Ukrainian Youth Unity Council of Edmonton welcomes the admission of guilt by Mr. Duncan Kinney.
Updated: 4 hours ago
Ukrainian Youth Unity Council Media Release (Edmonton, AB. October 19, 2026 )
The Ukrainian Youth Unity Council and its member organizations welcome
the news that, after five years, Mr. Duncan Kinney has admitted that he is the
person who spray painted the statue of Roman Shukhevych on August 10, 2021,
and that he had no lawful justification or excuse for these actions. In doing so,
Mr. Kinney admitted that he is guilty of mischief.
On the day of his own admitted mischief – August 10, 2021 – Mr. Kinney
authored an online publication describing this act of mischief, while feigning
ignorance of when or how it took place. We now know that his declaration in the
Progress Report that “[i]t’s unclear when this happened,” referring to his own
vandalism, was false, given his belated admission of guilt. It is now clear that Mr.
Kinney exploited his own admitted vandalism of the Roman Shukhevych statue,
belonging to the Ukrainian Youth Unity Council, for the purposes of his political
commentary, published in the Progress Report. Mr. Kinney had the audacity to
send an email to staff at the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex on the day of his
admitted crime, advising as editor of the Progress Report that “[w]e’ve received
photos of the Roman Shukhevych statue […] Do you have any statement or
information on this matter?” After having committed the crime at approximately
12:10 a.m. on August 10, 2021, he then returned at approximately 8:48 a.m. to
take photographs of his own vandalism, to then request comment from the
Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex at 12:08 p.m. of the same day.
The Ukrainian Youth Unity Council trusts that the Court will impose an
appropriate sentence that takes into account the seriousness of Mr. Kinney’s
offence, the damage to its private property, the harm caused to the community,
and the impact of his exploitative public commentary that concealed his own
involvement in his admitted mischief.
We extend our sincere thanks to the Edmonton Police Service for its
thorough and successful investigation, and to the prosecution for its diligent work.
