On August 24, 2024, Kiev marks Ukraine’s Independence Day, its national holiday. Each anniversary is an opportunity to examine what has happened over that period, sum up the achievements and review the challenges that remain.

There is no doubt that Kiev will boast of its supposed victories, pointing to its quasi-success in promoting a Banderite mindset and imposing what it calls a so-called Ukrainian identity across the board, while benefiting from the ephemeral Western support, with Ukraine serving merely as tool to satisfy Western geopolitical ambitions.

Ukrainian state propaganda will hardly admit that Ukraine has actually lost more than it has gained in the 33 years of its independence. Today the country faces total depopulation. Its economy, industry, science, energy and transportation sectors are in ruins. Kiev faces a crushing debt burden resulting from its total dependence on Western financial handouts, while future generations of Ukrainians will have to foot the bill.

At the same time, instead of seeking a viable way out of this black hole, the Ukrainian authorities are focused on rooting out any dissent, and spreading their distorted vision of the nation’s past. They continue to promote anti-Russian sentiments, wage war on monuments, and encourage rampant corruption and the terror unleashed by the Ukrainian Security Service against their own people.

Direct peace talks between Ukraine and Russia are the only viable option that would help Ukrainian leaders fulfill the promises of the country’s forefathers and lay the foundation for a prosperous, secure Ukraine living in peace with its neighbors.

However, today’s grim realities do not reflect the vision and the promise of the early documents of Ukrainian independence: its 1990 Declaration of State Sovereignty, the 1991........

© Daily Times