(essay)

We are Ukrainians! We have always considered it a great honor to be Ukrainians. So it was. So it is. It will be so. But what was the path to the Independence of our country? What price were we forced to pay for the

decent life of our nation? If we look through the prism of our history, we can observe that Ukraine has always won victories at its own. We have never attributed the history of other states and nationalities to ourselves. We have a lot to be proud of. As Ostap Vyshnya said: “Those fools who shout ‘a nationalist’ do not understand and will never understand that I managed to combine love for my people with love for all the peoples of the world!” Ukrainian patriotism is a manifestation of pride in the material and spiritual assets of the people.

Ukrainians were often forced to feel danger, but we always had the goal of building a state that would be the opposite of the country that caused this feeling. To be opposite not only in views on political ideology, to be opposite in everyday life, literature and mentality. It is regrettable to realize that they tried to artificially identify us under another nation, to ascribe their history through sophisticated manipulations. If we are aware of these processes, even with ambiguous actions, the authorities will never be able to rewrite the essence of the concept of “Ukrainian” and the historical timeline.

1991 year. December 1. Ukrainians confirm the Act of Proclamation of State Independence with a result of 90% of votes. However, knowing the gist of the rule of the Soviet government, there are serious doubts that Moscow would “let Ukraine go” without blackmail and provocations.

Probably, such a scenario would not be peaceful. It should be understood that such a huge machine as the USSR could not disappear without leaving traces on the ground. Army, economic foundation, political philosophy, and social elite all remained after its dismantling. However, even after the end of the USSR, Russia could not let Ukraine go away. Under the slogan of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), it sought to renew the policy of the Soviet Union. The first President Leonid Kravchuk, contrary to Yeltsin’s policy, understood the concept of the CIS as something different – not a new form of joint statehood. The Ukrainian authorities hoped to free themselves from this political cycle, and not to sink further. We can perceive the declaration of Ukrainian Independence on August 24, 1991, rather, as a point in the constant struggle for freedom. That what Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, Simon Petlyura, Mykola Mikhnovskyi had strived for. From this entire long historical line, it was a dot that would later turn into a comma again…

During the 2000s, Ukraine began to suffer and experience an economic crisis. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the fact that Ukraine stopped receiving weapon for the Armed Forces. Although one of the Soviet Union’s greatest military potentials belonged to Ukraine. “Rapid inflation, reaching a staggering 2,500% in 1992, cemented a precipitous economic decline.” The Government of Ukraine was too late in making urgent economic and political decisions. Then the next step began, leaving its traces in the contemporary political and economic spheres of our country. Ukraine exempts 6,300 state-owned enterprises from privatization. And already in 1999, 85% of all enterprises passed into private ownership. Along with privatization, there should have been investments, but only half of these enterprises continued to work. That is, privatization took place without investment, and the economic policy of market monopolization was carried out. Such a shame…Since then, oligarchic rat races, constant market monopolization and privatization of state heritage was launched in the economic arena of our country. Corruption has emerged. The Orange Revolution was the first worthy act of the Ukrainian people after the Declaration of Independence.

Hundreds of thousands of people from all over Ukraine came to Kyiv to defend their democratic rights. The constitutional reform reduced the powers of the president, and thus reduced the level of significance of contested presidential elections. This act of the people demonstrated the reality of the existence of the concept of a state of democracy and freedom.

2014 year. The full stop placed in 1991, gradually turned into a comma, and the final strokes of January-February led to three dots of the ellipsis. The Heavenly Hundred, based on the idea of our free future, was like some eyesore for the Russian government… Now the Independence of our nation has to be defended not only with words and deeds, but with weapons and our own lives. The world was surprised by the courage and strong will of Ukrainians who fought for the right to exist in this ever changing world. The Ukrainian foreign policy was turned to the integration with the European Union.

The Kremlin has already annexed Crimea. The annexation took place under the slogan of “Fair and clean elections!” However, Putin’s dirty ambitions did not end there either. He demanded the federalization of each region of the country, which would give the right to sign international agreements. However, the Ukrainian government did not follow these rules and totally absurd ideologies. Already in April, paramilitary units appeared in the East of the country. Since the stunning shooting of Boeing747 by an anti-aircraft missile by the Russian services, in which about three hundred citizens of other countries of the world died, many countries began to impose sanctions against Russian state enterprises and political figures.

So, summarizing the entire path of the struggle for the Independence of our country, one conclusion can be made. We have always existed as a separate current; sometimes we have been forced to manage to change our direction, but we have never changed it. During the years of our independence, the people of Ukraine demonstrated moral maturity and responsibility for the state of inter-ethnic relations. In general, it is the basis of the principles of mutual understanding and mutual respect for other peoples of the world. The policy of identity and national self-affirmation of Ukraine should be based on the recognition of the inviolability of state sovereignty and territorial integrity, the establishment of partnership relations with other countries of the world, which involves the rapid establishment of Ukraine on the international arena.

Ukraine is no longer a wild field and no one’s fiefdom. We are a separate democratic country located in the center of Europe. We should think more and more often about how we will integrate into the modern world and begin to understand ourselves as a free and democratic country. Much has already been done, but more needs to be done. We should form Ukrainian national identity, although we are forced to do so under very difficult conditions. It is too early to draw conclusions. There is still a whole path of the military and spiritual struggle ahead.

Reference List:
PL chapters 26-27 -https://www.youtube.com/watch? time_continue=516&v=tBukajst_mk&feature=emb_logo
https://suspilne.media/254487-kolaps-ak-ukrainci-zrujnuvali-imperiu- zla-19-serpna-1991-go/