the quick and convenient 

services offered by the city’s doctors. 

The city’s mayor is happy: this 

project has been a success not only in 

terms of reputation, but also economically. 

After all, more data makes for better 

analytics, and hence better decisions. 

The city’s money is spent wisely. 

“Now we can fund priority projects. 

For example, we did thermo-modernization 

of a kindergarten. We have 

been saving on heating bills due to it. 

Also, we have replaced the mains pipes, 

taps and have been saving on water 

bills. Such seeming trifles have a very 

big impact when it is done on a city 

scale, believe me,” asserted Taras Kuchma, 

the mayor of Drohobych. 

As a result, investors have grown 

more interested in Drohobych, and the 

city’s advertising revenues have doubled. 

While they stood at 176,000 

hryvnias in 2016, then in 2017 the figure 

was already 350,000 hryvnias. 

This was because the newly created 

service, based on open data, allowed the 

city to detect all illegal advertising 

boards, and the field work was done by 

citizens themselves. 

“You look at the address, go to the 

corresponding web service, look 

whether the board is registered, and if 

it is not, you submit a report to that effect 

and this illegal advertisement gets 

removed. Why is this important? Because 

it increases the local budget’s revenues,” 

Kulchytska said. 

Manager of the Drohobych Smart 

City program explained that the success 

came from data presentation. The website 

offers not just a set of dry figures 

filling endless spreadsheets, but readyfor-use 

analytics as well. 

“You wanted the information, and 

it is already here. We have 240 unique 

sets of data. But if we say to residents, 

‘here is an Excel spreadsheet, 

now look for yourselves,’ it will come 

to nothing. We have presented it in 

such a way that it is interesting to residents,” 

said Stanislav Haider, head of 

the department of information technology 

and analytics of the Drohobych 

City Council. “Four illegal billboards 

were found within a month after this 

project started, all thanks to our citizens. 

We have opened the data and visualized 

it for people.” 

It should be added that such a project 

of open data was cheap and paid for 

itself within its first year of operation. 

And now it brings increasing benefits 

every day. In particular, it helps the 

formation of civil society. 

“By default, data, just like the 

city’s budget, belong to its residents. 

And it is important for us that both the 

residents and the authorities understand 

it, that the residents act as citizens, 

not guests of their city,” Haider 

concluded. 

The next stage of the local Smart 

City program will involve the 

blockchain technology applied to municipal 

projects. For example, the queue 

for children’s entry to kindergarten will 

be monitored with the help of modern 

means in the educational sector. Should 

some official try to change some child’s 

place in the queue manually, the 

blockchain technology will record it. It 

is hoped that the new approach will minimize 

most corruption risks. 

By Olesia SHUTKEVYCH, The Day, 

Vinnytsia region 

Aunique Cossack-era wooden 

church has been rebuilt in 

the village of Mala Rostivka, 

Orativ raion. According to 

the extant data, the shrine 

was built back in 1776, restored in the 

1830s, and closed a century ago, 

sometime after 1917. The locals say, 

however, that the mass was still 

clandestinely celebrated in the church 

until 1943, and then the structure was 

used to house first a club, and later a 

collective farm storage facility. The 

neglect ultimately resulted in only 

wooden walls of the once majestic 

shrine still standing, which began to 

overgrow first with weeds, and then 

with trees. 

The local farmer Mykola Motuziuk 

and his oncologist son Ihor resolved 

to revive the shrine. At first, 

they were looking for and studying 

the documents about the church; they 

say that they had covered half of 

Ukraine while searching for a similar 

structure, but had not found one. 

Therefore, they resolved, with the 

support of historians, restorers, and 

the village community, to restore this 

shrine of the extraordinary architecture. 

The restoration lasted two years 

and has now entered its final stage. 

The church already hosts divine services 

on major feast days. The farmer 

refuses to reveal how much money he 

has spent on this unique building, saying 

only that money has no memory, 

while the preserved church will last 

for many years. 

“I came to Orativ raion in the 

1980s. Each time I visited Mala Rostivka, 

the destroyed church on the 

“If our ancestors built it, we have to preserve it” 

In Vinnytsia region, a local farmer has restored 

a Cossack-era church at his own expense, 

with only interior repairs still to be done 

hill unnerved me. The church was 

decaying, in fact rotting, and it 

pained me. The village mayor sent 

letters to the authorities, even went 

to the Exhibition of Achievements of 

National Economy in Kyiv requesting 

that they take away the church, 

but since the shrine was not a monument 

of architecture, nobody responded. 

Meanwhile, people (if they 

deserve to be called this name) 

ripped up the floor, since it was 

made of solid oak boards, and carried 

them to their farmsteads. Over the 

years, the shrine decayed until there 

were only ruins left... 

Photo courtesy of the author 

THE NEGLECT ULTIMATELY RESULTED IN ONLY WOODEN WALLS OF THE ONCE 

MAJESTIC SHRINE STILL STANDING, WHICH BEGAN TO OVERGROW FIRST 

WITH WEEDS, AND THEN WITH TREES. IT WAS THE LOCAL FARMER MYKOLA 

MOTUZIUK AND HIS SON IHOR WHO REVIVED THE SHRINE 

MYKOLA MOTUZIUK 

“My son and I sought data on the 

church and found that the construction 

of the Church of the Intercession 

in the village of Mala Rostivka was 

completed in 1776. It was built to a 

unique design, namely a wooden tetraconch 

with an attached bell tower. 

Such shrines were often built by the 

Cossacks, and therefore the village 

church is known as a Cossack one. 

When we took to farming, we first intended 

to demolish it and build a new 

shrine from scratch. However, we 

then realized that if our ancestors had 

built it, we had to preserve it. Having 

saved a little money, we began restoration 

work in the summer of 2016, just 

after the harvest ended. 

“There was no red tape to combat, 

because the church was not listed as a 

monument of architecture. Still, we 

could not do it without the help of experts. 

We had to know how reliable 

the beams were. An expert examination 

helped. The experts examined a 

piece of timber from the framework 

that we brought to them for testing, 

and found that timber making up the 

walls of the church was about 

300 years old. We then left some 

beams in place, but a lot of them had 

to be replaced. 

“We started by bringing there a 

few cranes, raising the building, putting 

it on logs, strengthening the 

foundation, putting oak weights in, 

laying wooden flooring so that the 

acoustics were good during divine 

services, and roofing the structure. 

All the walls were treated with antiseptic 

to keep insects out. We have restored 

the domes and erected a bell 

tower. Now the church is exactly like 

it once was. All that remains is to 

make an iconostasis and do landscaping 

work outside. We are in the final 

stage of our effort. A priest from the 

neighboring village of Chahiv celebrates 

the mass on feast days. People 

do attend, but there are not that many 

of them. The village is small, with 

150 to 200 residents only, but we see 

kids at every divine service, and we 

like it.” 

