The Crimean peninsula and the territory of the Donbas will be reunited with Ukraine – SME.sk

KIEV. The Crimean peninsula and the territory of the Donbas will be reunited with Ukraine. This was announced on Tuesday during the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Gazeta.ru portal informed.

“(Donbas and Crimea) will come back to us because we are a family and the only thing that can divide us is a generously covered table, where we will all certainly drink together that we have become a strong country,” Zelenskyj said. He also stressed that the Ukrainian and Russian-speaking inhabitants of Ukraine are “one family”.

He was supported by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel. “I am here to reaffirm the EU’s unwavering position: we do not and will not recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by Russia,” Michel said at the summit.

The country celebrates its 30th anniversary

In addition, Zelensky announced during his speech that they would introduce a new holiday in the country – Ukrainian Statehood Day.

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“We will start celebrating the Day of Ukrainian Statehood. We consider it the beginning of Kiev – the capital of Kievan Rus, which can be considered the place where it all began,” Zelenskyj said.

The holiday will be celebrated on July 28 – the day of the baptism of Kievan Rus, when this state of Eastern Slavs officially accepted Christianity.

Celebrations of the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s declaration of independence are taking place in the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday.

The city is hosting a military parade, which will be attended by more than 4,000 Ukrainian soldiers, as well as troops from other countries – the participation of NATO air units is also expected.

The show will also feature several foreign guests, including the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, according to the RIA Novosti agency.

90 percent of Ukrainians voted for independence

Independence day Ukraine falls on August 24. On this day in 1991, Ukrainian politicians declared independence days after the failed communist coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

In December of that year, more than 90 percent of Ukrainians voted for independence in a referendum. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine has gone through a turbulent period of consolidation of its domestic and foreign policy, political institutions and the search for its own identity.

Independence Day has been more symbolic in the country since 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula and supported pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country. The conflict continues to this day.

Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine last existed as an independent state between 1917 and 1920. A short period of independence followed the chaos that accompanied the revolution in Russia and the end of the First World War.