Today marks the 25th anniversary of Ukraine’s Declaration of Independence. On this day in 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR adopted the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, which was preceded by three intense days of August 19-21, marked by the coup attempt, undertaken by the Emergency Committee of the USSR. It was confirmed by the referendum of December 1, 199 and the presidential elections were held. 90% of voters agreed with the decision of the Supreme Soviet, and its chairman Leonid Kravchuk became the first head of the independent state.
US President George H. W. Bush, who arrived in Ukraine in early August 199, recommended not to rush into separation from the USSR. However, on December 8, Leonid Kravchuk signed the Belavezha Accords on liquidation of the USSR, which, in fact, is considered today in Ukraine the main "achievement" of the first president.
Today, he does not regret it, but acknowledges that Ukraine has failed as a state. In an interview with Ukrainian media, Kravchuk supported the Ukrainian film director Roman Balayan, who said the state is made up of a single language, defensible army and clear boundaries, but Ukraine does not have neither the first nor the second, nor the third, TASS reports.
Nevertheless, celebrations will be held in the country today. In particular, the President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv will take part in the wreath-laying ceremony near the Taras Shevchenko Memorial. US President Barack Obama, the Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, the French President Francois Hollande and the Chinese President Xi Jinping have already congratulated the Ukrainian people.
Observers note with regret that since receiving the independence the country's leadership has not reached any foreign policy objective and Ukraine's sovereignty now depends from Washington and Brussels instead of Moscow. It has become especially noticeable after the revolution in February 2014.
According to the World Bank, Ukraine's current level of wealth is one of the lowest among the former Soviet republics. Belarus, the Baltic States, Kazakhstan are ahead of it.
The UN came to the conclusion that almost all the country's population lives below the poverty line. According to the standards of the organization, those people who spend up to $5 are behind the threshold of poverty. According to the UN, it is 80% of the Ukrainian population. The organization's experts estimate that the real cost of living in the country is only $1.5 per day.
Despite the satisfaction of the IMF requirements to raise the retirement age for women from 55 to 60 years and the restriction of certain pension benefits, the Pension Fund of Ukraine has permanent financial problems: its deficit is now $5.8 billion.
In 2016, according to official forecasts, the population of Ukraine will decrease by more than 155 thousand people and by the end of the year it will be 42.262 million people. Only during the 2014 - 2015 years 960 thousand people left Ukraine, and almost 750 thousand of them left for Russia. According to official data, 4.5 million migrant workers have left Ukraine since 1991. At the same time, according to experts, the real number is 7 - 7.5 million people.
According to various estimates, there will be an increase in prices from 12 to 20% this year, while the state debt of Ukraine has exceeded 60% of GDP.
