More than 85 years ago, while caught in the upheaval of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, Ukraine struggled to remain independent, but eventually withered under the Red Army's dominance and became one of the original constituent states of the U.S.S.R.
Soviet authority proved fickle for the region.
Although Vladimir Lenin allowed a certain amount of autonomy, Josef Stalin's heavy fist came down hard on Ukraine. The dictator requisitioned all the area's grain for other Soviet nations, which caused famine in Ukraine, leading to millions of deaths.
World War II proved no less devastating to the nation, with the area serving as the main battleground for the German advance during 1941 and 1942, and the Russian advance of 1943 and 1944. Further trauma swept across the ravaged landscape as 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews were systematically massacred by invading Nazi troops.
Things seemed to improve in the post-war years and into the 1960s when Leonid Brezhnev -- a native Ukrainian -- served as Soviet president. But the region once again suffered stunning and unprecedented devastation in 1986 when a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded, causing widespread contamination and issuing a long-term health and environmental crisis.
In 1991, just months after the U.S.S.R. began to crumble, Ukraine declared its independence, became a charter member of the Commonwealth of Independent States and began to slowly shrug off the shrouds of oppression and economic depression.
Building Relations
A year after the Soviet Union shattered, the United States initiated the National Guard State Partnership Program, which paired certain states with specific countries -- particularly non-NATO nations -- with the deceptively simple goal of improving bilateral relations.
As part of the program, California's National Guard was aligned with Ukraine.
Although Guard members received "something of a cold response in the beginning," according to Lt. Col. Terry Knight, director of public affairs for the California National Guard, the situation has drastically improved.
In fact, the program is now celebrating a decade of interaction addressing the environmental, security and infrastructure issues that continue to cripple socio-economic progress in the region.
As a part of the effort, new technologies that in the United States have allowed for better mobile communication between security personnel and emergency agencies; safer examination of cargo entering and leaving ports; and efficient and thorough environmental cleanup, are finding their way to Ukraine.
During the past 10 years, delegations of Guardsmen and various volunteer experts have made several trips to Ukraine, and last year, a small contingent of Ukrainians spent two weeks in California.
The Ukrainians stayed at the California Highway Patrol's training academy in Sacramento, and visits to the United States-Mexico border in San Ysidro and the Port of Oakland were included in their extremely busy agenda.
In the Ukraine, national security is in its infancy and organized crime is rife. Security and border issues continue to be of great concern for the country, which is surrounded by Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Moldova.
Tensions along the Ukraine-Transnistria border are especially high, due in large part to a vast cache of arms currently under the tenuous control of the former Russian 14th Army, which was deployed in the region for years. Following the U.S.S.R.'s collapse, most conscripted members of the unit headed home, but others stayed on as a kind of nonaligned, ungoverned, mercenary force.
Ostensibly providing protection to the Slavic people of Transnistria -- a rebel state in eastern Moldova -- the former soldiers and their weapons have Ukrainians, Europeans and the United States uneasy.
Nervous Nations
Throughout communism's woeful reign, and as Eastern Europe faces the bleak realities of reformation, economic hard times have become part of everyday life.
In Transnistria, the siren song of fast and easy cash has snared many of the former 14th Army elite who are now in the weapons sales business, according to Lt. Col. Mitch Brown, National Guard Bureau project officer.
With an estimated stockpile of nearly 50 tons of Soviet arms, including everything from guns and tanks to surface-to-air missiles and possibly weapons of mass destruction, business is good -- far better than U.S., Ukrainian and European officials would like.
Because most illegal arms pass -- at some point -- over the nearly 300 mile long Transnistria border and into western Ukraine headed for the port of Odessa, border security has become crucial.
In fact, border security issues were the driving force behind the Guard's latest trip to Ukraine in June 2003.
Brown said the Ukraine-Transnistria border is unsecure and a big concern. "Ukrainian border guards are not paid much," he said. "They don't have good working conditions, and we're really trying to help."
That help came in June in the form of training from members of the California National Guard, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department and the Department of Justice.
Because Ukrainian border guards -- once part of the Soviet military machine -- have recently been "civilianized," most have no basic law enforcement training, Brown said.
"We asked ourselves how best we could help," Brown said. "We decided to provide that training -- and that is just a beginning."
