понеділок, 28 грудня 2015 р.

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.

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

6. #MyUkraineIs strong-willed people.

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.

вівторок, 15 грудня 2015 р.

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.