Dear Followers of Ukraine Perspectives.

I wish you a warm and happy holiday. Be it Christmas, Hanukah, Solstice, and one of the many wonderful holidays of light. Be at peace.

I’ve been traveling, and then there is Thanksgiving, and then there is December, and then there is…. I am sorry that I haven’t had a chance to update you on Ukraine and Russia. The war continues and people continue to suffer.

Ukrainian President Zelensky is coming to Washington today, his first trip outside the country since the war began in February. He is here to meet with President Biden and make a speech to a joint session of Congress. This visit is a sign to Russia of America’s continued strong support of Ukraine. The latest Congressional budget proposal has set aside $44 billion for Ukraine. (Yowza!) Today President Biden will announce an aid package for Ukraine that includes the most advanced U.S. ground-based air defense system, the Patriot missiles. Patriot missiles are one of the most sophisticated weapons the United States has provided Ukraine. It can knock down Russia’s ballistic missiles, unlike other systems the West has provided, and can hit targets much farther away.

But, it is coming on Christmas…

And, I thought I’d share a Christmas story about a Ukrainian song, “Carol of the Bells.” What? I thought that was just one of those catchy Mannheim Steamroller songs. Well, as a matter of fact, “Carol of the Bells” was written by a Ukrainian composer and brought to the United States in 1922 and was sung by a Ukrainian choir at Carnegie Hall. Last month Carnegie Hall celebrated the 100th anniversary of that event bringing in the Shchedryk Children’s Choir from Kyiv.

The story of the song has a dark history since its beginning. Sad as it may be, it is easy to see the parallel of Ukrainian refugees today and the little baby of Christmas as well as the parallel between the history of 100 years ago and today. Ukrainian composer, Mykola Leontovych called the song “Shchedryk” (generosity) to celebrate the New Year.

“Bountiful evening, bountiful evening, a New Year’s carol”- the song told of the fluttering innocence of a bird and the hope it brings.

As “Shchedryk” became popular in the late 1910s, Ukraine was hit by the Bolshevik Revolution which morphed into the Russian Civil War and then the creation of the Soviet Union. “Shchedryk” was viewed as a nationalist song based on Ukrainian folk lore and sung in Ukrainian. Leontovych became famous for his song to the point he was forced to escape from Kyiv to western Ukraine. In 1918, Ukraine declared its independence, hoping the world would recognize its new borders that were redrawn under the peace treaty ending World War I. Symon Petliura, the new Ukrainian president, hoped a worldwide tour of Ukraine’s best singers would help their cause. So a delegation led by conductor Oleksander Koshetz embarked on a years-long tour that took them to Vienna, Prague, Paris, and finally New York City in 1922.

Sadly, on Jan. 23, 1921, Leontovych had been murdered during a visit to his parents’ home by an undercover Russian agent as part of Russia’s effort to wipe out Ukrainian culture. This murder parallels a murder of another Ukrainian musician, the head conductor of Kherson’s top theater - Yurii Kerpatenko, who was fatally shot this October after he refused to take part in an online day of music organized by Russian-backed local officials.

The Children’s Choir rehearses in Kyiv before the Carnegie Hall performance - in the dark imposed by Russian missiles that have wiped out the power grid.

The choir singing at Carnegie Hall.