Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Launched International Online Campaign #MyUkraineIs

To develop public diplomacy, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry is launching an international online campaign #MyUkraineIs aimed at promoting our country abroad.

www.myukraineis.org was created as a result of cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Ministry of Information Policy and StratCom.UA. The website is a platform to tell the world about Ukraine and its history. #MyUkraineIs is the hashtag of the campaign.

The website is as an online version of the booklet “Ukraine: Freedom, Dignity, Creativity” presented in the MFA on November 30. The website goes further, by allowing users to generate content by themselves.

Anyone may share information about Ukraine and outstanding Ukrainians online using the “Add your story” button.

The best suggestions will be considered by experts and if approved, added to the website to tell the world about Ukraine in an exciting way.

To escape from existing clichés and stereotypes about Ukraine is a central idea of the project.

Ukrainian foreign diplomatic missions, Ukrainian communities abroad and our foreign partners will be involved in the #MyUkraineIs campaign.

Follow the campaign on the official pages of Foreign Ministry and Ukrainian foreign diplomatic institutions on Twitter, Facebook and VKontakte, Google+.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs invites everyone to promote the site www.myukrianeis.org and add your own facts about Ukraine.

1. #MyUkraineIs a human dignity as the highest social value.

Human dignity is the principle virtue which empowers Ukrainians and gives us a passion to fight and win.

2. #MyUkraineIs the volunteers.

After the Revolution of Dignity, Russia resorted to direct military aggression: first occupied Crimea, then invaded Eastern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian army, devastated by previous governments, was revived by the enormous efforts of civil society.

3. #MyUkraineIs at least 10 Ukrainians illegally detained in Russia. They were kidnapped and tortured.

4. We invite you to spend holidays in Ukraine and visit our attractive cities to discover the real culture and traditions of Eastern Europe.

5. ‪#‎MyUkraineIs home to people of 130+ nationalities.

6. #MyUkraineIs strong-willed people.

Ukrainian athletes have won 238 Paralympic medals.

Ukraine has ranked the 4th place both at 2012 summer and 2014 winter Paralympics.

7. #MyUkraineIs vyshyvanka.

The traditional embroidered shirt is cultural code of our nation.
Ukrainian Vyshyvanka is the inspiration for a recent fashion trend in Europe.

 

The website MyUkraineIs is an online resource which allows users to generate content by themselves just adding interesting facts about Ukraine in the part “Add your story”.

We have formed an international group of experts who will select the top five facts every month:
- Brian Bonner, the chief editor of the Kyiv Post;
- Dmytro Kuleba, diplomat, Ambassador at Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
- Violeta Moskalu, co-founder of Global Ukrainians Forum, scientific researcher of the University of Lorraine;
- Martin Nunn, an international communications leader of White’s Consultants Limited;
- Andriy Portnov, Ukrainian historian, guest lecturer at the Humboldt University of Berlin.

There is only one representative from the Foreign Ministry among the group members, the other members are all external reputable independent experts who are well aware not only of Ukraine but also foreign audiences.

So, friends, you still have time to fill out the form on the website http://myukraineis.org/

12 результатів роботи МЗС за 2015 рік

Ми представляємо Вам 12 результатів роботи МЗС за 2015 рік. 12 досягнень за 12 місяців.

Команда українських дипломатів щодня долає кордони, щоб зробити Україну ближчою для всього світу. Нам потрібна Ваша віра і підтримка. Попереду багато викликів, але разом ми переможемо!

10 фактів, які ви не знали про ‪МЗС‬ ‪України

Civilians in ‪‎Ukraine Suffer from ‪‎Russian Aggression

On 14 December 2015, spokesperson of the Presidential Administration on ATO-related issues Colonel Andriy Lysenko informed that Russian-backed terrorists had refused the entry of 23 trucks with ‪UN humanitarian aid, namely 430 tons of food and medicine, for residents of the territories in Luhansk and Donetsk regions, temporarily not controlled by the Ukrainian government.

“Militants stopped the trucks near the Olenivka village, Luhansk region and sent them back without any explanation”, said Colonel Andriy Lysenko.

On 11 December 2015, during the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Ukraine Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo ‪Klimkin specifically highlighted that Russia and its proxies hinder activities of the international humanitarian organizations in Donbas.

The Minister underlined that despite endless provocations and shelling by Russia-supported terrorists, Ukraine in cooperation with the OSCE and the international community undertakes every effort to implement its commitments to avert the humanitarian crisis:

•   Ukraine is paying social benefits to the residents of occupied Donbas;
•  Ukraine is supplying gas, electricity and water without any reimbursements;
•  Ukraine is establishing logistic-humanitarian centers and carrying out projects on infrastructure reconstruction.

