Ukraine marks 25 years of independence a riven nation despite the flags

As the role of Ukrainians in the Soviet Union’s demise is celebrated, tensions still simmer in the east of country after two years of war

Servicemen at a military parade marking the 25th anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence in Kiev. Photograph: Mykola Lazarenko/TASS

Shaun Walker in Slavyansk-Wednesday 24 August 2016

Ukraine has marked 25 years of independence with a huge military parade through Kiev, and although two years of war with Russia-backed rebels in the east has united much of the country, the eastern territories remain divided.

Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, addressed the nation after a parade on Wednesday involving thousands of soldiers, columns of armoured vehicles and missile systems made its way through the capital.

He praised Ukrainians for helping bring down the Soviet Union a quarter of a century ago and mocked the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, for mourning its passing. Poroshenko also focused attention on the current conflict in his address.

“Looking back at more than two years of war, we can confidently say that our enemy failed to achieve a single goal – it was not able to bring Ukraine to its knees,” he said.

But many would argue his claims are an optimistic reading of a period during which more than 9,500 people have died and 2 million people have been forced to leave their homes.

Ukraine lost control of Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, and still has no control over a swath of the country’s east, which is run by separatist rebels with strong logistical, financial and military support from Russia. Some of the territory initially seized by rebels in spring 2014 was regained by Ukraine that summer.

Slavyansk was the first town seized by rebels, when a group of armed men led by a former Russian security forces officer, Igor Strelkov, seized key buildings. It wasretaken by Ukrainian forces a few months later, and on Wednesday it too celebrated 25 years of Ukrainian independence.

The main square was adorned with Ukrainian flags, and patriotic music blared from a stage. A bicycle rally set out early in the morning from Slavyansk through several Donbass towns, with many of the riders in yellow and blue Ukrainian jerseys or holding Ukrainian flags.

Tensions still simmer, however, both among the population at large and the ruling elite in the east. Evgeny Fialko, a pro-Ukrainian activist and the editor of a local newspaper in the nearby town of Druzhkovka, said he believed about a third of the population were pro-Ukraine, another third pro-Russian and the rest apathetic.

 Locals in Slavyansk examine the aftermath of a military clash between separatists and Ukrainian forces, May 2014. Photograph: ITAR-TASS / Barcroft Media

In other towns, people gave similar figures and suggested that only by bringing economic improvement and political enfranchisement to the depressed areas of east Ukraine would Kiev be able to bring a true sense of inclusive nationhood. Many people in the region only receive television broadcasts from Donetsk, meaning they get no Ukrainian channels – a further challenge for Kiev.

In the nearby town of Toretsk, renamed over the summer because its old name, Dzerzhynsk, was given in honour of the founder of the Soviet Union’s secret police force, the mayor of 17 years was arrested last week for aiding the separatist forces over a referendum on “independence” two years ago. He was seized by special forces in his town hall office last Thursday and has been jailed for two months while awaiting trial.

In a scrapyard on the outskirts of town, monuments to Dzerzhinsky and Lenin, pulled down over the summer, have been tossed away and their plinths now stand empty. All the streets with Soviet-era names have also been renamed, as part of a law on “decommunisation” which came into effect earlier this year. 

While in Kiev the law was largely greeted with enthusiasm, in the east many locals have opposed it.

Poroshenko said during his speech on Wednesday that all Ukrainians, including those living in the separatist-controlled areas, were “a family which will definitely reunite and meet at the festive table”.

The war in the east and the fight against Russia has united much of central and western Ukraine around a new idea of Ukrainian identity, but including the east of the country will be difficult. While many in towns like Slavyansk are relieved the war is over and happy to be part of Ukraine, there are still wounds from the conflict, as well as rampant unemployment and economic depression in the east.

As Ukrainian folk music wafted from the town square in Slavyansk on Wednesday evening, an elderly woman who gave her name only as Galina muttered abuse about the celebrations.

“What are we celebrating? Twenty-five years of misery is no reason for a party,” she said.