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10 Most Famous Events that happened in Ukraine

Since breaking off from the Soviet Union, Ukraine has faced many influences from both the west and Russia. All the events in the country have had an impact on the trajectory of the country. Past events can tell a lot about the direction that the country is heading in if the result of a specific event were negative, then it is more likely that if the event repeats itself, it is going to have the same results.

Therefore, this article will explore some of the famous events that have happened in Ukraine since it attained independence and the impact they had on the country.

1. Ukraine attained its independence

In 1991, Ukraine attained independence for the second time. This was after the Soviet Union had dissolved. Leonid Kravchuk who was the leader of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic declared its independence from Moscow.

Then there was a referendum and presidential election in which Ukrainians approved of the independence and elected Kravchuk as the president. The country had been under Moscow’s control for nearly 70 years before it gained independence.

2. The 1994 general elections

The presidential elections were held in early June 1994 and the second round was on July 10. The elections were held earlier than they had been scheduled following a compromise between president Kravchuk and Verkhovna Rada. The elections were considered to be independent and fair by the citizens and international observers.

Kravchuk lost that year’s election to Leonid Kuchma who was a former communist and also the prime minister in his government. The elections were the first presidential elections among the commonwealth independent states that the incumbent president was defeated. Furthermore, the transfer of power was a peaceful one since the fall of communism and Kuchma assumed office on the 19^th of July.

3. The 1999 elections

The third general elections after Ukraine attained independence were held in 1999. Unlike the first one where observers deemed the process to have been fair and independent, that year’s general elections were riddled with irregularities.

The first round of the elections was held on 31^st October 1999 and a second election on 14^th November. Kuchma was reelected for the post of president after defeating Petro Symonenko in a run-off. Furthermore, during that election, 32 contenders submitted their names to the election body wanting to vie for the presidency but 19 of them were registered.

4. Viktor Yanukovich

The 2004 general elections saw a Pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovich being declared the president of Ukraine. This was the fourth presidential election held in Ukraine since they broke off from the Soviet Union.

The elections were contested between Viktor Yanukovich who was the incumbent prime minister and the opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko saw Yanukovich was declared the winner.

Later, the Ukrainian Supreme Court says that the results were plagued by widespread falsification of the results to favour the incumbent prime minister. The election results were challenged by the opposition leader and his supporters and this resulted in a political crisis that featured widespread protests.

The protests were dubbed the Orange Revolution. The Supreme court nullified the results and a rerun was held that saw Yushchenko win the election by 55% against Yanukovich who had 44%.

5. NATO promises Ukraine that it will one day join the alliance

In 2008, Ukraine applied to integrate with a NATO membership action plan as they had had relations since 1992. The body promised the country that they would one day join the alliance but these plans were shelved because of the 2010 presidential elections as the incumbent president Viktor Yanukovich preferred to keep the country non-aligned.

6. The suspension of trade with the European Union

In 2013, the Yanukovich government suspended trade and association talks with the European Union and decided to revive talks and partnerships with Moscow. This resulted in massive protests and rallies as the citizens did not want the country to revive a relationship with its former soviet master and instead concentrate on associating themselves with the European Union.

The talks with Russia saw Vladimir Putin lend Ukraine 15 billion dollars for financial aid and also discounted gas prices for them in that they could get the commodity at 33% off. The treaty was signed when amid protests from the people.

7. A missile was launched on a passenger plane

In July 2014, a missile brought down a passenger plane that was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur and killed all the 298 passengers that were on board. A 15-month investigation by the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) concluded in October 2015 that the airliner crashed after being struck by a Russian-made Buk missile over eastern Ukraine.

Evidence suggested that the Buk missile had been transported in from Russian territory and fired from a field under the control of Russian-backed separatists, according to a global team of criminal investigators in September 2016.

A 15-month investigation by the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) concluded in October 2015 that the airliner crashed after being struck by a Russian-made Buk missile over eastern Ukraine.

Evidence suggested that the Buk missile had been transported in from Russian territory and fired from a field under the control of Russian-backed separatists, according to a global team of criminal investigators in September 2016. After being struck by a Russian-made missile, the aircraft crashed.

8. Volodymyr Zelenskyy wins the presidential elections

In an election that was held in April 2019, Volodymyr won the elections against Poroshenko. He was a former actor and comedian before joining politics. While assuming office, the president promised that he would fight corruption and end the conflict that was plaguing eastern Ukraine.

9. Covid-19

Like many other countries in the world, Ukraine was affected by the Coronavirus pandemic that plagued the world in early 2020. The country went into its first lockdown in March 2020. This brought a lot of economic constraints as the country was not doing any major trades during that period. The International Monetary Fund even approved a 5-billion-dollar lifeline that would help the country in the pandemic-induced recession.

10. Ukraine-Russia war

In the spring of 2021, Russia started amassing troops near Ukraine’s borders but they were partly dispersed and Russia responded by saying that it was a training exercise. However, in Autumn 2021, Russia brought troops near the country’s border again. It then followed with a series of attacks and it has now become a fully-fledged war that has caused many to flee their homes and seek refuge in neighbouring countries.