Day of Unity of Ukraine

Day of Unity of UkraineIn January 1918, the Ukrainian People’s Republic (UPR) was created, and the West Ukrainian People’s Republic (ZUNR) was formed on the territories that were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In December 1918, the leaders of the two states signed a pre-unification treaty in Fastov. On January 22, 1919, this treaty, which went down in history as an act of evil - an act of unification of Ukrainian lands, was promulgated in Kiev on Sofia Square.

This state holiday symbolizes the unity of Ukrainian lands. Although the state failed to preserve its unity and independence, the act of evil became the real embodiment of the centuries-old dream of Ukrainians for their sovereign state.

Unified Ukraine was not long: difficult economic and military situation, mutual distrust of politicians led to disaster. A few months after the proclamation of the reunification, the Bolsheviks captured Kiev, Eastern Galicia was occupied by the Poles, and Transcarpathia by Czechoslovakia.

And although the act of evil in 1919 was declarative, the idea of conciliarity continued to live on. And on January 22, 1990, millions of then-Soviet Ukrainians lined up in a human chain from Kiev to Lviv, marking Unity Day.

The Day of Unity is celebrated in accordance with the decree of the President of Ukraine of January 25, 1999.