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Photo A photo released by North Koreas state news agency in July purported to show a test of a Hwasong-14, thought to be capable of reaching the mainland United States. Credit Korean Central News Agency, via Reuters

To the Editor:

Re Tracing Success of North Korea to Ukraine Plant (front page, Aug. 14): I was alarmed by suggestions in your article that Ukraine may have supplied rocket technology to North Korea. The article suggests that North Korea has been using an engine called the RD-250, then confirmed that the RD-250 was developed in Russia, and then made the leap that the technology leakage came from Ukraine. But no evidence has been provided to support the claims.

As Ukraines foreign minister and a trained aerophysicist, I want to say that my country could not have been involved in aiding North Koreas missile program.

The production lines for building these types of rockets in Ukraine were decommissioned in 1992. The expertise cannot be carried in the heads of rogue scientists. The instructions are included in complex manuals locked in top-security facilities guarded by our security forces. Not only would it be virtually impossible for criminals to access these manuals, but also any effort could not go unnoticed by our government.

But I am doubtful that North Korea could achieve what it has done without outside help. The global community must now come together to conduct an international inquiry to find out who was responsible.

PAVLO KLIMKIN, KIEV, UKRAINE

A version of this letter appears in print on August 22, 2017, on Page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: Ukraine and North Korea.

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Ukraine and North Korea - New York Times

Russian President Vladimir Putin found another way to twist the knife over Russias annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, as his latest appearance in the region injected politics into a jazz music festival.

During a weekend visit to Crimea, the Russian leader played lip service to bringing people together through music in a surprise appearance at a music event. His arrival in Crimea already sparked disaproval in Kiev, where the governmentviews such visits as violations of Ukrainian law. Russia seized control of the region in 2014, but internationally it continues to be recognizedas Ukrainian.

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The visit was a severe violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine by Russia, Ukraines Ministry of Foreign Affairs concluded in a statement. Such crossings into Crimea from Russia without permission from Kiev are regarded as a violation of Ukraines lawand one that has earned other public figures, such as the former prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, travel bans from Ukraine.

It was Putins appearance onstage at the Koktebel Jazz Party music event on Sunday that found a new way to encroach on Ukrainian claims, through his polite greetings and musings about the worth of music.

Music is a kind of Esperanto, an international language that needs no translation, a language that brings people together, Putin said in a video broadcast by the Kremlin. We are grateful to our guests, the musicians and also the festivals organizers. Congratulations on this wonderful festival.

The event at which Putin spoke, although a music festival, has a political significanceof its own that parallels Russia and Ukraines conflicting claims over Crimea.

I believe this wonderful festival was held for the first time 15 years ago, in 2003, Putin said as he welcomed the audience from the stage. Since then, 150 leading musical groups from all over the world have performed here, and this time you will be able to listen to 10 glorious groups, 10 jazz bands who are our friends.

Ukrainian fact checkers were quick to pick up the issue. The long-running festival that Putin referred to is not quite the event he attended. The Koktebel Jazz Festival is a Ukrainian-held event which has been forced to relocate from Crimea to Ukraines Odessa region since the annexation. It began running in Crimea 15 years ago, and its latest installment is scheduled to take place on Ukraines Black Sea coast this weekend.

The event Putin attended on Sunday is the subtly titled Koktebel Jazz Party, running a week before the festival whose legacy Putin claimed, award-winning Ukrainian news site Ukrainska Pravda noted.

The jazz party, which has been running only since 2014, went ahead under the curious tagline Same place, same jazz.

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti backed up Putins claims over the festival, arguing that the annual Koktebel event has merely split between Russia and Ukraine and questioned if it is appropriate to name an event after Crimeas Koktebel if it is held elsewhere.

But then why create a new brand, why pour efforts into creativity when you can just keep restating that Koktebel is right here, outside Odessa? the festival review chided sarcastically.

A spokesperson for Koktebel Jazz Festival was not immediately available to comment.

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Vladimir Putin's Trip to Crimea Jazz Festival Angers Ukraine - Newsweek

Ukraine has removed all 1,320 statues of the communist revolutionary Lenin following a government drive to rid the country of Soviet-era symbols.

Monuments to the Bolshevik leader have been dismantled in every town, village and city controlled by the Kiev-based government that brought down pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych three years ago, according to officials.

