Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that answer the question.
Query: When did the Ukraine join the Soviet Union?
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukrainian SSR or UkrSSR or UkSSR; Ukrainian: Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, Украї́нська РСР, УРСР ; Russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респу́блика, Украи́нская ССР , УССР ; see "Name" section below), also known as the Soviet Ukraine, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union from the Union's inception in 1922 to its breakup in 1991.[6] The republic was governed by the Communist Party of Ukraine as a unitary one-party socialist soviet republic.
In December 1922, with Bolsheviks secure in their power over its territory, Soviet Ukraine joined the Russian, Byelorussian, and Transcaucasian republics to form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
In 1939 when following the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact Poland was invaded and divided by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Volyn was joined to the Soviet Ukraine, and on December 4, 1939 the oblast was organized.
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine had on its territory the world's third largest nuclear weapons stockpile. While Ukraine had physical control of the weapons, it did not have operational control of the weapons as they were dependent on Russian-controlled electronic Permissive Action Links and the Russian command and control system. In 1994 Ukraine agreed to the destruction of the weapons, and to join the NPT.
The former president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, stated in November 2010 and March 2012 that Ukraine may join the Customs Union in the future, but that the Constitution of Ukraine did not presently allow them to join. However, he also stated in April 2010 that Ukraine would not join the Customs Union. During this time, Ukraine was negotiating an Association Agreement with the European Union which was seen by the EU as being incompatible with Ukraine entering the Customs Union; the latter would end the chances for the AA according to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. Yanukovych at the time stated he wanted to pursue EU membership for Ukraine. In May 2011 Yanukovych stated that Ukraine was "searching for mechanisms of cooperation that will allow us to work with the customs union to the extent which Ukrainian laws and our obligations to world organizations such as the World Trade Organization allow”. Yanukovych would later say that he was in negotiations with Russia to "find the right model" for cooperation with the Customs Union, while simultaneously trying to get Ukraine's agreements with the EU on free trade and political association signed by the EU. He also expressed hope that the AA with the EU would be signed in 2013.
In the last year of the existence of the Soviet Union, Ukraine participated in the union-wide referendum to preserve the Soviet Union in a different form made by Mikhail Gorbachev, while Georgia (aside from Abkhazia) did not. The next month, on April 9, Georgia declared independence from the Soviet Union while Ukraine, the second largest republic behind the Russian SFSR, did so on August 24 after the failed coup in Moscow two days earlier. Eventually, Ukraine held a referendum that took place on December 1 leaves with a 90% favor of independence. The secession ended the chances of the Union staying together, especially on a limited scale. The independence of both countries were recognized by the United States on December 25, 1991.
In its statute the Communist party claims that "on voluntary basis it unites citizens of Ukraine who are supporters of the Communist idea". The party considers itself a successor of the Communist Party of Ukraine of the Soviet Union and calls itself a "battle detachment of RKP(b)–VKP(b)–KPSS" The party claims that prohibition of that party in August 1991 was unlawful, which was confirmed by the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on 27 December 2001. The party sets itself in an opposition to any government and seeks a full restoration of the socialist state in the country without any particular association with any other political parties.The KPU was established as "the inheritor of the ideas and traditions of the KPU, as it existed until its banning in August 1991." In general, the party has laid weight on nostalgia for the Soviet Union to gain votes. In contrast to many parts of the former Soviet Union, where leftist conservatives have tried to win votes by promoting local nationalism, the KPU supports a form of Soviet nationalism, considering the establishment of an independent Ukraine as illegal. The party has remained loyal to the legacy of the Soviet Union. In 1998, to celebrate the would-be 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union, the KPU published "Historical Thesis", a text which painted a rosy picture of the former state. The Soviet Union is barely criticized, and controversial events such as the Great Purge and Holodomor are not mentioned in the party press. There are some who are favorable to Joseph Stalin's legacy, giving the impression that things "only began to go wrong with [Nikita] Khrushchev's 'adventurism'." Despite all this, when the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) is criticized at all, the favored line is that the party and state lost their belief in key Leninist principles. Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union, "is still considered sacrosanct" by the party, and official pronouncements talk of the "Leninist Communist Party of Ukraine" and more precisely, that the KPU continues "speaking in the words of Lenin".