Pavlo Klimkin underscored that since Minsk-2 was signed on 12 February 2015, Ukrainian forces and civilian locations had been shelled or attacked over 13,500 times.

The Minister also underlined that Russia must implement all core elements of the Minsk Agreements for sustainable de-escalation:

• cease armed provocations against Ukrainian forces in Donbas;
• provide full access to the OSCE missions to the state border between Russia and Ukraine to verifiably stop supporting militants in Donbas with weapons and personnel;
• withdraw its troops and weaponry from the territory of Ukraine;
• start practical discussions on modalities of reinstatement of full control of the border by Ukraine.

‪#‎StopRussianAggression

Ukrainian project "Petiole" is among 20 of the world's hottest start-ups of 2015

According to CNBC the Ukrainian startup "Petiole" is ranked one of the brightest ideas around the globe of 2015.

Petiole is a mobile-based recommendation system for precision 

agriculture. It's the tool to measure plant leaf area. It monitors dynamics of plant growth using leaf-area measurement, helping to understand how a plant reacts to different factors (weather, growth promoters, etc.). It is like a smart tracker for plant growth.

Time of measuring the plant leaf area is less than one second. It is 1000 times faster than using graph paper and 100 times faster than scanning and processing leaf image in Photoshop.

Petiole has a mobile app to make leaf-area measurement and data cloud service to collect, process data and show dynamics of growth in an affordable manner. After tweaking this service, the next steps for Petiole are to quantify leaf greenness and make diagnostics of leaf disease.

Original link: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/19/20-of-the-worlds-hottest-start-ups-of-2015.html

#StopFake Top Fakes of the Week about Ukraine

Fake #1: Barack Obama Accuses Ukrainian Authorities of Genocide

On September 23, Russia’n internet media posted false reports claiming that U.S. President Barack Obama had “accused Ukrainian authorities of the genocide of their own people” in a speech to a business roundtable. They cited CNN as their source.

They quoted Barack Obama as saying: “With the inability and unwillingness of Ukrainian authorities to improve things, their actions make the conditions of all the population considerably worse and can’t be called anything other than the genocide of their own people.”

The news was published on such websites as oppps.ru (http://oppps.ru/cnn-barak-obama-obvinil-vlasti-ukrainy-v-genocide-sobstvennogo-naroda.html), hollivizor.ru (http://hollivizor.ru/), jakos.net (http://www.jacos.net/ru/novosti/cnn-barak-obama-obvinil-vlasti-ukraini-v-genotside-sobstvennogo-naroda-89495), postsover.ru and on social networks.

Indeed, Barack Obama did speak at a business roundtable on September 16 (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/09/16/remarks-president-business-roundtable), though these reports with the reference to genocide appeared almost a full week after the event. In reality, there is no reference to Ukraine in his speech, and CNN made no such reports (http://edition.cnn.com/search/?text=obama+ukraine).

Fake #2: Russian Media Lied about Ukrainian Election Violations

Russian media falsely reported that the 2015 Ukrainian local elections saw a record number of violations. They cited the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, a non-governmental organization that had registered violations during the Ukrainian elections, as their source.

This news was reported by the Russian television network NTV (http://www.ntv.ru/novosti/1555937), Rossiyskaya Gazeta (http://www.rg.ru/2015/10/26/narusheniya-site-anons.html), zavtra.ru (http://zavtra.ru/content/view/vyiboryi-na-ukraine-pobili-rekord-po-kolichestvu-narushenij/) and EurAsia Daily websites (https://eadaily.com/news/2015/10/25/nyneshnie-ukrainskie-vybory-byut-vse-rekordy-po-narusheniyam).

The Committee of Voters of Ukraine (http://www.cvu.org.ua/), however, did not register a record number of violations during the Ukrainian elections on 25 October 2015. Its Deputy Executive Director Vitaliy Teslenko have said that compared to the 2010 local elections, there were approximately 2.5 times fewer violations in 2015.

“More than 3,800 violations were registered on the day of elections in 2010,” he said. “Then we had only 2,500 observers. Now, in 2015, we had 4,300 observers, but they detected far less violations [1,500]”.