The anti-Soviet initiative, which also orders the renaming of streets and cities, was made law by President Petro Poroshenko in May 2015, according to The Times.

Many places have been named after Ukranian heroes, however a Lenin Street in Zakarpattia, a western region, was renamed Lennon Street in a tribute to the Beatles.

Volodymyr Viatrovych, director of the Institute of National Remembrance, confirmed that every Lenin statue had been removed along with 1,069 other Soviet monuments.

Despite the policy, Communist relics still remain in the eastern parts of Ukraine controlled by Kremlin-backed forces.

According to United Nations figures more than 10,000 have died in Ukraine after Russia took control of Crimea in 2014.

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Ukraine has removed all 1,320 statues of Lenin | The Independent - The Independent

The new U.S. special envoy for efforts to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Kurt Volker, met with a Kremlin aide on August 21 in the Belarusian capital, Minsk.

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry said on Twitter that Volker and Vladislav Surkov, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin's point man for the conflict in eastern Ukraine, were meeting behind closed doors.

The U.S. State Department announced on August 18 that Volker and the Russian representative would discuss "Russian-Ukrainian relations."

Volker's talks with Surkov kick off three days of U.S. diplomacy on the war between Russia-backed separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine, which has killed more than 10,000 people since April 2014.

From Minsk, Volker will head to the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, to meet with senior government officials on August 22 to discuss "the way forward in Ukraine," the State Department said.

On August 23, Volker will join U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in meetings with senior Ukrainian government officials to discuss "the next steps in diplomatic negotiations to restore Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," the department said.

After Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was pushed from power in February 2014 by massive pro-European protests, Russia seized control of Ukraine's Crimea region and fomented separatism in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Russia-backed separatists seized parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, which border Russia, and the war has persisted despite a pact known as Minsk II, a February 2015 agreement on a cease-fire and steps to resolve the conflict.

Sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union have not prompted Russia to abandon its support for the separatists or fulfill its commitments under the Minsk agreements.

Tillerson named Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, as the U.S. special representative for Ukraine negotiations in July.

In an interview with Current Time TV in July, Volker said that ending the fighting will require agreement by all sides on two major principles -- the "territorial integrity of Ukraine, security of all the people" -- and a change in Russia's approach. Current Time TV is the Russian-language network, run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.

He said that the United States is considering sending Kyiv weapons to help government forces defend themselves against Russia-backed separatists. To date, the United States has provided only nonlethal military aid.

Relations between Moscow and Washington have been driven to a post-Cold War low by disagreements over issues including Russia's aggression in Ukraine, its role in the war in Syria, and its alleged interference in the U.S. presidential election in 2016.

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US Envoy On Ukraine Conflict To Meet With Russian Counterpart In Minsk - RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

The 26th annual Ukrainian Folk Festival, an outdoor summer concert celebrating Ukraine's independence, is being staged Aug. 27 from noon to 8 p.m. in Horsham, Pennsylvania.

The full essence of Ukrainian folk art, song, music and dance can be experienced from the rich color and deep symbolism of the pysanka (Ukrainian Easter egg) to the rhythm and power of hopak, an ethnic dance, to the Kolomiyka polka.

A sampling of events includes an outdoor summer stage concert and show from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. and a public social dance from 4:30 to 8.

Also featured will be homemade Ukrainian foods and baked goods, a barbecue pit, standard picnic fare, a kids' fun area, vendors grove, arts and crafts displays and bazaar, refreshments, and live re-enactments.

Among the dancers, musicians, singers, ensembles and re-enactors that will perform include the Voloshky Ukrainian Dance Ensemble, Vox Ethnika Orchestra, violinist Innesa Tymochko Dekajlo, singer-songwriter Iryna Lonchyna, Iskra Ukrainian Dance Ensemble, Living in Song Chamber Choir, and Banner of Jasna Gora.

The artistic unity at the event is meant to underscore the theme United Ukraine: United with US, honoring the United States' support of Ukraines commitment to a self-determined democratic future, and the creation of permanent bonds of friendship between the two countries. This years festival honors these special relationships and developments.

The festival will be held at the Ukrainian American Sport Center at Lower State and County Line roads in Horsham.

Admission is $15; students are $10 and children under age 15 are free. Parking is free.

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26th annual folk festival honors the culture of Ukraine - The Intelligencer