Leonid Kravchuk at a CIS meeting.
Leonid Kravchuk (10 January 1934-10 May 2022) was Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR from 23 July 1990 to 5 December 1991 (succeeding Volodymyr Ivashko and preceding ivan Plyushch) and President of Ukraine from 24 August 1991 to 19 July 1994 (preceding Leonid Kuchma).
Biography[]
Leonid Kravchuk was born in Zytyn Wielki, Volhynia, Poland (now Velykyi Zhytyn, Ukraine) on 10 January 1934, the son of a Polish Army cavalryman who was killed during World War II. He joined the Communist Party of Ukraine in 1958, and he was a member of its agriculture department before becoming a member of the party buro in 1989 and becoming Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR in 1990. After the August Coup of 1991, Kravchuk resigned from the Communist Party, and he persuaded the communist majority to accept the opposition's demands for independence. On 5 December 1991, he was formally elected President of Ukraine, and, on the same day, Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly to secede from the Soviet Union. He had no party after Ukraine's independence. His presidency was dominated with a global recession, tensions with Russia, and rampant graft. He infamously gave up nuclear weapons to Russia, with support from both NATO and the UN. He wanted Ukrainian sovereignty, and rejected proposals for full CIS membership. He was unpopular in the eastern parts of Ukraine, which caused his defeat to his prime minister Leonid Kuchma. After his defeat in 1994, he joined and led a group of social democrats. He died in July 2022 at the age of 88, and he is one of the highest-rated Ukrainian presidents, along with Volodymyr Zelensky.