With the kind permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, InfoUkes Inc. has been given rights to electronically re-print these articles on our web site. Visit the RFE/RL Ukrainian Service page for more information. Also visit the RFE/RL home page for news stories on other Eastern European and FSU countries.

Return to Main RFE News Page
InfoUkes Home Page

UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION MOBILIZES KYIV RESIDENTS FOR ANTIPRESIDENTIAL PROTESTS... Some 3,000 people took part in a rally on Independence Square in Kyiv on 10 September organized by the Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc, the Socialist Party, and the Communist Party, UNIAN reported. The three opposition leaders -- Yuliya Tymoshenko, Oleksandr Moroz, and Petro Symonenko -- called on Kyiv residents to back the protest campaign that is scheduled to begin on 16 September and aims at ousting President Leonid Kuchma. JM

...AS SEVASTOPOL RESPONDS WITH PRO-KUCHMA RALLY. Some 4,000 people rallied in Sevastopol on 10 September to express support for President Kuchma and his initiative to reform the political system in Ukraine, UNIAN reported. In an adopted resolution, the demonstrators condemned "the provocative actions of the so-called opposition oriented toward discrediting the president of Ukraine and destabilizing the sociopolitical situation in Ukraine." JM

OUR UKRAINE LEADER TO PARTICIPATE IN 16 SEPTEMBER PROTEST. Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko said during an Internet chat hosted by the "Ukrayinska pravda" website on 10 September that he and "his political partners" will be on Independence Square in Kyiv on 16 September to take part in the antipresidential protest. Commenting on the democratic forum that Our Ukraine plans to hold on 15 September in Kyiv, Yushchenko said its goal is to find an answer to the question of how to overcome the political crisis in Ukraine. JM

UKRAINIAN PRO-PRESIDENTIAL GROUPS CONTINUE TO CONSTRUCT PARLIAMENTARY MAJORITY. Parliamentarians of the nine pro-presidential groups -- the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs-Labor Ukraine (41), Ukraine's Regions (37), Social Democratic Party-united (36), European Choice (18), Democratic Initiatives (18), Popular Democratic Party (17), Power of the People (18), Ukraine's Agrarians (16), and People's Choice (15) -- as well as some nonaffiliated deputies, have been given blank forms to declare their willingness to join a parliamentary majority, UNIAN reported on 11 September. Parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said leaders of the nine pro-presidential groups would meet with Our Ukraine head Yushchenko later that day to discuss the formation of a "viable" parliamentary majority. Meanwhile, on 10 September Yushchenko said during the Internet chat hosted by the "Ukrayinska pravda" website that he does not conduct talks on the formation of a parliamentary majority with the pro-presidential nine, but with individual parliamentary groups. JM

UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT PAYS TRIBUTE TO VICTIMS OF 11 SEPTEMBER 2001 ATTACKS. The Verkhovna Rada on 11 September honored the victims of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States with a minute of silence, UNIAN reported. The parliament adopted a resolution on establishing a memorial plaque in New York with the names of Ukrainian citizens who were killed in the attacks. JM