Member-only story
What’s all the fuss about Ukraine?
By Jennifer Cohn
1/24/22
Ukraine gained independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991. Ever since, Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has wanted Ukraine to join with Russia in forming a Eurasian Union. But many Ukrainians have wanted the country to join the European Union and align with the West, including the United States.
In Ukraine’s 2004 presidential election, then Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, a close ally of Putin, ran against Viktor Yuschenko who wanted Ukraine to move closer to the European Union.
Yuschenko led a political coalition called Our Ukraine, which “united various democratic parties and groups from across the nation in hopes of bringing democracy to…Ukraine.”
“In early September 2004, Yushchenko led Yanukovych in the polls when he fell “suddenly and…