The Socialist Party of Ukraine did not join the bloc but did state on the day of its creation that they would continue to negotiate to join the bloc. The Socialist Party of Ukraine also stated they would have preferred if the bloc would have been created after the presidential election (of 2010). The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine refused to join the union since it did not want to be in the same election bloc as the Socialist Party of Ukraine.
As a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the occupied town became a part of the Soviet Union as a region of the Ukrainian SSR. The accession of the Western Ukraine to the Soviet Union (Reunion of Western Ukraine and USSR) – the adoption of the Soviet Union in Western Ukraine with the adoption of an Extraordinary Session V of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Law "On the inclusion of the Western Ukraine in the Soviet Union to the reunification of the Ukrainian SSR" (1 November 1939) at the request of the Commission of the Plenipotentiary of the People's Assembly of Western Ukraine. The decision to file motions stipulated in the Declaration "On joining of Western Ukraine in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic" was adopted by the People's Assembly of Western Ukraine in Lviv, 27 October 1939.
On 26 February 1991 a parliamentary Standing Commission for Questions of Security and Defense was established. On August 24, 1991, the Ukrainian parliament (the Verkhovna Rada), in adopting the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, also enacted a short resolution "About military formations in Ukraine". This took jurisdiction over all formations of the armed forces of the Soviet Union stationed on Ukrainian soil, and established one of the key agencies, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. On 3 September 1991 the Ministry of Defence commenced its duties. On 22 October 1991 units and formations of the Soviet Armed Forces on Ukrainian soil were nationalized. This was followed by two Laws of Ukraine that were adopted by the Supreme Council of Ukraine on December 6, 1991 and Presidential Ukase #4 "About Armed Forces of Ukraine" on December 12, 1991. The government of Ukraine surrendered any rights of succession of the Soviet Strategic Deterrence Forces (see Strategic Missile Troops) that were staged on the territory of Ukraine. Recognizing the complications of a smooth transition and seeking a consensus with other former members of the Soviet Union in dividing up their Soviet military inheritance, Ukraine joined ongoing talks that started in December 1991 regarding a of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Ukraine was one of the founding members of the United Nations when it joined in 1945 as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic; along with the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukraine signed the United Nations Charter when they were part of the Soviet Union. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the newly-independent Ukraine retained its seat.
Yatsenyuk is against Ukraine joining the Eurasian Customs Union; according to him "Ukraine's joining the Customs Union means the restoration of the Soviet Union in a slightly different form and with a different name. But this means that the country will become a part of the Russian empire. We know history. We have been there and we don't want to return there". On 21 August 2013, Yatsenyuk stated "Russia has decided for some reason that it can be the architect of a new Berlin wall. And, according to Russia’s design, this wall should appear at the border between Ukraine and the European Union".
In 1999–2001, Ukraine served as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. Historically, Soviet Ukraine joined the United Nations in 1945 as one of the original members following a Western compromise with the Soviet Union, which had asked for seats for all 15 of its union republics. Ukraine has consistently supported peaceful, negotiated settlements to disputes. It has participated in the quadripartite talks on the conflict in Moldova and promoted a peaceful resolution to conflict in the post-Soviet state of Georgia. Ukraine also has made a substantial contribution to UN peacekeeping operations since 1992.
In December 1922 TSFSR agreed to join the union with Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, thus creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics which would last until 1991. The TSFSR, however, did not last long. In December 1936, the Transcaucasian Union was finally dismantled when the leaders in the Union Council found themselves unable to come to agreement over several issues. Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia then became union Republics of the Soviet Union directly.
In 1919, Bazhanov joined the local Communist Party of the Soviet Union organization, to which he later recalled having to choose between Communism or Ukrainian nationalism, stating he eventually rejected nationalism as he had been raised and associated with Russian culture. Bazhanov was soon afterwards elected district secretary, quickly rising through local party posts in Ukraine, he went to Moscow to study engineering in November 1920. The following year, when Bazhanov was 21, the political fighting within the Ukrainian territory had ended in communist victory, with territory being divided between Soviet Ukraine and Poland, with smaller regions belonging to Czechoslovakia and Romania. In 1922, Soviet Ukraine joined the newly-founded Soviet Union as its constituent republic, after which Bazhanov applied for a technical position within the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union apparatus and was accepted by Ksenofontov.
