First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Ihor Yukhnovskyi dies: what one of the founders of Ukrainian independence is known for
26 March 2024 16:54
The first deputy prime minister of independent Ukraine, the creator of the Act of Independence of Ukraine, Ihor Yukhnovsky, has died at the age of 99, Komersant ukrainskyi 
reports.
The news of the politician’s death was announced by Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi.
“Igor Rafailovich Yukhnovsky has passed away. A bright, kind, wise man. An honorary citizen of Lviv. Creator of Ukraine. The face of Independence,”
– sadovyi said.
Ihor Yukhnovskyi
Ihor Yukhnovsky was born on 1 September 1925 in the village of Kniahynyne, Rivne region. Yukhnovsky was a theoretical physicist, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, professor, and academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. He was actively involved in political and social activities, was a member of the Ukrainian parliament of the first to fourth convocations, founded the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, and was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine in 2005. He was a presidential candidate in the 1991 elections (he came in 5th place with 554,719 or 1.74% of the vote).
Yukhnovsky was one of the authors of the Act of State Independence of Ukraine, the head of the Ukrainian parliament at the time of independence, and the first vice prime minister of the Ukrainian government in 1992-1993.
Back in the Soviet era, he began to engage in pro-Ukrainian civic activities. In particular, he was one of the leaders of the Memorial Society, which collected evidence of Soviet repression. He collaborated with the Society for the Protection of the Ukrainian Language, took part in the organisation of the People’s Movement for Perestroika, and helped restore the Sich Riflemen graves at the Yaniv Cemetery in Lviv. In 1990, he headed a group of deputies in the Verkhovna Rada called the People’s Council (or “Group 239”), which was in opposition to the communist majority. According to eyewitnesses and the politician himself, it was Yukhnovsky who came up with the idea of a referendum on the declaration of independence.
“We must not lose the war… It’s about getting our land back. Not half the land. Because the one who gets the other half will make it a bigger half,”
– ihor Yukhnovsky said in an interview with Radio Liberty less than a year before his death.
