Ukraine's Path to Independence: An Overview of Key Events

Ukraine’s path to independence is a story of centuries-long struggle for self-determination, shaped by empires, revolutions, wars and the enduring aspirations of her people. Situated at the crossroads of East and West, Ukraine has historically been a prize in geopolitical contests. Yet her national identity, forged through cultural resilience and political awakening, ultimately gave rise to an independent state in 1991. Here we outline the key events that shaped Ukraine’s long journey towards independence, providing context for understanding her modern statehood.

Medieval Origins and the Kyivan Rus’

The historical roots of Ukrainian statehood can be traced to the Kyivan Rus’, a powerful East Slavic polity centred in Kyiv and flourishing from the 9th to the 13th centuries. Founded by the Varangians but rapidly Slavicised, the Kyivan Rus’ adopted Orthodox Christianity in 988 under Grand Prince Volodymyr the Great. This Christianisation forged enduring cultural ties to Byzantium and laid the religious and linguistic foundations of the modern Ukrainian identity.

Following the Mongol invasion in the 13th century, the Kyivan Rus’ disintegrated and Ukrainian territories were gradually absorbed by neighbouring powers, including the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and, later, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The Cossack Hetmanate and the Struggle for Autonomy

In the 17th century, the emergence of the Cossacks—free warrior communities based in the Dnipro River basin—heralded a renewed Ukrainian political consciousness. Led by Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, the Cossacks rose in rebellion against Polish rule in 1648. Khmelnytsky’s alliance with the Tsardom of Muscovy, formalised in the 1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav, was initially intended to secure military support but ultimately led to the gradual erosion of Ukrainian autonomy.

Although the Cossack Hetmanate persisted in various forms through the 18th century, the expanding Russian Empire progressively integrated Ukrainian lands, culminating in the abolition of the Hetmanate in 1764 and the destruction of the Zaporozhian Sich in 1775.

Nineteenth-Century National Awakening

The 19th century saw Ukraine divided between the Russian Empire in the east and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the west. Despite repression, a cultural revival emerged, particularly through the work of Ukrainian intellectuals such as Taras Shevchenko, whose poetry in the vernacular helped awaken national consciousness. In Habsburg-ruled Galicia, Ukrainians enjoyed relatively more cultural freedoms, allowing a generation of thinkers and activists to advance Ukrainian linguistic, literary, and educational institutions.

The Russification policies of the Russian Empire, particularly under Tsars Alexander II and III, banned Ukrainian-language publications and cultural expressions, pushing national aspirations underground. Nonetheless, the idea of an independent Ukrainian identity began to crystallise.

The Turmoil of Revolution and the Short-Lived Independence (1917–1921)

The First World War and the Russian Revolution of 1917 created a rare opportunity for Ukrainian independence. In March 1917, the Central Rada (Council) was established in Kyiv, declaring the Ukrainian People’s Republic (UPR) within a federated Russia. In January 1918, facing Bolshevik hostility, the UPR declared full independence.

However the subsequent period was marked by chaotic warfare involving Bolsheviks, Whites, Germans, Poles, anarchists, and various nationalist factions. The Western Ukrainian People’s Republic (whose capital was Lviv) also emerged briefly in Galicia. In 1919, the Act of Unification between the UPR and the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic was proclaimed, but the union was never fully realised. As the Red Army pushed westwards, the alst capital of the UPR was in Kamienets-Podilyski, a small fortress town in the southwest of the UPR's territory.

By 1921, Soviet forces had secured most of Ukraine, incorporating it into the newly formed Soviet Union as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Western Ukraine was absorbed into Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia.

Soviet Ukraine: Repression, Famine, and War

Ukraine’s experience within the Soviet Union was marked by severe repression, most notably under Joseph Stalin. In the early 1930s, the forced collectivisation of agriculture and grain requisition policies led to the Holodomor (1932–33), a man-made famine that killed millions of Ukrainians. Many historians regard the Holodomor as an act of genocide, designed to break resistance to Soviet rule.

During the Second World War, Ukraine was a major battlefield. Nazi occupation brought mass executions, forced labour, and the Holocaust, while Soviet reoccupation led to renewed purges. Despite suffering some of the highest casualties of the war, Ukraine emerged as one of the founding members of the United Nations in 1945, formally recognised as a separate republic—albeit under Soviet control.

In the post-war decades, Ukraine experienced rapid industrialisation and urbanisation, but also continued political repression and the Russification of public life. Dissent was harshly punished, with Ukrainian intellectuals and dissidents often imprisoned or exiled.

The Rise of National Movements and the Collapse of the USSR

By the 1980s, under the policies of glasnost and perestroika introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev, suppressed nationalist sentiments re-emerged. The 1986 Chornobyl nuclear disaster further discredited Soviet authority and galvanised popular activism in Ukraine.

In 1989–90, mass protests and the formation of the Ukrainian People’s Movement (Rukh) transformed the political landscape. On 16 July 1990, Ukraine’s parliament adopted a Declaration of State Sovereignty. A year later, on 24 August 1991, in the wake of the failed hardline coup in Moscow, the Ukrainian parliament declared full independence.

On 1 December 1991, over 90 per cent of Ukrainian voters, including a majority in every region, endorsed independence in a national referendum. This included the traditionally Russophone regions of the south and east, demonstrating a broad consensus. Leonid Kravchuk was elected the first President of independent Ukraine.

Independence as an Ongoing Process

While the legal act of independence occurred in 1991, Ukraine’s struggle for sovereignty did not end there. The years since have witnessed further challenges, including corruption, economic instability, Russian interference and war. The 2004 Orange Revolution and the 2014 Revolution of Dignity affirmed Ukraine’s democratic aspirations, while Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the ongoing war in the east have tested her resolve.

Nevertheless, the Ukrainian people have repeatedly demonstrated a fierce commitment to their independence and identity. The long arc of Ukraine’s history—from Kyivan Rus’ to the modern republic—has been defined by a recurring theme: the enduring pursuit of freedom in the face of foreign domination. Today Ukraine’s path to independence is not merely a historical narrative but an active struggle, fought on battlefields, in elections, and in cultural revival. It is a story still being written.