Thirty-five years ago today, I witnessed history unfold before my eyes. On 24 August 1991 I was one of a handful of foreign journalists in Ukraine’s parliament when it declared independence from the Soviet Union. https://theukrainianreview.info/its-secession-would-be-the-biggest-blow-to-the-union-ukraines-declaration-of-independence-in-the-eyes-of-foreigners/
Ukraine’s actions led to the end of an era - without Ukraine the USSR imploded and the Cold War ended. These dramatic events have been skilfully captured in a documentary series created by Oleksandr Zinchenko and Serhiy Lysenko for Ukraine’s Public Broadcaster (Suspilne) available on YouTube:
Canada was the first Western country to recognize Ukraine’s independence, providing crucial support at a pivotal moment in a process that would help shape a new world order. Years later Canada’s then Chargé d’Affaires Nestor Gayowsky revealed the entire back story in an interview he gave me for Ukraine’s Hromadske Radio: https://hromadske.radio/en/podcasts/ukraine-calling/ukraine-canada-a-satellite-phone-how-history-happened-in-1991; https://cup.columbia.edu/book/ukraine-calling/9783838214726/
Something many may have forgotten is that in 1991 Washington, along with Moscow, did not want Ukraine to become an independent state. I remember sitting in parliament and listening to US President George Bush Sr. telling Ukrainians, that “freedom is not the same as independence. Americans will not support those who seek independence in order to replace a far-off tyranny with a local despotism.” in his infamous Chicken Kyiv speech.
Today, I observe developments from my position as a professor at a Canads’s Western University. At this year’s Davos Canada’s PM Carney said what many were thinking, the world is “in the midst of a rupture, not a transition” and the “old order is not coming back.” https://www.weforum.org/stories/forum-institutional/davos-2026-special-address-by-mark-carney-prime-minister-of-canada/ Ukraine once again finds itself at the center of this changing European and arguably global order, resisting Russia’s full-scale invasion and, in the process, transforming how modern wars are fought. Meanwhile, US President Trump has cut military aid to Ukraine, alienated traditional US allies and is using Putin’s ‘imaginary country’ rhetoric against Canada while he escalates trade war.
As Ukraine celebrates its 35 years of modern statehood, several international leaders from the Coalition of the Willing are travelling to Kyiv to demonstrate their support. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen who arrived with others on 23 August 2026 put it bluntly: “Ukraine must win. Because Ukraine’s victory is not only about Ukraine. It is about the future security of Europe.” https://www.kyivpost.com/post/47799. https://www.government.se/statements/2025/08/joint-statement-of-the-leaders-of-the-nordic-baltic-eight-on-ukraine/.