Mala Rostivka is located in the 

middle of nowhere, 20 kilometers 

from the raion center, so tourists are 

rare there. It is a pity, really, because 

apart from the Cossack church, the 

magnificent palace of General Zabotin 

is located in the village. It has been 

finely preserved to this day, even 

though it stands empty in the 

foothills.


SOCIE T Y No.48 SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 5 

By Valentyn TORBA, The Day 

The war has issued new 

challenges – for journalists too. 

And it would be wrong to think 

that only the military fight at 

the front. There are also other 

fronts which have nothing to do with 

propaganda but are directly relevant 

to seeking the truth. It is the front of 

journalism. Ostap DROZDOV, a 

Ukrainian writer, journalist, host of 

the talk shows “DROZDOV” and 

“Straight Up Front” on the Ukrainian 

ZIK TV channel, sometimes assumes 

rather a rough tone in his programs. 

He may turn out a guest and demands 

that participants speak Ukrainian 

only. But it is wrong to say that 

Drozdov is bent on behaving 

shockingly, as Russian talk-show 

hosts are. Just the contrary. 

Ukrainian television is perhaps short 

of a sincere dialog on sore points. This 

is the subject of our conversation with 

Drozdov. 

● “JOURNALISTS SHOULD 

BE MORE PARTICULAR 

ABOUT WHO THEY 

INVITE TO SPEAK” 

Mr. Drozdov, a new political season 

begins. Are you planning to find 

some new formats on television? 

“Frankly speaking, I am very conservative 

in this. I don’t think we 

should change the train that runs very 

well. My program ‘Straight Up Front’ 

has been on the air for 12 years. I have 

already tested a lot of approaches, but I 

Onbiasedjournalism 

Photo courtesy of the ZIK TV channel 

Ostap DROZDOV: 

“We are paying the price 

for our unwillingness 

to make decisions” 

still remain fixated on my own manner 

of interpreting political reality. Whatever 

you do, yours is the work of an author, 

and I classify my program as authorial. 

In other words, it has no format 

at all. You can see a talkfest anywhere, 

on any channels. I regard my program 

as a piece of biased journalism. I’ve always 

had an inclination for this. I always 

say that I don’t recognize impartiality 

as a notion. Moreover, I reject 

the concept of the so-called unbiased 

journalism. I don’t think we should allow 

the two sides to speak. Journalists 

should be more particulate about who 

they invite to speak. The so-called hybridism 

is being foisted on us under the 

guise of impartiality. We are forced to 

devote 50 percent of the broadcast time 

to outright evil disguised as balance of 

opinions. I have never played in this. I 

can say I am a manipulating journalist 

in the finest sense of the word. For example, 

it is written ‘manipulations’ 

[procedure room – Ed.] on the door of a 

Ukrainian outpatient hospital. It is the 

room where you are made healthy by 

hand. And a journalist does it at his 

own risk on newspaper pages or on television, 

for the audience is a very severe 

phenomenon. It forgives nothing. 

But it is much more interesting to do so 

than to hide behind the image of a 

dried-up moderator.” 

After all, the spectator “scans” 

the host and can subconsciously feel 

sincerity or, on the contrary, manipulation 

in the worst sense of the word. 

“Yes, the spectator feels all this. 

One can always feel falsity.” 

Read more on our website 

By Nataliia PUSHKARUK, The Day 

Recently, a video appeared online 

that caused outrage in Ukraine 

and once again brought to the 

forefront the issue of our 

neighboring countries issuing 

their passports to Ukrainian citizens in 

western regions. The record, released by 

YouTube user Konstantin, clearly shows 

a few people, apparently Ukrainians, 

obtaining Hungarian passports, after 

which they swear an oath of allegiance 

to Hungary and perform the national 

anthem of that country. And most 

importantly, as the ceremony comes to 

an end, consular employees can be heard 

asking these people “to hide from 

Ukraine’s government bodies the fact of 

obtaining Hungarian citizenship.” 

According to media reports, this video 

was recorded at the Hungarian Consulate 

in Berehove. 

“Now Hungary has two options: either 

to prove that the video of passport 

issuance ceremony at the Hungarian 

Consulate General in Berehove is a fake, 

or to take action right now. I think that 

only the second one is realistic,” Foreign 

Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin 

tweeted. In addition, he said that during 

the coming session of the UN General Assembly 

in New York, he would meet with 

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. 

“If the video of Ukrainians being 

issued Hungarian passports in Berehove 

is not a fake, I think the diplomat 

responsible will have to switch to issuing 

Hungarian passports in Budapest. And 

not to Ukrainian citizens. It is more convenient 

that way,” he added. 

“The Ukrainian state should move 

from gentle persuasion to taking decisive 

action to prevent the Russian scenario of 

‘Donbasization’ from unfolding in Zakarpattia. 

Firstly, we need to put an end 

to the subversion being spread by Hungarian 

and Russian emissaries. The foreign 

provocateurs should be sent home, 

and their local assistants brought to 

justice,” wrote Hanna Hopko, chairperson 

of the Verkhovna Rada Committee 

on Foreign Affairs. “Secondly, we 

have to deal with illegal dual citizenship. 

Thirdly, Ukraine must strengthen its security 

presence in Zakarpattia, including 

through re-garrisoning Berehove 

and other cities with military units and 

deploying units of the National Guard 

there. But the main thing to do is to 

change the leadership of the region and 

decisively purge the executive bodies and 

I swear allegiance... to Hungary 

How should Ukraine react to a neighboring country 

engaging in systemic violations of Ukrainian law? 

law-enforcement structures in Zakarpattia,” 

she stressed. 

It should be noted that Ukrainian 

legislation does not criminalize dual 

citizenship. So, The Day asked experts 

to comment on this situation and to tell 

us what response the Ukrainian authorities 

should offer to the actions of 

the Hungarian government in this case. 

● “BLACKMAILING UKRAINE 

AND PRESENTING 

ILLEGITIMATE DEMANDS 

WILL NEVER MEET A 

FAVORABLE RESPONSE OF 

ANY KIND” 

Volodymyr VASYLENKO, Doctor of 

Law, Ambassador Extraordinary and 

Plenipotentiary of Ukraine: 

“First of all, we should send a note 

of protest in response to these actions 

by the Hungarian side. Secondly, I 

would close this consulate because it 

engages in activities that are contrary 

to both Ukrainian and international 

law. In addition, the Law ‘On the Citizenship 

of Ukraine’ should be amended 

and enhanced with sanctions for 

the acquisition of dual citizenship 

without prior renunciation of one’s 

Ukrainian citizenship, in contravention 

of the Constitution and the laws 

of Ukraine.” 

Why does the Ukrainian government 

do nothing in response to such 

actions on Hungary’s part? 

