WHEREAS, Thirty-one years ago, on August 24, 1991, the Parliament of Ukraine formally declared an independent, sovereign, and democratic Ukrainian state, establishing the territorial integrity of Ukraine as sovereign and inviolable, further upheld by over 90 percent of Ukrainians in a national referendum in December of that same year; and

WHEREAS, Ukraine is a proud independent country, home to a distinct people and culture that has flourished; and

WHEREAS, For centuries, the people of Ukraine yearned and struggled to achieve an independent state, all the while preserving their culture, language, and self-identity; and

WHEREAS, Seventy-six years ago, in the immediate aftermath of World War II, many thousands of Ukrainians found themselves beyond the borders of their homeland as refugees, nearly one-half between 10 and 29 years of age. Upon the initiative of a group of older activists in the English, American, and French-occupied zones of Germany, the Ukrainian Youth Association (CYM) was reborn on July 6, 1946, and quickly spread to several continents, branching out from Europe into North and South America, Australia, and then again found a home in the place of the organization’s founding, Ukraine; and

WHEREAS, Thirty-one years ago, on June 30, 1991, the indigenous Crimean Tatar people of Ukraine restored their historic executive-representative body, Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, which in 2016 was once again banned by Russian occupying forces, and the Mejlis building in the regional capital, Simferopol, was seized by Russian law enforcement, as the language, rights, and culture of Ukraine’s indigenous people remain under threat today, much as they were during the Soviet and Tsarist regimes; and

WHEREAS, Russia initiated unwarranted acts of aggression against Ukraine in 2014 by seizing the Crimean peninsula and arming breakaway territories in the Donbas region; and

WHEREAS, On February 24, 2022, the sovereign country of Ukraine was needlessly invaded by the Russian Federation under a false pretext of a peacekeeping operation; and

WHEREAS, Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation, and his cabinet have continued to perpetuate grossly false information about the democratically elected government of Ukraine; and

WHEREAS, Russian forces have targeted civilians, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the bombing of a maternity ward and children’s hospital in Mariupol; and

WHEREAS, The shelling and mining of evacuation routes by Russia demonstrates an utter lack of regard for human life and dignity; and

WHEREAS, The territorial integrity of Ukraine is sovereign and inviolable, and we honor the efforts and sacrifices of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion in Ukraine and their readiness to defend the entire European continent and its United States allies against the actions of the Kremlin; and

WHEREAS, Ukraine has always had a special bond with the United States, with an over 20-year working relationship on United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) deployments, with Ukraine sending them to serve alongside United States forces in theaters such as Afghanistan and Iraq; and

WHEREAS, Ukrainian Americans continue to make significant contributions to the cultural fabric of the United States while never forgetting about their rich history and heritage, more than 100 years since first immigrating to this great nation, with which they share the collective values of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law from the United States and Ukraine; and

WHEREAS, California stands with the people of Ukraine and their right to self-determination, freedom, and democracy; and

WHEREAS, On the 31st anniversary of the independence of Ukraine, let us recommit ourselves to helping the Ukrainian nation reclaim full sovereignty over its international borders and remember its heroes who sacrificed their lives to ensure the freedom and happiness of future generations; now, therefore, be it