August 24, 2026 Ukraine celebrates 35th anniversary of its Independence. This day back in 1991 the Verkhovna Rada adopted the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine. The Declaration epitomized the historical choice of Ukrainians to live in a sovereign democratic state and affirmed their right for free and dignified future.

Over years of reforms and transformations, Ukraine has turned into the modern, viable, law-based state with a unique identity, pluralistic society, resilient economy and strong institutions, built on European democratic values.

The deep-rooted tradition of the statehood

For Ukrainians freedom and dignity have always been fundamental values, which underpinned their centuries-long struggle for sovereignty and independence.

The state-building tradition of Ukraine is over one thousand years old, taking roots in the of Kyivan Rus’ state (9th–13th centuries AD), spanning through the Galicia-Volyn Principality (12th–14th centuries AD), evolving into the Ukrainian Cossack State (16th–18th centuries AD), the Ukrainian People’s Republic, the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic, the Ukrainian State (1917-1919), and Carpathian Ukraine (1941) in 20 century.

During the decades, following the World War II the Ukrainian liberation movement in homeland as well as in exile, fought soviet oppressors with arms in hand or by non-violent methods for the revival of the independent and united Ukrainian state, playing a decisive role in the collapse of the communist totalitarian empire.

On the path to the statehood Ukrainians made immense sacrifices. Millions faced the suppression of national identity, mass terror, wars, genocide, and repression under the Russian Empire and Soviet occupation. The artificial famine of 1932–1933, known as the Holodomor, claimed at least 7 million lives.

In May 1944,........

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