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What happened next?Continue in this file · Russia–Ukraine: origins, war since 2014 and timeline
File · Russia–Ukraine: origins, war since 2014 and timeline

Ukraine confirms independence in a referendum

On 1 December 1991, Ukrainian voters approve the independence proclaimed on 24 August and elect Leonid Kravchuk president.

The vote confirms the creation of a sovereign state as the Soviet Union breaks up. The CSCE observers’ report documents the election and its role in discussions among the Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian leaders.

This entry opens the dossier’s background chronology; it does not date the start of the 2014 war to 1991.

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