THE HON. STEPAN POLTORAK
was Ukraine's Minister of Defence since October of 2014. He held the position of Commander of Ukraine's Internal Troops and was the first Commander of the National Guard of Ukraine after it was reestablished in March of 2014. He holds the rank of General of the Army of Ukraine.
GEN. VIKTOR MUZHENKO
was Chief of the General Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since July of 2014.. Muzhenko served in combat operations against Russian-backed forces in the Donbas in 2014. Earlier, he served as Deputy Head of the Counter-terrorism Center at the Security Service of Ukraine. He is the recipient of numerous state honours.
YURIY ANTIPKIN
is a medical doctor, professor, and academician at the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine (NAMSU) where he serves as Director of the Institute of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology established by the government at the NAMSU.
OLENA BURLAKA
is a doctor, researcher, and professor at the Ukrainian Military Medical Academy. She is one of the leading researchers at the Institute of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology at the NAMSU in Kyiv and the founder of the Ukrainian Military Women's Health Initiative.
OLEH CHABAN, M.D. (COOPERATING PARTNER)
is Head of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the Faculty of Medical Psychology of the Bogomolets National Medical University in Kyiv. Professor Chaban holds both an MD degree as well as a PhD.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK (RET)
is an American four-star general who served as NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, where he led Operation Allied Force in the Kosovo War, saving 1.5 million Albanians from ethnic cleansing. Clark graduated first in his class at West Point and completed his BA and MA in philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He is a former US Presidential candidate, author of four books on foreign policy and the military, and the recipient of numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
MUSTAFA DZHEMILEV
is former Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People and a Member of the Ukrainian Parliament since 1998. He is the recognized leader of the Crimean Tatar National Movement and a former Soviet dissident. He is currently Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for Crimean Tatar Affairs.
SERGIY DZERDZH
is a doctor, political scientist, academic, politician, and military affairs expert. He is the recipient of numerous awards of distinction. Currently he is Leader of the Ukrainian Republican Party.and Chairman of the "NATO-UKRAINE" Civic League in Kyiv, Ukraine.
LEONID KRAVCHUK
is Ukraine's eminent statesman, credited for overseeing Ukraine;s peaceful transition from Soviet rule to independence. .Mr. Kravchuk served as the first President of Ukraine from 1991 to 1994; Chair of the Civic Association "For Ukraine in NATO", a non-governmental organization advocating Ukraine's accession to NATO. He is Ukraine's Envoy to the Trilateral Contact Group.
GÖRAN LINDBLAD
is a Swedish politician, human rights activist, and practicing dentist. He was Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and Chair of the Political Affairs Committee of PACE. He is Past President of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience. He served as Member of the Swedish Parliament until 2010, representing the constituency of Gothenburg.
YEVHEN MARCHUK (d. 2022)
was a military, security, and global affairs expert. He held the position of Prime Minister, first Head of the Security Service of the independent Ukrainian state, Presidential candidate, Minister of Defence, and Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council. He was an early driving force for Ukraine's defence reform and an outspoken advocate of Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration. He recently served as Ukraine's Envoy to the Minsk Trilateral Contact Group.
VOLODYMYR OHRYZKO
is a decorated Ukrainian diplomat, political analyst and former cabinet minister. He served as Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador to Austria, and Deputy Secretary of the National Defence and Security Council of Ukraine. He currently Heads the Centre for Russian Studies in Kyiv.
DMYTRO PAVLYCHKO
is a Ukrainian poet, historian, translator, scriptwriter, diplomat, politician and public figure. In 1989, he was one of the founders of the People's Movement of Ukraine (Rukh), playing an instrumental role in Ukraine's modern pro-democracy movement. He helped draft the text of Ukraine's 1991 Independence Declaration. He has served as Ambassador to Poland and Slovakia.
YURIY SHCHERBAK
is a Doctor of Medicine, a former politician, a prolific award-winning author, publicist, screenplay writer, and former Minister of Ecology. As a distinguished diplomat, he has served as Ambassador to Israel, the USA, and Canada. He is an elected member of the World Academy of Art and Science headquartered in California.
YURI SHYMKO
is a Canadian politician, community leader, and public activist. He served as both a federal and provincial Member of Parliament. He held the position of President of the Ukrainian World Congress and Secretary General, during which time he presented the President of the United Nations with an historic Memorandum on the Decolonization of the USSR, He has served as the chair of several federal adjudication tribunals.
VADYM SVIRIDENKO
is the President of Ukraine's Commissioner for Rehabilitation of Veterans of the ATO. He was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine in recognition of sacrifices made while serving as a medic in Ukraine's eastern war zone, as a result of which he lost all four limbs. Following intensive rehabilitation and perseverance, Mr. Sviridenko went on to become a bronze medalist in the 2017 Invictus Games in Toronto.
