Leonid Kravchuk, independent Ukraine's 1st president, dies at age 88
Source: Associated Press
Leonid Kravchuk, independent Ukraine’s 1st president, dies
May 10, 2022
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Leonid Kravchuk, who led Ukraine to independence during the collapse of the Soviet Union and served as its first president, died Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said. He was 88.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy paid tribute to Kravchuk, calling him not just a historical figure but “a man who knew how to find wise words and to say them so that all Ukrainians would hear them.”
Zelenskyy said Kravchuk died Tuesday but gave no details of the circumstances. He had been in poor health and underwent a heart operation last year.
Kravchuk led Ukraine as its Communist Party boss in the waning years of the Soviet Union, and played a pivotal role in the demise of the USSR before holding the Ukrainian presidency from 1991 through 1994.
He was a driving force in Ukraine’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and later that year joined with the leaders of Russia and Belarus to sign an agreement on Dec. 8, 1991, which formally declared that the Soviet Union ceased to exist.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-zelenskyy-europe-soviet-union-0d77bd8df864ed986da19a088e46aefb
FILE - Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk addresses to supporters of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko during a campaign rally in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. Kravchuk, who led Ukraine to independence amid the collapse of the Soviet Union and served as its first president, has died, a Ukrainian official said Tuesday, May 10, 2022. He was 88. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, file)