This is confirmed in the organization’s published report on the elections: “Comparing with the 2010 local election, the number of bribery of voters is far less.” (http://issuu.com/8612157/docs/____________________________________4e93f1fd74586b?e=16898265/30946110)

Original link: www.stopfake.org/en/news

Russian Terrorist Forces Shelled Residential Areas with MLRS Grad

In blatant violation of the Minsk Agreements, Russia and its proxies are escalating the situation in the Donbas region. Russian-backed terrorists continue shelling Ukrainian army positions with small arms, heavy machine guns and grenade launchers.

Since November 1, Russian terrorist forces have carried out over 350 shellings and provocations along the contact line, including with 82 mm and 120 mm mortars and grenade launchers. At least 7 Ukrainian servicemen have been killed.

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in its reports has also confirmed the intensification of shelling in recent days. On November 15, positioned at the Donetsk railway station, the SMM heard a total of 229 explosions (anti-aircraft gun, one impacting 120mm mortar round, and undetermined weapons), as well as at least 250 bursts of small arms and heavy machine-guns.

Russian terrorist forces resumed using deadly multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) Grad and launched three rockets at the town of Krasnohorivka in Donetsk region on November 13 and 12 rockets at the residential areas of Krasnohorivka and Hirnyk towns on November 16 (video: https://youtu.be/PvQy_fx2bsg?t=65). Ukraine submitted the evidence of the Grad MRLS shelling to the OSCE SMM (http://www.mil.gov.ua/en/news/2015/11/17/ukrainian-party-of-jccc-submits-evidence-of-grad-mrls-use-to-osce-smm-(pictures)/).

According to the Ukrainian Intelligence Service, on November 16, an echelon of eight railroad cars with ammunition supplies and four tanks of fuel arrived at the railway station “Ilovaysk”. This is yet more evidence of Russia's breach of its commitments pursuant to the Minsk documents and direct fueling of military escalation in Donbas.

Ukraine calls on the international community to increase pressure on Russia in order to prevent the renewal of full-scale hostilities in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

#StopRussianAggression

Ukrainian Fashion Week rolls on in Kyiv through October 14

Nowadays Ukrainian fashion is in the forefront of international thought. Its reach has extended far beyond the front page, the Ukrainian influence has fully arrived into closets all over the world.

Since 1997 Ukrainian designers together with Ukrainian Fashion Week constantly elevate national fashion. So to make the waves on the international scene we see now.

The upcoming 37th Ukrainian Fashion Week is 54 fashion shows within 7 days, 72 designers, 10 presentations, 19 locations, more than 200 accredited media and more than 20 000 invited guests. And this season it will become alive on the first two floors of the historical location — “Mystetskyi Arsenal”.

New season is the next step for innovative solutions and projects, which will allow presenting Ukrainian designers in a new way, on new locations, in new formats and new countries.

One of the most promising projects of the 37th Ukrainian Fashion Week — #12x12x12 opens this season. Its organizers from Laboratory of Industrial Design “llil” promise to explain who we are, how we communicate with each other, how we interact with objects around us, and finally, how the objects around us influence our life. They say: “the global idea of the project is co-existence and interaction of a person and object design”. The main object of #12x12x12 project is the Director’s Chair.

Another cultural project “VYTOKY” will be presented this season for the second time. At the second floor of Mystetskyi Arsenal organizers promise to show an interactive exposition, within which there will be held fashion shows, educational programmes and performances. The Project will be dedicated to the traditional material culture of Ukrainians from the origin till nowadays. Apart from the traditional garments the exposition will also present accessories, music instruments, pieces of furniture, ancient photos from private collections of Ukrainian connoisseurs in symbiosis with works by contemporary Ukrainian artists and object designers, who reinterpret Ukrainian traditions and materials and create conceptual works.

This season the basic location of Ukrainian Fashion Week will also display the results of the second stage of collaboration within Fashion DNA Programme. In September the British Council in Ukraine and Ukrainian Fashion Week set Fashion DNA Programme — a new fashion programme seeking to identify, celebrate and support emerging Ukrainian fashion talent.

What’s more, Ukrainian Fashion Week also prepared a series of special events — lectures, discussions, workshops, consultations and educational events.

This season a famous fashion photographer from New York, the author of the best street-style photos of Anna Wintour, Carine Roitfeld, Anna Dello Russo and of many other fashion personalities will share his secrets of fashion photography.

On how to define the upcoming trends will tell another lecturer and Ukrainian Fashion Week guest — Geraldine Wharry. She collaborates with companies in fashion industry in forecasting future tendencies in design and in creation of a successive innovative product. On her lecture she promises to explain how to improve the existing product and to realize the potential of the new design.

