Ukraine celebrates 10th anniversary of its independence (09/02/01)

Ukraine celebrates 10th anniversary of its independence

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - For a 10th anniversary birthday bash, one day is not enough. Ukraine decided it needed a week to celebrate, and then did so with a fluorish. The culmination came on August 24 when nearly 50,000 residents of Kyiv came out onto the capital city's main thoroughfare, the Khreschatyk, on a sunny, late summer day to view the largest military parade in the country's decade of existence.

Three foreign leaders - Russian President Vladimir Putin, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski - stood on the reviewing stand alongside Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma and much of the country's government and legislative leadership. Also on hand were representative delegations from several other countries, including Canada, the United States, China and Chile, as Ukraine first put its military hardware on display and then the talents of its youth. The show was a striking exhibition of that which ostensibly assures security now and what will secure its existence in the future.

Minister of Defense Oleksander Kuzmuk gave the single address of the celebration, a short presentation in which he underscored the current readiness of Ukraine's military force after the completion of extensive organizational restructuring, which was followed by the national anthem, the religious hymn "Bozhe Velykyi Yedynyi" and the release of hundreds of white doves into the bright blue sky.

After that came the goose-stepping soldiers in sharp military dress - more than 4,000 in all from the various branches of the armed forces, law enforcement agencies and many of the military academies and lyceums. The hardware followed, some 300 pieces, led by armored personnel carriers and U.S.-donated Hummers. After that 10 of Ukraine's state-of-the-art main battle tanks, T-84s, which the country claims are on par with any similar piece of machinery in the West, rumbled down the Khreschatyk in a cloud of diesel smoke. Long-barrelled howitzers and thin-nosed Zenit series anti-ballistic missiles on carriers brought up the rear.

The first part of the two-and-a-half hour show concluded with a flyover of 42 various Ukrainian aircraft, including a short aerial exercise of MiG-29 fighter jets by the Sokil aerial exhibition squadron and the appearance of the world's two largest airplanes, the AN-124 Ruslan and the AN-225 Mria. The finale included a daytime fireworks display, during which five Ukrainian blue-yellow standards appeared from a burst of pyrotechnics and floated downwards under miniature parachutes.

Singers on parade floats, dancers and colorful pageantry came next, with the spotlight on youngsters, before Ukrainian Olympic champions carrying a huge blue-yellow banner and para-Olympic athletes along with more youngsters, these from the various athletic clubs and sports federations of Ukraine, completed the spectacle with a gymnastics display before the reviewing stand.

Increasingly larger crowds, which reached more than half a million according to police estimates, filled the city center as the day continued, culminating in a series of rock and pop concerts throughout the city in the early evening hours and a huge fireworks salute to end the day's events.

For Ukrainians the party officially began the previous Saturday, August 18, when the Third World Forum of Ukrainians opened , and ended on Sunday, August 26, when the last concert on Kyiv's European Square ended in the evening.

By August 25 celebrations had hit such a crescendo that the sale of hard liquor was banned in the city center until after the nightly concerts were over at about 10 p.m. Law enforcement officials, however, reported no serious problems with crowd control and even noted a reduction in crime during the four days that Ukrainians officially had off from work.

Not everything was all-out partying, however. There were also solemn commemorations, official celebrations and much wreath-laying, along with the opening of the city's revamped Independence Square and the introduction of a new 62-meter column, atop which stands what state officials hope will be Ukraine's lady liberty.

In one of the week's highlights, Kyiv city officials, led by Mayor Oleksander Omelchenko - whose stature as a person who gets things done continued to grow with this latest success - presented the bleached concrete and granite plaza, which stands at the very heart of the city, to Kyiv residents and the Ukrainian nation on August 23 with a colorful show that included huge balloon arrangements and an effective daytime fireworks display. The center of attention was the gilded female figure in a green patina holding a guelder rose (kalyna) above her head perched atop the 62-meter granite column that dominates the square.

President Kuchma, who attended the ceremony along with President Kwasniewski of Poland and an entourage of Ukrainian government officials, said in a short speech that he hoped that 10, 20 and even 100 years from now the statue would come to symbolize Ukrainian independence, democracy and liberty.

"This monument and this renewed square, which carries the hallowed name 'Independence', must carry with it other symbols liberty, faith and beauty, respect for human intelligence and human toil," stated Mr. Kuchma.

The president also said he would like the figure to represent the unity of the various ethnic and religious groups in Ukraine.

It was an event-filled day for the president, beginning with a moleben at St. Sophia Sobor in the heart of Kyiv, which was attended by representatives of all the major religious confessions of the country. There the president, Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ivan Pliusch lit prayer candles for the country.

Then Mr. Kuchma traveled to the St. Volodymyr the Great Monument overlooking the Dnipro River for another prayer service before moving on to memorials to Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine's bard, and Mykhailo Hrushevsky, the president of its first republic, as well as to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where he laid wreaths.

After the afternoon appearance at the opening of Independence Square, the president was off to a jubilee concert at the Ukraina Palace of Culture (Palats Ukrainy) concert hall along with Presidents Kwasniewski, Putin and Trajkovski. Mr. Kuchma was the single speaker before the beginning of the multi-media show. He gave a lengthy 50-minute discourse on Ukraine's accomplishments of the last 10 years and a delineation of what still needs to be done.

The president said that in terms of its importance to the Ukrainian nation, the Act of Declaration of the Independence of Ukraine passed on August 24, 1991, could be compared to the christening of Kyivan Rus' in 988. He said that Ukrainian independence is "irreversible" and called the 10th anniversary "the end of the first and most difficult stage."

The previous day, in another highlight of the week's commemorations, the same members of the Verkhovna Rada who had carried the large Ukrainian flag into the session hall 10 years ago when the Parliament voted to proclaim Ukraine's independence and to leave the Soviet Union re-enacted the historic event to mighty applause during a ceremonial session of the Verkhovna Rada.

A large portion of the Kyiv diplomatic corps, along with most of the past and present members of the Parliament as well as President Kuchma, Prime Minister Kinakh and his Cabinet, and Supreme Court and Constitutional Court judges were on hand to view the proceedings, which included an address by Chairman Pliusch.

The session also included the reading of a proclamation by National Deputy Ihor Yukhnovsky from the Verkhovna Rada to the parliaments of the world in which the Ukrainian legislature pledged to continue the development of parliamentarism and democracy in the country.

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