VOLODYMYR VASYLENKO
is a Ukrainian diplomat, human rights expert, and Ambassador to the EU, NATO, and Great Britain. In 1990, he wrote the first draft of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine. He was Ukraine's Representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council and was elected UN General Assembly judge in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague. After Russia's invasion of Crimea, he was Head of the Public Commission for the Investigation and Prevention of Human Rights Violations in Ukraine.
USF (Ukraine) Honorary Chairs
Ukraine Support Fund | 620 Spadina Ave., Toronto, Ontario M5S 2H4 | Tel: 647-749-1866 | office@ukrainesupportfund.org
Founding Directors
DR. CHRISTINE DERZKO MD, FRCSC
is a distinguished doctor and academic. She is Associate Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Internal Medicine (Endocrinology Division) at the University of Toronto - St. Michael's Hospital. In 2012, she was appointed by the Government of Canada to a three-member physician team to asses the health of the then-incarcerated Yulia Tymoshenko, former Prime Minister of Ukraine. She is a founding member of SIGMA & the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions.
VITALY PORTNIKOV
is one of Ukraine’s leading journalists and political analysts. He currently hosts programs on EspresoTV and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. He is a contributor to leading news publications in Ukraine, Poland, Israel, Russia, and Estonia. He has served as editor-in-chief and President of the reformist TVi channel. In 2013, he was one of the organizers of the EuroMaidan movement. From 2015 to 2018, he served as Member of the Supervisory Board of the Ukrainian National Council for TV and Radio Broadcasting. The recipient of numerous awards, including “Journalist of the Year”, Portnikov is an impassioned defender of Ukrainian independence and an expert on Ukrainian Jewry in the post-Soviet era.
MYKOLA SIRUK
is the editor of the International Section of The Day Ukrainian daily newspaper. He is a prolific translator of countless articles for various newspapers and magazines from English to Ukrainian and Russian. He maintains several blogs and is the former news editor of the Ukrainian Defense Express News Agency. His interests include government policies in relation to NATO, the EU, and the US, as well as Ukraine's foreign relations. He is a graduate of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute with a Bachelor of Engineering, specializing in Computer Systems Technology.
Council of Honorary Advisors
Military Women's Health Initiative
Inaugural Partners
Our founding directors, experts and advisers bring their diverse experiences from current and past roles in government as well as local and international organizations, including PACE, the OSCE, the United Nations, and NATO. They bring knowledge and expertise from various sectors, including parliamentary, military, medical, and academic institutions, as well as foreign-policy institutes, the media, and non-governmental institutions.
LISA SHYMKO - President
is a Canadian political scientist, journalist, & communications expert, working in the corporate and NGO sectors. She serves on the boards of several humanitarian and advocacy organizations, has written articles on foreign policy and Russia's information warfare and weaponization of religion for the Globe and Mail, Maclean's magazine, The American Spectator, and The Day. She has appeared as a commentator on CTV, CBC, Global News, Sun News; managed a weekly current-affairs tv program; and coordinated a Journalists Exchange Program for the International Renaissance Foundation. She holds an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Toronto.
RUSTEM IRSAY - Vice-President
is a Canadian businessman and President of the Canadian Association of Crimean Tatars and Member of the Coordinating Council of the World Congress of Crimean Tatars. He was instrumental in proposing Bill C-306, which sought to recognize Stalin's 1944 deportation of Crimean Tatars as a genocide.
BOZHENA IWANUSIW - Treasurer
is National President of the Ukrainian Canadian Social Services (Headquarters). She serves on the board of several community organizations, and has overseen several Canadian-sponsored social welfare and social assistance programs in Ukraine.
ANTON SESTRITSYN - Secretary
was born in Simferopol and holds a Degree in Public Affairs and Policy Management from Carleton University (Specializing in Human Rights). He is the former Program Coordinator of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group. He currently serves as a Communications Adviser in Ottawa.
WHO WE ARE
Independent Advisors
COL. DR. VSEVOLOD STEBLIUK
is a decorated doctor, author, National Hero of Ukraine and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In August of 2014, while serving as the medical officer for the Myrotvorets Voluteer Battation, he saved over 80 soldiers during the bloodiest attack by the Russian military, in what came to be know as the Ilovaysk massacre. He subsequently served as Advisor for Medical Issues to Ukraine Minister of Defence and is currently a Vice-Dean at the Ukrainian Military Medical Academy in Kyiv.
LISA SHYMKO
is a political scientist, journalist, and human rights activist. She has written and spoken extensively on issues related to Canadian foreign policy, NATO, and Russian expansionism. Her humanitarian and technical assistance work have included chairing the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Centre, Guardian Angels Ukraine, and currently, President of the Ukraine Support Fund in Canada. She is the recipient of several awards and state honours in Canada and Ukraine.
Ukraine Support Fund
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