Ukrainians Are Born to Be Independent

Each year, the notion of independence takes on new shapes and meanings for us. Today, we see it differently than we did a year ago, and certainly very differently from how we saw it back in 2015.

Some may think that speaking about independence at such a turbulent time — militarily and politically —feels odd, even pointless. You glance at the news feed with its dozen breaking headlines and wonder: how can anyone think about “lofty” matters?

And yet, at some point, you pause. You look back half a year, recall what troubled you and how you lived through recent months — and suddenly the familiar, important things come into focus again. Independence is one of them.

So, this August 24, I want to revisit a few statements about our Independence, some unexpectedly new, others predictably fundamental.

Independence is not acquired, it grows from within

The strength of independence is not external, but internal. It lives in the mind. Unless each person defines and embraces this value for themselves, nothing will manifest outwardly. One can shout, make declarations, but if one is not prepared to defend those values, nothing will come of it.

This applies to individuals and to the country as a whole. When we speak of a Ukrainian’s independence, we are speaking above all of independence in their own thinking and in their judgments about the world around them. It is about seeing oneself within this country and being ready to take responsibility for actions consistent with those values.

An independent country cannot exist without strong, stable institutions

Institutions are not the spine, but certainly the skeleton of the state. Like bones, each has a specific function, and at critical moments, one of them can even save the future. Ukrainian history already has such examples.

Consider December 2004, when the Supreme Court annulled the results of the second round of the presidential election. Within three weeks, a third round was held, which Viktor Yushchenko won. Ukraine elected its first truly democratic president and set itself on a European course.

That ruling was unexpected — it was the story of an institution that, at a key moment, refused to remain hostage to the interests of a narrow group. Without that institution, we might not be speaking about Ukraine at all today. After Yanukovych’s first arrival, Ukraine itself might not have survived.

Or take the evening session of Parliament on February 20, 2014. It was a tragic day: dozens of protesters were killed on and around the Maidan. Yet that evening, MPs, whom no one expected to act, gathered and restored Ukraine’s parliamentary-presidential system. After Yanukovych fled, Parliament alone carried the burden of statehood until the presidential election in May 2014. Who could have imagined it? A body full of Moscow’s loyalists, who just a month earlier had passed dictatorial laws.

Institutions are made of people. That is why dismissing any branch of power — legislative or executive — is a mistake. What matters is whether, at the decisive moment, there are people ready to take responsibility and act. Do we have such people today? Can we imagine similar resolve now? Perhaps we doubt it, but we know it is possible. We have seen it before — in moments of despair, flawed institutions still became engines of change.

Ukrainian independence cannot survive under authoritarian rule

By modern standards, Ukraine was not historically a democracy. Yet democratic practices were present here from the very beginning, with the Zaporozhian Sich as both a military force and a proto-democratic structure. That spirit of resistance has always lived here. No homegrown dictatorship ever truly took root.

Since August 24, 1991, this has become even clearer: no dictator, no autocrat could ever last here. Attempts at power grabs have consistently provoked mass protest. Both the Orange Revolution and the Revolution of Dignity were direct responses to efforts to decide the country’s fate against the will of its citizens. Even this July, when a law was adopted curbing the independence of the NABU and the SAPO, society reacted in a distinctly Ukrainian way.

It is absurd for a nation ready to fight a 1.5-million-strong army for its freedom to be stripped of the independence of some of its institutions, with no expectation of backlash. We are patient, but when freedom is at stake, the line breaks.

Independence is a process—and no process exists without reform

When we speak of Ukraine’s future, we speak of change — reforms that will make the country stronger. Today, Ukraine cannot exist without reforms. The good news is that we know what must be done: our reforms are directly tied to EU integration. The bad news is that change is not happening as quickly as it should. Over the past year, it has in many areas stalled altogether.

It is hard to single out one reform as most important. What matters is that we fulfill on time the commitments we made one, two, or three years ago. Methods can be debated, but action cannot be postponed. Instead, much has been reduced to the bare minimum — and that only harms us, diminishing Ukraine’s credibility in the eyes of its partners.

Joining the European Union is not about entering an elite club you can later leave or ignore its rules. In the end, meeting EU accession obligations will only reinforce our true independence. Strong institutions will work as intended, and they will be harder to manipulate. The skeleton will be in place, and the entire state organism will move and grow.

True independence is about moving forward

This year’s July protests made that clear. Most of those who gathered in front of the Franko Theatre in Kyiv and in other cities were young people — born after independence. They grew up in a world where citizens stood for justice. They had seen protests their parents and older peers attended. Now they themselves are ready to defend their convictions and work to make them reality.

This is what inspires every conscious citizen, and especially our defenders at the front. When they see that people at home are ready to fight for the same values, through convictions and concrete actions, for which soldiers risk their lives on the frontline, it gives them strength. Many servicemen joined the July protests themselves, a sign that the will of those in the rear and those at the front converges.

This July, we became certain that we have a future, provided the country survives. We have a generation of active youth, underestimated for too long, who care deeply. If we defend the country both externally and internally, our future will be secure. And in that, I believe, lies the truest expression of our real Independence.