kivni, these are the results of the telephone survey, in 15 minutes we will have a journalist club, we will have olga len, natalya ishchenko and marina danylyuk yarmalayeva, don't switch, let's meet and talk about everything, in ukraine on december 25 for the first time together with europeans and separately from moscow , how will the christmas holidays be celebrated this year, i'm jaferu merov - this is bbc news ukraine. for and against, more than a million ukrainians officially supported the transition to new dates for christmas holidays, but there are also those who will continue to celebrate christmas in january. who, when and how will celebrate christmas during the war. so, christmas in a new way, this year

ukraine celebrates religious holidays on new dates for the first time, and for the first time christmas will be on december 25. talks about these changes have been going on for the past few years, but president zelenskyi signed the corresponding decree in july, and before that, the majority of bishops of the orthodox church of ukraine voted for the transition on the arch at the bishops' council. data also show that the majority of ukrainians are in favor of changes. surveys last year by the ministry of culture through the diya application, asked ukrainians when they want to celebrate christmas on december 25 or january 7. in general, more than 15 million ukrainians joined the survey then, and the majority, more than 900,000 people , voted for december 25, but many, almost 400,000, also voted for january 7. by the way, before the full-scale war in the 19th year against. almost 65% of ukrainians were mine, and almost

200,000 wanted to celebrate on both dates. it should be added that the ukrainian greek catholic church also switched to the new style, but the uoc did not before the calendar reform joined let's hear what ukrainians think about the changes and when they will celebrate. yes, we will celebrate with our family for the first time this year on december 25. andriy smirnov, a frequent guest of our broadcasts on the topics of church relations and religion, i congratulate you andriy, here is your... opinion: to what extent

will the new date of celebrating christmas this year unite the country and will it unite at all? mamanite fears, the transition to the new calendar in ukraine took place quite painlessly. both ukrainian churches, orthodox church of ukraine, ukrainian the greek catholic church synchronously switched to the new calendar from september 1 this year, and there were no major protests or splits in these churches. ago. i think that both the ukrainian greek catholic church and the ukrainian orthodox church, as well as evangelical christians, roman catholics, will celebrate christmas together this year, and this will undoubtedly contribute to the consolidation of the ukrainian nation. but you said that the transition was painless, but still, according to polls, 17% of ukrainians will celebrate christmas on january 7. ah, or whatever there is resistance and is it big, and if you know, in which regions in? countries? and

there is a difference not only in the regions, because in western ukraine there is traditionally the greatest support, in the east it is the least, there the faithful are mostly indifferent to the calendar issue, instead there is a division between churches and denominations, if 80% of the faithful of the ukrainian greek catholic church fully support and 5% do not support, then the level of support in the orthodox church of ukraine is over 60, 10% do not support, but... most advocates of preserving the old calendar of believers of the ukrainian orthodox church in unity with the moscow patriarchate, there only 25% support the new calendar. i also want to add that the armed forces of ukraine were also called to celebrate christmas on december 25. the day before , a video appeared on the page of the ground forces, on which the military reminds about the changes in the calendar, and that from now on ukraine celebrates one of the biggest. religious holidays

together with the western world, this is what the ukrainian military says about new traditions, this year i will celebrate with my family, in general i plan on the 25th. in december, as it was before , before we were forced on december 7, oh, january, of course i celebrate, i will celebrate in the trenches on the 25th and the seventh, let's get back to the conversation, andriy smirnov is with us on the phone dear, mr. andriy, we just heard from the military, in your opinion, to what extent did russia's war against ukraine affect church changes? definitely. in fact, this calendar reform became possible only thanks to the fact that we have a war and the priorities and values ​​of citizens have changed, when every day we hear about shelling and victims, then of course the calendar issue becomes secondary, just as guilt accelerates

the processes, if such a reform had been carried out in peacetime, it would probably have dragged on for years, and so we see that both churches made a decision, carried out preparatory work and... carried out the reform that the believers had been talking about for a long time on the eve of every christmas , they raised this issue because they wanted to celebrate together with the western world, because, after all, the old calendar and the so-called old christmas on january 7 are somehow associated in the minds of citizens with moscow, with russia, where it is still preserved in the russian orthodox church, and therefore the ukrainian orthodox church of ukraine , has the old julian calendar, but you want to celebrate together with the whole civilized western world, you mentioned russia, but meanwhile the ukrainian orthodox church, which was in unity with the moscow patriarchate, did not join the reform , why do you think? actually, i would explain it for two reasons: firstly, it is the traditional conservatism of this church, believers and

