Photo: Pavel Paschenko
Joy and tears. Raising the flag of Ukraine over the Verkhovna Rada 09/04/1991
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The photographs reflect the events in Kiev from August to September 1991 – from the collapse of the Moscow putsch to the start of the demolition of the Lenin monument on the Maidan.
30 years ago, the Verkhovna Rada proclaimed the independence of Ukraine. Significant events in the capital that preceded this were captured by the Kiev photographer Pavel Pashchenko. Correspondent.net publishes a reportage that conveys the atmosphere of that iconic time.
The first series of photographs captures the events in Kiev during the August putsch in Moscow, which became the catalyst for the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence. The photo, in particular, captures the rallies on September 21 on the Maidan (then still the October Revolution Square) and at the conservatory. A little later that day, at the building of the Kiev mayor’s office, Vladimir Yavorivsky told the protesters the good news that the coup had failed, and the GKChP participants had been arrested:
In this series of pictures of the events of the day at the building of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on August 24, 1991, on the day of the declaration of independence:
A few days after Ukraine’s declaration of independence, Russian politicians Anatoly Sobchak and Alexander Rutskoy arrived in Kiev. The latter was then considered a hero who restored democracy – “rescued” the leader of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, from captivity in Foros, where the putschists placed him. However, he, like his colleague Sobchak, arrived in Kiev with the aim of dissuading local politicians from independence and promising a new union treaty. According to Pavel Pashchenko, an eyewitness to the events, Sobchak then, during a rally under the walls of the Verkhovna Rada, made a speech, the meaning of which was that if Ukraine persisted in its independence, Russia would take Crimea away from it. This is how the “Crimean blackmail” sounded for the first time. The protesters did not like this very much, and they booed the Russian politician. In one of the photos, Sobchak leaves the impromptu podium to the whistle of those gathered outside the VR building:
In this series of photos – the demands of the protesters to raise the yellow-blue flag over the building of the Verkhovna Rada and emotions after the new state flag was raised. Note that the flag was raised over the Rada only on September 4, despite the fact that it was brought into the hall of the Verkhovna Rada on August 24:
A landmark photo: people tossing people’s deputy Levka Lukyanenko on the day of raising the flag on September 4, 1991:
September 1991. The beginning of the dismantling of the Lenin monument on the Maidan as a result of the declaration of independence. The beginning of a new history of the country:
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