“Obviously, it does not want to exacerbate 

relations with the neighboring 

country, hoping that it will be resolved 

somehow all by itself. However, 

nothing will get resolved by itself, 

because the Hungarian side, unfortunately, 

has taken an irreconcilable position 

towards Ukraine, interfering 

THE INFAMOUS VIDEO... THE INSCRIPTION READS: “I SWEAR THAT I 

CONSIDER HUNGARY TO BE MY HOMELAND” 

with our internal affairs and trying to 

impose a model of behavior that would 

suit Hungary alone to the detriment 

of Ukraine’s national interests. It is 

unacceptable and in the end it is necessary 

to take a firm stand, to make it 

clear both verbally and by actions that 

blackmailing Ukraine and presenting 

illegitimate demands will never meet 

a favorable response of any kind.” 

● “WE NEED TO GET INTO 

GOOD ORDER UKRAINIAN 

LEGISLATION” 

Dmytro TUZHANSKYI, a political analyst 

and expert on Ukrainian-Hungarian 

relations: 

“Issuance of Hungarian passports 

to Ukrainian citizens in the region of 

Zakarpattia is not a new story. This has 

been happening since 2011. In 2010, 

one of the first decisions of the new 

Hungarian parliament and the then 

ruling majority party, headed by Viktor 

Orban, was amending the law on citizenship, 

in particular by introducing 

a simplified procedure for the acquisition 

of citizenship, which entered in 

force on January 1, 2011. Since then, 

all countries of the so-called Carpathian 

Basin – Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, 

Croatia, and Ukraine – have seen Hungarian 

citizenship being issued to ethnic 

Hungarian citizens under a simplified 

procedure. 

“This procedure is openly described 

on the web resources of virtually all 

Hungarian diplomatic missions abroad: 

the applicant must collect a set of documents 

confirming that they are an 

ethnic Hungarian or their relatives 

are ethnic Hungarians or had Hungarian 

citizenship (for example, as citizens 

of the Austro-Hungarian Empire 

until 1920 or in the Czechoslovak 

period in Zakarpattia, etc.), know the 

Hungarian language, fill out a questionnaire, 

and submit these documents. 

“Regarding the response of 

Ukraine: our government did respond 

and, according to my information, it 

has repeatedly requested that Hungary 

respect Ukrainian law and not issue 

Hungarian passports to Ukrainian 

citizens. It was mainly done along 

diplomatic lines, not publicly. This 

video has made this question a public 

one. Until now, it was a taboo, was not 

discussed, and the problem accumulated 

and worsened, especially in the 

face of Russia’s aggression in Crimea 

and the Donbas, where the Russian 

passport played a key role. 

“One cannot call Ukraine’s response 

a harsh one, but at the same time it cannot 

be described as insufficient, 

Klimkin said that the consulate’s employees 

who got recorded on the video 

were at risk of becoming non grata persons 

in Ukraine. However, this is not 

the harshest response possible. 

“Declaring people non grata or 

sending protests will not solve the 

problem. Ukrainian citizens have obtained 

over 100,000 Hungarian passports. 

One can only imagine how many 

Romanian passports are held by 

Ukrainians in Bukovyna. In addition, 

Ukrainians hold passports of other 

countries as well. That is, the problem 

is not only between Ukraine and Hungary, 

as citizenship, and especially the 

issue of dual citizenship, is a serious 

major Ukrainian problem. 

“We need a systemic, properly bureaucratic 

effort; we need to get into 

good order Ukrainian legislation as 

well. But again, this is a very risky pursuit 

to engage in on the eve of an election. 

It is necessary to start a dialog 

with all neighbors, because Hungary 

was doing it unilaterally: Ukraine was 

protesting, while the other party kept 

issuing passports. This is not a healthy 

situation, as diplomats and lawyers 

should sit down and seek a solution at 

a shared table. This problem had to 

emerge sooner or later. There must be 

discussions, debates and this question 

is definitely not a matter to be dealt 

with in a year. 

“I think that this video was on the 

one hand accidental, and on the other, 

not really accidental. At the same time, 

I would not like to engage in conspiracy 

theories: who planned, or did not 

plan, it all. The bottom line is that this 

problem exists, people have long been 

aware of it, both on the Ukrainian and 

Hungarian sides, they know about the 

procedure and the oaths. And now 

everyone saw it on a video and there was 

a scandal. For a few hundred thousand 

Ukrainian citizens, this video is not a 

sensation, it brings back memories because 

they were undergoing the same 

procedure at some point.”

6 


CLOSE UP 


By Mariia PROKOPENKO, 

photos by Ruslan KANIUKA, The Day 

It is a coincidence that Dmytro and 

I are speaking on September 10, on 

the 10th anniversary of the 

launching of the Large Hadron 

Collider (LHC), the world’s largest 

accelerator of elementary particles, 

which is particularly supposed to shed 

light on the nature of dark matter. In 

essence, this problem is being tackled, 

albeit by different methods, at the Niels 

Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, 

where PhD (Physics and Mathematics) 

Dmytro YAKUBOVSKYI has been 

working for two and a half years as 

postdoctoral fellow. At the same time, he 

remains a higher doctorate seeker at the 

Mykola Boholiubov Institute of 

Theoretical Physics in Kyiv and 

regularly comes to Kyiv to research 

dark matter and deliver lectures to both 

students and the public. We met during 

one of these visits. We discussed the 

current information about dark matter 

and approaches to scientific research in 

Denmark and Ukraine. We began with 

the “birthday boy,” i.e., the LHC. 

● ON THE LARGE HADRON 

COLLIDER 

“In essence, all detectors of the Large 

Hadron Collider probe different characteristics 

of various elementary particles, including 

the well-known ones and the Higgs 

boson which was first detected there. 

Small detectors ATLAS and CMS and the 

detector LHCb are used in this research, 

while ALICE is mostly used to explore the 

quark-gluon plasma [the so-called “liquid” 

form of matter which supposedly exists 

in a short period of time immediately 

after the Big Bang – Author]. 

“Almost all the LHC detectors are also 

searching for the traces of still unknown 

particles that may form dark matter. 

They have detected no new particles so 

far, which affords ground for developing 

alternative models, including the one I 

work with. If the LHC fails to find even one 

dark matter particle, it will be very probable 

that the model we are developing and 

watching now, as well as certain experimental 

consequences of it, is correct.” 

● ON HIS OWN RESEARCH 

“Our group in Denmark explores the 

neutrino minimal extension of the Standard 

Model (often abbreviated as vMSM) of particle 

physics. The point is that the Standard 

Model has particles called neutrinos which 

differ from all the other by their properties. 

Moreover, these are in fact the only particles 

which the Standard Model does not explain 

fully. In particular, it does not explain 

a phenomenon discovered about 25 years 

ago, for the discovery of which the Nobel 

Prize in Physic was awarded in 2015 [to 

Takaaki Kajita and Arthur McDonald – Author]. 

It is neutrino oscillations. Imagine 

that one type of neutrino turns into another 

and vice versa just during the motion. 

