The first president of independent Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk, died this Tuesday in Kyiv, of a “long illness.”, at the age of 88 and in the middle of the Russian invasion, informed the mayor of the Ukrainian capital, Vitali Klitschko.
In June 2021, the former president underwent a heart operation, went into a coma, and was then admitted to a clinic in Munich, southern Germany, for rehabilitation, Russian news agency Tass said. In 2017, a flexible endoprosthesis was placed in the carotid artery.
“A great loss for Ukraine. Today Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of Ukraine, the first president of the Rada [Ukrainian Parliament], and a personality at the root of the modern Ukrainian state, has passed away,” Klitschko said on Telegram.
Kravchuk, as president of Soviet Ukraine, was one of the three signatories of the act of dissolution of the USSR, on December 8, 1991, along with the leaders of Russia and Belarus, Boris Yeltsin and Stanislav Shushkevich, respectively.
That same month he was elected president of his country, which formally declared itself independent, and remained in office until 1994.
The head of the presidential administration, Andrii Yermak, honored the memory of “a wise patriot” and “a truly historical figure.”
Deputy Dmytro Razumkov recalled on Facebook that Kravchuk “faced tumultuous moments, with difficult and historic decisions” that led to Ukraine’s independence.
“And today we are fighting for our independence and our freedom, in a terrible war against the Russian invader,” he added.
Amelia Warner
Amelia Warner writes all the Latest Articles. She mostly covers Entertainment topics, but at times loves to write about movie reviews as well.
