Leonid Kravchuk, independent Ukraine’s 1st president, dies

KYIV, Ukraine — Leonid Kravchuk, who led Ukraine to independence throughout the collapse of the Soviet Union and served as its first president, died Tuesday, Ukrainian officers mentioned. He was 88.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy paid tribute to Kravchuk, calling him not only a historic determine however “a person who knew how you can discover smart phrases and to say them so that every one Ukrainians would hear them.”

Zelenskyy mentioned Kravchuk died Tuesday however gave no particulars of the circumstances. He had been unwell and underwent a coronary heart operation final yr.

Kravchuk led Ukraine as its Communist Get together boss within the waning years of the Soviet Union, and performed a pivotal position within the demise of the USSR earlier than holding the Ukrainian presidency from 1991 via 1994.

He was a driving power in Ukraine’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and later that yr joined with the leaders of Russia and Belarus to signal an settlement on Dec. 8, 1991, which formally declared that the Soviet Union ceased to exist.

As president, Kravchuk agreed to switch remaining Soviet nuclear weapons on Ukrainian territory to Russian management, in a deal backed by america.

He misplaced the 1994 presidential election to former Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma. In 2020 he returned to politics to attempt to negotiate a settlement as a part of a “contact group” for the battle in japanese Ukraine, the place Russia-backed separatists had fought Ukrainian forces since 2014.

Ukrainian Protection Minister Oleksii Reznikov wrote on Twitter that with Kravchuk’s signature to the December 1991 settlement disbanding the Soviet Union “the Evil Empire disintegrated.”

“Thanks for the peaceable renewal of our Independence. We’re defending it now with weapons in our arms,” Reznikov wrote Tuesday.

Kravchuk’s dying comes every week after that of the primary president of post-Soviet Belarus, Stanislav Shushkevich, who died aged 87 following therapy for COVID-19, in response to his spouse.

Since Shushkevich’s dying, Kravchuk was the final survivor of the three leaders who signed the 1991 deal. Russian President Boris Yeltsin died in 2007 aged 76.

Since Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine and threw its weight behind the 2014 separatist insurgency in japanese Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to solid doubt on Ukraine’s statehood and falsely painting the nation as a man-made assemble of Communist rule — rhetoric that paved the way in which for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In a televised tackle Feb. 21, three days earlier than the invasion, Putin blamed “historic, strategic errors” by Communist leaders for having led to the collapse of the Soviet state. Ukraine “turned to us for monetary assist many occasions from the very second they declared independence,” Putin mentioned in an obvious reference to Kravchuk’s time in workplace.

Some contributors within the historic Dec. 8 assembly at a looking lodge within the Belovezha forest, in what’s now Belarus, pointed to Kravchuk as having performed the principle position within the demise of the Soviet Union.

Ukraine had declared its sovereignty after an August coup by hardline Communist Get together members weakened Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s authority. Every week earlier than the Belovezha settlement, Kravchuk was elected president of Ukraine in a vote that additionally overwhelmingly accepted its independence from Moscow.

Individuals within the Belovezha talks mentioned Kravchuk rejected any efforts to maintain the Soviet Union going with reforms.

“Kravchuk was targeted on Ukraine’s independence,” Belarusian chief Shushkevich, who took half within the talks and signed the deal, advised The Related Press in an interview final yr. “He was proud that Ukraine declared its independence in a referendum and he was elected president on Dec. 1, 1991.”

Zelenskyy mentioned Kravchuk’s potential to talk to Ukrainians was significantly vital in “troublesome, disaster moments, when the way forward for the entire nation might rely on the braveness of 1 man.”

Zelenskyy’s personal communication abilities and determination to stay in Kyiv when it got here beneath Russian assault have helped make him a robust wartime chief.

Noting that Kravchuk had lived via World Conflict II and the occupation, Zelenskyy mentioned he knew the worth of freedom and with all his coronary heart wished peace for Ukraine. I’m certain that we’ll accomplish this. We’ll obtain our victory and our peace.”