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UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT SACKS YET ANOTHER CONSTITUTIONAL COURT JUDGE... Viktor Yushchenko has signed a decree dismissing Constitutional Court Judge Volodymyr Ivashchenko for a "breach of oath," the presidential press service reported on its website, president.gov.ua, on May 10. Ivashchenko was appointed to the 18-member panel by former President Leonid Kuchma in 2001. In early May, Yushchenko sacked two other Constitutional Court judges, Syuzanna Stanik and Valeriy Pshenichnyy, also charging that they violated their oaths (see "RFE/RL Newsline," May 2, 2006). Meanwhile, Constitutional Court spokesman Ivan Avramov told the "Ukrayinska pravda" website, pravda.com.ua, on May 10 that the court continues to examine the constitutionality of Yushchenko's April 2 decree that dissolved the Verkhovna Rada and scheduled early elections for May 27. According to Avramov, the court has not yet begun an examination of Yuschenko's decree of April 26, in which he rescheduled early polls for June 24. JM

...AND CALLS FOR RECOGNITION OF WWII NATIONALIST GUERRILLAS. Speaking at a wreath-laying ceremony in Kyiv on May 9 to mark Victory Day, President Yushchenko called for the recognition of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) veterans as combatants of World War II, Ukrainian media reported. The UPA, established by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) in 1942, fought both Soviet and Polish guerrillas as well as German troops in Nazi-occupied Ukraine, pursuing the ideal of an independent Ukraine. UPA fighters also fought against Soviet and Polish troops after the end of World War II. UPA commander Roman Shukhevych was killed in a skirmish in western Ukraine in 1950, while OUN leader Stepan Bander was poisoned by a Soviet KGB agent in Germany in 1959. "The time has come to tell each other in an honest and brotherly manner that everyone who has fought for Ukraine deserves eternal respect and thankfulness. Therefore I believe the endeavour to settle the legal status of those who fought for Ukraine and its independence in 1917-24, 1928-39 and 1941-56 will at last be completed and embodied in life," Interfax-Ukraine quoted Yushchenko as saying on May 9. JM