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☆ PNG Assures Australia on Security Ties as Leader Marape Arrives on Visit
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

Australia and the United States have been alarmed by China's security ambitions in the Pacific Islands region since Beijing struck a security and policing deal with Solomon Islands. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Verma urged PNG to reject a security deal with China, in comments reported by the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday. PNG would not strike a security agreement with China, he said in an interview with the ABC broadcast on Wednesday. China "understand clearly where we stand on security in the region and that is with our close traditional partners, Australia, U.S., New Zealand", he added. Even before the riots, he had pointed to law-and-order concerns and said boosting security would help to attract foreign investment in PNG's burgeoning resources sector.

Persons: James Marape, Marape, Justin Tkachenko, Tkachenko, Richard Verma, Tkatchenko, Penny Wong, Kirsty Needham, Michael Perry Organizations: SYDNEY, Papua New Guinea, Reuters, U.S, Sydney Morning Herald, Australian, ABC Locations: Papua New, Canberra, Australia, China, United States, Beijing, Solomon Islands, Port Moresby, U.S, , New Zealand

☆ US Official Urges Papua New Guinea to Reject Chinese Security Deal
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-04 | by ( Feb. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A senior U.S. state department official urged Papua New Guinea(PNG) to turn down China's offer of a potential security pact, warning the Pacific nation that any security guarantee with Beijing comes with consequences and costs. "We've seen that the Chinese commitment in defence or investment comes with a high cost. That's what we'd say to PNG," United States Deputy Secretary of State Richard Verma told the Sydney Morning Herald in an interview published on Monday. Papua New Guinea Foreign Minister Justin Tkachenko told Reuters last week that it was in early talks with China on a potential security deal. PNG has previously said Australia and the U.S. were its security partners, while China was an important economic partner.

Persons: Richard Verma, Justin Tkachenko, Tkachenko, Verma, James Marape, it's, Renju Jose, Stephen Coates Organizations: SYDNEY, Beijing, United States, Sydney Morning Herald, Papua New Guinea, Reuters, Solomon Islands, South Locations: U.S, Papua New Guinea, Papua New, China, Australia, Beijing, Solomon, Sydney

CNN —Russian missiles badly damaged dozens of Ukrainian architectural landmarks, including a historic Orthodox cathedral in the southern port city of Odesa, sparking outrage and prompting President Volodymyr Zelensky to vow retaliation. “Russians deliberately aimed their missiles at the historic city center of Odesa, which is under the UNESCO protection. Some of the other cultural sites damaged include the House of Scientists and Zhvanetskyi Boulevard, Odesa’s Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov said Sunday. Jae C. Hong/APThe cathedral lies in Odesa’s city center, which UNESCO named a World Heritage Site amid the threat of Russia’s invasion. “Missiles against peaceful cities, against residential buildings, a cathedral … There can be no excuse for Russian evil,” Zelensky said.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Odesa –, Oleh Kiper, Hennadii Trukhanov, Jae C, Catherine the Great, Oleksandr Tkachenko, Maia Sandu, Russia’s, Oleksandr Gimanov, ”, Julia Gorodetska, I’ve, Odesa, Zelensky, ” Zelensky, Serhii Smolientsev, Reuters “, Josep Borrell, Oleh Syniehubov, ” Syniehubov Organizations: CNN, UNESCO, Scientists, Zhvanetskyi, Ukrainian, Heritage, Getty, Command, Russian Ministry of Defense, “, Odesa, Reuters, Telegram . Civilian Locations: Russian, Odesa, Odesa’s, Soviet, Ukraine, Russia, Moscow, AFP, Ukrainian, Kharkhiv, Dvorichna, Kharkiv, Chuhuiv, Kupyansk

☆ Their City in Ruins, a Ukrainian University and Its Students Persevere
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | More About Valerie Hopkins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the before times, there were caps and gowns and canapés, but Mariupol State University could offer only a pared-down ceremony on Thursday for the class of 2023 on its campus in exile almost 400 miles from its ravaged home city. Of the 500 graduates, only about 60 attended here in Kyiv to collect their diplomas in person at a new university home that is a work in progress. The rest took part online if they could, scattered by war around Ukraine and abroad. It was a bittersweet moment for the graduates of Mariupol, a city that became synonymous with the war’s brutality and devastation before falling to the Russian invasion last year. Valeriya Tkachenko, 21, continued her studies in ecology and education, even as her husband, Vladislav, underwent treatment and rehabilitation after losing a leg in the battle for Azovstal, the sprawling steelworks where Mariupol’s defenders made their last stand before surrendering in May 2022.

