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I'm not as good a runner as I used to be. This revelation came somewhere between the ninth and first floors of a murky, bomb-ravaged building located at the edge of no-man's land in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. I began scrambling downstairs after our sentinel, positioned nearby, yelled "Run!"

I did not ask why, nor linger to consider how only minutes before we had inched up these very same stairs, stepping carefully in each other's footsteps to avoid setting off any booby traps secreted to maim, mutilate or murder anyone scouting this abandoned edifice. Children's toys, full bottles of alcohol and other seemingly innocuous household items can be the disguised agents of your destruction, something I learned a few days earlier at the Ukrainian Armed Forces Demining Centre in Kamyanets-Podilsky.

No matter. I ran for my life. It was only after I got outside and turned a corner into the comparative safety of shadows behind the building that I was told a Russian tank had emerged from the distant rubble, manoeuvring to take a shot. We didn't offer the enemy a chance for target practice.

What surprised me was that I experienced no fear. Instead I was quite resigned to whatever might happen. Indeed, the strongest emotion I had was a kind of desperate hope that I didn't do anything to endanger my companions, members of an elite Ukrainian military intelligence unit. So I was pleased when I got out of that ruin without failing my friends, even though I was quite winded, my big toes bruised badly despite the protection of combat boots.

Like I said, I'm not a runner anymore.

We moved to a nearby firing position, heavily sandbagged, from where my companions opened up at the enemy's front line. Crouching, I snapped a few photographs, including one of "Okun," the squad machine gunner. His pseudonym means "Perch." This troop regularly penetrates the enemy's front lines to gather intelligence and sow fear in the hearts and minds of the Russian invaders and their local collaborators.

The latter are dismissively called vatniks after the padded jackets worn by the Russian military, considered little more than a dull-witted breed of drunks and criminals, and certainly no match for the professional Ukrainian soldiers who routinely best them on the battlefield. Even so, Ukrainian special forces soldiers usually do not give their names or like to be photographed to lessen the chance of the Russians targeting their loved ones, many of whom live close by in the Donetsk Oblast or a few hours away in Kharkiv.

Ukrainian spetsnaz groups have infiltrated the occupied territories right up to the Russian Federation's border. Their enemies do the same in the opposite direction. The Ukrainians know their foes have no scruples when it comes to murdering women and children to further Moscow's ongoing campaign to destabilize Ukraine.

As I questioned these troopers, I learned many have been fighting since the Russians invaded in February 2014. For them this is not a civil war or an anti-terrorist operation, even if Kyiv's politicians pretend otherwise. Instead they see themselves as soldiers in a war of independence, struggling to secure Ukraine's proper place in Europe rather than allowing their homeland to be swallowed by a resuscitated Russian empire, as prescribed by Vladimir Putin, the KGB criminal in the Kremlin.

Since Ukraine's soldiers understand what they are fighting for, their morale remains excellent. A Ukrainian spetsnaz officer in Luhansk Oblast told me:

"In early 2014 I just wanted to stay alive. By 2015- 2016 I was fighting to recover occupied Ukrainian lands. Today I think of myself as a wolf. I know the boundaries of my territory. I do not want anyone else's. I know how to kill. And I believe every Ukrainian woman, whether a child, a mother, a wife, or a grandmother, is a woman I must protect. And so I will pursue the enemy until every one of them is killed or goes back where he came from. Not one of them will be allowed to occupy even a metre of Ukrainian land, except for those whose bodies will rot in our chornozem soil, fertilizing it as the corpses of all of the past invaders of Ukraine have done. There can be no quarter. We did not invade their country. They attacked ours. Now we will make them pay for it."

That credo comes with a price. A Russian sniper killed Okun the next day. He was 20, a volunteer who joined up in December 2015, an only son. When the news came I realized I had forever captured his last photograph. I made sure his mother got it. Her son, Maxim for that was his name died bravely in battle. Although I could not attend his funeral I believe this good young man rests in peace having sacrificed himself in a just war, defending Ukraine. There is a glory in that.

