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Witkoff and Kushner's visit to Ukraine postponed again… Zelenskyy: Russia to draft 300,000 troops after September elections… UK shares classified data with Kyiv for missile production… Russia targets Europe's weapons factories…
Editor’s note:
Usually, articles like this — which draw on our reporters’ personal experiences — are paywalled content. But today, in honor of the holiday, we’re sharing it with all our readers!
Today, Ukraine is celebrating a significant anniversary — its 35th year of independence. As our team is quite young, most reporters did not witness the day when Ukraine finally broke free from decades of Soviet occupation. So, we asked our parents and grandparents what memories they have of those historic times to give you a better sense of how that felt for ordinary Ukrainians.
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OUR LEAD STORY:
KYIV, Ukraine – On August 24, 1991, millions of people were glued to their old TV sets. Thousands of people huddled near the Verkhovna Rada Building holding bright blue-and-yellow flags and chanting, “Independence!” Before their eyes, an independent Ukraine was rising from the ashes of the Soviet Union.
But there was a catch: the majority of parliamentary seats were held by the Communists. Everyone kept wondering: would they vote for it?
346 votes for independence, only one vote against. The flag of the Ukrainian SSR was lowered from the building.
The Ukrainian flag is carried into the Verkhovna Rada chamber following the declaration of Independence on August 24, 1991.
That day the Verkhovna Rada adopted the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, which was later supported in a nationwide referendum in December 1991 by more than 90 percent of Ukrainians. In every region, the share of votes marked ”Yes” to the question “Do you confirm the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine?” never fell below 54 percent.
Over the years, Ukraine’s Declaration of Independence has retained a deeply emotional significance. It was a moment when, despite decades of repression and attempts to destroy Ukrainians as a nation, independence was achieved through a largely nonviolent process.
But only during this war, as their freedom has faced an existential threat, have Ukrainians truly come to understand the significance of what happened more than three decades ago — and to grasp that freedom can never be taken for granted. It is a choice that must be defended every day.
To celebrate Ukraine’s Independence Day, The Counteroffensive’s reporters spoke with their closest relations about what it is like to fall asleep in one country and wake up in another, without even leaving their homes.
Mariana Lastovyria: My family was promised to become millionaires but never did
In the early 1990s, my then-thirteen-year-old dad, already a Pioneer (a member of the Children’s Communist Organization of the USSR) was preparing to formally join the age group in the Communist Youth League (Komsomol) — which was mandatory for schoolchildren. But one day he came to school and realized they no longer existed; they had been disbanded. Komsomol badges were traded in for vyshyvankas. Leaflets appeared at bus stops in our city, Kovel, arguing that Ukraine could sustain itself economically. They did not need the Soviet Union anymore.
At that time the USSR was close to collapse; censorship was loosening enough that entertaining a Ukrainian identity felt less risky. Underground political movements surfaced, most notably Narodnyi Rukh, which was founded in 1989 to support Gorbachev’s reforms before shifting toward independence.
“My parents took me to Rukh rallies at our stadium. The stands were packed. Along the fences around the stadium hung posters with the numbers of Holodomor and Stalinist repression victims,” he recalled.
At school, my dad and his classmates started constantly drawing tryzubs — the national symbol on the coat of arms of Ukraine — on their desks with the word ‘Воля’ (liberty) written within it. Even during that time, tryzub held a sacral meaning.
At the same time, my grandmother and grandfather recalled that a legend began circulating: every Ukrainian was supposed to become a millionaire. According to the story, the Ukrainian Hetman Pavlo Polubotok, before the Russians threw him into prison in 1723, allegedly deposited gold with an interest-bearing English bank account. Supposedly, he had left a will stating that as soon as Ukraine became independent, the money would be returned to the state.
Some Ukrainians genuinely believed this. Statuettes of Polubotok stood in shop windows, bought as gifts. My grandmother Valentyna still laughs, recalling how at the pharmacy where she worked, everyone was given busts of Polubotok as gifts during a staff meeting. The gold was never found.
