Leonid Kravchuk: the first president of independent Ukraine dies at the age of 88

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Mourning for Leonid Kravchuk (2014)

Photo: SERGEY DOLZHENKO / EPA

Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk is dead. He died after a long illness at the age of 88, Ukrainian media reported, citing the politician's family.

"Today the first president of independent Ukraine passed away," Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote in the Telegram online service on Tuesday.

It was "a great loss for the whole of Ukraine," said Klitschko.

Kravchuk "founded the modern Ukrainian state."

»He remained loyal to his country until the last moment and tried to improve our lives with his experience and knowledge.

And he succeeded,« wrote Klitschko.

The head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, praised the ex-head of state as a "wise patriot" and a "truly historical figure".

Kravchuk was elected head of state at the beginning of December 1991 and a few days later signed an agreement with the then Russian President Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007) and Stanislav Schushkevich from Belarus, declaring the Soviet Union dissolved and founding a new alliance of the three republics became: the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Shushkevich died last week at the age of 87.

During Soviet times, Kravchuk held various posts in the Ukrainian Communist Party.

He remained President of Ukraine until 1994. In 2020-2022 he was involved in the ongoing talks on the settlement of the conflict in Donbass as chairman of the Ukrainian group.

bbr/dpa/AFP