The Mariupol Drama Theatre before (photo by Mykola Swarnyk) and after (Reuters / RFE/RL) the Russian invasion
Mykola Swarnyk for NP-UN
In the last issue of the Globe and Mail for the year 2022, there was a 100-question quiz about the most memorable events of the passing year. Interesting, that six of them were connected to Ukraine. At the same time, the U.S., which was the most mentioned country except Canada, was mentioned eight times. Jeffrey Simpson, author of eight books and the former national affairs columnist for The Globe and Mail, prepared this salad of information for the paper’s readers, to give them an opportunity to check how much they remember the 2022.
Below are the questions in the quiz, which were related to Ukraine
2. Which country was perceived to be the most corrupt in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index?
a) Ukraine b) Russia c) Mexico d) Brazil e) China
Yes, correct, Russia! It is corrupt and it wants to corrupt Ukraine, and if Ukraine doesn’t surrender, then just destroy it.
7. How do you spell the first name of Ukrainian President Zelensky?
Exactly! Volodymyr! That’s it! The same as in the Saint Volodymyr Institute (we wrote about it in the previous issue of the New Pathway – Ukrainian News).
12. What’s the Wagner Group?
The correct answer is: a Russian private-military company. Sometimes referred to as a paramilitary organization, mercenary network or private army.
Hm, that sounds like a weak definition. More like a “terrorist organization” – the U.S., the EU and Canada have already recognized it as such.
18. What is the Ukrainian town near Kyiv where many bodies of civilians were found after the Russians retreated?
True. It is our pain and sorrow, it is called Bucha. Just months ago, the quiet and easy-going suburb town, a little bit like Newmarket or Kleinburg near Toronto, it is now devastated and plundered.
62. What was the southern coastal Ukrainian city that lost an estimated 90 per cent of its buildings, including the city centre’s beautiful theatre, after Russia laid siege to it?
Mariupol, another place of horror and destruction. The whole city was leveled to the ground. The shelter in the Drama Theatre with the huge word ДЕТИ (Children) written in Russian on it, was bombed by the “liberators”, killing many civilians, mostly women, children and elderly people. Visiting Mariupol just one year before the war, I took the picture of that not very famous at that time provincial Drama Theatre. What an epitome of cruelty and barbarism!
64. In March, only four countries, apart from Russia itself, voted against a UN General Assembly resolution condemning the invasion of Ukraine and calling for an immediate withdrawal of troops. Name the four countries.
Syria, North Korea, Belarus, Eritrea.
It is hard to imagine a worse company of regimes where Russia finds itself in now.
This article is written under the Local Journalism Initiative agreement
Share on Social Media