This process can be explained, for example, 

by means of quantum mechanics, but, 

from the viewpoint of oscillation observations 

in particle physics, it is a very rare and 

unexpected phenomenon. Moreover, these 

phenomena of oscillation cannot be explained 

by the Standard Model which became 

the cornerstone of elementary particle 

physics when the Higgs boson was discovered 

[in 2012]. 

“Nobody doubts now that the Standard 

Model of particle physics excellently 

explains electromagnetic and strong interactions, 

i.e. how nucleons, individual 

particles in nuclei, interact with one another 

and why they keep together, as 

well as weak interaction which is responsible 

for beta-decay and thermonuclear fusion 

in the Sun – in fact the source of life. 

Even in outer space, we can see no serious 

deviations from the Standard Model, except 

for a few ones. 

“The aim of the model I work with is to 

describe the observed deviations, introducing 

as few additional entities as possible. 

It is like Occam’s razor – the principle 

that the simplest solution tends to be the 

right one. Some models introduce a lot of 

additional entities, such as supersymmetry. 

This is a good model. It was even glorified 

by Vakarchuk and others [the rock 

group Okean Elzy produced an album, 

Dark matter and where to look for it 

‘Supersymmetry,’ in 2003 – Author], but 

the problem is that this model needs twice 

as many particles as we know at the present 

moment. We know dozens of elementary 

particles now, and each of them needs 

a ‘superpartner.’ But we can see none of 

them. If the Large Hadron Collider fails to 

find traces of supersymmetric particles, 

this will mean that the phenomena that occur 

outside the Standard Model, such as 

neutrino oscillations, need a different solution.” 

● ON NON-STANDARDS 

IN THE STANDARD MODEL 

“The goal of elementary particle 

physics researchers is to construct a complete, 

closed, and self-consistent model. 

Ideally, it should describe all the phenomena 

we can see. All of its forecasts should 

be checked and all the new particles should 

be found. And this model should be free of 

internal contradictions. 

“It took the Standard Model of particle 

physics a long time to emerge – perhaps 

from the early 20th century, and this created 

a lot of problems, such as non-selfconsistency. 

As is known, the sum of probabilities 

should be equal to unity. But it 

turned out that the model, which described 

for the first time the interaction of neutrinos, 

beta-decay, and thermonuclear fusion 

in the Sun, stipulated that, oddly 

enough, the probability of high-energy 

processes should exceed unity. It’s nice that 

it describes processes very well at low energies, 

shows good coincidences with the 

experiment, and gives less-than-unity 

probabilities, so let it go on working. But 

it must be replaced where it gives absurd 

answers. 

“Actually, why were Weinberg, Salam, 

and Glashow awarded the Nobel Prize [in 

1979]? Because they were the first to formulate 

this model. It is a very complex construction. 

The researchers used Einstein’s 

idea that not only gravitation, but also other 

types of interaction can be connected 

with symmetries in a certain variety of 

space. This all was very well developed and 

resulted in the Standard Model. Now we 

can see that the Standard Models works almost 

flawlessly, but the question of neutrino 

oscillation, and not only this, still remains.” 

● ON THE PROBLEMS OF DARK 

MATTER AND ANTIMATTER 

“There are more problems with the 

Standard Model in outer space. Firstly, it 

is the problem of dark matter. From the 

viewpoint of gravitational interaction or 

dynamics, one fourth of our Universe consists 

of dark matter and only 5 percent of 

conventional substance. There is much 

more dark matter. We don’t know what it 

is, and there is a hypothesis that it consists 

of particles. If so, it’s not the particles we 

know – not electrons, protons, photons, or 

even common neutrinos. And the problem 

is how to find these particles. 

“There are dozens of hypotheses about 

what dark matter may consist of. Researchers 

are seeking for the manifestations 

of these particles in very diverse experiments 

and not only – for example, in 

radiation from space objects. There are 

even special detectors that can allegedly 

find dark matter particles colliding with 

conventional substance underground. This 

means we won’t see dark matter but will detect 

this ‘kick.’ Accordingly, there are 

many competing models because we don’t 

know the truth. 

“Another problem is antimatter. For 

instance, you and I consist of matter, of 

particles, but it has been known since the 

1930s that there are also antiparticles 

that very much resemble ‘ours.’ If you take 

a particle and an antiparticle and bring 

An interview with 

physicist Dmytro 

Yakubovskyi who 

conducts research 

in Denmark and Ukraine 

them closely together, they will annihilate 

each other and produce a lot of matter. In 

fact, according to the formula E = mc2, antiparticles 

are the most effective source of 

energy. There are very few antiparticles, 

for otherwise, in all likelihood, we would 

not exist – there would have only remained 

cosmic microwave background, 

i.e. photons that would have formed as a result 

of annihilation. But we see our world 

without any major traces of antimatter. 

Antimatter may exist in cosmic rays – one 

particle per hundred or thousand. This is 

good enough, but we can see neither clusters 

of antimatter, nor galaxies that consist 

of it. This poses a problem because the 

Standard Model envisions a very close 

quantity of matter and antimatter. 

“The model I explore allows explaining 

all these puzzles in theory within the 

framework of the Standard Model – in theory 

because we have seen so far only a probable 

signal of dark matter decay which can 

be explained by these very particles or, 

maybe, by many others. We still have a long 

way to go.” 

● ON THE CHARACTERISTICS 

OF DARK MATTER 

“It is known for sure that dark matter 

exists because there is a mass excess in the 

Universe. We observe an effect and know 

that it is impossible to explain all that we 

can see without it. 

“I go on speaking in the descending order 

of truth. Mass is measured in astronomy 

by the laws of gravitation. Therefore, 

you can always explain mass excess not by 

new particles but by your attempts to 

change the law of gravitation. This is possible 

hypothetically, and there are models 

that use it. For example, the Erik Verlinde 

model, or the model of modified Newtonian 

dynamics, describes very well the observation 

of certain objects or their classes, 

for example, galaxies. But if you look 

at the whole array of the gained data, you 

will see that these models describe, for example, 

clusters of galaxies not so well and 

need to be at least modified. Introducing a 

new substance – dark matter – will explain 

the observation better. 

“What is still less known, dark matter 

consists of particles outside the Standard 

ALMOST ALL DETECTORS OF THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER ARE SEARCHING FOR THE TRACES OF STILL UNKNOWN 

PARTICLES THAT MAY FORM DARK MATTER. THEY HAVE DETECTED NO NEW PARTICLES SO FAR, WHICH AFFORDS 

GROUND FOR DEVELOPING ALTERNATIVE MODELS 

Model – 95 percent or more of them are the 

particles we don’t know. Common neutrinos 

may account for not more than 5 percent 

of dark matter. It is a challenge for 

particle physics to search for these new particles. 

“What do we know about new particles? 

