March 14, 2013, Independence Square, Kyiv.

The story is about the first volunteers from the Maidan self-defense, who formed the first volunteer battalion named after Serhiy Kulchytsky. Flags of Maidan self-defense, volunteers lining up, activists, volunteers boarding buses to European Square, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Andriy Parubiy on stage with a loudspeaker.

Comments: Alisa, a representative of the 39th Women's Hundred; Mykola Lukyanenko, a centurion of the 19th Hundred.

Reference: On March 14, 2014, the Ukrainian volunteer movement was revived. The first 500 fighters of the Maidan Self-Defense volunteered to go to the training base in Novi Petrivtsi. Later, this volunteer battalion was named after its first commander, Major General Serhiy Kulchytsky. The Ukrainians self-organized, underwent a short training course, and went to the east of the country to defend their homeland from russian aggression.

In 2014-2015, 40 volunteer battalions took part in the fighting, most of which later joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Since 2017, March 14 has been officially celebrated as the Day of the Ukrainian Volunteer.

The first volunteer battalion of the NGU

Kyiv, February 25, 2010.

The video shows the arrival of foreign delegations and invited guests to the honorary event at the National Center for Business and Cultural Cooperation “Ukrainian House” dedicated to the inauguration of Viktor Yanukovych. People near the Dnipro Hotel with flags and symbols of the Party of Regions, flags of Ukraine, a man playing a musical instrument, an honor guard, motorcades with guests.

Yanukovych's inauguration day

April 3, 2014, the cities of Chornobyl and Prypiat, Kyiv region.

The video shows the construction of the “arch” over the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Passage near the construction site, the Pripyat stele, the construction of the 4th unit, construction cranes and equipment, barbed wire fences, plans of the iron frame, passage through the checkpoint to the territory of Pripyat, passage through the city, the Polissia hotel, a park with attractions, an observation wheel, high-rise buildings.

ChNPP: construction of an “arch” over the destroyed reactor

February 16, 2022, Kyiv. 

In the video: the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, various angles; the anthem of Ukraine is playing, the flag is being raised; people's deputies at the entrance to the Verkhovna Rada sing the anthem of Ukraine; the guard of honor, various angles, a military band is playing; the backstage of the Verkhovna Rada, people's deputies communicate with journalists. 

Reference: Unity Day in Ukraine, which took place on February 16, 2022, became an important symbol of national unity. Ukrainians across the country hung national flags and wore blue and yellow ribbons to demonstrate their solidarity in the face of a possible Russian invasion. 

Ukrainian Unity Day: ceremonial flag raising 

Brovary, Kyiv region, January 18, 2023.

The crash site of the SES helicopter. The video shows SES vehicles, firefighters, ambulances, a damaged kindergarten and apartment buildings, bodies of the dead being carried, people bringing flowers and toys to the scene of the tragedy, debris from the helicopter and damaged buildings, and a commentary by an IDP from Dnipro.

Reference: On January 18, 2023, a SES helicopter crashed in the city of Brovary, Kyiv region, on the territory of a kindergarten. There were 10 people on board, including the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Denys Monastyrskyi, First Deputy Minister Yevhen Yenin and State Secretary of the Ministry Yuriy Lubkovych, their assistants, as well as three members of the SES crew.

The plane crash in Brovary

Ukraine's accession to the Council of Europe, 1995. 

Video program about the Ukrainian government delegation's visit to Strasbourg to attend the ceremony of Ukraine's accession to the Council of Europe: airport, Prime Minister of Ukraine Yevhen Marchuk walks down the ramp, greets officials, meeting with Miguel Martinez, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, meeting on Ukraine's accession, ceremony, speech by Yevhen Marchuk, raising of the Ukrainian flag, interviews with Yevhen Marchuk and Miguel Martinez. 

Background: In 1995, during its September session of the Parliamentary Assembly, the Council of Europe adopted a positive opinion on Ukraine's application for membership. Ukraine was allocated 12 seats in the Assembly. A Ukrainian delegation headed by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada took part in the PACE session. On October 31, 1995, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a law on accession to the Charter of the Council of Europe. And on November 9, the solemn ceremony of Ukraine's accession to the Council of Europe took place.

Ukraine's accession to the Council of Europe 

In the video: a briefing by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Anatoliy Zlenko on the downing of the Tu-154 plane over the Black Sea; footage from the investigation and video of the aftermath of the crash; commentary by the First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleh Dubyna.