Also on HuffPost:

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Okun Was 20 When He Sacrificed Himself To Defend Ukraine - Huffington Post Canada

VIDEO: New coal deal affects several...

PORT CLINTON, Pa. - Last month, a major deal was struck between a Pennsylvania coal company and a Ukrainian utility.

The arrangement has huge ramifications for local coal mines and for a Port Clinton company called Reading & Northern Railroad.

Andrew Muller, Jr. is the CEO of Reading & Northern, and is a train entrepreneur.

He told 69 News with a laugh, "I played with trains ever since I was a kid, so...I don't want to say I'm playing with trains now but it's sort of close, right?"

According to Muller, business is good.

"Healthy would be an understatement. It's tremendous," he said.

His trains move all kinds of freight.

"If you're using it, we're moving it. From sugar to paper, to chemicals," he said.

They also move coal from local mines.

"This year? I mean we could do a million tons," he said.

That is about double the usual amount, in part because of a big deal recently announced by the Trump administration.

It's hard to even imagine this, but coal pulled out of the ground in our area is being shipped to Reading, down to Baltimore, and then to Ukraine.

"We're talking about approximately 700,000 tons of coal," said Ernie Thrasher, CEO of XCoal Energy and Resources.

His company won the lucrative contract with the Ukrainian utility Centrenergo PJSC, which generates electricity.

The U.S. government helped facilitate the deal, but he says that's where it ends.

"There's no government money involved, no government subsidies involved. It's a true commercial transaction," he told 69 News.

While the deal helps his company, and local mines, it's also part of a foreign policy strategy to lessen Russian influence over Ukraine.

"There's a history of Russia using energy as a foreign policy tool," he said.

"This will free the Ukrainians of that obligation to succumb to that pressure from the Russian coal mining companies."

That all comes back to Andrew Muller.

To help move all that coal to Ukraine, they need his trains.

"We don't own any of the coal, we don't buy or sell any of it. Our role is strictly to move it," he said.

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From Pennsylvania to Ukraine with coal - WFMZ Allentown

On Sunday, Aug. 13, the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village will be celebrating Ukrainian Day in a big way.

David Makowsky, director of the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, said its a fantastic day to come out and enjoy Ukrainian culture with the family.

While they celebrate Ukrainian Day each year, this year will be special, according to Makowsky.

In honour of Canadas 150 birthday, the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village is opening a special exhibit they call Where We Came From.

Where We Came From is a youth art exhibit which had more than 400 submissions, from which, the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village selected the best examples from multiple categories.

Its a chance for the youngest generations of Albertans to share their families story of making Alberta home, Makowsky said.

He said there will be a concert at 2 p.m., featuring Ukrainian dancers, and a number of multicultural organizations contributing to the concert, as well. Therefore, the concert will include Romanian and Polish dancers, Euphoria Band, Korinnya Choir of Calgary, and the Prince Charles Fiddlers.

Its an opportunity to share the spotlight, Makowsky said. Were very proud of that.

The Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village will also be opening five buildings for the public to discover in the Galician Settlers Farmstead for Ukrainian Day. The opening ceremony is scheduled for 9:15 a.m., and Makowsky said it is a great chance for visitors to learn more about the Ukrainians who came from the crown land of Galicia before the First World War. Visitors will be able to see the culture, tradition and costumes that made the Galician settlers so unique, Makowsky said.

Makowsky continued: Ukrainian Day is an opportunity to look back at the past.

What else can visitors expect from attending Ukrainian Day at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village?

Food, Makowsky said.

There will be a pancake breakfast running from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., as well as traditional and more contemporary Ukrainian dishes later on.

Its just a great day for visitors from Sherwood Park and from the greater Edmonton area to drive 25 minutes down the highway to come visit us.

Make sure to arrive early, however, Makowsky warned, calling Ukrainian Day their busiest day of the year.

The event runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Makowsky recommends getting there around 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. for the full experience.

There are more than 345,000 Albertans of Ukrainian descent, and the city of Edmonton has the largest percentage of Ukrainian population out of any large city in Canada.