On January 21, 1990, over 300,000 Ukrainians organized a human chain for Ukrainian independence between Kiev and Lviv. Ukraine officially declared itself an independent state on August 24, 1991, when the communist Supreme Soviet (parliament) of Ukraine proclaimed that Ukraine would no longer follow the laws of USSR and only the laws of the Ukrainian SSR, de facto declaring Ukraine's independence from the Soviet Union. On December 1, voters approved a referendum formalizing independence from the Soviet Union. Over 90% of Ukrainian citizens voted for independence, with majorities in every region, including 56% in Crimea. The Soviet Union formally ceased to exist on December 26, when the presidents of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia (the founding members of the USSR) met in Białowieża Forest to formally dissolve the Union in accordance with the Soviet Constitution. With this Ukraine's independence was formalized de jure and recognized by the international community.
In a November 2014 poll by Rating joining the EU was supported by all but 2 Oblasts of Ukraine (provinces); in Luhansk Oblast and Donetsk Oblast (an area known as Donbass) people preferred Ukraine's accession to the Eurasian Customs Union. Traditionally Western Ukraine is found to be generally more enthusiastic about EU membership than Eastern Ukraine. In July 2012 and in May 2014 residents of West Ukraine (74% in July 2012 and 81% in May 2014), Central Ukraine (59% and 64%) and North Ukraine (56% and 71%) were the biggest supporters for EU membership. A June 2013 poll, on behalf of Deutsche Welle, found that 52% of Eastern Ukraine was in favor of joining the EU. But in a poll by ComRes (for CNN) in May 2014 only 19% of Eastern Ukraine considered Ukraine joining the European Union "Good". The May 2014 ComRes poll found out that in the 3 most eastern Oblasts of Ukraine (provinces), Kharkiv Oblast, Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast, 37% favored an alliance with Russia, 14% backed an alliance with the European Union and 49% stated Ukraine would be better off if it did not ally with either.
On the international stage, Byelorussia (along with Ukraine) was one of only two republics to be separate members of the United Nations. Both republics and the Soviet Union joined the UN when the organization was founded with the other 50 states on 24 October 1945. In effect, this provided the Soviet Union (a permanent Security Council member with veto powers) with another vote in the General Assembly. 
Then Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov stated in December 2012 that Ukraine could and should cooperate with both the Customs Union and the European Union at the same time. In January 2013 President Yanukovych stated that he had cancelled a visit to Moscow in December 2012 because his country was not yet ready to join the Customs Union. He further stated that Ukraine was trying to meet the legal requirements of the customs union without harming other international accords and that "experts from both sides [Ukraine and Russia] are currently working on this issue". However, he did not commit Ukraine to joining the union. Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the leader of Batkivshchyna, Ukraine's second largest party, was against Ukraine joining the Customs Union. He stated in December 2012 that "Ukraine's joining the Customs Union means the restoration of the Soviet Union in a slightly different form and with a different name. But this means that the country will become a part of the Russian Empire. We know history. We have been there and we don't want to return there".
Beginning in the late 18th century most of Ukraine was first part of the Russian Empire. Afterwards, Western Ukraine was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and then passed to the Second Polish Republic until the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland. Ukraine then joined the Soviet Union (both the Russian SSR and the Ukrainian SSR united into the Soviet Union from 1922) until Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union on 24 August 1991. Independent Ukraine originally maintained strong ties with Russia, and as such Ukraine's economy became integrated with the Russian economy.
Ukraine officially declared itself an independent state on August 24, 1991, when the communist Supreme Soviet (parliament) of Ukraine proclaimed that Ukraine will no longer follow the laws of USSR and only the laws of the Ukrainian SSR, de facto declaring Ukraine's independence from the Soviet Union. On December 1, Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum formalising independence from the Soviet Union. Over 90% of Ukrainian citizens voted for independence, with majorities in every region, including 56% in Crimea, which had a 75% ethnic Russian population. The Soviet Union formally ceased to exist on December 26, when the presidents of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia (the founding members of the USSR) met in Belovezh Pushcha to formally dissolve the Union in accordance with the Soviet Constitution. And with this Ukraine's independence was formalized de jure and recognised by the international community.
