soldiers, a moment of silence in memory of those who are no longer with us. let's observe a moment of silence in memory of the ukrainian military and civilian citizens of ukraine who died in the war started by russia.

hello, my name is volodymyr yatrovych and this is the 10 days of independence project, why 10? our path to freedom has been winding for 100 years, i believe that understanding the turning points on this path is the key to our common future, so i invite you to experience these historical events with me, to see them through the eyes of the participants. it was a rather chilly saturday morning, until the end of summer was only a week away. it was cloudy, but it didn't rain. kyiv lived normally.

by life kyiv newspapers that day wrote about new fines for traffic violations . soviet ukraine submitted an article about the quote "definitely amateur singing by marichka bormaka, who just won the chervona ruta festival. and no hint of what made this day go down in history." so, august 24, 1991 began as an ordinary morning, and ended with an epochal event in modern ukrainian history, the quintessence of the aspirations of ukrainians throughout a whole century, and perhaps even centuries of struggle, sometimes bloody and hopeless, probably precisely...

that is why, and against such a historical background, it sometimes seems to us that independence itself fell into the hands of ukrainians, that the events of august 24, 1991 were a coincidence, but you will see , that this coincidence was not accidental, but the very chance that fell in ukraine 30 years ago had yet to be used. fortunately, the politicians of that time had enough strength and determination for this, one of them was yaroslav kendzer. and the most important thing is that we all were wondering whether we would succeed representatives of the people's council, to convince the red communist faction, because it was not a simple communist faction, it was the entire bolshevik elite, the ukrainian elite at that time, the entire politburo of the central committee, the communist party of ukraine, the first, second, third, secretaries of regional committees, city committees, soviet committees and so on, and so on. with those people it was necessary for the whole day of the 24th. starting from 9 o'clock in the morning

to convince that we have no other way out. at 9:00 a.m., people gather near the verkhovna rada. in fact, at that time large mass gatherings were already commonplace a phenomenon thousands of rallies in the galician regions. where the local government completely switched to the movement of former dissidents, miners' strikes, the chain of unity and, of course, the student hunger strike, the revolution on the granite, although the moscow putschists declared a state of emergency, which prohibited any mass actions, from the first day the gkchcp in kyiv began to gather rallies under blue and yellow flags calling for ukraine's exit from the ussr. as leonid makarovych kravchuk said in his speech on the radio and later on... on

television, that everything is normal, quiet, there is nothing to gather people here, milkmaids milk cows, reapers harvest and so on, that is, we have no rhythm of life. that has not changed in ukraine, but already on the 20th, already on the maidan of the october revolution at that time, the current maidan of independence, the people already began to gather. when they say that independence came to ukraine by accident, they say that if there had been no civil emergency situations, but let's ask a simple question, why did the civil emergency situations happen in the first place. the answer is partially already in the date itself, august 18. it was on august 20. the planned signing of a new alliance treaty with broader rights for the republics. gorbachev, who acted as the initiator, had high hopes that in this way it would be possible to stop centrifugal movements and preserve the union. but on the eve of the signing day, it was already obvious that there would be no new agreement.

the position of the baltic republics, which had already declared independence at that time, was not a surprise for moscow. in january 1991. gorbachev resorted to military intervention in lithuania to force the lithuanians to remain in the union with the help of the army, but without success. no, on january 11-13, three deputies from the people's council mykhailo goren, larisa, larisa skoryk and i left for vilnius the day before, and we saw with our own eyes what moscow was doing to the residents of the lithuanian capital. and we understood that, god forbid, something similar could happen in ukraine, because

we knew very well the habits of moscow, its methods of pacification. but the key republic for the preservation of the ussr was not lithuania, but ukraine. the largest union republic is one of the three brotherly nations in the mythology of the elder brother. it is kyiv's refusal to come to novo ogorevo near moscow for solemn re-establishment of the union, put an end to plans to preserve the empire. understanding this pushed the aging kremlin bosses to a desperate attempt to stop historical processes over which they no longer had power. but you know. it is easy to state this today, and then the finale of this geopolitical drama had not yet been written. therefore, the ballet and statements of the coup participants were broadcast on television. tanks appeared on the streets of moscow. but the commander-in-chief

