In Kyiv, a street in the Desnianskyi district was named in honor of the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. The Kyiv City Council supported the decision; previously, the changes were also approved by the residents of the Ukrainian capital at a public hearing.
Ronald Reagan gained wide recognition in Central and Eastern European countries, which were once part of the so-called Soviet bloc and were forced to exist under conditions of a brutal communist regime and a complete lack of freedom. In particular, Reagan is revered for his consistent opposition to the Soviet Union, his significant contribution to overthrowing the Iron Curtain, and later – the USSR, which the former American president called the “Evil Empire.”
“…Let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness – pray they will discover the joy of knowing God. But until they do, let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the State, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world,” the American president said about the Soviet Union.
During the period of his active political activity, Ronald Reagan distinguished himself by significant support of Ukrainians and many other peoples enslaved by Moscow in their desire to restore independence. Among other things, in 1988, Reagan managed to meet in Moscow with 150 members of the resistance movement of various republics of the Soviet Union.
The figure of the American president is also of special importance for the Ukrainian diaspora in the USA. President Reagan had very close communication with the Ukrainian community in the United States, was actively interested in Ukrainian history, supported numerous initiatives of American Ukrainians, and even knew most of the Ukrainian political prisoners of the Soviet regime by name.
“I think that, without a doubt, in the history of the Ukrainian community in America, the greatest influence it could have had or had at all – it was during the time of Reagan. … But, basically, why did the Ukrainians have influence, was the Ukrainian cause a dear thing to him because I think he was actually … an idealist. He actually believed in these slogans or the appeals that he preached. He was an extremely correct and moral person,” Askold Lozynskyi, President of the Ukrainian World Congress (1998-2008), said after Reagan’s death.
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