Some have been here for generations, and others are new arrivals, but Makowsky said he thinks Ukrainian Day is a great way to bring both groups together and celebrate Ukrainian heritage together.

robsont2@mymacewan.ca

twitter.com/TrevorJRobson

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Celebrate Ukraine this weekend - Sherwood Park News

U.S. military experts are lining up on either side of a debate on whether to supply lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine, a move that would mark a turning point in U.S. policy on Kyiv's 3-year-old conflict with Russian-backed separatists.

Supporters of the move, which is under active consideration by President Donald Trump's administration, argue that it is long overdue. The current policy of supplying only non-lethal military gear has neither deterred Russian aggression nor created an opening for cooperation with Moscow to resolve the conflict, they argue.

"I don't think Russia has given us a window for more positive cooperation on Ukraine," said Molly McKew, an independent analyst with consulting firm Fianna Strategies. "Maybe other places. But, I certainly don't see it.So, I think it's time to reconsider what our strategy has been and what that means.

"And ... Ukraine is not asking for foreign troops to come and stand beside them," she told VOA's Ukranian Service. "They're asking for the ability to fight the war in the way that they know they need to fight."

Watch: U.S. Considering Lethal Defensive Arms to Ukraine

Other advocates argue that sending a message of strength would be timely after Russia retaliated against U.S. sanctions by expelling U.S. Embassy staff from diplomatic property in Moscow and demanding their numbers be reduced by 755 people by September 1.

But opponents of the move worry that supplying lethal weapons to Ukraine could escalate the conflict and provoke retaliation from the Kremlin, which has already denounced the possibility.

"I think it would make much more sense to re-think some of the aid and capabilities that are being given ... and not plan them for a short-term fight, since major battles in the fronts are now passed," said Michael Kofman, a researcher at CNA Corporation, a private research organization.

He said the U.S. should "think much more about the medium and long term of the Ukrainian military and the kind of Ukrainian military we would like to help them build."

Kurt Volker, the Trump administration's special envoy to Ukraine, rejected the argument that lethal arms sales would provoke Russia during a July 25 interview with Current Time, a Russian-language network jointly operated by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and VOA.

"I hear these arguments that it's somehow provocative to Russia or that it's going to embolden Ukraine to attack," he said. "These are just flat out wrong. First off, Russia is already in Ukraine, they are already heavily armed. There are more Russian tanks in there than in Western Europe combined. It is a large, large military presence. And, there's an even larger military presence surrounding Ukraine from Russian territory."

Analysts on both sides agree that Russia's overwhelming military advantage over Ukraine means the supply of U.S. weapons would provide more of a political and morale boost for Kyiv than a defense one.

Nevertheless, Moscow is likely to raise the issue with Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, when it gets the chance. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said the special envoy is expected to visit Russia for talks on Ukraine in the near future, although U.S. officials have yet to confirm the trip.

"It will be interesting because Mr. Volker has been in a number of capitals already including Kyiv, Paris, Berlin, London," Lavrov said. "We would be interested to see what impression the U.S. special envoy has on the current state of affairs."

During a trip to Ukraine last month, Volker visited front-line areas in the east where Ukrainian troops have been in a stand-off against Russia-backed separatists for the past three years.

He blamed Russian aggression for the violence, which has killed more than 10,000 people since 2014, when Russian forces seized Ukrainian military bases in Crimea, annexed the Black Sea peninsula, and began covert support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

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Experts Debate Pros and Cons of Lethal Arms for Ukraine - Voice of America

Alexander Polegenko / associated press Ukrainian armored vehicles are prepared for loading onto a train at a railway station near Simferopol, Crimea.

Alexander Polegenko / associated press Ukrainian armored vehicles are prepared for loading onto a train at a railway station near Simferopol, Crimea.

Charles Kupchan: Why giving Ukraine lethal weapons would be a massive mistake

The Trump administration is in the midst of making a decision on whether to transfer lethal weaponry to Ukraine. This move would be intended to give Ukraines military the ability to impose new costs on the Russians and their proxies engaged in a separatist revolt in the countrys eastern region of Donbass, thereby persuading the Kremlin to give up the fight.