of the ground forces, general varennikov, was urgently dispatched to kyiv. he had to bow chairman of the verkhovna rada and member of the central committee leonid kravchuk, to support the putsch and declare a state of emergency. condition, in particular in the three galician regions. in kyiv, varennikov was met and promised full support by the commander of the kyiv military district, viktor chichevatov. larisa skoryk asks him, chichevatova, if this information is true, that military units are arriving somewhere near kyiv from all corners of the soviet union, and that 36 or 37 planes landed in boryspil, he said that no, not 37, but there 24, it seems, planes he confirmed that such have arrived before this. the ukrainian communists , led by first secretary gurenko , supported the gkchp, but the majority, together with the speaker of the parliament kravchuk, took

a cautious position. at the request of varennikov , kravchuk appeared on ukrainian television, but not with the support of the state committee of the state of ukraine, but with calls to prepare for the winter season. that's why i urge you. you, dear comrades, to peace, endurance. a state of emergency has not been declared in ukraine, and the situation is generally stable. in moscow, events unfolded quickly, and in kyiv, time dragged on. it is already august 21 it is clear that puch choked. general varennikov, who returned to moscow, was arrested along with other hekchipists. throughout ukraine, communists destroyed party documents, fearing reprisals. the very idea of ​​independence at a meeting of the people's council took place on the 20th, that is, on the second day after the gkchcp, in the premises of the

writers' union, this idea first sounded from the mouth of levko lukyanenko. our goal in the verkhovna rada is to force. the verkhovna rada itself to take such a drastic position of condemning those conspirators and continuing their activities for expansion of our sovereignty, so in this respect it is possible. that and depending on the decision of the verkhovna rada, the question will be raised that the verkhovna rada should adopt a law on the withdrawal of ukraine from the soviet union and would be the seventh republic to announce its withdrawal from the soviet union. when , on august 24, deputies from the democratic opposition entered the hall with their copies of the act of declaration of independence printed at night, it was the right moment to obtain a positive result. let me explain why: the democratic opposition had only 125 seats, a little less than a third of the votes, the rest belonged

to the communists. most of them, following the first secretary of the communist party of ukraine, stanislav gurenko, supported the gkchp. and now they found themselves in a difficult situation, because the rebels had already been arrested in moscow at that time. ukrainian communists were afraid, on the one hand , of the new russian leaders boris yeltsin and his associates, and on the other hand, the street, which was seething and demanding lustration for the company. meanwhile, the opposition had already agreed on the text of the declaration of independence, questions stood only in the queue for voting on the agenda, and here suddenly the national democrats hesitated. someone threw up the idea that if we were the first to vote for the act of independence, the communist party would leave. here it is,

a sheet from levko lukyanenko's notebook, the first draft of the most important document in the history of ukraine, but look carefully at the crossed-out sentences, they speak about the essence of the discussion that arose in the state of the democrats. lukyanenko, who represented a more radical dissident wing in the democratic opposition, at first he insisted that with this act ukraine does not declare independence, but restores the ukrainian people's republic, therefore... even the first title of the draft is not an act, but a universal one, that is what the decrees of the central rada were called. this wording emphasized that the entire soviet period was nothing more than the bolshevik occupation. but would the communists in the hall agree to such a formulation? it was already six o'clock in the evening when the council finally came to a vote. its author, lyvko lukyanenko, was to read the text of the act. but here a small curiosity happened. this piece of paper slipped out of my hands out of nowhere. lukyanenko volodymyr yavorivskyi read this text from the podium, but then

leonid makarovych kravchuk announced the official, so to speak, text. based on the mortal danger that hung over ukraine in connection with the coup d'état in the ussr on august 19, 1991 , continuing the thousand-year tradition of the state. creation in ukraine, based on the nation's right to self-determination provided for by the un charter and other international legal documents, making a declaration on the state sovereignty of ukraine, the verkhovna rada the ukrainian ssr solemnly proclaims the independence of ukraine and the creation of an independent ukrainian state of ukraine. the territory of ukraine is indivisible and inviolable. from now on , they are valid only on the territory of ukraine. constitution and laws of ukraine. this act enters into force from the moment

of its approval. please vote. voting begins. the number 346 is displayed on the scoreboard. 346 is accepted. it was a dramatic moment, there was such euphoria in the hall, we were all wild with joy, we shouted, we roared, that's all, we understood that ukraine had finally become independent state, the ussr is gone. on the same day , the flag of ukraine was brought into the session hall for the first time.