My family supported Ukrainian independence, even though we never did become millionaires. “Your grandfather instilled in me from childhood a hatred of the Soviet Union,” my dad used to tell me.
On August 24, 1991, my dad was playing a tune on the piano at home when my grandmother and grandfather came into the room and said that the Verkhovna Rada had voted for independence. He nodded happily and kept playing.
Ally: Why people in Kharkiv would bring fizzy drinks with them
My grandmother Lubov (meaning love in Ukrainian) tried to explain how events unfolded back then by drawing comparisons with the present day. She said that the Declaration of Independence was preceded by mass protests in Kharkiv, with crowds that extended as far as the newly built Oleksiyivka neighbourhood — quite a distance from the traditional rallying point in front of the regional state administration building four miles away.
“Back then there were no cardboard signs, but the protests weren’t as peaceful either,” she told me during a phone call. “There were a lot of clashes, so people would bring fizzy drinks with them so that, in the event of a heated argument, they could shake the drink, pop the cap, and spray their opponent.”
My grandmother was quite the active citizen. She attended rallies and brought my 14-year-old father with her.
“On the night Ukraine’s independence was declared, grandfather [my grandfather] and I were sitting in front of the TV,” my grandmother recalled. “Back then, there weren’t TVs like we have now; it was a system where the picture and sound were separate. There was terrible static, but we didn’t go to sleep. All night long, they [members of Parliament] fought and argued, and it wasn’t until dawn that they finally reached a decision.”
My grandmother is quite advanced in age, and she often has a hard time remembering things. She forgot simple words like ‘TV’ or ‘soda’ right in the middle of our conversation, but she remembered her emotions clearly: “Those were such interesting times — so much was happening! Interesting times in a good way, not like today.”
Mariana Stadnyk: Moscow’s failed coup led to independence
When Ukraine became independent my parents were thirteen. My dad Ihor, who grew up in the Ternopil region, watched everything on TV with great interest, especially the tanks that were deployed in Moscow during the attempted coup at the end of August 1991. It was organized by eight Communist Party hardliners in the Soviet government who opposed Gorbachev’s reforms and feared the collapse of the USSR after signing the New Union Treaty, which was to be signed on August 20, 1991.
The so-called ‘gang of eight’ detained the USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev at his dacha in Crimea, formed the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP) on 19 August, and tried to seize power in the country. The coup failed quickly; on 22 August Gorbachev returned to Moscow, the organizers lost their posts, and didn’t reach their goal of preventing collapse of the USSR.
My mom Oksana, who grew up in the Vinnytsia region, remembers how scared the members of the GKChP looked as they sat behind a long table and how the USSR Vice-President Gennady Yanayev’s hands trembled as he read the state of emergency announcement. She found it hilarious at that time.
My mom’s classmate, whose father was in the military, was concerned. “The military was put on alert because this was serious,” she told my mom. At that time, my mom didn’t really think about it much. Now she understands that the events could have unfolded quite differently and the military could have been involved.
At the same time, my dad understood that something extraordinary had happened when Rada voted for Ukrainian independence just two days after the coup. Only three years before, when an education inspector asked students about how the Ukrainian flag looked at my dad’s school and his classmate said it was blue and yellow — not red with a Soviet emblem and a blue stripe at the bottom — there was a big scandal. In 1991, however, a huge blue-and-yellow flag was solemnly brought into the Verkhovna Rada building and raised above its dome.
Soon after that, new symbols appeared everywhere — new flag, new anthem, new coat of arms. The Soviet school uniforms with white aprons disappeared along with the Pioneer’s red scarves; education suddenly changed and myths about Lenin were debunked. TV and radio began broadcasting Verkhovna Rada sessions, and for the first time you could hear every politician’s speech.
At that time my parents didn’t fully understand how long Ukraine had been fighting for independence and didn’t appreciate it enough. It took watching that independence nearly slip away for its true value to become clear.