But the result would likely be the opposite - an escalation in the conflict that would lead to further losses of Ukraines territory and compromise its political stability. Russia enjoys insurmountable military superiority over Ukraine. The United States should not encourage Ukraine to engage in an escalatory confrontation with Russia. Washington knows full well that Ukraine cannot prevail.

The urge to give Ukraine lethal arms - most likely in the form of anti-tank weapons - is understandable. Since 2014, the Russians have occupied and illegally annexed Crimea and sustained a separatist rebellion in Donbass that has claimed more than 10,000 lives. Moreover, Russia has engaged in these acts of aggression in order to block Ukraines desire to leave Moscows sphere of influence and join the community of Western democracies.

Under these circumstances, the United States should continue helping Ukrainians defend themselves by assisting with defense reforms and training Ukrainian forces. So why not take the next step and give Ukraine lethal weapons?

For starters, the notion that Russian President Vladimir Putin would give up his hold on Donbass if a few more Russians come home in body bags is to dramatically misread the Kremlin. Putin is a master at manipulating the Russian public, especially when it comes to the Ukraine conflict and would hardly fold his hand if Russian casualties were to increase.

On the contrary, he would likely double down, blaming the United States and Ukraine for the intensified fighting and taking steps to offset the improvement in Ukraines military capability. The Russians have so far effectively countered Ukrainian military successes - in some instances, retaliating with devastating effect. When Ukrainian forces in the summer of 2014 advanced into Donbass and took the strategically located city of Ilovaisk, Putin promptly called in his own crack troops, which quickly decimated the Ukrainian unit that had taken the town.

Should Putin decide to escalate in response to a U.S. decision to transfer lethal weapons to Ukraine, Washington would have few arrows in its quiver. Even if the Trump administration were to take another step up the ladder of escalation, Russia would go at least one step further. Russia shares a 1500-mile land/sea border with Ukraine, making the Kremlin far more invested in the fate of Ukraine than Washington. Russia has greater interest in putting skin in the game.

Rather than playing to Russias principal strength - its military advantage over Ukraine - the United States should continue to play to Russias main vulnerability - its economic weakness. On this front, the United States and its European allies, not the Kremlin, hold the cards. The loss of income due to the low price of fossil fuels and the international sanctions imposed in response to its aggression in Ukraine have taken a serious toll on the Russian economy. Keeping sanctions in place and, if necessary, increasing them, is the Wests best source of leverage for pushing Russia to a diplomatic solution. Congress seems to realize as much, having just imposed on the White House legislation tightening U.S. sanctions against Russia.

Sending lethal weapons to Ukraine has one further downside - it would cause a rift between the United States and its main European allies. Germany and France have been leading diplomatic efforts to find a diplomatic solution for Donbass - and both have long opposed sending lethal weapons to Ukraine because of its potential to escalate the conflict.

The United States and Europe have moved in lock step since the beginning of the conflict, closely coordinating non-lethal military assistance to Ukraine as well as economic sanctions against Russia. Trans-Atlantic solidarity has arguably been the Wests strongest suit, confronting Putin with a united front and keeping Russia in the penalty box despite pressure from parties on both sides of the Atlantic to drop sanctions and reap the accompanying commercial benefits.

Europeans are already on edge due to Congresss recent sanctions legislation, which imposes measures not coordinated with the European Union and that have the potential to cause undue harm to European companies. If Washington decides to head off on its own and send lethal weapons to Ukraine, solidarity on Ukraine may well come to end.

Putin has been working hard to achieve just this end. Washington would be making a serious strategic mistake if it hands to the Kremlin the trans-Atlantic bust-up for which Moscow has long been hoping.

The conflict in Ukraine promises to poison Russias relations with the West until a diplomatic resolution is reached. But sending lethal weapons to Ukraine is a recipe for military escalation and trans-Atlantic discord. The best way to bring peace to Ukraine is through transatlantic unity aimed at maintaining Russias political and economic isolation until it makes a deal at the negotiating table.

Courtesy of The Washington Post

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Charles Kupchan: Why giving Ukraine lethal weapons would be a massive mistake - New Haven Register