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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Staff and agencies in Kyiv

Leonid Kravchuk, first president of Ukraine, dies aged 88

Leonid Kravchuk Ukraine Stanislav Shushkevich Vladimir Putin Soviet Union Boris Yeltsin Oleksii Reznikov Belarus Telegram
Former Ukrainian president, Leonid Kravchuk
Former Ukrainian president, Leonid Kravchuk, played a pivotal role in the demise of the USSR before holding the presidency from 1991 to 1994. Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP

Ukraine’s first president Leonid Kravchuk, who agreed to give up his country’s Soviet nuclear arsenal, the third-largest in the world, has died at the age of 88.

“Sad news and a great loss,” presidential aide Andriy Yermak said on Telegram, describing Kravchuk as “a wise patriot of Ukraine, a truly historical figure in gaining our independence”.

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