Reference: On October 4, 2001, a Siberia Airlines Tu-154, operating a passenger flight from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk, crashed over the Black Sea. At that time, joint Ukrainian-Russian military exercises were taking place in Crimea. All 66 passengers and 12 crew members were killed. The causes of the crash have not been legally established.

Investigation of the Tu-154 crash over the Black Sea

The video shows a story about the march on the Day of Defenders of Ukraine in Kyiv, October 14, 2021. Commentary: Oleh Kutsyn, head of the Carpathian Sich battalion; Oleksandr Malynovskyi, participant in the march.

For reference: On October 14, the Day of Defenders of Ukraine is celebrated to honor the courage of the men and women who defend the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine. This day coincides with the feast of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin, who was the patron saint of the Cossacks, and is also the Day of the Ukrainian Cossacks. The holiday was established in 2014. Due to the reform of the church calendar in Ukraine, the celebration was moved from October 14 to October 1 in 2023.

Day of Defenders of Ukraine

Kyiv, July 24, 1990.

In 1990, the national blue and yellow flag was raised for the first time in front of the Kyiv City Council building next to the state flag of the Ukrainian SSR. Kyiv became the ninth city in Ukraine to raise the Ukrainian flag in 1990; the last time the flag flew over the capital was on June 12, 1920. 

Raising the flag of Ukraine, 1990

The video shows the discussion and voting for the Constitution of Ukraine. 

June 25, 1996. MPs at discussions in factions and commissions. Vyacheslav Chornovil says that it is important for everyone to be in the hall and participate in the voting, as well as the importance of adopting the entire agreed text of the Constitution as a whole. 

June 26-27-28. Session hall. Speeches by MPs. Disputes over the article on the Ukrainian language as the only state language. Leonid Kravchuk makes a proposal to consolidate the status of the Russian language and the languages of other national minorities. Disputes over state symbols and the status of Crimea. President Leonid Kuchma in the hall. Voting in the second and third readings. The decision is made. 

Also on the video are speeches by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Moroz and President Leonid Kuchma. The square in front of the Verkhovna Rada. People's deputies give interviews. Celebrations are taking place. 

Video from the personal archive of Yaroslav Kendzior. 

For reference: the basic law of Ukraine was developed over a period of six years. At that time, Ukraine was the last country in the former Soviet Union that did not yet have its own constitution. The reason for the long discussion and adoption was the contradictions between the two parliamentary forces, the Democrats and the Communists.

The Constitution was finally adopted on the morning of June 28, 1996. "315 MPs voted in favor of the adoption of the Constitution of Ukraine, 12 abstained, and 36 were against. Another 30 MPs refused to vote. 

That was the first time the Ukrainian anthem was played in the Verkhovna Rada. The MPs solemnly brought the blue and yellow flag into the hall as an approved state symbol.

Constitution of Ukraine: voting in the Verkhovna Rada part 2

The video shows the discussion and voting for the Constitution of Ukraine. 

June 25, 1996. MPs at discussions in factions and commissions. Vyacheslav Chornovil says that it is important for everyone to be in the hall and participate in the voting, as well as the importance of adopting the entire agreed text of the Constitution as a whole. 

June 26-27-28. Session hall. Speeches by MPs. Disputes over the article on the Ukrainian language as the only state language. Leonid Kravchuk makes a proposal to consolidate the status of the Russian language and the languages of other national minorities. Disputes over state symbols and the status of Crimea. President Leonid Kuchma in the hall. Voting in the second and third readings. The decision is made. 

Also on the video are speeches by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Moroz and President Leonid Kuchma. The square in front of the Verkhovna Rada. People's deputies give interviews. Celebrations are taking place. 

Video from the personal archive of Yaroslav Kendzior. 

For reference: the basic law of Ukraine was developed over six years. At the time, Ukraine was the last country in the former Soviet Union that did not yet have its own constitution. The reason for the long discussion and adoption was the contradictions between the two parliamentary forces, the Democrats and the Communists.

The Constitution was finally adopted on the morning of June 28, 1996. "315 MPs voted in favor of the adoption of the Constitution of Ukraine, 12 abstained, and 36 were against. Another 30 MPs refused to vote. 

That was the first time the Ukrainian anthem was played in the Verkhovna Rada. The MPs solemnly brought the blue and yellow flag into the hall as an approved state symbol.

Constitution of Ukraine: voting in the Verkhovna Rada part 1

Documentary TV movie by the National Television Company of Ukraine “Constitution. The Night of Birth", 1997. 

Filming of the adoption of the Constitution of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada from June 27 to the final approval at 9:20 am on June 28, 1996.

The script was written by Vitaliy Ivashchenko and directed by Yuriy Kolominsky.

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