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8th National Convention in Ukraine
The 8th National Convention of CYM in Ukraine took place in Kyiv on 20-21 November 1999. This year's Convention took place in unexpected circumstances and brought about many changes. Firstly, the weather was unbelievable, with the morning starting off with frost and snow, followed by heavy rains, with a return of frost and ice in the evening. Secondly, on 19 November, Rukh (Kostenko) withdrew their offer of providing accommodations for the Convention. The third was courtesy of Swiss Air, who safely brought Volodymyr Shliakhetko, a representative from the World Executive, to Kyiv, but left his luggage in Zurich. Truthfully, in Ukraine the unexpected is expected, and these trivial matters did little to influence or hinder the Convention.
 More important were the many changes brought about at this CYM forum. A new president was elected - Viktor Voitsekhivskyi, who hails from Smily, Cherkassy. He has been a long serving member of the National Board, director of the Education Council, and member of the National Audit Committee. A number of changes were also made to the Constitution, bringing it in line with that of the World Executive and a new Ukrainian law "On Youth and Children's Organizations". Also, 20 year old Sviatoslav Lypovetskyi of Ternopil was elected as one of the Vice-Presidents, responsible specifically for druzhynnyky. In spite of his young age, Sviatoslav is already well known for his work in CYM and other youth organizations.
Mr. Shliakhetko, who was finally reunited with his luggage after two days, took part in the proceedings, including reading a greeting from the World Executive. Greetings and good wishes were also received from the National Executives of Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The convention also passed a resolution condemning Russian aggression in Chechnya.
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