On this day in 1990, the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine. This document marked a crucial step toward the creation of an independent Ukraine, which was officially proclaimed on August 24, 1991.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, significant political and socio-economic transformations took place, ultimately leading to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. At the time, the issue of independence became one of the most pressing for Ukrainian society. In May 1990, the Verkhovna Rada established a commission on state sovereignty, which developed the draft of the Declaration within a few months. The authors of the document included parliamentarians, writers, legal scholars, economists, and human rights activists such as Levko Lukianenko, Stepan Khmara, Mykhailo Horyn, Iryna Kalynets, Viacheslav Chornovil, Bohdan Horyn, and others.

The document proclaims the principles of Ukraine’s state unity and sovereignty and consists of ten sections. Its key provisions include popular sovereignty, territorial integrity, economic independence, environmental security, cultural development, and foreign policy. The Declaration of State Sovereignty laid the foundation for the formation of modern rights and freedoms of citizens in independent Ukraine, as well as the basis for the Constitution of Ukraine.

Today, the need to defend Ukraine’s territorial integrity and political independence is especially pressing. The Ukrainian people are the sole source of state power, and for many years, we have demonstrated our commitment to sovereignty and our determination to build a European-style democratic state. The 1990 Declaration stands as a symbol of the struggle for freedom and the right to determine our own national path.