Miss Lviv 2010 finals, Lviv Opera House, 20 April from 19.00 Every year the Lviv glitterati comes together in early spring to crown the latest Miss Lviv and send her on her way to the grand final in Kyiv, where the leading beauties and bambis of the nation do battle for the top beauty title in Ukraine.

‘Lviv Lumines’ 2nd Annual Fluorescent Art Festival, 22 March – 4 April, Lviv Art Palace, 17 Kopernika Street Lviv’s arts scene has always been vibrant and in recent year’s the city’s re-emergence on the East European cultural scene has been mirrored by the growth of the international art festival presence in and around the city.

UEFA delegation visit to Lviv, 6-8 April UEFA President Michel Platini will visit Ukraine on April 6-8 to inspect the construction sites of the Euro 2012 host city’s airport and stadium. In late 2009 UEFA officials confirmed that Ukraine would have 4 host cities at the 2012 tournament, but this confirmation came following long months of concern as UEFA bosses sweated over Ukraine’s ability to make good on its far-reaching Euro 2012 infrastructure commitments. While in Ukraine former French midfield legend Platini will also visit Ukraine’s other host cities: Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kyiv.

Velyka Haivka spring ethno festival, April 4-6, Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life According to ancient tradition during the Ukrainian Easter Sunday holiday young girls perform the ‘haivky’ rituals in front of churches or in cemeteries. In pagan times haivky rituals were performed in sacred groves close to water. These group dances, songs, games and dramatic scenes were believed to serve a magical function with the aim of enticing Spring and chasing Winter away. These songs and dances personified a funeral for frost and winter, when people attempted to entice and enchant all the good spirits of the reawakened Nature so that it would bring them good luck and wealth. Haivky addressed various subjects.

Wedding Marathon 2010, 29 March – 1 April, Lviv Sport Palace “Ukraina” (18 Melnyka Street) Spring is here and the wedding season is once again upon us, meaning that Lviv’s city centre will soon once again be full of blushing brides and their entourages every weekend posing for photos by the city’s most famous monuments.

On stage and on the nation’s screens Bohdan Stupka has displayed the courage of Genghis Khan, the wit of Goethe’s Faust and the leadership of legendary Ukrainian Cossack leader and namesake Bohdan Khmelnitskiy. Today he is simply known as the greatest living Ukrainian actor, and despite already being in the twilight years of an illustrious career, he remains very much a dominating presence throughout Ukrainian theatre and TV, appearing regularly in the historical roles for which he is best known and in the theatrical dramas which first aroused his flair for acting.

Fans of Lviv’s talisman side can continue to dream of a 2010-11 Europa Cup campaign following a crucial late February victory over fellow top six Ukrainian league hopefuls Metalist Kharkiv.

Multiple Olympic champion Yana Klochkova and silver medallist Denis Silantiev held a Lviv swimming master-class in February as part of their nationwide search to promote aquatic sports and uncover the next generation of underwater Olympic champs.

In their efforts to boost Lviv’s growing tourist appeal, the city’s ever inventive City Council team likes nothing better than to dream up a public holiday or reinstate an ancient local custom.

One of Ukraine’s most celebrated dance troupes, the Lviv-based Yunist troupe, marked forty years of performances with a gala concert at the city’s Palace of Esthetic Education.

Marmot Day (sometimes referred to as Groundhog Day because groundhogs are also marmots) has been сelebrated throughout Eastern Europe for over three hundred years and is traditionally seen as one of the indicators that winter is finally giving way to spring

February 19 saw diplomats and dignitaries led by French Ambassador to Ukraine Jacques Foureau celebrate at the opening of the new French Alliance centre, which is located within Lviv’s Ivan Franko National University.

Does Yanukovych’s victory represent the end of the Orange Revolution or its final vindication? Media coverage of Ukraine’s 2010 presidential elections has understandably focused on the geopolitical implications of Viktor Yanukovych’s headline-grabbing victory. Many analysts have declared that Yanukovych’s win marks the final nail in the coffin for the increasingly discredited Orange Revolution and signals Ukraine’s return to the Kremlin’s exclusive sphere of interest. While the long-term geopolitical ramifications of the presidential elections are certainly unlikely to favour the country’s European ambitions, it is also possible to argue that Yanukovych’s victory is in fact the final vindication of the Orange Revolution and proof positive that however damaged it may be, Ukrainian democracy remains capable of giving voice to the mood of the electorate. A Yanukovych presidency may be anathema to many Ukrainians, but anyone who considers themselves a sincere democrat must also acknowledge that his victory has been a textbook example of democracy at work, warts and all.