Ukraine is often said to be a country torn between east and west. Gabriel Gatehouse explores the political rifts still keenly felt today

Streetmarket in Lviv

I was browsing through a street market in the western city of Lviv recently and, on a bric-a-brac stall, among the usual busts of Stalin and the hammer and sickle lapel badges, I caught sight of a German Iron Cross.

It had a swastika emblazoned in the middle of it, and as I picked it up - it was black and surprisingly heavy - a shiver literally ran down my spine.

Green tourism is not afraid of the crisis if the Verkhovna Rada does not replace it with "agrotourism"

By Inna FILIPENKO, The Day

As recently as ten years ago almost nobody dealt with green tourism in Ukraine, but now 37 estates in seven regions are inviting guests to spend their vacations in the countryside. The Union for Promoting Rural Green Tourism is convinced that this is quite an achievement for us. For example, there are 80 green estates in Switzerland, but they began to develop rural tourism a long time before us.

"The Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation since 2005 has given more than $ 1 million to support orphans and abandoned children in Ukraine. The girls at an orphanage in the Lviv Region run by the Miles Jesu sisters (seen in photo), for example, have received major support every year since 2006."

I am a Ukrainian woman in a happy marriage with a U.S. citizen. Our story is a part of a modern trend. Many of the girlfriends I used to hang around with in Kyiv, as well as my own sister, are now raising children in Warsaw, Munich, London, Toronto, Denver, Oklahoma City and Los Angeles; our friends in the Washington, D.C., area are mostly mixed couples of Ukrainian women married to American men.

Overview of political events of the week

March 23

The Liverpool-owned striker says the Zhovto-Blakytni will try to play good football against the Three Lions...

The Three Lions, who top group six having won their first four fixtures, host the Zhovto-Blakytni in a World Cup qualifying match on April 1.

Old players never die: they just go to Milanello. But while signing for AC Milan seems to have rejuvenated the 33-year-old David Beckham, the 32-year-old Andrei Shevchenko continues to moulder.

Extra-time: Andrei Shevchenko is fighting to keep his place in the Ukraine national team

The Ukraine forward has started just two league games this season, and there are, for the first time, suggestions that his international career may be coming to an end.

Wishing the best of times to an England opponent does not come easily, particularly on the eve of a World Cup qualifier that could nudge Fabio Capello's side even closer to the 2010 jamboree.

A king among strikers and a prince among men: Ukraine's Andrei Shevchenko Photo: AFP

Yet an exception must be made for a Wembley guest whom Steven Gerrard calls "a king among strikers and a prince among men".

Dobrynska honoured "Sportsperson of the Year" in Ukraine and getting back to intense training

Nataliya Dobrynska in Talence (Hans van Kuijen)

Olympic heptathlon champion Natalia Dobrynska celebrated her recent award "Sportsperson of the Year" in Ukraine, recovered from illness and got back to intense training in preparation for the outdoor season.

To those whom this concerns as well as to those it doesn't seem to concern!

I, as a Canadian citizen of Ukrainian background, am deeply concerned over CBC's decision to disband RCI's Ukrainian Section. Slowly but surely, since the last cutback of the program in November of 2004 to a mere 1/2 hour, it seems that CBC has had on its mind to rid itself of a program that had earlier been broadcasted on a daily basis for over 50 years!!

By Jim Coyle

Sometimes, from out of the daily grind of governing, the posturing and theatrics, the run-of-the-mill taxing and spending, the routine announcing and denouncing, there arises a transcendent moment.

Yesterday, it occurred when MPP Dave Levac left his seat and met in the middle of the Legislature floor colleagues Frank Klees and Cheri DiNovo.

There, the three legislators shook hands, hugged briefly (if perhaps just a bit awkwardly), then turned to lead the chamber in applauding the Ukrainian-Canadian visitors in the galleries.