One of the main characteristics of a 

particle is mass, and the difference between 

the lightest and the heaviest dark matter 

candidate particle is about 10 in the 40th 

power. These hypothetical particles may be 

very large – they are called wimpzillas (a 

blend of WIMP – weakly interacting massive 

particles – and Godzilla – Author]. 

They may have a mass that corresponds to 

a rest energy of dozens of joules. It is very 

much from the viewpoint of elementary 

particles. The decay of these particles can 

form cosmic rays that have the energy of 

tens of joules. It is approximately like 

throwing half a brick with the speed of 

10 meters a second – this is the highest energy 

of a cosmic body detected on Earth, 

which is billions of times as high as the energy 

of the particles the LHC can produce. 

Or it may be so light particles that their de 

Broglie wave should be the size of the 

smallest galaxies.” 

● ON DARK ENERGY 

“There is also dark energy of which we 

know almost nothing [hypothetically, it accounts 

for three fourths of the Universe – 

Author]. We only know that it ‘behaves’ 

like antigravitation. Roughly speaking, 

people saw that our Universe is not simply 

expanding but expanding with acceleration. 

If you toss up an apple or a stone, it 

will be moving away from Earth and slowing 

down. Conversely, the Universe expands 

as a whole, accelerating instead of 

slowing down. The interactions we know 

cannot explain this. 

“If the well-known equation of state of 

dark energy is anything to go by, the Universe 

will, unfortunately, be expanding 

eternally, and galaxies, their components, 

and maybe even atoms will fly away.” 

● THE WAY RESEARCH IS 

CONDUCTED 

“Everything depends on the model, but 

use is usually made of both theoretical calculation, 

including a computer-assisted 

analysis, and the analysis of a very large 

number of observation data. For example, 

the LHC generates hundreds of petabytes 

of data in a year (one petabyte = 2 in the 

50th power bytes – Author]. It is very 

much even at present, but it was unprecedentedly 

much 10 years ago. For this reason, 

a system of ramified calculations was 

specially invented because not a single, 

even the largest, computer cluster cannot 

process these data in real time. 

“The LHC is not important for our 

group, as far as searching for dark matter 

is concerned, but we need to examine X-ray 

spectrums of the galaxies observed by 

space telescopes – it is a couple of terabytes 

of data on the whole. Although these telescopes 

cost hundreds of millions of dollars, 

most of their observation data are available 

free of charge to anybody who wishes to 

process them. Of particular interest for us 

are, above all, observations of the Andromeda 

Galaxy or our galaxy. There is a 

lot of dark matter there because a galaxy 

needs it in order to form. We know the way 

dark matter is distributed across the sky, 

examine various areas, estimate how much 

dark matter should be there, compare observations, 

and check whether there are interesting 

signals. 

“One of the signals we are looking for 

is the so-called emission line. In 2014 our 

team, concurrently with a US group, detected 

for the first time a signal from this 

emission line with the energy of 3.5 kiloelectronvolts, 

which may be an explanation 

of dark matter decay. A corresponding particle 

of dark matter should be approximately 

70 times lighter than an electron 

and thousands of times heavier than a 

common neutrino – it is called sterile or 

right-handed neutrino, or heavy neutral 

lepton, depending on the field you work in. 

“As our research requires huge groups, 

we hope we will be the best-shooting battalion. 

It is a maxim that battles are won 

by best-shooting, not best-manned, battalions.” 

Read more on our website


CULT URE No.48 SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 7 

By Dmytro PLAKHTA, Lviv 

William Kurelek’s first and 

last name would have been 

Vasyl Kurylyk in Ukraine, 

the land of his forefathers, 

but he was born in Canada, 

where he was destined to become a 

distinguished Ukrainian-Canadian artist. 

His works are displayed in Canadian and 

US public art galleries and held in private 

collections, including those of Queen 

Elizabeth II and former Canadian prime 

ministers. 

He died at the age of 50, having constantly 

struggled with his mental illness, 

leaving behind 10,000 paintings and 

prints. There are 36 books written by him 

and about him in Canada, including 

400,000 copies of his A Prairie Boy’s Winter 

(1973) and A Prairie Boy’s Summer 

(1975), translated into 18 languages. 

He treasured his ethnic Ukrainian identity, 

although few people in Ukraine, apart 

from art critics, know about him. Fortunately, 

the first publication dedicated to his 

The Passion of Christ According to 

St. Matthew series (1975) appeared in 

print recently. Kurelek was the first artist 

to illustrate all of St. Matthew’s Gospel: 

160 works described by critics as masterpieces 

of religious art. In his last will and 

testament he wrote that he wanted The Passion 

of Christ to become known in Ukraine. 

Khrystyna BEREHOVSKA, the author 

of the art catalogue, is studying the 

Kurelek Phenomenon in world art, the topic 

of her doctorate at the Lviv National 

Academy of Art. She is determined to 

compile at least part of his creative legacy 

and promote it in Ukraine. 

Ms. Berehovska kindly agreed to an interview. 

We spoke about Kurelek’s eventful 

life and decided to focus on the educational 

aspect of his legacy, as well as on 

what related to his Ukrainian parentage, 

so the following is her story. 

● PEDAGOGICAL LOGIC 

BASED ON ART 

William Kurelek was born near Whitford, 

Alberta, in 1927. He spent his youth 

in Manitoba. His father came from Bukovyna 

in western Ukraine. His mother’s family 

was among the first Ukrainian immigrants 

in Canada. His relationship with his 

father left much to be desired, as his father 

refused to understand his elder son’s creative 

inclinations. The artist wrote later 

that his father treated him ruthlessly and 

would chase him out of the house in winter, 

leaving him without a coat and hat 

when the temperature was down to 30 o C; 

that he would often tell him that his 

younger brother was much smarter. This 

inevitably led to various complexes and 

phobias. Kurelek later said he was a fatherless 

son, even though he had a father. 

This would determine his main creative 

trend: the contrast between hatred and 

love, God and atheism, complete with angels 

and monsters. Parents and children 

were a frequent theme of his works. Pedagogical 

logic is based on his creative legacy 

and it is quite popular in Canada. 

Children often figure in his works. He 

had a difficult childhood and that was his 

way of making up for it, by portraying children, 

focusing on their inner world rather 

than their image. He was a loner from 

childhood and eventually became an introvert. 

His peers considered him peculiar, 

primarily because of the language he used. 

He spoke only Ukrainian until seven years 

of age. During his childhood, the future 

artist was both amused and depressed by 

his environment. For him, that environment 

was packed with contrasts. After he 

made his name as an artist, he decided to 

relive that experience in his works, depicting 

children of that time – so that his 

posterity would know as much about the 

way all those immigrant kids grew up in the 

Canadian prairies, what they looked like, 

how they spoke, as they would about the 

Inuits. He vividly displayed that Irish 

kids were different from their French 

peers, and that all this was part of Canadian 

multiculturalism. 

