Being born in 1991, the year Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union, many of Ukraine’s “children of independence” are now fighting for a better country on all fronts.
They’ve witnessed everything from currency devaluation in the 1990s and two revolutions, in 2004 and 2013, to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the start of Russia’s war on Ukraine in the Donbas, which has now been raging for more than three years.
Raised over two tumultuous decades, these 26-year-old Ukrainians are ones to look out for in future.
Zhan Beleniuk
Zhan Beleniuk of Ukraine celebrate winning the 85 kg category final match at the Greco-Roman Wrestling European Championships in Riga, Latvia, on March 13, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / Ilmars Znotins
The son of a Ukrainian mother and a Rwandan father, Beleniuk has been dubbed Ukraine’s wrestling prodigy. The Greco-Roman style wrestler Beleniuk won a silver medal in the 85-kilogram weight category at Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics in 2016, his first games.
“I want Ukraine to prosper, to top every ranking, and not just the ones to do with poverty. I live here and I want it to be a great place,” Beleniuk told the Kyiv Post. “I believe it will become one sometime.” However, there’s not much to celebrate this Independence Day, Beleniuk says, because the country has to improve its economy and keep developing.
Svitlana Yarova
Svitlana Yarova is the youngest member of Vinnytsia’s city council. (https://www.facebook.com/yarova.svitlana/photos?pnref=lhc)
Yarova, who hails from Vinnytsia, is proud to be a child of independence. “It’s something in my blood,” Yarova said. “I’ve always made all my decisions myself, and gone against any stereotypes.”
Now Yarova is the youngest member of Vinnytsia’s city council.
She graduated from Yaroslav the Wise National Law Academy and also studied decentralization processes in Switzerland with the help of the Bohdan Hawrylyshyn charity foundation, which supports talented young people.
“I want to make Vinnytsia a small Switzerland,” Yarova said. “Young people could be the fuel the country needs for its progress.”
Vitaliy Kuzmenko
Vitaliy Kuzmenko (pictured in the center) took part in the Independence Day parade in Kyiv in 2016.
Kuzmenko, then a history student in one of Kyiv universities, went to Maidan Nezalezhnosti Square to support the EuroMaidan protests on Nov. 30, 2013. That night, he was severely beaten during an attack by Berkut riot police as they violently broke up the protests. Kuzmenko ended up in hospital with concussion and broken arm, but he refused to be intimidated. Weeks later, he was back at the protests, and fought on Maidan until the EuroMaidan Revolution’s victory over then-President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.
Following the revolution, Kuzmenko volunteered to fight against Russian-led forces in the Donbas, saying he wanted “to prove everything I stood for on Maidan.” Two years later, in 2016, he returned to Maidan Nezalezhnosti — this time as a soldier marching in the Independence Day parade. “When I was standing there with my fellows I felt so proud for my country,” Kuzmenko recalls.
Alina Makhynia
Ukraine’s Alina Stadnik-Makhynia (blue) celebrates her win againts Canada’s Stacie Anaka (red) during the final round of the women’s free style 67 kg category of the World Wrestling Championships in Budapest on September 20, 2013. AFP PHOTO / FERENC ISZA / AFP PHOTO / FERENC ISZA
As a teenager, Ukrainian female wrestler Makhynia (pictured on the right) had to decide what citizenship to take — as she was born to a Russian mother and a Ukrainian father. She didn’t hesitate to choose Ukrainian. She was born in Russia, but grew up in Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine, where she started her career in wrestling. In 2013, Makhynia became World Champion in Women’s Freestyle in the 67-kilogram weight category.
“Being the first is something unbelievable. And if I dream about the podium, I always see myself with the yellow-and-blue flag,” Makhynia said. “I love my country and its people.”
Oleksiy Furman
Oleksiy Furman is a Ukrainian photographer.
A young yet accomplished Ukrainian photographer, Furman uses his skills to illustrate the life of Ukrainian soldiers in Donbas as well as Ukrainian civilians affected by the war. Once a Kyiv Post photographer, now Furman shoots for TIME, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Al Jazeera America, Der Spiegel, the Guardian, the Financial Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Independent and other media. He says he works according to his own rules, without pressure and censorship — what he calls his “personal independence.”
Furman says his attitude towards Ukraine’s independence has changed over the years: “The EuroMaidan Revolution and Russia-Ukraine war helped us understand how precious our independence is. Since 2013, I’ve been telling the story of our fight for independence, and it’s probably the most important story I’ve ever had to tell.”
Anastasia Baklan
Anastasia Baklan is a CEO of Business Gathering, a company that organizes networking meetings for businesses and entrepreneurs associations.
This young Ukrainian has an ambitious goal: She wants to revive Ukraine’s economy and has already started doing it. Baklan is the CEO of Business Gathering, a company that organizes networking meetings for businesses and entrepreneurs associations. She’s also a facilitator of the Public Private Dialogue activity in Ukraine within the European Union Project East Invest 2, a regional investment and trade facilitation project for the economic development of the Eastern European neighbors of EU.
Baklan has also been working with international programs of the Center for International Private Enterprise of USAID, where she focuses on business and government partnerships and advocacy campaigns in Ukraine and Eastern Partnership Countries.