Persons: Valeriya Tkachenko, Vladislav Organizations: Mariupol State, Mariupol, Azovstal Locations: Kyiv, Ukraine

☆ Ukraine's Zelenskiy calls for spending restraint, minister offers to resign
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KYIV, July 21 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged his government on Thursday to keep a tight rein on spending in wartime, in a call that resulted in his culture minister, a proponent of several high-profile and costly projects, offering his resignation. And he asked Shmyhal to "consider replacing" Culture and Information Policy Minister Olexander Tkachenko. "Private and state funding for culture in wartime is no less important than for drones. Tkachenko had also promoted films and television programmes linked to the war against Russia. Reporting by Ron Popeski in Winnipeg and Nick Starkov in Kyiv; Editing by Jamie FreedOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Zelenskiy, Denys Shmyhal, Shmyhal, Olexander Tkachenko, Tkachenko, Josef Stalin's collectivisation, Ron Popeski, Nick Starkov, Jamie Freed Organizations: Russia, Thomson Locations: Cobblestones, Soviet, Winnipeg, Kyiv

☆ Ukraine's Zelenskiy signs law banning import of books from Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KYIV, June 22 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed into law a ban on the commercial import of books from Russia on Thursday, the latest move to reduce cultural ties between the two countries following Moscow's invasion. "I believe the law is right," Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app, announcing he had signed a bill which also bans the commercial import of books printed in Belarus or in occupied Ukrainian territory. The bill, adopted by parliament a year ago, also makes its a requirement to obtain special permission to import books in the Russian language from third countries. Zelenskiy's office said on Twitter that the law would "strengthen the protection of the Ukrainian cultural and information space from anti-Ukrainian Russian propaganda". Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka and Kyiv newsroom, Editing by Timothy HeirtageOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Zelenskiy, Oleksandr Tkachenko, Anna Pruchnicka, Timothy Heirtage Organizations: Twitter, Culture, Thomson Locations: Russia, Belarus, Ukrainian, Ukraine, Kyiv

[1/2] A journalist takes a picture of Saint John the Baptist 6th century Encaustic painting on wood panel, a rare Byzantine icon from the collections of the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum in Kyiv, Ukraine, one of 16 icons that were evacuated in the utmost secrecy to be safeguarded by the Paris... Read morePARIS, June 13 (Reuters) - The Louvre Museum in Paris will exhibit five rare icons evacuated from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv to protect them from the war. The icons, on display from Wednesday, are from a group of 16 extremely fragile works from Kyiv's Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum that were secretly evacuated in May to be safeguarded by the Paris museum. "It's a very symbolic and effective gesture of support for Ukrainian culture," Oleksander Tkachenko, Ukrainian culture minister, told reporters at the Louvre. At the start of the Russian invasion, the collections of the Khanenko Museum were hidden and the historic building is currently empty. The Louvre exhibition, titled "The Origins of the Sacred Image: Icons from the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts in Kyiv", will continue until Nov. 6.

Persons: Saint John the Baptist, Bohdan, Varvara Khanenko, Read, Kyiv's Bohdan, Saint Nicholas, Elizabeth Pineau, Antony Paone, Dominique Vidalon, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: Louvre Museum, Varvara Khanenko Museum, Khanenko, Museum of Arts, Moscow, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: Kyiv, Ukraine, Paris, PARIS, France, Poland, Germany, Saint Catherine's, Egypt's, Constantinople

☆ Counting central Ukraine’s military losses, with a spreadsheet
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Dan Peleschuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Reuters has not been able to independently verify widely varying claims of battlefield losses on both sides of the conflict. But the spreadsheet offers a glimpse into the human cost of the war in one of Ukraine's 27 regions. Ukraine's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Ukraine's losses. According to his spreadsheet, at least 25 soldiers from the 116th Territorial Defence Brigade were killed there that month. "The entire region felt these losses," Tkachenko said.

