August 24, 1991, the day Ukraine declared its independence

by time news

The Ukrainian National Day will certainly be less joyful than those of previous years, in the context of the Russian invasion which began six months ago. Several cities have also established a curfew, worried about the risk of Russian provocations.

Yet it is 31 years to the day that Ukraine proclaimed its independence from the Soviet bloc, weakened by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Rise of nationalisms

While public demonstrations had been held in Lviv and kyiv for several months, this year 1989 marked the transition between social mobilization and the politicization of demands. A law was thus voted in October in Parliament for Ukrainian to become the official language of the republic, then Soviet.

In 1990, Ukrainians began to organize to defend their sovereignty. The “Rukh”, People’s Movement of Ukraine, was then founded. It was the first independentist party since 1919. A first step towards this independence was taken the following year, on July 16, 1990, when – under the influence of the Democratic deputies – Parliament adopted the Declaration on the political sovereignty of the ‘Ukraine.

Earlier in March, the first elections to the Ukrainian Parliament marked the end of the Communist Party’s monopoly in the country. The efforts of the President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev to calm the rise of nationalism prove in vain.

He had proposed in particular to grant greater autonomy to the republics, while retaining control over foreign policy, the army and the financial system. But a massive mobilization, particularly among students, pushed the Soviet leader to abandon his idea.

Coup against Gorbachev

Another event certainly precipitated Ukrainian independence, when a coup led by the Orthodox Communists close to power overthrew Mikhail Gorbachev on August 19, 1991. The putsch would be aborted two days later, due to a popular uprising fueled by Boris Yeltsin. The latter, President of the Russian Federation, dissolved the Communist Party by decree and began discussions with his counterparts in Ukraine and Belarus.

A few days after this putsch, on August 24, Boris Yeltsin announced that he had signed a decree recognizing the independence of Estonia and Latvia. An hour later, Ukraine itself declares its independence.

The decision was taken after an extraordinary parliamentary session, by an overwhelming majority. 321 elected members vote for the establishment of an “independent democratic state”, facing two votes against, and six abstentions. On the same day, Parliament called for a referendum to ratify this decision. This will be held on 1is December, the day when more than 90% of Ukrainian voters voted in favor of independence.

They do not hide their joy, strolling through the streets, armed with Ukrainian flags, banned during the Soviet era on pain of the gulag. The iconic blue and yellow had been adopted in 1918, during the first Ukrainian independence (which ended two years later) before being replaced by the Soviet colors.

End of communist hegemony

The days following August 24, the elected members of parliament voted a series of decrees illustrating their estrangement from the Soviet regime: suspension of the activities of the Ukrainian communist party and freezing of its assets, amnesty for political prisoners, establishment of a committee on military issues (within the framework of the creation of a ministry of defence), etc.

On August 26, a more symbolic measure was adopted, leading to the removal of monuments to communist heroes in public places. Lenin’s monument disappears and the October Revolution Square on which it stood is renamed Independence Square.

In December 1991, shortly after the referendum and the election of President Leonid Kravtchouk by universal suffrage, the latter met his Russian and Belarusian counterparts to sign the Minsk agreements, recording the death of the Soviet Union.

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