The 1991 Referendum — Ukraine's Legitimate Independence

What is this myth about?

Putin and Russian propaganda claim that the collapse of the USSR was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century” and that Ukrainian independence was a “historical mistake.” They imply that the Ukrainian people did not want independence, and that the decision was made by “elites” or under the influence of “external forces.”

This myth is refuted by one of the most unambiguous democratic expressions of will in history.

The All-Ukrainian Referendum of December 1, 1991

The question

The ballot contained one clear question:

“Do you confirm the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine?”

Overall result

Indicator	Value
Number of voters	37,885,555
Participated	31,891,742 (84.18%)
“YES” (for independence)	28,804,071 (90.32%)
“NO”	2,417,554 (7.58%)
Invalid ballots	670,117 (2.10%)

90.32% for independence — a result any democracy would envy. For comparison:

• Brexit (2016) — 51.9%
• Scottish independence (2014) — 44.7% (defeated)
• Crimea’s “accession” to Russia (2014, falsified “referendum”) — allegedly 96.77% with dubious turnout

Results by region

The key fact that refutes the myth: a majority voted “YES” in EVERY region, including those Russia considers “its own”:

Western Ukraine (over 95%):

• Ternopil Oblast — 98.67%
• Ivano-Frankivsk — 98.42%
• Lviv — 97.46%
• Volyn — 96.32%

Central Ukraine (over 90%):

• Kyiv Oblast — 95.52%
• Cherkasy — 96.03%
• Poltava — 94.93%
• Vinnytsia — 95.43%

Eastern Ukraine (over 80%):

• Kharkiv — 86.33%
• Dnipropetrovsk — 90.36%
• Zaporizhzhia — 90.66%
• Donetsk — 83.90%
• Luhansk — 83.86%

South (over 85%):

• Odesa — 85.38%
• Mykolaiv — 89.45%
• Kherson — 90.13%

Crimea:

• Crimean ASSR — 54.19%
• Sevastopol — 57.07%

Even in Crimea and Sevastopol the majority voted for Ukrainian independence! The numbers leave no room for speculation about “imposed” independence.

What preceded the referendum

Act of Declaration of Independence (August 24, 1991)

On August 24, 1991, the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR adopted the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine. 346 deputies out of 360 present (96%) voted for it — including a majority of Communists who understood the public mood.

The Act was a response to the coup attempt in Moscow (August 19–21, 1991), which demonstrated the instability and danger of remaining in the USSR. But the independence movement in Ukraine had much deeper roots.

From “perestroika” movement to independence movement

• 1988 — founding of Rukh (People’s Movement of Ukraine) — a mass civic movement
• 1989 — “human chain” from Kyiv to Lviv (January 22) — 450 km of living chain
• 1989–1990 — mass rallies, Donbas miners’ strikes (which, notably, also demanded political freedoms)
• 1990 — Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine (July 16)
• 1990 — “Revolution on Granite” — student hunger protest in Kyiv

International recognition

After the referendum, Ukraine was quickly recognized:

• December 2, 1991 — Canada and Poland (first among major states)
• December 3 — Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Argentina
• December 5 — Russia (Yeltsin recognized Ukrainian independence!)
• December 25 — United States

Russia recognized Ukraine’s independence based on the referendum results. This means Russia itself confirmed the legitimacy of the democratic vote.

The Belavezha Accords (December 8, 1991)

A week after the referendum, the leaders of three republics — Yeltsin (Russia), Kravchuk (Ukraine) and Shushkevich (Belarus) — signed the Belavezha Accords, which declared the dissolution of the USSR and created the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Importantly: the USSR did not collapse due to a “conspiracy” — it collapsed because Ukraine, the second-largest republic, voted to leave. Without Ukraine, the USSR had no meaning. As Serhii Plokhy notes in “The Last Empire” (2014): “It was the Ukrainian referendum that drove the final nail into the coffin of the Soviet Union.”

Why Putin refuses to recognize the referendum

For Putin, acknowledging the legitimacy of the 1991 Ukrainian referendum means acknowledging that:

1. Ukrainians are a separate people, capable of an independent democratic decision
2. Independence was a conscious choice, not an “accident” or “mistake”
3. Even in Crimea and Donbas, the majority chose Ukraine
4. Russia itself recognized this choice in 1991
5. Any violation of Ukraine’s borders is a violation of the people’s will

That is why Russian propaganda tries to either downplay the referendum (“people were deceived,” “they didn’t understand what they were voting for”) or ignore it entirely. But numbers are stubborn things: 90.32% is an expression of will that cannot be falsified or denied.

Legacy

The 1991 referendum is not just a historical event. It is the foundation of the Ukrainian state’s legitimacy, confirmed by:

• The will of 28.8 million citizens
• A majority in every single region
• Recognition by every country in the world, including Russia
• Confirmation in the Budapest Memorandum (1994) and the Treaty of Friendship (1997)

Every bomb Russia drops on Ukraine is a bomb against the will of 90.32% of the Ukrainian people.