The formation of independent Ukraine
After the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev introduced reforms of glasnost and perestroika into national policy in the late 1980s, Ukrainian nationalist feelings gradually awoke, leading the newly democratized Ukrainian parliament to declare Ukraine’s sovereignty in 1990.
In the wake of hardline Communists failed coup against Gorbachev, Ukrainian parliament declared Ukraine’s independence (August 1991), an act that was approved by Ukrainian populace in the referendum in December. As the Soviet Union collapsed that month, Ukrainian independence gained international recognition.