priests of the ukrainian orthodox church in unity with the moscow patriarchate, there indeed, the level of religious belief is quite high , where tradition, loyalty in form, ah... is very large, on the other hand, the orthodox church of ukraine, especially the ukrainian greek catholic church, are open churches, open to changes, they are more flexible, and they are ready to carry out reforms. the second reason, which is still an effort to celebrate these holidays together with moscow, together with the moscow patriarchate, because, well, let's be honest, among the believers of this church there are a lot of believers with pro-russian views, who sympathize with russia, who... even patriarch kirill, and this also affects the fact that they do not want to change anything, and you said that the war speeds up the processes, but in your opinion, how long will it take for the new calendar to take root in ukraine, in your opinion, is it about years or

decades? i think there will be a very short transition period because we see that people today will be celebrating, maybe twice in some families. holidays, the same christmas and december 25 and january 7, and this is normal, because a certain time must pass, a little, two or three years, in order to get used to it, to adapt to these changes, but each parish could choose whether to stay on the old or on the new calendar, but in the orthodox church of ukraine, out of more than 800 parishes, only 120 decided at their meetings to stay on the julian calendar, mainly in galicia, and i also know that... the parishes that joined the orthodox church of ukraine moved from the uoc-mp to the ocu, in cherkasy, in lutsk, but they remained on the old calendar, and probably also over time, 5-10 years will pass , and sooner or later they will switch to the new calendar, after all it happened in kyiv-pechersk, for some time there was the julian

calendar, in the dormition cathedral they served the orthodox church of ukraine on the old calendar, but the believers themselves asked. priests to switch to the new calendar and now christmas in the lavra will be on december 25. thank you for the conversation, religious scholar andriy smirnov was on our air. thank you again. and due to the full-scale russian invasion, many ukrainians will not be able to celebrate christmas at home. these are military personnel, doctors and ukrainian refugees. next is the story of the ukraine choir, which created the royal opera house in britain, and among others choir members are ukrainian refugees, in the bretvortskyi cathedral on the day of war losses and grief, the majestic sound of harmony and hope, these are the voices of the choir ukraine, many of its

members fled to great britain after the invasion of russia, among them inna, an english teacher who left ukraine, when the school where she worked was bombed, now she is... far from her husband and son. i feel like i'm living a double life. so one part of me is sad and unhappy. i was constantly watching. sing traditional folk songs that she has known since childhood, but at the same time it is bitter, because it

reminds her of the family and friends from whom she left. it is so difficult that i cannot experience some very important moments with my family, for example, the birth of my first nephew and his first... for many, the choir has become like a family, because it is an important connection with the homeland, but its members never for a moment do they forget that their loved ones are still at war. in one way or another, everyone i know is connected to the war, either directly defending on the front lines, or helping in whatever way they can.

the choir represents the resilience of this christmas, and none of this project diminishes the power of music to make difficult times even a little bit nicer. one of the singers on the way from london showed me three young singers on her phone. she's a vocal teacher in ukraine, she said all these kids... their school was bombed, and then she said she just talked to her husband, who's on the front lines. christmas is a very emotional time for many, but some people don't have their loved ones around, so coming together to sing bunison as one choir at this time of year is a way of healing for them. displaced because of the war, but connected together. the dream that one day they will return home to peace. i

can't even imagine this day. the biggest dream of my life will be to gather with my relatives at the same christmas table and just hug them. the history of the ukrainian choir ukraine and about the dreams and hopes of ukrainian refugees and the power of music. so let me remind you that from this year ukraine will celebrate christmas in a new way, for the first time on december 25. talks have been going on for the past few years, but the relevant decree zelenskyi signed in july of this year, and last year the ministry of culture asked ukrainians when they wanted to celebrate christmas through the diya application. december 25 or january 7, and the majority voted to

celebrate christmas on december 25. and subscribe to our pages on social networks so that you don't miss the most important news, we are on facebook, instagram and tiktok, on youtube, you can watch our news release if you missed it on air, and... also leave a comment about when and how you will celebrate christmas, and share yours with us thoughts, we carefully read all the comments and that's all we have time to tell today, look for more stories on our website and social media pages, and we will be back on air on wednesday, december 27 at 9 p.m., take care, have a nice and happy holiday and a peaceful heaven!

