The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Andriy Parubiy delivered a lecture to the students of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv on the theme: "The Centenary of the Ukrainian Revolution. The Parallels and lessons".

Turning to the students, the Chairman of Parliament noted that "when they say the youth are now too skeptical, concerned about other issues than with the state, I remind that all these hundred years young people were the key driver of Ukrainian state formation at all stages".

A.Parubiy then stressed that "this year is decisive because we celebrate a century since Ukraine’s independence has been proclaimed".

In his opinion, "it is correct not only to talk about historical dates and  events, but also to analyze historical lessons to understand which ones are most important to us today, since a hundred years have passed, and we are again waging war against the same enemy against which  the Ukrainian State defended its independence a hundred years ago - the Russian Empire, which is still trying to dominate and enslave the peoples around it, and it does not change its essence, regardless of the name - tsarist Russia, the Soviet Union, or the Russian Federation – unfortunately, its imperial ambitions still remain the same".

A.Parubiy lingered round the historical moments that had been decisive at certain stages of Ukraine’s history.

He stressed that "without having studied the lessons of that period, we are at great risk of defeat, namely, the defeat led to the most terrible tragedies in the history of the Ukrainian state, in particular, to the Holodomor, during which millions of Ukrainians perished, and it is important to draw parallels with the present in order to compare and understand".

The Chair then highlighted the three main reasons for the defeat of that period: the confrontation between the then political and military power elite, the most prominent figures of Ukraine, which are today our heroes - Mykhailo Hrushevsky, Pavlo Skoropadskyi, Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Yevhen Konovalets, Symon Petliura, Petro Bolbochan.

The second reason, in his opinion, was the lack of powerful armed forces of the Ukrainian state - "scattered military units," “Otamanshchyna", lack of a united organized military force".

The third reason was the lack of consolidated international support to Ukraine. "Then, proclaiming the young Ukrainian state, we could not bring to the world the importance of the existence and creation of the new state and achieve thus its recognition," he said.

In the opinion of A.Parubiy, only the unity of positions in 2014 allowed it to keep hold of the Ukrainian front from a full-scale Russian aggression.

"I believe that today one of the key tasks is a powerful Ukrainian army.  It was a great honour and great pride that in such a short period and thanks to the volunteers, the guys from the self-defense of the Maidan, who did not go home after those events, and went to the front, we were able to hold the State, and they became the foundation for the new Ukrainian army,  which started its formation in 2014," said A.Parubiy and stressed that "today we have one of the most powerful armies in the continent".

The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine remarked: "It is extremely important that we have managed to attain international support at this stage.  This is extremely significant in our struggle for the Ukrainian state.  The whole civilized world took sides with us, and today the sanctions against the aggressor are one of the examples of solidarity and unity of the world".

He stressed there was an acute need as yet in "preserving this unity, increasing the power through sanctions, through the help to Ukraine, because the international context is very important for the Ukrainian state in its becoming firmly established, for gaining our shared victory".


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