He was probably the only Canadian 

artist to illustrate this multiculturalism 

and his pioneer series won him the reputation 

of Manitoba-born Brueghel, Canadian 

Bosch, or Prairie van Gogh. He loved 

the way Breughel portrayed many people 

in one place and there are many children 

captured in motion in his pictures. They 

aren’t static, they are dynamic, full of life, 

and they look intelligent – something the 

artist always emphasized. 

● KURELEK, AN EXAMPLE 

According to Ms. Oksana Wynnyckyj- 

Yusypovych, Canadian Consul in Lviv, 

William Kurelek was an example her generation 

wanted to emulate, and that many 

children are of the same opinion. She specified 

that she was referring to Ukrainian- 

Canadian children who attended Ukrainian 

language schools; William Kurelek painted 

pictures and added captions explaining 

what a given picture was all about. He 

would paint children in the Canadian 

prairies and explain that they had to go to 

school and do household chores, including 

THE UKRAINIAN PIONEERS (1972), PART OF THE MURALS; MIXED MEDIA 

(152.5x729 CM; 152.5x121.5 CM), NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA (PHOTO 

TAKEN BY KHRYSTYNA BEREHOVSKA ON THE PREMISES OF THE GOVERNOR- 

GENERAL OF CANADA IN OTTAWA) 

The Ukrainian-Canadian Brueghel 

Art critic Khrystyna BEREHOVSKA says William 

Kurelek lived each day in a different world 

WILLIAM KURELEK, OCTOBER 1961 (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE KURELEKS’ 

PRIVATE ARCHIVES) 

collecting hay, herding cows, and so on. 

Most children, born in today’s big cities 

with their high-rise condominiums and 

skyscrapers, don’t have the slightest idea 

about how to milk a cow or the difference 

between a goose and a hen, but they can see 

it in Kurelek’s pictures. He canonized the 

immigrant’s daily manual labor and his rural 

way of life. Mother and child were, of 

course, uppermost on his mind. He painted 

series of pictures, not just portraits, like 

the ones with a mother and daughter cooking 

jam, with a woman using her ax, chopping 

firewood, and her daughter collecting 

the logs, or with her teaching her daughter 

to make the sign of the cross in front of 

an icon. He placed special emphasis on team 

work and education. There is a picture in 

which a child is about to get into a basin 

with hot water and his mother is pointing 

a forbidding finger. He painted a lot of such 

pictures and they can be used as teaching 

aids for children, showing the way they 

should behave at home. 

● GUIDED BY GOD 

Almost each picture he created was a 

quest. He would come up with five outwardly 

identical pictures for children, but 

warn that there were 10 differences between 

them that had to be found. Such pictures 

currently sell at 50 to 300 Canadian 

dollars. He believed that every child should 

be encouraged to start learning high culture 

from the earliest possible age. In 

fact, this education system, based on intellectual 

and professional skills, is still being 

practiced in Canada. 

William Kurelek flew to Brussels to see 

how Breughel depicted children. He also 

visited Amsterdam to see Vincent van 

Gogh’s works. And then he made a trip to 

India to study the contrast between the rich 

and the poor. He always took a special interest 

in the poor, even after he became a 

man of considerable means. While in India, 

he donated to various orphans’ funds. He 

would visit again to make sure his money 

had made their life easier. 

His art is still serving to educate children, 

although he never cared about his 

own children’s education, but he often 

portrayed them in his works. His 10-yearold 

daughter is depicted as an adult angel 

standing with other angels by the Holy Sepulcher 

in his picture The Passion of Christ. 

For him, it was more than a painting. He 

adored children and saw them as cherubs 

and seraphs. Interestingly, he never referred 

to himself as a typical artist. He said 

he was a craftsman. Why? Because, he said, 

he had only the tools to make what God 

wanted him to make. He was, actually, a 

true believer and his Faith was probably the 

most important part of his life. 

● DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME 

THROUGH ART 

With all his creative accomplishments, 

a story about William Kurelek would be incomplete 

without mentioning his major affliction, 

I mean his mental disorder [although 

he died of cancer in the end – 

Ed.]. School bullying caused him to become 

an introvert. This and frequent family conflicts 

resulted in long periods of deep depression 

with which he would struggle for 

the rest of his life (few if any prefer to comment 

on this part of his biography). He 

started drawing and painting at an early 

age. Later, he received professional collegelevel 

training in Canada and Mexico… He 

coped with his physical/mental problems 

by painting – his doctors at the Maudsley 

Psychiatric Hospital in London thought it 

was the best treatment and he believed 

them. He was provided with paints, brushes, 

easels, the works. The result was spectacularly 

positive. Bethlem Royal Hospital 

has a museum where Kurelek’s pictures 

and sketches occupy a place of honor. 

Mental disorder had a tangible impact 

on his creativity. William Kurelek sustained 

a total of 14 electroshock therapies. 

I spoke to a psychiatrist and was told that 

the patient would never be his old self after 

this therapy. William Kurelek would 

meet the next day in a different world (in 

his mind). Interestingly, all photos show 

him as a cheerful, smiling individual. His 

relatives and other people who knew him 

insist that he was always sad. This complicated 

my task of putting the pieces of the 

puzzle of his personality in place. In fact, 

all who knew him told me different things 

about him. I had the impression that I was 

dealing with a split personality. 

● TRUE TO UKRAINIAN 

DESCENT 

As an adult, William Kurelek would always 

emphasize his Ukrainian parentage. 

Among his works is the mural The Ukrainian 

Pioneer, currently on display on the 

premises of the Governor-General of Canada. 

Ukrainian themes are traditionally 

present in his works, including the images 

of Taras Shevchenko, Ivan Franko, and 

Lesia Ukrainka that are found in his big 

multifunctional pictures. William Kurelek 

was always aware of his ethnic Ukrainian 

origin, although he couldn’t speak fluent 

Ukrainian and didn’t know Ukrainian 

grammar. His heart was with Ukraine. He 

was bullied in school because he spoke a language 

no one understood. He spoke Ukrainian 

to those who spoke English, but the bullying 

had its effect and he would find it 

hard to speak Ukrainian later. In fact, he 

hardly ever tried. But then, in 1970, he 

first flew to Soviet Ukraine to visit his father’s 

home village of Borivtsi in Chernivtsi 

oblast. His second cousin told me that 

he remained silent during the first day. The 

following day he went to the kitchen garden 

behind the house and started talking 

to himself in Ukrainian. Imagine the reaction 

of his relatives who happened to witness 

the scene. They all knew that he 

couldn’t speak Ukrainian. Another interesting 

detail. When I visited Borivtsi with 

his sister Nancy, she found herself lapsing 

into accented, stilted Ukrainian. She still 

remembered words and phrases she’d 

learned from her mother. 

