Ukrainian Rada Declares Independence
Supreme Rada of the Ukrainian SSR, Act of Declaration of the Independence of Ukraine. August 24, 1991
Adopted on August 24, 1991, in the wake of the failed Moscow coup, this act declared Ukraine's decisive break with Soviet sovereignty. It framed independence as an emergency measure while rooting it in a tradition of Ukrainian statehood and the right of self-determination. Ukraine's borders were declared "indivisible and inviolable"; only Ukrainian laws would apply on its territory.
Original Source: Акт проголошення незалежності України, Відомості Верховної Ради України (ВВР), 1991, № 38, ст. 502 (17 September 1991)
In view of the mortal danger surrounding Ukraine in connection with the state coup in the USSR on 19 August 1991,
continuing the thousand-year tradition of state building in Ukraine,
based on the right of a nation to self-determination in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and other international legal documents, and
realizing the Declaration on State Sovereignty of Ukraine, the Supreme Soviet solemnly
DECLARES THE INDEPENDENCE OF UKRAINE AND THE CREATION OF AN INDEPENDENT UKRAINIAN STATE - UKRAINE.
The territory of Ukraine is indivisible and inviolable.
From this day forward, on the territory of Ukraine, only the Constitution and Laws of Ukraine are valid.
This act becomes effective at the moment of its approval.
Source: Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Daily Report (U.S. Dept. of Commerce; National Technical Information Service, 1991).