Persons: Denys Bondarev, Dan Peleschuk, Viktor Tkachenko, Tkachenko, Kyiv's, Poltava's, Istomin, Andriy Karpov, Tetiana, Bondareva, Mike Collett, White, Alex Richardson Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Facebook, 116th Territorial Defence Brigade, Thomson Locations: Poltava, Ukraine, Dan Peleschuk POLTAVA, Sumy, Kharkiv, Russia, Poltava city, Russia's, Soledar, Bakhmut

☆ Exclusive: Biden to sign defence pact in Papua New Guinea, with eyes on China
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Washington is seeking to deter Pacific island nations, which span 40 million kilometres of ocean, from security ties with China, a rising concern amid tensions over Taiwan. Biden will visit PNG capital Port Moresby on May 22 on his way to a summit of the Quad countries - the United States, Japan, India and Australia - in Sydney, the White House has confirmed. There he will meet 18 Pacific island leaders. Biden's meeting in person with Pacific leaders is seen in the region as a major step in restoring trust. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was told by Pacific leaders in Fiji last year: "We have felt at times, to borrow an American term, like a flyover country.

☆ Ukraine's main Catholic church moves Christmas to Dec. 25 in pivot to West
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KYIV, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Ukraine's main Catholic church said on Monday it would move to a new calendar that would see Christmas celebrated on Dec. 25 rather than Jan. 7, amid an effort by Ukrainian institutions to break cultural links to Russia. The move by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), which counts just under a tenth of Ukrainians as worshippers, was welcomed by culture minister Oleksandr Tkachenko. That poll, held in December 2022, showed 59% of over 1.5 million respondents supported moving Christmas celebrations to Dec. 25, when the feast is celebrated in Western Europe. Last month, Tkachenko expressed hope that all of Ukraine's churches would agree to celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25. Until now, all major churches in majority-Orthodox Ukraine followed the Julian calendar, which celebrates Christmas on Jan. 7.

☆ Christmas joy and anger for rival Orthodox churches in historic Kyiv monastery
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Max Hunder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

It has become a focus of a bitter conflict between Ukraine's Orthodox communities, triggered by Russia's invasion. Members of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), Ukraine's largest, piled into the cathedral's ornate interior on Saturday, to hear the first ever Ukrainian-language service in the cathedral. Ukraine's Orthodox Church, in its various iterations, has been subordinate to Moscow since the 17th century. The war, now in its eleventh month, has led many Ukrainians to rally round the OCU, which they see as more pro-Ukrainian than its rival, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). That decision infuriated Russia's Orthodox Church, as Istanbul had previously recognised the UOC, then under Moscow's rule, as the legitimate Ukrainian church.

☆ Restaurants in Ukraine have created 'blackout menus' to cook by candlelight during power outages. They say they're 'not scared of the dark'.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Stephanie Stacey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In the dark, Ukrainian restaurants serve customers by candlelight with special 'blackout menus'. Kyiv-based restaurant manager Dmytro Tkachenko told Insider: "We can adapt to anything." He's visited several restaurants during blackouts, and told Insider that the atmosphere is "completely unique." A post shared by Under Wonder (@underwonder.kyiv)Manager Dmytro Tkachenko told Insider it has designed a reduced — but still "exquisite" — array of dishes that can be prepared without electricity. He told Insider: "What you see develop in Ukraine under these harsh circumstances will be the new normal everywhere."

☆ Thousands of Hasidic Jews defy travel warnings by making New Year pilgrimage to war-torn Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-25 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Hasidic Jews make an annual pilgrimage to Uman, a central Ukrainian city, during Rosh Hashanah. This year, thousands are traveling to Uman despite warnings not to, The New York Times reported. Earlier this month, the Embassy of Ukraine in Israel urged those intending to travel for the pilgrimage not to. The US also warned against traveling to Ukraine for any purpose, explicitly advising US citizens not to travel to Uman for the Jewish new year. Central Ukraine, The Times noted, is not currently as dangerous as cities in the east.

☆ (foto) Utopiile sovietice ruinate. Cum arată infrastructura URSS-ului abandonată peste ani
▼ + stars: | 2021-04-28 | by ( Onixmedia Srl | ) diez.md time to read: 1 min

De la un observator din Kazahstan la submarine din regiunea Volga din Samara (Rusia) și câmpuri petroliere din îndepărtata Republică Bașcortostan. Danila Tkachenko este un fotograf din Rusia care imortalizează pe pelicula sa clădirile abandonate din spațiul post-sovietic. Acesta se evidențiază prin simplitatea ce o redă în lucrările sale, dar și mesajul profund pe care îl transmite.

Locations: Kazahstan, Volga, Samara, Rusia, îndepărtata, Bașcortostan, Danila Tkachenko, sovietic

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