National Unity Is Mandatory for Maintaining Statehood

12/1/2020
singleNews

Trying to gain international legal status as a nation that gains its sovereignty, back in 1918, the Ukrainian People's Republic, which was not destined to withstand the world military cataclysm, laid the foundations of the modern Ukrainian state.

The liberation movement for restoration of statehood did not stop for almost 70 years and finally achieved its goal: Ukraine became independent again and forever. July 16, 1990, the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR adopted the Declaration on the State Sovereignty of Ukraine, which Ukrainians confirmed in the all-Ukrainian referendum on March 17, 1991. And, despite the Soviet leadership's attempts to keep Ukraine in its grip, on August 24, 1991, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, declaring Ukraine an independent democratic state. And in the All-Ukrainian referendum on December 1, 1991, more than 90 percent of Ukrainians confirmed the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine and elected the first President of independent Ukraine.

At that time, there was no region, no settlement, where the idea of Ukraine's independence would not find the support of the majority of citizens. In Crimea, 54.19 percent of citizens voted for independence, in Sevastopol — 57.07 percent, in Donetsk, Luhansk, Odesa and Kharkiv regions, more than 80 percent of citizens expressed their will to their own state.

A quarter of a century of independence has shown the world that Ukraine has emerged as a sovereign state capable of affirming democratic values and defending freedom. And today, once again defending Ukraine's independence and our original sovereign borders, we should all remember the incredible and true national unity in the distant 1991 and the words of the conscience of our nation — Lina Kostenko: “This is not just your steps, this is the course of history!”.