Poltava celebrates Ukraine’s Unity Day

January 22, 2018 Today our country celebrates 100th anniversary of the Forth Universal. Universals of the Central Council of Ukraine are legal acts-declarations issued by the Central Council of Ukraine in 1917-18. These documents marked the main stages of the development of the nascent Ukrainian state, from the proclamation of its autonomy to the declaration of full independence. The First Universal (   June 10, 1917) declared the announcement of Ukraine national autonomy as part of Russian Republic. The Second Universal made an attempt to set a compromise with the Russian Provisional Government announcing that the final form of Ukraine autonomy will decide the Russian Constituent Assembly. The Third Universal Announced Ukrainian People's Republic: Ukraine did not completely brake away from Russia. On January 22, 1918 the Forth Universal declared independence of Ukraine as the Ukrainian People's Republic. It also condemned Bolshevik aggression.

So today we celebrate two holidays: 100^th anniversary of the Forth Universal of the Central Council of Ukraine and Ukraine’s Unity Day that marks the anniversary of the unification of eastern and western Ukraine in 1919. Many wreaths and flowers were laid today to the monument to Taras Shevchenko – an outstanding Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, as well as folklorist and ethnographer.