Ukrainian Fashion Week takes place in Mystetsky Arsenal (10–12 Lavrska St., Kyiv) on October 14–20.

Ukrainians illegally detained in Russia: The “Crimean” Case

No man is an island, even if his voice was drowning in dirty mud of lies and captured in the nightmares of tortures. Naturally, when one is striving for a better life for his friends and the territorial integrity of his own nation, there are always those who will stand up and fight for him. No doubt, it is definitely so for the so-called “Crimean case". 

This includes, in particular, Oleg Sentsov (39) and Alexander Kolchenko (25). They were the first two of more than 10 other hostages of the Kremlin powers to have become victims in Russia’s war against Ukraine, most of whose names are unfortunately unknown to activists yet.

What is the most interesting, the detainees' lives, whom Russia considers to be a terroristic network, were even not related to each other before imprisonment. At least, except for supporting the security and territorial integrity of their homeland,  especially in protest of illegal seizure of the Ukrainian Crimea by Russian troops. Indeed, such actions simply couldn't have been ignored and forgiven by the Russian regime, which has long got used to producing fake evidence.

Actually, both Sentsov and Kolchenko were those, who opposed the illusions and supported national unity. Oleg Sentsov himself is a Ukrainian filmmaker, best known for his 2011 film “Gamer”, that successfully debuted at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2012 and a number of other succeeding festivals. But his further work at the feature "Rhino" had to be postponed, because of every effort provided to maintain the goals of the Revolution of Dignity. On the inception of the Euromaidan protest movement in November 2013 Sentsov joined the activists of “AutoMaidan” and during the following 2014 Crimean crisis he was helping in delivering food and supplies to Ukrainian servicemen blockaded at their Crimean bases. He was arrested in his native city of Simferopol (Crimea) in May 2014 at his own home.

The same fate befell student and public activist Alexander Kolchenko, arrested in May 2014 in Simferopol as well. Refusal to accept the citizenship and lies of Russia cost him a detention in Moscow under accusations of terrorism and illegal keeping of explosives. In fact, among other things, he is blamed for setting fire to the office of the United Russia party branch in Simferopol in mid-April 2014.

On August 25, 2015 two Ukrainian citizens, Oleg Sentsov and Alexander Kolchenko, within a showcase trial were given a prison sentence of 20 and 10 years, respectively.

After holding Sentsov and Kolchenko without charges for three weeks, Russia’s Federal Security Service (better known as FSB) in its statement also even forged them into a “part of a terrorist community, to carry out explosions with home-made devices". The FSB accused them of seeking to carry out terrorist attacks on bridges, power lines, and public monuments in the Crimean cities of Simferopol, Yalta, and Sevastopol.

In other words, following the Kremlin's directives, the FSB has simply decided to collate these people standing up against the annexation of Crimea and call them the “terrorist and sabotage group of Sentsov.”

So after the arrest they obviously got almost the same accusations:  p. “A” s. 1, Art. 205.4 ("creating a terrorist group"), p. “A” s. 2, Art. 205 ("terrorist act committed by an organized group of persons by prior agreement), s. 1, Art. 30 (preparation and attempt to commit a crime"), p. 3. 222 of the Criminal Code of Russia (“illegal acquisition and possession of ammunition by an organized group of persons by prior agreement”).

Incredibly the Russian prosecutors have managed to make the whole case even more absurd by further claiming Sentsov and Kolchenko were members of Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary group, Right Sector, which was openly denied even by Right Sector itself. And still it is noteworthy that in pledging for reason and humanity, nonetheless, "the Crimean case" truly demonstrates a fight with a machine far from logic and common sense.

Astonishingly, the very name of the "Sentsov group" today has already transformed into another sign of Ukrainian liberation struggle in the on-going war with Russia; and also of a community of those who suffer for freedom and those who protect them in overcoming the fabricated facts. However, the very fabric, the whole story has been made of, someday soon will choke its weavers, as it has well covered them with shame and disregard of the whole civilized international community.

What is important to keep in mind is that the voices of Ukrainians illegally detained in Russia will sound as long as we are aware of the fact that the destiny of a nation depends on the freedom and rights guaranteed to its citizens. And what can be outspoken today may change the upcoming tomorrow.

 Significantly, the very story of Gennadyi Afanasyev, another Ukrainian activist sentenced to 7 years of prison on December  17, 2014, proves the power of such a word in action. The most stunning about the case is that initially it was Afanasyev's evidence to have become a basis of the charges against Sentsov, Kolchenko and himself as well; even despite a doubt, numerously expressed by his lawyer, Ilya Novikov, as for its unforced nature.

