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3w ago

Ukraine at 34: Independence-Era Voices Link Today’s Vulnerability to Missed Reforms and Nuclear Disarmament

Activists argue that elite continuity left Ukraine reliant on weak assurances.

Soviet army cadets register to vote in the Ukraine's first popular presidential election in Kyiv, Dec. 1, 1991. (AP Photo/Liu Heung Shing, File)
FILE - Two Ukrainians argue the merits of independence in Kyiv's central square, Dec. 2, 1991. (AP Photo/Liu Heung Shing, File)
FILE - Ukrainian women shout while waving their coupons to buy butter at a state-owned shop in Kyiv, Dec. 3, 1991. (AP Photo/Liu Heung Shing, File)
FILE - People wave Ukrainian national flags as they gather outside the parliament building during a pro-independence rally, in Kyiv, Sept. 4, 1991. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic, File)

Overview

  • Independence-era leaders describe decades of Russian political pressure and efforts to sideline pro‑Western voices after 1991.
  • They say a failed push for 1990 snap parliamentary elections left Soviet-era lawmakers in place and entrenched pro‑Russian networks.
  • Former negotiator Yurii Kostenko recounts being ousted under Russian pressure and says Ukraine sent warheads to Russia for about $1.5 billion in fuel and gas, which he calls a fraction of their value.
  • Ukraine accepted the 1994 Budapest Memorandum’s political assurances instead of NATO guarantees, which Russia later undercut by seizing Crimea in 2014 and launching a full-scale invasion in 2022.
  • These early decisions now frame Ukraine’s drive for EU and NATO integration as a security necessity, according to the activists.