Ukraine Celebrates 30 Years Of Independence Amid Tensions With Russia

Ukrainian Independence Day is celebrated on 24 August each year, the date in 1991 that Ukrainian politicians declared independence days after a communist coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev failed.

More than 90% of Ukrainians approved the decision in a referendum that December when the Soviet Union officially ceased to exist.

Since then, Ukraine has passed through tumultuous periods of consolidation of its internal and foreign policies, its political institutions, and a painful search for its own identity.

Independence Day has taken on more significance in the country since 2014 when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula and supported pro-Russian separatists in the country's east.

That conflict continues to this day, and Ukraine held the first international summit on the Crimea situation yesterday.

Read the original story here.