StatehoodDayofUkraine:whypreservinghistoryissoimportantforUkrainians

On July 15, Ukraine celebrates the Day of Ukrainian Statehood. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy established this official state holiday back in 2021, and in July 2022, Ukrainians celebrated it for the first time despite Russia’s full-scale invasion.

This is an important day that symbolizes Ukraine’s statehood not only as a fact but also as the accumulation of a thousand years of Ukrainian history, cultural heritage, and the struggle for its independence.

What is the Statehood Day of Ukraine

The history of the Day of Ukrainian Statehood is closely linked to the Day of the Christianization of Kyivan Rus, which (as historians estimate) took place in 988. The adoption of Christianity by Grand Prince Volodymyr the Great was a civilizational choice that gave impetus to the development of culture and education, as well as the opportunity to build diplomatic ties with other countries.

Kyivan Rus and Volodymyr the Great laid the foundation for a state with a European vector for the development of cultural and religious space, which was continued by the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia, the Cossack state, the Ukrainian National Republic, the Western Ukrainian National Republic, the Ukrainian State of Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi.

Modern Ukraine has become an heir to the history of state-building and continues to defend its right to independence and agency.

Russia’s threats to Ukraine’s statehood

Even before launching the invasion in 2014, Russia has been using many propaganda mechanisms to distort Ukraine’s history and seize it for itself. After February 24, 2022, the informational war took on new dimensions – like claims that Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin created Ukraine in the first place.

However, this does not correlate with the fact that the capital of modern Ukraine, Kyiv, was founded in the 5th century (when the first mention of Moscow as a small settlement near a river called Hnyla (Rotten) dates back to 1147). 

Russian propagandists also like to refer to the name Kyivan Rus as belonging to them. However, “Rus” was not used in the sense of “Russia” (which, in fact, did not exist for a long time) but rather to describe the peoples who settled on the territory of modern Ukraine. They were also called “Ruthenians.” 

In 1721, however, Tsar Peter I proclaimed the Moscow Kingdom the “Russian Empire” and Muscovites “Russians.” 

Doctor of History Yaroslav Dashkevych commented on the event in more detail: “Muscovy essentially seized the name Rus, which in its specific content-ethnic, geographical, and organizational is fully consistent with the modern term Ukraine… This gave Muscovy, albeit fake, but still the gloss of a cultural, civilized state with a long historical tradition, with Byzantine-Kyivan church metrics.”

However, this does demonstrate at least some of the legacy that modern Russia has inherited from its previous forms of statehood: it still tries to steal other people’s culture and history in various ways.

What does statehood mean for Ukrainians

In his “Testament to the Fighters for Liberation,” Volodymyr Vynnychenko, the first head of the government of the Ukrainian National Republic, wrote: “A nation without statehood is a crippled human collective organism… Just as every individual being on earth has the primary need to preserve his or her life, ensure its development, and pass on the heritage to future generations, so for every nation its own state is the best means of preserving life and development.”

After the Ukrainian liberation struggle of 1917-1921 was suppressed by force, Ukraine lost its independence and became part of the Soviet Union on December 30, 1922. For Ukrainians, this resulted in Holodomor of 1932-1933, which was recognized as genocide, mass executions of the intelligentsia, Russification, theft of the cultural heritage, as well as persecution and punishment for pro-Ukrainian views.

All of this was done by the Kremlin and was aimed at one goal: the destruction of the Ukrainian nation.

Therefore, protecting statehood for Ukraine is not so much a matter of territory as it is a matter of the survival of its people and their identity. For Ukraine, it is primarily about ensuring its future generations grow up in peace, democracy, and independence. So that they can speak their native language, cherish their own culture, and grow in their country without fear of rocket attacks. This is about the future of every Ukrainian.

The Day of Statehood of Ukraine is about remembering and honoring all generations of Ukrainians, about capturing the country’s long history and unique and diverse culture, and about passing on this legacy to future generations.