Here's a new item from RFE/RL's news desk:
Ukraine Retracts Appointment Of 'Homophobic' Family Ombudsman
Ukraine's government has retracted the recent appointment of Adrian Bukovynskiy to the post of family ombudsman after activists complained he is biased against homosexuals.
Bukovynskiy's appointment to the post had been announced on February 24.
But the Ukrainian government's website announced on March 8 that Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk was reopening a search to fill the post.
The website said Bukovynskiy was never confirmed as the government's family ombudsman because he failed to pass a background check.
Bukovynskiy's nomination sparked harsh criticism from gay rights activists in Ukraine who compiled material from 2013 showing he had publicly expressed "homophobic" views.
Those statements included calls to defend "traditional values," as well as condemnation of laws protecting the rights of gays in the European Union and the United States.
Bukovynskiy also publicly defended legislation in Russia banning what lawmakers there have deemed as "gay propaganda."
Bukovynskiy had said he would endorse a similar law in Ukraine.
With reporting by khpg.org
As we mark International Women's Day, here's a timely video report from RFE/RL's Multimedia Department:
Ukraine's Female Soldiers Fight For Equality On The Battlefield
Around 100 female recruits are training at a camp near Lviv to become full-time members of the Ukrainian army. They don't know whether their unit will be sent into combat, but these soldiers are already winning their first battle -- proving that they have the same skill and courage as their male counterparts. (Halyna Tereshchuk, Marian Pavlyk, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