The contingent of 15 U.S. law enforcement specialists put dozens of Ukrainian border patrol agents through their paces with a series of training activities designed to enhance security techniques and increase area safety.
With so much at stake in Ukraine and surrounding areas, training is only the beginning. Recently the U.S. government presented Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma with a Mobile Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System (Mobile VACIS). The truck-mounted gamma-ray imaging system will screen contents of trucks, containers, cargo and vehicles traveling through the port of Odessa.
The Guard hopes to visit the region again soon to offer further training and provide Ukrainians with much needed 21st-century technology, such as mobile communication devices, electronic surveillance equipment and more.
The United States certainly understands Ukraine's strategic geography. It not only boasts a major seaport, but is also bordered by several politically important states. Perhaps most importantly to Western European allies, the country acts as a corridor for oil and natural gas transfer from Russia and the Caspian Sea region to the European market.
In fact, in July 2003, the Ukrainian government agreed to allow a 60 percent increase in the amount of Russian oil transported through Ukraine in the next 15 years. But the agreement currently is stalemated as Russia attempts to manipulate the use of Ukraine's newest oil pipeline -- the Odessa-Brody.
Sadly border security and arms sales represent only one wave of problems in the troubled area.
The United States also is beginning to address the complex issue of U.S.-Ukrainian organized crime. The California National Guard is particularly concerned with and adept in addressing the problem.
Northern California -- particularly the Sacramento area -- includes a large number (nearly 100,000) of Ukrainian immigrants. A small minority of them are involved in an organized crime network operating between the Port of Oakland and Odessa, according to Brown.
Part of the overall problem includes car theft.
"A very small percentage -- near 1 percent -- of cargo leaving the Port of Oakland is screened," said Brown. "Outgoing cargo just isn't as big a worry as incoming cargo."
The widespread illegal exportation of goods from California became startlingly clear to Brown and members of his Guard exchange program when they visited Ukraine in June.
"We actually saw obviously stolen cars that still had their California license plates," Brown said. "It was incredible."
U.S. officials hope to crack down on such activity, and Ukrainian officials likewise look forward to ending black market operations. The Mobile VACIS exchange may help accomplish these goals.
Strengthening Relations
Over the next year, the California National Guard intends to make at least a dozen Ukrainian sojourns with scores of citizen soldiers and civilian experts to help address a number of issues.
Among the most important concerns is environmental cleanup.
Beyond the decimated landscape surrounding Chernobyl, Ukraine's environmental issues include a Soviet industrialization legacy that left significant air pollution and unchecked industrial runoff.
The country remains heavily reliant on coal, and since becoming an independent nation, has seen an influx of automobiles -- most lacking catalytic converters. Another issue inherited from the Soviet era is the large amount of toxins now leaking into the soil from buried fuel reserves. The problem is so bad in some areas, citizens claim they can use well water to fuel their cars.
The United States has committed to spending millions to help initiate an environmental cleanup. Kuchma, who has attempted to bring about several reforms designed to better regulate and deal with environment issues, has welcomed U.S. assistance.
National elections will be held in 2004, however, and Kuchma -- who has been president since 1994 -- is ineligible to run for another term. The United States is anxious to maintain friendly relations with the next administration.
For members of the California National Guard, reasons for continuing its partnership are much the same, but with a decidedly more human skew.
"This isn't just a grip-and-grin for photographs. This is really something happening," said Knight. "We want to help, and we're able to do something really beneficial. It's just amazing."
The program seems to be improving the connection between the United States and Ukraine in many ways -- or at least so it seems to Maggie Hallahan, a photographer who tagged along on the Guard's border security training mission.
"Peace Shield came out of the U.S. Congress looking at the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries saying, 'Here is an opportunity for our civil government to interact with theirs -- we can build a peaceful friendship that could help shield us from costly tensions in the future.' It appeared a good beginning on the California/Ukraine front has started," Hallahan said. "It was an eye-opening experience to see these two countries cross over cultural boundaries and start working together."
Brown and Knight agree, and both say they are more than ready to face both the achievements and challenges upcoming excursions to Ukraine are likely to bring.
"There's a lot to be done," said Brown simply. "We're looking forward to helping do it."