Interested in reading more stories about Ukrainian Independence? Take a look at these:
Where Ukraine’s eff-you attitude comes from by Anastasiia Kryvoruchenko, Mariana Lastovyria, and Sofia Konoplytska
The Granite Revolution sparked Ukrainian independence by Alessandra Hay, William Glover Weiss, and Tim Mak
Marking Ukrainian Independence Day: We speak to those who declared it 32 years ago by Myroslava Tanska-Vikulova
Editor’s Note:
Today, Ukraine is celebrating a significant anniversary — its 35th year of independence. As our team is quite young, most reporters did not witness the day when Ukraine finally broke free from decades of Soviet occupation. So, we asked our parents and grandparents what memories they have of those historic times to give you a better sense of how that felt for ordinary Ukrainians.
Support our team because you won’t find this level of immersion in reality in many other publications!
THE LATEST NEWS AT THIS HOUR:
By: Oleksandra Poda
Good morning to readers; Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.
WITKOFF AND KUSHNER’S VISIT TO UKRAINE POSTPONED AGAIN: U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner first-ever visit to Kyiv was called off again. This time, because of the wave of Russian missile and drone strikes that battered the capital last week. The trip has been delayed repeatedly since early April, when Zelenskyy said the envoys had confirmed they would come “on April 1 or 2” but never did. By postponing the trip, the officials will miss Ukraine’s Independence Day.
Although Witkoff and Kushner will not attend, on August 23-24, Kyiv is set to hold one of the largest diplomatic gatherings in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion. The leaders of the UK, Canada, Moldova, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, and Norway and the European Council President are scheduled to visit Kyiv. The officials will arrive by train despite facing the same security concerns Washington cited as grounds for caution. Former U.S. Special Envoy Keith Kellogg also arrived.
ZELENSKYY: RUSSIA TO DRAFT 300,000 TROOPS AFTER SEPTEMBER ELECTIONS: Zelenskyy said that Ukraine’s intelligence predicts that Russia will launch a new mobilization, recruiting approximately 300,000 troops following the State Duma elections on September 20. Zelenskyy has also said that this mobilization will be further increased in 2027 to reach a goal of 500,000 troops.
Reporting from the WSJ has found Russian officials reviewing mobilization procedures in the Kaliningrad region, testing its ability to provide the necessary resources for these troops.
A mobilization of this size would extend the war’s timeline, providing Russia with the manpower to sustain operations well into 2027 and beyond. Zelenskyy used this announcement to highlight the decrease in weapons deliveries from previous years.
UK SHARES CLASSIFIED DATA WITH KYIV FOR MISSILE PRODUCTION: The British government has approved the transfer of classified technical data to Ukraine, which will enable the country to produce SCALP long-range cruise missiles domestically. With a range of up to 560 kilometers, SCALP missiles are among the most effective weapons in Ukraine’s arsenal for striking deep into Russian territory to target logistics, airfields, and command centers.
Last month, Moscow recalled its ambassador to the UK, Andrii Kelin, and reiterated earlier warnings of ‘consequences’ for British military assistance to Ukraine.
RUSSIA TARGETS EUROPE’S WEAPONS FACTORIES: Russia has launched a continent-wide, systematic campaign targeting weapons manufacturing facilities across Europe — testing how far Russia can push NATO.
This campaign involves recruiting local nationals, often through criminal networks, to carry out arson, tamper with equipment, and gather intelligence at factories producing artillery shells, drones, armored vehicles, and other military equipment intended for Ukraine.
Confirmed or suspected incidents have been recorded in Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, and the United Kingdom.
CAT OF CONFLICT:
This cat is taking in the morning breeze. It knows it’s going to be unbearably hot in a few hours, so it’s enjoying the weather while it can.
Stay safe out there!
Best,
Oleksandra, Mariana and Mariana.
Thank you so much for sharing your parents' memories of independence. As I am of your grandparents' age, I remember the fall of the USSR well, but was more focused on the fall of the Berlin Wall. I did not know it at the time, but I had cousins living in West Berlin and my paternal great-grandfather was born in that city.
Slava Ukraini!