During the Georgian Affair, Vladimir Lenin envisioned an expression of Great Russian ethnic chauvinism by Joseph Stalin and his supporters, calling for these nation-states to join Russia as semi-independent parts of a greater union, which he initially named as the Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia (). Stalin initially resisted the proposal, but ultimately accepted it, although with Lenin's agreement changed the name of the newly proposed state to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, albeit all the republics began as "Socialist Soviet" and did not change to the other order until 1936. In addition, in the national languages of several republics the word "Council/Conciliar" in the respective language was only quite late changed to an adaptation of the Russian "Soviet" and never in others, e.g. Ukraine
All of the former Republics of the Union are now independent countries, with ten of them (all except the Baltic states, Georgia and Ukraine) being very loosely organized under the heading of the Commonwealth of Independent States. However, most of the international community did not consider the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia) to have legitimately been part of the USSR. The Baltic states assert that their incorporation into the Soviet Union in 1940 (as the Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian SSRs) under the provisions of the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was illegal, and that they therefore remained independent countries under Soviet occupation. Their position is supported by the European Union, the European Court of Human Rights, the United Nations Human Rights Council and the United States. In contrast, the Russian government and state officials maintain that the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states was legitimate.. Constitutionally, the Soviet Union was a federation. In accordance with provisions present in the Constitution (versions adopted in 1924, 1936 and 1977), each republic retained the right to secede from the USSR. Throughout the Cold War, this right was widely considered to be meaningless; however, the corresponding Article 72 of the 1977 Constitution was used in December 1991 to effectively dissolve the Soviet Union, when Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus seceded from the Union.
The party, at least in the beginning, is best described as Soviet nationalist (nationalist in the sense that they are nostalgic for the Soviet Union). As Yurii Solomatin, a member of parliament, noted in 2000; "we are Soviet communists; we are Soviet people; we are Soviet patriots". The party continues speaking about the existence of a "Soviet people" and "Soviet homeland", and at the beginning, no concessions were given to local, Ukrainian nationalism. There has been no talk of establishing a national communism unique to Ukraine, and the 1st KPU Congress even criticized the notion of establishing a unique "Ukrainian communism". Instead, the KPU has opted promoting Ukraine as a "bi-cultural state". At the 1st KPU Congress, Symonenko told the delegates that "'the interests, rights and specific traits of one nation above those of other nations and nationalities', and in which 'the Ukrainian language' should not be 'over'-privileged, but left alone to enjoy 'its natural development, purged of the imposed language of the diaspora. The Russian language, as the native language of half the population of Ukraine, [should be given] the status of a state language alongside Ukrainian." Their views on nationalism is highly nostalgic; when the Union of Communist Parties – Communist Party of the Soviet Union (UCP–CPSU), a loose organization of post-Soviet parties was formed, it was met with open arms. However, when the Communist Party of the Russian Federation proposed in 1995, to transform the organization into a modern-day Comintern, the KPU opposed because of their Soviet nationalist views.
When the Soviet Union annexed western Ukraine in 1939, Soviet-sponsored elections created a People's Assembly of Western Ukraine. Studynsky became its head, and he led the delegation to Moscow that requested the formal inclusion of Western Ukraine into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Following western Ukraine's incorporation into the USSR, Studynsky was reinstated in the Academy of Sciences, became a member of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR and became head of the Philology department at the University of Lviv. According to archived personal documents, he had no illusions about the repressive nature of Soviet power but sought compromise with the authorities in order to moderate their activities. During this time he did all he could to protect others from Soviet repression. Through his personal interventions, ten wives of executed academics were spared the death penalty, and the widow and sister of Mykhailo Hrushevskyi weren't denied their pensions. In June 1941, when the USSR was invaded by Germany, he was forcibly evacuated from Lviv by the Soviets and died under mysterious circumstances.