Victory Day 2009

On May 9, Ukraine celebrates the victory over Nazi Germany.

We lost 7 million men, women, and children in WW II, approximately one-third of the total casualties borne by the Soviet Union.

This number does not include the thousands of Ukrainian Americans and Ukrainian Canadians who fought in the European and Pacific theaters.

May the lives they lost and sacrificed never be forgotten. May the heroes who fought for their native land, through the cannon fodder reality of that war and into today’s poverty, never be forgotten.

For me, it’s always been a day of remembrance, a day of thanksgiving and — as I grew up and learned more history — a day of reconciliation.

On this warm sunny day, I took a walk to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Park of Glory, like I did last year. Then, passing through the Holodomor Memorial, I proceeded to the WW II Memorial.






WW II veterans descending into Arsenalna Station














It's their day. People greet them with flowers and thank them.








The Union of Left-Wing Forces


Soviet Navy







Entering the Communist sector



This day also serves as a forum for Communists, Stalinists and Russian imperialists.


“No Fascism in Ukraine!”




“Capitalism brought tragedy to Ukraine. Solution: reviving the socialist society. Down with capitalism!”
Good point but wrong solution.






Nash BTR vpered letit







Sovietman
He does have a point about Ukraine currently being a criminal state with no future. The sad thing is, people like him helped make it happen.





The Usual Suspects: Yushchenko, Bandera, Shukhevych






“Thanks to the USSR and the Red Army, Ukraine was liberated from the Nazi-Fascist invaders.”
Was it because of Stalin, or despite him, that we won?





















The All-Ukrainian Union of Soviet Soldiers










Thousands lie buried on the Dnipro River bed. They died liberating Kyiv from the Nazis in November 1943.




Left-bank Kyiv





“Glory to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics!”





























The Holodomor Memorial














Gate Church of the Trinity at Kyiv Pechersk Lavra
















Descending into the WW II Memorial















“Their sacrifice will live forever. Their names are immortal”














Mother Motherland























Look who's here!












The Eternal Flame




Same guy








“Eternal glory to the heroes!”
Greetings from President Yushchenko

A Braidless Tymoshenko Outlines Ukraine-IMF Cooperation

Did she sell her braid too? Or is she just unhappy about Lutsenko’s behavior?

PM Yulia Tymoshenko: The board of governors of the International Monetary Fund, uh — considering the effective work of the government in implementing, uh, the preliminary measures of the joint program between Ukraine and, uh, the IMF — has made a decision to speed up the meeting of the board of governors, uh, from, uh, May 12, as planned — from May 13, as planned — to May 8, and, on May 8, the board of governors will review the issue of granting the [second] tranche to Ukraine, and it’s a very positive signal.

In Ukrainian, IMF translates into МВФ (spelled em-veh-ef). Tymoshenko spelled it the English way: АйЕмЕф (ai-em-ef), in a nonstandard jargon-style manner characteristic of showy English-speaking Ukrainian yuppies. (To the best of my knowledge, Tymoshenko does not speak English. Well, except for the “Happy Birthday” thing.)

I digress. So why is the second portion of the IMF loan a “very positive signal?” Where did the first portion of the loan go? Wasn’t it funneled into Ukraine’s bad-loan-infested banks, most of them foreign and oligarch-owned?

Will the green light from the IMF help Ukrainians improve their living standards or will it help them pay off the bad loans with their cheap labor?

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/121029.html
Original source: http://5.ua

9 Dead, 11 Hospitalized in Dnipropetrovsk Slot Machine Fire

Nine people died and eleven were hospitalized after an explosion set ablaze a slot machine outlet in Dnipropetrovsk at about 1:00 a.m. local time Thursday.

In this Channel 5 footage, three victims recall being covered up in smoke and struggling to find their way out.



Lives could have been saved had the emergency exit not been sealed. (Gambling with their lives, weren’t they?)

Local authorities have ordered all gambling operations and entertainment centers in the city closed pending investigation and inspection.

