Death of the first president of the independent Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk

The first president of independent Ukraine and one of the gravediggers of the USSR, Leonid Kravchuk, died Tuesday at the age of 88 in the midst of the Russian invasion of the country, authorities announced Tuesday.

 

A great loss for all of Ukraine. Today Leonid Kravchuk passed away - the first president of Ukraine, the first speaker of the Rada (the Ukrainian parliament, ed.) and the man who is the origin of the modern Ukrainian state, Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. He hailed a man who was not afraid to take the reins of the country during the turbulent 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union. It was during his presidency that the Parliament adopted the act of proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, he recalled. He remained loyal to his country until the last moment and sought, with his experience and knowledge, to improve our lives. And he succeeded, continued Klitschko. Andriy Yermak, the head of the presidential administration, lamented on Telegram a great loss, hailing a wise patriot and a truly historic figure.

 

It has seen tumultuous times for our country, difficult and historic decisions, the formation of Ukrainian independence, said on Facebook MP Dmytro Razumkov. For our independence and freedom we are fighting today. In a terrible war against the Russian invader, he continued. Leonid Kravchuk, as president of the Soviet Ukraine, was one of the three figures to act the dissolution of the USSR on December 8, 1991, along with the presidents of Russia and Belarus Soviet, Boris Yeltsin and Stanislav Shushkevich. Stanislav Shushkevich died last Wednesday at the age of 87, while Boris Yeltsin died in 2007.