in addition to the deputies , vladimir lenin also watched this historic event, his figure jutting out just above the tribune, the statue of the bolsheviks. the leader was removed only a week after the declaration of independence, while it turned out that the five-meter figure was not made of marble, but of cardboard. ukraine became a free state, and only on the 10th day. of independence , the blue-yellow flag finally flew over the verkhovna rada, but even here it was not without a strange incident that caused a wave of indignation in the people who gathered under the parliament. at first, two flags were raised on the spire of the verkhovna rada building: the national flag and the flag of the ukrainian ssr. that's what i think to myself, and even today i can still say it out loud, without

being ashamed, that this is how our state is a little ukrainian. a little more soviet, a little more undefined, this is such a confusion around that symbol, when this double flag was raised, well, but such is our fate, such, such, they imprisoned us, history sends and demonstrates. on august 24, 1991, ukraine became an independent state, but the struggle of ukrainians for freedom has not ended.

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it has become much easier to follow your indicators. take care of your health now. order the safe pro tonometer at a special reduced price, only from uah 499. but hurry while the product is available. unpack health with unpack tv, call. there is a war going on, and not only for territories, it is also a war for minds. we are engaged in propaganda. russia is throwing millions of petrodollars into turning ukrainians into little russians. ukraine will become russia. let's counter the information attacks of the russians in the chronicles of information war project with olga ley. on tuesday, thursday at 17:15, repeat tuesday friday at 22:00. the victory plan

is ready, president volodymyr zelenskyy loudly declares this and adds that he will be able to win in september. put it to the us leader joe biden, as well as give it to the us presidential candidates. will this september really be decisive in ending the war? the most important thing today at 21:15 in the project is spoken by velikiy lviv. a square where everyone gets to speak and everyone is heard. in on the espresso tv channel. ukraine is a country. sunflowers every field is our national treasure. each wall has its history. every story has its price. ukraine is a country of heroes. we remember. hello, my

name is volodymyr yatrovych, i am a historian and this is a project of 10 days of independence. why 10? it so happened that our path to freedom during the last 100 years has been announced. i believe that understanding the turning points on this path is the key to a common future, so i invite you to experience these historical events with me, to see them through the eyes of the participants. we have already mentioned with you the words of the american political scientist zbigniew bzezhynskyi that the declaration of ukraine's independence was the first step into the soviet union's home.

the last was the referendum on ukrainian independence. why did the results of this popular manifestation of the will of the ukrainians become so important that they led to the greatest times of the second world war of geopolitical upheavals. who needed this referendum and why? the second question seems a little strange today, doesn't it? i... without a referendum at all, why did we need it? but in 1991 things were not so obvious. imagine august of that year. the verkhovna... even then, the ukrainian soviet socialist republic had just adopted the act of declaring independence, it was a great victory for the national democrats, who were able

to take advantage of the moment, while the communist majority was emboldened after the defeat of the putschist in moscow. and at this time, the leader of the opposition faction, physicist ihor yukhnovsky, began to promote the idea of ​​a national referendum among his colleagues. it was a risky move. the first the reaction is more. people's council was critical, even negative, yukhnomsky managed to convince us all of the correctness of this step very quickly already in the evening of that day. when ukraine declared independence, it was a powerful blow to the empire, which was already bursting at the seams, but moscow did not lose hope of saving the union from disintegration. several factors worked on the side of the leadership of the ussr. firstly , external, although ukraine declared itself an independent republic, no country, not even the baltic neighbors, recognized it. reasons it could have been a lot: ukraine looked

unpredictable, potentially unstable, divided along religious and linguistic lines, along historical borders. ukraine could choose the path of totalitarianism. let me remind you, the communists remained in power at the time, and at the same time , one of the... largest arsenals of nuclear weapons in the world was located on ukrainian territory. on august 1, 1991 , an honored guest, the president of the united states, george bush, senior, visited the ukrainian parliament. he called on the deputies to abandon their aspirations for independence. this is in history the speech went under the humorous name chicken keіv speech, cutlet in kyiv. that's what the new york times called it, which accused president bush of short-sightedness. bush himself later admitted in his memoirs that he was very afraid of a repetition of

