With the collapse of the Tsarist regime and the chaos of the Russian Revolution in 1917, it allowed Ukraine to assert its independence. In April of 1917, the National Assembly meets in Kiev Ukraine and November proclaimed the creation of the People ‘s Republic of Ukraine. When the Bolsheviks formed a rival, the communist government of Ukraine and the National Assembly proclaimed the independence of Ukraine on January 22, 1918.
The 1 of November of 1918, the West Ukrainian People’s Republic was declared after the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The 22 of January of 1919, the Ukrainian People ‘s Republic and the West Ukrainian People’s Republic were unified and established the independent state of Ukraine, recognized by more than 40 other nations.
The new government could not maintain its authority in the face of civil conflicts and the threat of approaching the Bolshevik forces, in favor of the Tsars and Poles. In 1920, eastern Ukraine was occupied by the Bolshevik movement and became the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, while Poland occupied most of western Ukraine. Small areas in the west went to Romania, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia.
Soviet policy allowed for cultural autonomy and local administration for the Ukrainian communists, which was changed in the 1930s by Stalin.
In 1939 the Nazi-Soviet Pact assigned Ukraine’s territory from Poland to the Soviet sphere of influence. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, the Ukrainian nationalists in L’vin proclaimed the restoration of the Ukrainian state. The Germans arrested the Nationalists and a German colony was returned to Ukraine.
In March of 1990, they were held semi-free elections for parliament. The communist-dominated Parliament of Ukraine declared a sovereign state on July 16, 1990. The 24 of August of 1991, after the failed coup in Moscow, Parliament proclaimed the independence of Ukraine and declared that only the Constitution and laws of Ukraine were valid on their territory. The 1 of December of 1991, the citizen of Ukraine confirmed this proclamation with 90.3% voting in favor of independence. At the time of this referendum, Leonid Kravchuk, was elected as the first president.
As a country located in Europe according to EZINERELIGION, Ukraine joined Russia and Belarus in the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in December of 1991. The agreement was intended to facilitate policy coordination in various fields despite efforts, between Ukraine and Russia differences arose in various areas, including command and control of nuclear weapons, the formation of a unified military command, and the character and pace of economic reform.
In the wake of the Chernobyl accident in 1986, Ukraine declared its intention to become a nuclear-weapon-free state, but the transfer of nuclear weapons to Russia did not happen in the best anticipated way. The 6 of maypole of 1992, it was announced that all tactical nuclear weapons from Ukraine had been sent to Russia for dismantling. However, Ukraine cited Russia’s failure to dismantle these weapons, inadequate compensation, and security concerns as reasons for not turning on its strategic arsenal as a whole.
The CIS countries agreed to a unified nuclear command, but Ukraine declared its intention to create its own conventional national army and opposed any attempt to create a unified conventional CIS force. President Kravchuk declared all conventional forces on the territory of Ukraine owned by the country. Event that gave rise to disputes and disagreements over the Black Sea fleet, of which Russia has also claimed.
Ukraine adopted a new constitution in June of 1996 established a presidency (elected for a term of five years) and a unicameral parliament called Supreme Council (elected for a term of four years). Under the transitional provisions, President Leonid Kuchma elected Leonid Kravchuk as incumbent in 1994 who was to serve until the 1999 elections.
In June of 1997, the Supreme Council adopted a new civil code. In the same year, Ukraine and Russia signed a 10-year friendship treaty and an agreement with Western nations on the closure of the Chernobyl nuclear plant in 2005.
During the recession between 1991 and 1999, Ukraine lost 60% of its Gross Domestic Product and suffered from five-digit inflation rates. Dissatisfied with the economic conditions, as well as with crime and corruption, the Ukrainians organized protests and strikes.
The Ukrainian economy stabilized in the late 1990s. A new currency, the hryvnia, was introduced in 1996. Since 2000, the country has restored stable economic development with an average annual growth of around 7%.
In 1996 a new constitution was approved, which turned Ukraine into a semi-presidential republic and established a stable political system. However, Kravchuk’s successor, Leonid Kuchma, was criticized by his opponents for concentrating much of the power in his office, in addition to corruption, transfer of public ownership to private initiative, discouragement of freedom of expression and electoral fraud.
