30th Anniversary of Independent Ukrainian State Succession to UNR Government in exile 

On this day, 30 years ago, Mykola Plaviuk (1925-2012), one of the founders of the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) and its President from 1978 to 1981, as the last President of the Ukrainian National Republic (UNR) in exile, ceded the UNR Government’s authority and proclaimed Independent Ukraine to be the UNR’s legal successor.  

The official ceremony took place in Kyiv on August 22, 1992, in the presence of the President, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and Prime Minister of Ukraine. As the last UNR President in exile, Plaviuk formally ceded his authority, state symbols and heraldry to Independent Ukraine’s first democratically-elected President, Leonid Kravchuk (1934-2022). 

In ceding its authority, the UNR Government in exile executed the UNR parliament’s Resolution from 1919, which was enacted by UNR Directorate Chairman Symon Petliura (1879-1926), on the cessation of UNR Government activities in the event of proclamation of an Independent Ukrainian State. 

“The transfer of state authority from the UNR Government in exile to the Government of Independent Ukraine on August 22, 1992, was the result and culmination of the Ukrainian diaspora’s primary mission in the 20th century: preserving and reconstituting Ukraine’s statehood. Generations of our parents and grandparents kept the Ukrainian identity and national memory alive, and provided a strong global voice for Free Ukraine during the decades of oppression under the Soviet-Russian yoke,” said Paul Grod, UWC President. 

Throughout the 20th century, Ukrainian communities around the world maintained Ukraine’s state institutions in exile until independent statehood was restored in their homeland. The World Congress of Free Ukrainians (today the Ukrainian World Congress) played a pivotal role in these processes. The organized diaspora helped Ukraine secure prompt recognition of its independence by Western countries in 1991.  

“Today, Russia is once-again attempting to reconstitute its colonial empire by destroying the Ukrainian nation and subjugating its people.  We must do everything possible to defend and protect the freedom and independence of Ukraine.  Never again must Ukraine’s state government be forced to flee into exile!”, Mr. Grod added.