greetings, friends, live broadcast of the tv channel, the verdict program continues, my name is serhiy rudenko, i congratulate everyone and wish everyone good health, today in the program. the course of hostilities and the situation at the front, the results of 2023 and what to expect in the coming year. power and sole responsibility, with whom is zelensky ready to share the consequences of his decisions? quarrels on facebook are unnecessary, there is no corner against zaluzhnyi, what does zelensky think about this scandal? friends, during this broadcast, we are conducting a survey, today we are asking you this question: does ukraine need a government of national unity? yes, no,

please vote on youtube, it's pretty simple there, if you have an opinion on this matter. you can leave in the comments under this video, if you are sitting in front of the tv and have a smartphone at hand, then please call on 0800-211381 if you think ukraine needs a government of national unity, if not 0800 211 382, ​​call, all calls to these numbers are free. today, the verdict of the best female journalist of ukraine is on the guest list. olga alen, political columnist, author. political spectator, journalist, author and host of youtube channels cernet and showbiz. marina, i congratulate you. thank you for joining our conversation. natalya ishchenko, journalist, head of the balkan observer project. natalya, i congratulate you, thank you for being with me today

by us good evening. because we ask our viewers. about the government of national unity, and we are asking this for a reason, because kmis conducted a survey, and they asked about who they wanted to see at the head of the government of national unity, whether this government of national unity is needed, and in the context of what zelensky said, that he has five or six people in his team, perhaps it makes sense to ask our guests and guests what they think about the government of national unity, whether it is at all timely. do you need to do this? let's start with olga len. do you think ukraine needs a government of national unity? well, these recent speeches of zelensky showed that in principle there are such issues that are painful in principle, and it is difficult, probably, for him to be solely responsible for them, and therefore there should be some kind of more

general consensus, that is, when it is not a decision one person, and you can... share the responsibility, but these conversations, you know, now about the government of national unity, to a certain extent we have, you know, such a spherical horse in a vacuum, because the first thing you can see is that the current president absolutely does not understand what he needs it for, he simply does not see it, he does not understand it, he does not perceive it, he does not understand how to live with it, that is , he does not know how to act in conditions when it is necessary to negotiate with some a wider circle of people than his friends, the closest ones in the office, and that's why i think that this is an absolutely hopeless story now, that is, it's simply impossible, because the president can't do it, he starts talking about the fact that then we have to dissolve the parliament, why dissolve the parliament, you already have enough there votes, and you have enough deputies

to vote for a different configuration of the government, well, but he clearly does not want that, and even more so, if... there is a division of political responsibility between different political forces, then these political forces are part of a coalition , and the coalition then you have to negotiate with them realistically, you understand? here is a question about agreements, marino, in your opinion, is it possible to create a government of national unity, because one way or another, this issue will obviously be one of the cornerstones in 2024 , because it is nearby. or with those difficulties that will be in ukraine, it is necessary to have unity, unity of power, and not five or six managers, including the air defense of ukraine, and this composition of the team, the ukrainian team, should be much wider, you have my word, in

fact, i would really like for us to talk about the government of national unity, well, at most on the morning of 2 february 25, 2022, but then it was an immature question, and okay, there on the first day we wrote it all off as fear, but in the first days of a full-scale invasion should have taken such serious decisions, but at the last press conference, volodymyr oleksandrovich zelensky very clearly showed that he does not want to share power with anyone, that he is satisfied with the so-called five or six managers, and he even mentioned the names of these five or six managers. true... i heard only four, he didn't name two, these are shurma and tatarov, but it should be understood a priori that these are also his managers, and he believes that they are very effective managers, although most of them are not at all. there is no legal status, that is, these are people who do not have the right to negotiate and lead negotiations and conclude agreements, but when we look, for example, at the polls

of the kmis, for example, there is a very interesting breakdown of who people would like to see in the government of national unity, well, let's be honest , there is, for example, a politician like petro oleksiyovych poroshenko, he will not be allowed into any national... unity government, because i will remind you of the rhetoric of the current government, when, for example, it was said that three opposition channels were turned off, and i clearly remember how mishenka the stranger said: "well, what about you, well, we'll let it go that espresso channel, that fifth channel, that direct one, that's petro oleksiyovych will conduct self-publicity there, because he himself is a narcissistic person in love, and now imagine petro oleksiyovych being allowed into the national government. next, let's not forget this shameful story that happened less than a month ago, when petro poroshenko was not allowed to visit

the united states of america, where he already had scheduled meetings there at the level of, for example, the speaker of the congress, so we can dream of a government of national unity , i don't think it will be created because zelenskyy does not want to share power, and he made it clear at the last minute. conference, that he is offended by everyone, and he does not trust anyone, neither the army for some reason , nor the ukrainian society, he trusts only the merchants of these self-styled managers who work for banks. thank you, maryna, natalya, how is it possible to manage a country that is at war, a country in which. and unity is probably the number one issue, and because unity allows it to be very problematic reforms, painful reforms for ukraine,

