Ukraine’s first three decades as an independent country were a rough ride.
This time was marked by corruption, poverty, inequality, revolutions, war and brain drain that depleted Ukraine’s potential.
Ukraine gained independence with a stroke of a pen. Looking back, it seems that we took it for granted.
So many things have gone wrong since then.
Ukraine is the largest and poorest country in Europe. The country was able to preserve democracy and maintain free and fair elections, yet those elected were far from being up for the task of leading a developing country.
Ukraine’s first five presidents have closed their eyes or participated in endemic corruption, malfunctioning courts, police brutality, enrichment of the few and the impoverishment of most everyone else. The sixth has yet to prove he’s any different.
The country’s heavy industry is creaky and polluting, while a good share of Ukraine’s workforce seeks employment abroad. Meanwhile, a group of rich business people intertwined with political elites have made themselves and their business interests more important than that of the state.
The group, spearheaded by a handful of oligarchs, has milked the country of its wealth. They bought plants and factories for a pittance and whitewashed their names through their TV stations.
Even Ukraine’s cherished democracy was shattered by the authoritarian tendencies of Ukraine’s incompetent leaders.
Prominent journalists, activists and politicians were killed. Journalists Georgiy Gongadze, Pavlo Sheremet and activist Kateryna Gandziuk are among the best known. Justice hasn’t come in any of the cases.
Over the course of these years, Ukrainians witnessed hyperinflation, two revolutions and a war. What they haven’t seen are respectable salaries ($500 monthly is still the average), courts that dispense justice and transformational reforms that establish independent and capable institutions.
Ukraine had to rebuild its military after the Russian invasion of 2014, which continues to bleed the nation. But there’s a lot of work yet to do in improving the nation’s defenses. Judges, prosecutors, police and security agencies remain dismal, corrupt or incompetent.
Ukraine’s medical staff, teachers and all essential workers are the least paid — both in the country and among their colleagues in Europe — while bribe-taking corrupt judges and officials live luxuriously, exposing the nation’s perverted values.
Ukraine has been failing on so many fronts.
But on the whole, Ukraine has won.
The very fact that Ukraine, against so many odds, is marking the 30th anniversary of independence is a victory worth celebrating.
Unlike so many of its neighbors and former Soviet states, Ukraine has great freedom of speech and real, democratic elections. It is something that Ukrainians for centuries have fought and died for.
Ukrainians fought for their right to choose their leaders in the 2004 Orange Revolution against an attempt by Viktor Yanukovych to rig the election. Then they inexplicably ousted the same Yanukovych in 2010, but sent him fleeing to his Kremlin backers in 2014 during the 100-day EuroMaidan Revolution in which 100 people were killed.
When Russia invaded Ukraine to force it back into submission, the leadership wasn’t ready to respond. It was the Ukrainian people who took the stand. Ukrainians formed volunteer battalions and made sacrifices for their homeland.
Ukrainians armed the country’s army, neglected for years, with modern equipment. Ukrainians donated their money and blood to protect their country.
Ukrainians, led by civil society experts, pushed for reforms when the government didn’t want to move. It was Ukrainian activists and volunteers who pushed for decentralization and for transparency paving the way for ProZorro procurement and anti-corruption institutions.
Many things are yet to be done. It’s a to-do list. And we are confident that Ukraine will eventually check off all items on the list.
We also know who will do it: Young Ukrainians. Help, but not salvation, will come from the rest of the nation, the West and other friends. But mainly it will come from within.
According to the recent polls, the new generation of Ukrainians is optimistic and eager to change this country. Young Ukrainians are pro-European, pro-democratic and are passionate to see the world. They overwhelmingly support women’s rights and the rights of the LGBTQ community.
This new generation is the best testament to Ukraine’s success.
On this Independence Day, we are celebrating them and the future that awaits Ukraine — a free, independent, and democratic country.
