News in Ukraine

It’s very interested to be in another country and being there long enough to learn about the current events. After the big lightning storm we watched on the new, in Russian, at all the damaged crops and buildings after the large hail and high winds. I’m also heading a lot about the revolution that took place here in 2004. The government was accused of rigging the election when the Russian-leaning side declared another victory. The now President of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, was allegedly poisoned. Investigators deemed that Yushchenko, the then leader of the opposition, which is more pro-European Union, was just suffering from food poisoning. After face disfiguration and a month of protest in mayden Nezalezhnosti (Revolution Square) in frigid temperatures, there was finally another vote. Yushchenko is now President, and the much discussed Yulia Tymoshenko is now Prime Minister.

Tymoshenko is not a typical politician, and is frequently scrutinized by the media for her appearance. She is a tight lipped and moody woman who stands up to such politicians as Putin. She frequently wears racy short skirts or tight blouses. She has made vocal ambitions about wanting to become President eventually. You might also remember in the news when Russia demanded Ukraine pay almost five times more for it’s natural gas. When Ukraine refused last winter, Russia turned it off. Now they have negotiated an increase of only “double” the price. Ukraine continues to negotiate with the Kremlin while searching for alternative energy sources. Europe pressures Ukraine from the other side, because most of their resources from Russia also flow across Ukraine. Right now, Tymoshenko is negotiating with the European Union (Ukraine has ambitions of joining the EU by 2015, but has a long way to go) for financial aid to pay for the gas supply. Russia is also refusing to budge on a more affordable price or any loans for Ukraine, and the Prime Minister meets frequently with her counterpart, Putin. It’s a difficult situation because Ukraine wants and needs a cheaper price for gas, Europe needs gas to flow across Ukraine but doesn’t want to offer aid, and Russia demands a higher price but won’t offer a loan to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine can’t seem more pro-Russian or more Pro-EU.

Ukraine is also hosting the Euro Cup in 2012. The event is huge in Europe, bigger than the NHL playoffs in Canada, and almost as big as the World cup. This is a big deal for everyone in this country, and a huge step towards being recognized as a stable country close to joining the EU. There are still lots of issues to work out before the event in 2012 and rumours that the organizers will pull the event out of Ukraine. Only one city has a stadium sufficient for the event, while Kiev’s old 100,000-seat Olympic stadium has been completely gutted with the renovations severely delayed.

There are also 20,000-30,000 stray dogs in Kiev. The problem has to be dealt with before the organizers of the Euro Cup will allow this city to host any games. The dogs are everywhere, and many are believed to have rabies. There are rumours that the city has offered about $10 CDN per dead dog, and basements of abandoned buildings have been found to contain hundreds of dead animals. The city denies the allegations and an investigation is under way. The organizers and the city are also working towards a plan to spay and neuter the animals as a permanent and sustainable solution to the problem. Removing or killing the animals will only allow for other dogs to come into the areas, because there would be an increase in available food. The city can only afford to fix 5,000 animals at a time, because of limits of vets and shelters required. Other European cities have found the only strategy that works is to shock the population by fixing them all at once within a very short time frame. There are currently no facilities available that would support this strategy and time is running out before Euro 2012.