1991 Ukrainian Independence Referendum
🗺 On December 1, 1991, a referendum was held in Ukraine to confirm the Act on State Independence, which was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on August 24 of the same year.
An English translation of the Act that the Verkhovna Rada had adopted on the 24th August 191 is as follows. This text (in Ukrainian) was printed on the referendum ballet paper.
Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine
In view of the mortal danger surrounding Ukraine in connection with the state coup in the USSR on August 19, 1991,
Continuing the thousand-year tradition of state development in Ukraine,
Proceeding from the right of a nation to self-determination in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and other international legal documents, and
Implementing the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine,
the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic solemnly
declares
the Independence of Ukraine and the creation of an independent Ukrainian state – UKRAINE.
The territory of Ukraine is indivisible and inviolable.
From this day forward, only the Constitution and laws of Ukraine are valid on the territory of Ukraine.
This act becomes effective at the moment of its approval.
— VERKHOVNA RADA OF UKRAINE, August 24, 1991
In the referendum, more than 90 percent said "yes" to an independent state.
28 million 804 thousand Ukrainians (or 90.32%) answered this question in the affirmative, 31 million 891 thousand citizens (or 84.18%) took part in the vote
In parallel, the first national presidential elections were held - Leonid Kravchuk won. The second place went to the representative of the "People's Movement" Vyacheslav Chornovol.
It was also important that a positive result was obtained in all 24 regions, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and two cities with special status - Kyiv and Sevastopol.
From today's point of view, the voting results in Donbas and Crimea look interesting:
Donetsk region - 83.9%
Luhansk - 83.86%
Crimea – 54.19%
the city of Sevastopol - 57.07%
The referendum also launched the international recognition of the newly restored Ukrainian state. Poland was the first to immediately recognize Ukraine, slightly behind it, but Canada was the first state of the West. Hungary was the first to open an embassy in Kyiv, raising the status of its consulate, which had existed in Kyiv since Soviet times. The USA and leading Western powers recognized the independence of Ukraine at the end of December...
In our subjective opinion, on this day, the establishment of modern Ukrainian statehood was officially confirmed, and at the same time, Ukrainians returned to the wrong place when, with the election of a representative of the old Soviet system to the post of President, they chose to actually build USSR 2.0.
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