Sources:
http://5.ua/newsline/230/0/59441
http://tsn.ua/ua/ukrayina/u-dnipropetrovsku-zakriyut-vsi-gralni-avtomati.html
Video uploaded from: http://5.ua

German Police: 4 Officers Wounded in Lutsenko Incident

Three men and a woman were wounded during the violent incident involving an intoxicated Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, Jürgen Linker, a spokesman for Frankfurt police, says.

In news reports by BBC and DW, quoted by Ukrayinska Pravda, Linker states that two officers were hospitalized with bruises and lacerations. The other two sustained lighter injuries.

Frankfurt police will forward the crime report to Ukrainian authorities upon request.

Despite President Yushchenko’s call for an investigation, no such requests have been made so far, nor have there been any public statements from Lutsenko.

Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2009/5/7/94308.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ukrainian/indepth/story/2009/05/090506_lutsenko_pysanska_oh.shtml
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4233106,00.html

Ukrainian Interior Minister Detained in Drunken Brawl in Germany

Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko and his 19-year-old son Oleksandr spent half a day at a police station Monday after being detained for disorderly conduct at Frankfurt Airport, Ukrayinska Pravda reports, quoting Bild and DW.

It all began when airport authorities prevented them from boarding a flight to Seoul due to being intoxicated and thus posing a flight security risk. Upset by the move, the two hurled abuse at German police officers, fought them and threw cell phones at them.

Oleksandr, the more aggressive of the two, had to be cuffed. His alcohol test showed 3 per mil. (For comparison, 0.5 per mil or higher is against the law for German drivers.)

Interior Minister Lutsenko, the father — who had campaigned under the slogan of “one law for all” in 2007 — managed to avoid the test on the grounds of diplomatic immunity.

Except for the alcohol test results, Frankfurt police has confirmed the report to DW.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior has denied the report. Lutsenko arrived in Frankfurt for a stopover and couldn't board the flight to Seoul because he showed up late for it, the Ministry says.

President Viktor Yushchenko has called on PM Yulia Tymoshenko to investigate the incident and report within two days.



P.S. To every fun-loving “Ich bin ein Frankfurter” Ukrainian minister who can't drink Ukraine's “one law for all” out of their head:




Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2009/5/6/94273.htm
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2009/5/6/94279.htm
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2009/5/6/94275.htm
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2009/5/6/94285.htm
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4230304,00.html
http://www.bild.de/BILD/regional/frankfurt/aktuell/2009/05/06/juri-luzenko-zu-betrunken/lufthansa-kapitaen-nahm-ukrainischen-innenminister-nicht-mit.html

9 Missing in Coal Mine Accident in Donetsk Oblast

A Monday accident at the Novodzerzhynska mine in Donetsk oblast, at a depth of 585 m (1,919 ft), has left nine miners missing, Ukrainian media report. Five miners managed to escape.

Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2009/5/5/94227.htm

A Spring Sunday at Obolon Bay

The place, the people, the parody.


















Ukrainian Leaders and Their Connections













Bending the Dnipro Over a Barrel

Putin Calls Tymoshenko ‘Yulia Vladimirovich’

After royally pissing Putin off with that Ukraine-EU gas deal and nearly forfeiting the $5B loan, Tymoshenko went to Moscow to please the man.

And guess what? The man's got himself on his mind. Here’s how he referred to Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko (Vladimirovna in Russian):

Russian PM Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin: Today, we've already talked in private meetings and we've talked eye-to-eye with...with Yulia Vladimirovich...uh...with Yulia Vladimirovna...

He went on to address the issue of Ukraine’s solvency, lecturing Tymoshenko and airing his lingering dislike of the EU at the same time.

Putin: The price of the shipment is 5 billion dollars. Go to Brussels...
Reporter: And do what?

Putin: And get 5 billion dollars and pay Gazprom. That’s it.
Reporter: Uh...

Putin: And that’s...the whole matter, down to the last kopeck. The issue being raised here is us financing this issue.

I think I found a picture of Yulia Vladimirovich.



Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/120730.html Original sources:
http://stb.ua
http://tsn.ua