William Kurelek always kept in touch 

with his relatives in faraway Ukraine. He 

would visit a local Ukrainian school and ask 

a teacher to translate into Ukrainian and 

write what he wanted to tell them. He never 

forgot about Ukraine, looking for the 

English versions of Ukrainian books, especially 

Taras Shevchenko and Ivan 

Franko. There were few sources at the time. 

● WILLIAM KURELEK MUST BE 

KNOWN IN UKRAINE 

He visited the land of his forefathers 

twice, leaving several of his works whose 

value remains to be determined by experts. 

Canada is jealously guarding his creative 

legacy, stressing that he was a Canadian 

artist. The sad fact remains that few 

in Ukraine know about this gifted personality. 

The good news is that I’m not the 

only one who is dealing with his Ukrainian 

origin. There are Christine Curkowskyj in 

Canada and Roman Yatsiv. It is very important 

that William Kurelek’s legacy be 

promoted in Ukraine. He is an artist of international 

acclaim and deserves every 

credit in the land of his forefathers. In 

1961, after his first exhibit, he said something 

he would write in Someone With Me: 

An Autobiography (1980), that in Canada 

his creativity was first discovered by Jewish 

women and then by the entire ethnic 

Jewish community; that it would be later 

appreciated by the ethnic French, Anglo- 

Saxon, and, lastly, by the ethnic Ukrainian 

community. 

How to promote William Kurelek in 

Ukraine? Organizing his art exhibits across 

Ukraine seems the best way – and my 

cherished dream is to see his Passion of 

Christ on display. Of course, I realize that 

this is easier said than done, that it is wishful 

thinking, most likely. New Ukrainian 

history textbooks are being written and I’m 

sure that each should have a chapter dedicated 

to the Ukrainian Diaspora boasting 

names like Alexander Archipenko, Jacques 

Hnizdovsky, and William Kurelek. 

LATE SUMMER, CENTRE ISLAND (1972), KHRYSTYNA BEREHOVSKA’S PHOTO 

OF PART OF THE PICTURE IN A PRIVATE COLLECTION, MIXED MEDIA 

(120x60 CM)

8 


TIMEO U T 



“Pavlo Skoropadsky 

is to a large extent 

a symbol of our 

contradictions” 

Oxana PACHLOVSKA speaks 

about forecasts offered by books 

of Den’s Library series and opines 

why there is a colossal demand for 

knowledge of Ukraine in Europe 

Continued from page 1 ➤ 

“Lesson Two: Everyone knows about 

the advantage of taking a position of 

strength. We must take this position from 

within and keep strengthening it. 

“Lesson Three: After taking and upgrading 

this position of strength, we can 

make further moves and use external 

factors. 

“Your book about Hetman Skoropadsky 

certainly addresses our society, although 

I wouldn’t count on our politicians 

– they’re too busy with the coming 

election campaign. I believe that this 

book will interest college/university lecturers, 

students, schoolteachers, and 

their students. I do hope that it will have 

the desired civic effect. This book contains 

features written by our top-notch authors. 

I was happy to meet with Ihor 

Siundiukov, Petro Kraliuk, Ihor Smeshko, 

Yurii Tereshchenko, and others who had 

helped it appear in print. It is an excellent 

analysis of Hetman Skoropadsky’s epoch. 

I appreciate Editor-in-Chief Larysa Ivshyna’s 

Foreword. It offers the main points 

By Vadym RYZHKOV, The Day, Dnipro 

The largest book festival of Uk raine, 

which is held in Lviv, has 

turned 25. That forum has already 

become a significant cultural event 

not only for this country, but also 

for the whole of Eastern Europe. To mark 

the anniversary, President Petro Poro - 

shenko visited Lviv recently. Let us recall 

that the launch of a new book, entitled 

Ave: The Centennial of Pavlo Skoro pad - 

sky’s Hetmanate and published in Den’s 

Library series, was featured as an event 

of this year’s Publishers’ Forum in Lviv. 

Meanwhile, Dnipro is finishing 

preparations for the opening of its own 

cultural forum – the new Book Space International 

Book Festival. The program 

of this event includes book fairs, launches 

of literary novelties, poetry readings, 

exhibitions, lectures, and musical performances 

which will take place at several 

venues in the city center. Also, there 

will be opportunities to communicate 

with authors from around the world. All 

this awaits visitors to the Book Space festival 

at the end of the month, namely on 

September 28-30. 

“We strive to popularize reading, to 

instill love for books. We set up book 

crossing locations and donate books to 

state administrations and schools 

throughout the region, which has already 

become a good tradition that began with 

the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration 

(RSA) itself,” advisor to the 

head of the Dnipropetrovsk RSA Yurii 

Holyk remarked. “Now, we are organizing 

the first book fest in Dnipro. We want 

to do something larger than similar 

events in other cities of Ukraine, it should 

be not just an exhibition and sale, but a 

platform for communication as well.” 

According to the organizers, approximately 

60 publishers and 80 authors 

from Ukraine, France, Poland, Denmark, 

A nation-state-building impulse 

Den launches a book commemorating Pavlo Skoropadsky’s Hetmanate 

for our progress. It is about the gap between 

those and our times, the importance 

of filling this gap; it is about our destiny, 

national identity, the nationwide lumpenproletariat 

campaign [under the Soviets 

– Ed.], the so-called Ukraine-Rome 

Road, a link between civilization and 

barbarism. We each of us must decide 

which road we have to embark upon. 

“Ms. Ivshyna writes that Hetman 

Skoropadsky was a nation-statebuilding 

impulse and compares him 

with Baron Mannerheim, the father of 

Finnish national independence. She accurately 

notes that there is an abyss between 

the Ukrainian elite and the man in 

the street, and broaches other important 

issues, including Viacheslav Lypynsky 

and Fedir Lyzohub. There are historic 

figures we have to figure out. There are 

In just a few days! 

Dnipro is preparing for the 

opening of a new book festival 

many parallels to be drawn between 

past and current realities in Ukraine. 

Our older generation has to establish contact 

with the younger one. We must explain 

to our young people all those complicated 

processes and encourage them 

to read such books. 

“I’m convinced that the book about 

Hetman Skoropadsky is among the best 

to have appeared in print, and that it will 

help our education process. As a university 

lecturer, I promise to make every 

effort to have it included in our college/university 

curricula. Doubtlessly, 

this book is another significant accomplishment 

on the part of Den. It is another 

victory won by all of us who want 

to learn the truth about ourselves. 

By Dmytro PLAKHTA, The Day 

Dnipropetrovsk RSA building, in the 

building itself, and next to it in the Rocket 

Park and the Heroes Public Garden. 

The music stage will be located in the garden 

of the Museum of Ukrainian Painting. 

Each festival day will end with concerts 

to be held there, which will be performed 

by DZ’OB and Quarpa bands and 

participants of Mariana Savka’s V Sadu 

(“In the Orchard”) jazz project. The festival 

is organized by the Dnipropetrovsk 

RSA and the Cultural Capital program of 

the Dnipro City Council. The Book Space 

event will last for three days, the entrance 

to the festival will be free. 

