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 

The video includes a briefing by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Anatoly Zelenko, regarding the downed Tu-154 plane over the Black Sea, footage from the investigation, and a video with the consequences of the disaster, as well as a comment by the First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Oleh Dubyna.

Reference: on October 4, 2001, a Tu-154 plane of the Sibir airline company, flying from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk, crashed over the Black Sea during joint Ukrainian-Russian exercises. All 66 passengers and 12 crew members died. The causes of the disaster 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.

TV movie “The Constitution. The Night of Birth”

Celebration of the 14th anniversary of the Independence of Ukraine: Kyiv, August 24, 2005.

On the video: panorama of St. Sophia Cathedral and St. Sophia Square, prayer for Ukraine in St. Sophia Cathedral with the participation of the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Patriarch of Kyiv and All Russia-Ukraine Filaret and Patriarch-Primate of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church His Beatitude Lubomyr Huzars read a prayer.

Present: Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Lytvyn, First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Anatoly Kinakh, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Borys Tarasyuk, Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, People's Deputy of Ukraine 4 Yevhen Chervonenko, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Sviatoslav Piskun and others were summoned by Viktor Yushchenko's bloc.

Independence Day: prayer for Ukraine, 2005

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko (2014-2019) met with President of Slovakia Andrej Kiska (2014-2019) at a ceremony on the occasion of the introduction of a visa-free regime on the Ukrainian-Slovak border. 

On the video: Petro Poroshenko opens the symbolic door to visa-free travel, people and presidents make speeches, and take pictures with passports.

On June 11, 2017, Ukrainians were able to cross the borders of European countries with biometric passports without visas.

Poroshenko and Kiska announced the beginning of the visa-free regime

Kyiv, June 11, 2017. The first visa-free train Kyiv-Przemysl. Journalists, artists, activists, and volunteers took part in the visa-free trip to the European Union.

In the video: the central railway station, people on the platform, the train, Polish border guards and customs officers checking passports, passengers in the carriage, Ukrainian border guards checking passport data, people meeting the train.

The first visa-free train Kyiv-Premysl

The start of the visa-free regime at Boryspil International Airport. 

In the video: passengers, people, flight schedule boards, a dance group performance, airplanes, people taking pictures with passports.

On June 11, 2017, Ukrainians were able to travel freely to Europe as the visa-free regime with the European Union came into effect. From that day on, Ukrainian citizens holding biometric passports were granted the right to enter the Schengen area for up to 90 days, but no more than 180 days a year. The list of countries that opened up to Ukrainians included EU member states (except Ireland and, at that time, the United Kingdom), as well as associated Schengen members Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

Visa-free regime: Boryspil airport

The video shows Ukrainian borders on the first day of the visa-free regime, June 11, 2017.

On the video: border guards, the Ukrainian-Romanian border, the Ukrainian-Polish border, the Ukrainian-Hungarian border, the Chop-Zahon checkpoint, the Tisza customs post, the customs control zone, document verification, cars, the railway station, buses, cars.

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