Finally, it was on July 31, 2015, when Gennadyi rejected his previous evidence, speaking as a prosecution witness  at the trial of the former two of his fellow citizens. The young Ukrainian has uncovered the truth and said it was given under pressure. However hard, but it is possible to imagine being beaten with boxing gloves, put on a gas mask closing the air inside or injecting gas into the mask, or even tortured with electric shocks and threatened to be raped with a soldering iron, either deprived of sleep for ten days - all of which is directed at simply vanishing one's human conscience and forcing to sign the necessary investigation testimony. According to Ilya Novikov, that very kind of nightmare was created for Gennadyi.

Nevertheless, it can be seen that true human dignity can never be abolished. As it is impossible to live in the shadows of an illusion, no matter how badly casted by those in fear of reality. That is why after Afanasyev's words, proving the innocence of Ukrainian hostages, it seemed like the whole free and democratic world had joined Sentsov and Kolchenko in their energetic exclaiming of "Glory to Ukraine!"

Ukrainians illegally detained in Russia: The “Chechen” Case

Mykola Karpyuk (50) and Stanislav Klikh (41) are being accused by the Russian authorities of taking part in the first Chechen war (1994-1996) and killing Russian soldiers. Although in fact some activists of the Ukrainian radical movement “UNA UNSO” visited Chechnya and, according to unconfirmed information, were members of armed groups of Chechen rebels, neither Karpyuk nor Klikh have ever taken part in the Chechen conflict. The investigative Committee of the Russian Federation is notorious for accusing Ukrainians in fighting in Chechnya during the first Chechen war. Such fake accusations have absolutely no evidential basis behind it. Recently, even Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatseniuk was mentioned as a former member of a Chechen armed groups. The absurdity of this accusation is obvious and can be easily proved by facts.

Mykola Karpiuk (born 1964) is a Ukrainian civil activist who has been active in politics since the early 1990s. He played an active part in Ukraine’s recent Revolution as part of Right Sector. He was arrested in Russia on March 21, 2014 under unclear circumstances. His family and friends believe him to have been kidnapped  by the FSB from the territory of Ukraine (namely Ukrainian-Russian border in Chernihiv Oblast). He is being kept in an investigative temporary detention center in Grozny (Chechnya). Karpiuk is facing 15 years in prison for the following accusation: Art. 317 (attempted murder of a police officer) and s. 1. Art. 209 of the Criminal Code of Russia (“Creating a stable armed group (gang) to attack the citizens or organizations, and implementation of the management of the group”). Russian investigative bodies claim that he was a participant of the Chechen war. But Karpiuk’s family and lawyer deny this claiming that he indeed was a fighter, but not on the territory of the Russian Federation, he participated in the conflicts of 1990ies in Abkhazia and Transnistria. The Ukrainian consul has not been allowed to meet with Mykola Karpyuk.

Ukrainian historian and journalist Stanislav Klikh (born 1974) was arrested in Russia on August 11, 2014 during a private visit to the city of Orel. After that he was supposedly transferred to prisons in Yessentuki, Pyatigorsk and Grozny, being accused by Russian authorities of participation in the “Right Sector” movement. He is facing charges on the basis of the same “Chechen case” as Mykola Karpiuk. The Ukrainian consul has not been allowed to meet with Stanislav Klikh.  

On September 15, 2015 the Russian court in Grozny officially started the trial in their case. 

Irrefutable Evidence of Russian Armed Aggression in Ukraine

On August 28, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Andriy Taranov and Head of the Security Service Vasyl Hrytsak presented irrefutable evidence of Russian Armed Forces' participation in hostilities in the east of Ukraine and violation of the Minsk agreements. The proofs were gathered by the Ukrainian intelligence and confirmed by the intelligence of foreign states-partners of Ukraine.

Detailed documental materials confirm constant and deliberate violation of the main provisions of the Minsk agreements by the Russian occupation forces concealed by the statements of Russia on the necessity of peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Respective materials were also presented to the diplomatic corps accredited in Ukraine.

According to the Ukrainian security officials, radical change of Russian participation in hostilities in the east of Ukraine took place in summer 2015. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are now confronting not mixed Russian terrorist groups, but structured military units of the Russian regular army. Herewith, Putin's regime keeps denying Russia's involvement in the conflict.

Russian troops in Donbas are directly guided by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Download report from the Security Service of Ukraine: 
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vval5hz0dun6wf6/proof-eng.pdf?dl=0

#StopRussianAggression #UnitedForUkraine