The very first day of the forum will 

see the launch of books from Den’s Library 

series. In particular, we will launch 

our newest book, entitled Ave: The Centennial 

of Pavlo Skoropadsky’s Hetmanate. 

Den/The Day’s editor-in-chief 

Larysa Ivshyna and the authors who contributed 

their essays to the collection will 

present it to the reading public and the 

culture community. 

the US, Germany and other countries will 

attend the Book Space festival. The expected 

guests include businessman and 

writer Garik Korogodsky, writers Oksana 

Zabuzhko and Irena Karpa, and satiric poet 

Orlusha. Historian and Harvard University 

professor Serhii Plokhii will come 

from the US, while historian and writer 

Andre Roche will arrive from France. 

“We will have children’s, military, poetry, 

historical, educational programs. 

Most Ukrainian and foreign guests will 

take part in the core program called 

‘Transformations,’ which will involve 

various discussions, book launches, and 

film screenings,” art director of the festival 

Viktoriia Narizhna told us. “We will 

set up lounge areas and food courts. One 

will be able to spend the whole day at the 

festival communicating and reading interesting 

books.” 

Space International Book Festival is im- 

■ The detailed program of the Book 

Books will be available for sale at pressive in its scale. It has been pub lished on 

book exhibitions to be held in the adult a dedicated page on the Facebook social network 

and at https://bookspacefest.com/ 

and children’s areas. The festival will 

take place at several locations: near the Home/Program. 

Photo courtesy of the Book Space International Book Festival’s organizers 

By Mariia PROKOPENKO, The Day 

On the eve of the book Ave: 

The Centennial of Pavlo 

Skoropadsky’s Hetmanate 

being launched at the 

Publishers’ Forum in Lviv, 

The Day asked Oxana Pachlovska, who 

is a writer, culturologist, professor at 

the La Sapienza University of Rome, as 

well as our contributor and friend, to tell 

us about her expectations from that 

event. We also asked Pachlovska, who 

lives and works in Italy and received the 

Shevchenko Prize for her collection of 

essays Ave, Europa! in 2010, whether 

Ukraine was becoming better 

understood in Europe. 

Professor, you have long contributed 

to our publications, also with 

texts that appeared in the books of 

Den’s Library series. What are your expectations 

of Ave: The Centennial of 

Pavlo Skoropadsky’s Hetmanate? How 

important is this topic, in your opinion? 

“Ave: The Centennial of Pavlo Skoropadsky’s 

Hetmanate covers not just 

one theme, but many. And among them, 

the most important one, in my opinion, 

is the quality of statesmanship and also 

the historical responsibility of anyone 

who ever dares to be a politician – today, 

in the past, and always. I mean responsibility 

not as a rhetorical figure, but as 

that dangerous dimension where a decision 

of one person, a document signed 

by them may determine the fates of millions, 

as those warm waves of human life 

turn into rivers of blood. Skoropadsky 

is to a large extent a symbol of Ukrainian 

contradictions, a personification of 

contrasts which have accompanied 

Ukrainian state-building efforts for 

centuries. It is therefore even more important 

to study Skoropadsky not only 

as a figure of the past, but also as an 

Archive of events, concepts, and decisions 

which offer forecasts that must be 

re-read in a new way every time. 

“Actually, I want to emphasize the 

FORECASTING value of Den’s Library 

books. Cultural journalism itself is an 

extremely effective instrument of interpretation 

that links scholarship with 

society, takes scholarship from its ivory 

towers into various perception spaces, 

and implants academic knowledge into 

the living matter of public consciousness. 

It is during this period that I 

want to mention two Den’s books, which 

Larysa Ivshyna deliberately and systematically 

conceived and prepared for 

publication: Return to Tsarhorod (2015) 

and My Sister Sofia... (2016). Today, as 

Ukraine is waiting for the Tomos granting 

autocephaly, we need to recall these 

books which speak about the Ukrainian 

Orthodoxy as part of the European civilization, 

and books about the possibility 

of the Orthodoxy existing in the coordinates 

of the European culture in 

general. It was a great work done in advance 

of today’s milestone event – the 

‘return’ of Ukraine to Tsarhorod/Constantinople, 

the restoration of the Rome- 

Constantinople civilizational axis, the 

collapse of the ‘Third-Roman’ parody of 

Rome, and the revival of Kyiv as one 

of the centers of the global Christianity.” 

Today, we Ukrainians are trying 

to understand ourselves, our history, 

rediscover its lost layers even 

harder than before. Are we becoming 

better understood in Europe? In 

this context, we would also like to 

learn what is the current level of interest 

in Ukrainian studies? Is working 

in this area a challenge? 

“Are we becoming better understood 

in Europe? This is another 

field of eternal Ukrainian paradoxes. 

The answer is both ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ 

On the one hand, there is a colossal 

demand for knowledge of Ukraine in 

Europe today, made even more urgent 

by the shortages of specialists, 

sources, institutions which are now 

felt stronger than ever. Russia’s assault 

on Ukraine is taking place under 

conditions of a major crisis afflicting 

the democratic system. These 

two events are so closely linked that 

history has literally pushed Ukraine 

into the forefront of Europe’s struggle 

to renew democracy and rediscover 

itself. Now, not only the future 

eastern border of the EU, but also the 

many categories and meanings that 

are being created today in the intellectual 

field, where a new identity of 

Europe is emerging, depend on 

Ukraine’s movement westwards. 

“On the other hand, the potential 

and pressure of anti-European forces 

has increased enormously in this 

same Europe. Their power and influence 

are increasingly felt in the 

field of information. This information 

is deliberately doctored so as to 

convince the average European that 

some kind of incomprehensible and 

uninteresting ‘civil war’ is going on 

in faraway Ukraine. 

“On the other hand, Ukraine itself 

often displays the ineffectiveness 

of diplomatic, cultural, and information 

institutions that should counteract 

these trends. Or, more precisely, 

these institutions are, to use 

an Italian saying, ‘the skin of a leopard’: 

some of them work, others do 

not, while some pretend to work. Information, 

complete with its dangers 

and fakes, manipulations and simulacrums, 

is a neuralgic ganglion of 

the modern world. Great risks lie 

here for Ukraine, and the political 

awareness of these risks in the corridors 

of power is dramatically low 

and inadequate overall. 

“So, interest in Ukrainian studies 

is increasing, but it constantly 

faces new challenges while the old 

ones have not yet been overcome. 

Therefore, working in this area is 

both a daily challenge and a challenge 

going into the future. However, nobody 

promised Ukraine an easy journey 

home, to Europe, in the days of 

a modern barbarian invasion. We 

need to make this journey. With 

dignity. Clearly realizing the harsh 

realities. Firmly choosing our route.” 

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