this unity helps to make a wider mobilization of ukrainians to the front, unity helps to overcome many things that ukraine will obviously face in the 24th year, in the 25th year, because no one really knows when and how will this war end? you know , in fact, de facto, the power of national unity , well, not that the government, namely power in this broader sense, has de facto developed in us, because, as you know, deputies of the verkhovna rada, independence from that , to which camp are included, they will still adopt the majority of votes. all the laws that are vitally necessary for the country, this is a fact, and there they no longer understand who is a zelensky sympathizer, who is a poroshenko sympathizer,

they just vote for the urgently needed laws, that is, so optimistic for supporters of the idea of ​​national unity, after all after all, there is such a moment, and the second optimistic moment... so to speak, uh, there is, at the same time it is combined with a very big negative, the negative is that zelensky obviously does not want to accept heavy painful decisions, for example, regarding military issues, he obviously wants the verkhovna rada to be the co-authors of these difficult and unpopular decisions . and this is the military general staff

of the ministry of defense, which concerns the further conduct of the war at the tactical level and regarding strategic plans, that is, zelensky actually collects the opinions of various power institutions in this way in order to... still say that the decisions were collective, and although formally zaluzhnei is the president's man, it is clear to everyone that now in the administration, in the president's office, he is still perceived more as an opponent, and if there is any unification of the decision of zaluzhnyi and zelensky, it will be such a manifestation of unity, it concerns voting. to the verkhovna rada, yes, if some law is supported, and it is supported by both european solidarity and the servant of the people, this is also a manifestation of national unity,

that is, yes... situational national unity since the beginning of a full-scale war, it exists, and it will obviously continue, it certainly isn't the government of national unity, but such sprouts of this political consensus can still be traced, thank you olya, this is political unity, this is such a situational unity, is this an attempt to shift the scope to whom after all, because when zelenskyi talks about the fact that the rate of supreme the commander-in-chief about... suggests that i mobilize so many people there, and i don’t know, i still think, he is leading the charge of the supreme commander-in-chief, when he talks about, i don’t know what i should do or allocate to find 500 billion there hryvnias, because there are 500,000 people who need to be mobilized, they need to be fed, they need to be trained, for this we need 500 billion hryvnias, we and i need someone, someone to say something,

that is, is this a question of... or is it a question of transferring responsibility from one shoulder to the other? well, this is rather a matter of political parasitism, you know, pardon the pun, because zelensky was extremely lucky, he was just lucky with his political opponents, and he was very lucky with other state institutions, because his political opponents will not come out tomorrow and start there some actions to remove him from power, or to stage some kind of rebellion in the country, but none of zelenskyi's serious political opponents will do this, because in principle the country is more valuable to them than the removal of zelenskyi, and this is absolutely, that is, poroshenko will not stop driving there, i don’t know, heaps of equipment, cars and everything to the front only because he is not shown in a single marathon or

not shown in... anywhere at all, even he will not stop doing this if he will not be allowed there, he will still be there to send, the same is true of the armed forces , but no one will say, you know, well, if you don’t do this, we went home, well, no one will say that, that is, those people who are sitting in the trenches, they will not run away from there, because zelenskyi does not want to arrange normal rotation in the troops, and he does not want it, that is, he blocks it. because if a decision on mobilization is not made, it means that a decision on rotation is not made, there is no one to rotate and there is no rotation, and this is the direct responsibility of commander-in-chief zelensky, because he does not want this rotation to carry out, that is, because these are unpopular decisions that will affect his political rating, because now mostly at the front, well, in fact, also his opponents, well, there are many people who

support him. all this is normal, but there are also a lot of his opponents, and maybe he thinks that as long as they are busy there, well, that 's great, they don't have time to do anything else there, moreover, there will be fewer of them, as it sounds from the point of view the end of the war, and on the other hand, there are a lot of people who should have been there, they are not there, and in the end, you understand, there is another the problem is that zelensky himself, his entourage, well, it does not show. examples of truly civil behavior, where did his adviser to the office of the president go, after he ceased to be an adviser to the office of the president, i mean aristovych, he joined the army? no, he fled abroad. where did bakanov go, his close friend and partner there, who headed the security service of ukraine, did he join the army? no, he went to demand another 400,000 hryvnias from the state in order to be...

financed even after he failed all his work in the sbu, where kyril tymoshenko went, who was sitting in the president's office, he also joined the army, we don't know where he went, he disappeared somewhere together, apparently with those cars that were allocated humanitarian for transportation at the front, so somewhere he disappeared together with them, well i.e. his entourage does not show civic behavior, this is also a problem actually for the country because it reduces mobilization. it really reduces mobilization, when people see this example, they have the impression that somehow some people are fighting, but they are using the fruits of this some other unfortunately, the president is not interested in showing an example of civil behavior, so that his entourage will show it, and to show...