Hopak, a Ukrainian folk dance. *Photo from Wikipedia
August 24 is Independence Day of Ukraine. It is celebrated in commemoration of the Declaration of Independence of 1991.
During the Middle Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture, with the powerful state of Kievan Rus’ forming the basis of Ukrainian identity (*Kievan Rus’ is the East Slavic tribes in Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century). Following its fragmentation in the 13th century, the territory was contested, ruled and divided by a variety of powers, including Lithuania, Poland, the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries, but its territory was eventually split between Poland and the Russian Empire, and later merged fully into Russia.
During the 20th century, three periods of independence occurred. The first of these periods occurred briefly during and immediately after the German occupation near the end of World War I and the second occurred, also briefly, and also during German occupation, during World War II. However, both of these first two earlier periods would eventually see Ukraine’s territories consolidated back into a Soviet republic within the USSR.
The third period of independence began in 1991, when Ukraine gained its independence from the Soviet Union in the aftermath of its dissolution at the end of the Cold War. Ukraine has maintained its independence as a sovereign state ever since.
Ukraine, sometimes called the Ukraine, is a sovereign state in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the east, northeast, and south, Belarus to the northwest, Poland and Slovakia to the west, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast, respectively.
In commemoration of the day, let us introduce beautiful women from the country. One is a belly dancer and another is a singer. Both are really attractive!
*Click a photo below to see their stories!
“I never say, ‘Dance like me’ because you are totally different from me” – Elina Kalita, Belly dancer/instructor.
*Reference: Wikipedia