the yugoslav scenario in the ussr, and he supported gorbachev, who was trying to prevent the collapse of the last empire. well, it was a blow to the belt. i saw how some of the communists looked gloatingly in our direction, how they were smiling, well, what did they get from the american allies, and it was so cruel to us. was very strong as in real life, because bush's words about suicidal nationalism, about the need to preserve the soviet union, these were all good words, but we perfectly understood the main reason why he was saying that, he was concerned only with nuclear weapons and only with the control of nuclear weapons, part which was located in ukraine. in fact, before his trip to ukraine , bush received a secret cia report that considered four possible future options for the ussr. there were no bright ones among them. in three forecasts, ukraine remained together with moscow, even if they separated the baltic republics, and only one of them, the latter predicted the complete collapse of the union. it is

his strategist. the gru was considered catastrophic and recommended to do everything to avoid it. so, as we can see, the new ukrainian republic had no external support. and what about the internal? gorbachev did not give up hope of preserving the union. he bet on the signing of a new alliance agreement. the ukrainian communist party elite initially joined the negotiation process, which took place in gorbachev's residence in novo ogorevo near moscow. at the same time, six republics. lithuania, latvia, estonia, georgia, moldova and armenia refused to even negotiate on this topic. in march 1991, nine republics, participants of the novogarovsk process, held referenda for the preservation of the ussr. in ukraine, 70% voted for it. the lowest result among the republics where the referendum was held. compare with 98%. in

turkmenistan, however, the result would have been average across the union, if not for the results of voting in the three western regions, where the absolute majority chose the no option. in addition, the regional councils of lviv, frankiv and ternopil oblasts held a parallel regional referendum, in which 88% voted for complete independence from moscow, but in ukraine as a whole the majority chose the soviet measure. at the beginning of the 21st year, it turned out that there were three referendums. the first was the all-union one, which was announced by gorbachev. ukraine turned out to be the only union republic that proposed a so-called republican referendum, where the difference was: do you support the renewed soviet union on the basis of the declaration of state sovereignty of ukraine. and the citizens of galicia, on the initiative of chornovol, added a third poll, which was not a pure referendum, but was conducted only in three western regions. all these were the stages of ukraine's coming of age, adults.

of the verkhovna rada, and these were the stages that ultimately led to the real referendum, which took place the same year, only on december 1. and now let's take another look at the situation in 1991 before the independence referendum. the communist party-nomenclature elite led by kravchuk advocates the preservation of the union and only wants autonomous... rights for themselves, they seem to be supported by the population, 70% are in favor. western leaders convince ukrainians to forget about their desire for independence. moscow is inventing new and new ways to restart the scoop in the new round of the confederation of free nations. now you understand why some western political scientists called ukrainian independence a real miracle, in which no one believed. and indeed, how could an independent ukraine emerge under such conditions,

and it did emerge. because in ukrainian society itself, moods were brewing that were about to form a perfect storm. the first component of this storm was the economy, which was entering a steep peak. in the year from 1990 to 1991, the gross domestic product, the sum of all produced goods and services, fell in the ukrainian ssr by 11%. but this number cannot convey the scale of the disaster. the perennial problem of soviet trade is the deficit. became simply unbearable, at enterprises that still belonged to the state, but it is no longer known which one, coupons for products and industrial goods were issued. it was problematic to buy anything without them. shops were met with empty shop windows, delivery of goods, starting from bread and milk, instantly gathered long queues of customers. the industrial east suffered the most. i am in the center

of sloviansk. the city from which the russian occupation of the donetsk and luhansk regions began in 2014. today it may be surprising, but long before the war in the early 90s, among the voices that demanded independence for ukraine, one of the loudest and most noticeable was the voice of this region, the voice of donbas. in the spring of 1991, massive miners' strikes covered almost half of the industry. miners against... walls against falling living standards and total deficit. they still kept relatively high salaries, but it was simply impossible to buy anything with that money. the miners' dissatisfaction was also well heard in kyiv, where the strikers went to the meetings. in addition to economic demands, they advocated independence. and here's why. at that time, ukraine ranked second in the ussr in terms of production volumes, and its gdp in...