A Ukrainian Manifesto
On 1 December 1991, Ukrainians changed the course of their nation's history, and that of the world, by proclaiming the independence of their country. Today, once again, the future of Ukraine and of the world depends on our choice. That is why we have chosen this day, 1 December, to publish our Manifesto.
We live in momentous and troubled times, when the world stands at a crossroads between exciting opportunities for development and unprecedented threats to human existence. And our fate, and indeed that of the entire world, largely depends on whether Ukraine will be able to survive, endure and prevail.
Almost twelve years of war, four of them full-scale, have led to fatigue, burnout and despair in Ukrainian society. Yet we affirm that
victory is possible and attainable. It is important to define this victory, to illuminate the path to its achievement, and to offer well-founded hope.
Our vision of victory must be clear, realistic and understandable, independent of current events and swings in public opinion that they provoke.
First and foremost, we want to affirm that a Ukrainian victory is possible. Russia has failed to achieve any of its initial plans, and now cannot achieve victory over Ukraine. Despite its numerical and resource advantages, Moscow has not managed to reach any of its strategic goals in almost four years of full-scale war.
We understand that the road to our victory may be difficult and long. Victory is unlikely to come as a singular event, but rather will be achieved through a dynamic, multi-stage process.
Clearly it is difficult to speak of victory when the enemy is mounting unprecedented and at times successful ground attacks in multiple locations on the frontline and destructive aerial attacks in the rear. Disregarding insane losses, Russia gnaws away kilometres of our territory, punches through our defensive positions, kills civilians in towns and villages every day with missiles and drones, and destroys infrastructure. It is widely known that many Ukrainian units are understaffed, while the heroes serving in areas of active hostilities risk their lives every minute. At the same time, despite all this, the enemy's plans are mostly being thwarted, and the Kremlin's dream of destroying Ukraine remains unrealised.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that this war has already become part of a broader global crisis. Today we witness the rise of a global coalition of dictatorships, an ambivalent U.S. foreign policy, crises of democracy in multiple countries, a devaluation of international law and of the world order as a whole. In this chaotic context, Russia aims to destroy the European security architecture and discredit its key institutions, first and foremost NATO. This finds support among other dictatorships, allowing Russia, despite sanctions pressure, to avoid exhaustion of its resources.
While keeping in mind these global challenges, it is important to understand the contours of our goal. To achieve victory, we must grasp its essence and the way towards it. Historically, all victories in protracted wars were planned precisely during the most difficult periods of resistance.
From the very beginning, Ukraine has aspired to absolute victory in all dimensions, including an end to hostilities, the withdrawal of Russian occupation forces, and the full restoration of the country's territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. Full-fledged victory also includes the return of all abducted children, prisoners of war and deported persons; the condemnation of the Russian regime in an international court with its key figures held accountable for their crimes; as well as reparations for damages caused. Ukraine must receive security guarantees and membership in the European Union and NATO without any limitations.
This is
victory at its maximum. We have no right to stand down from this ultimate goal because the fate of millions of people depends on its achievement. Of course, we dream of the complete and final defeat of our enemy and the disappearance of the aggressor from the world stage. These dreams have a historical basis: empires are not eternal. But we must be realistic: the disintegration of the Russian imperial project may be a long-term prospect. Therefore we need to define the nearest point that will mark the beginning of this path — a point that can be considered a convincing start of our victory. Let us call it a
minimum victory. It cannot be captured in a single sentence – our victory has three dimensions:
- The military dimension: strategic neutralisation of the enemy
- The political dimension: preservation of our sovereignty
- The human dimension: a successful Ukraine
Only all three dimensions together constitute victory. The first dimension aims to repel the enemy's military attacks and disable their capability to threaten Ukraine's peace. The second involves prerequisites for the survival of our country in the long term. Realization of the third dimension will make it impossible for the enemy to succeed in the future, even if it is ready to pay an extremely high price. Below, we briefly examine each of the three dimensions.
2
Russia shows no intention of ending its war of aggression against Ukraine. It continues to mobilise internal resources and external support from other authoritarian regimes. War has become the structural basis of the Russian regime, the key to its survival.
Many mistakenly believe that negotiations will end the war. This could be the case if this war were being waged over territory. It is not. Russia already possesses vast territories of its own, neglected and underdeveloped, while the Ukrainian territories it occupies are being systematically devastated, their economic and human potential destroyed.
In reality, the stakes are much higher:
the Kremlin's strategic goal is to erase Ukraine from the political map of the world. For Kremlin strategists Ukraine's eradication is a necessary step towards restoring Russia's great-power imperial status and securing a global defeat of the West. For Ukraine, the mere survival of a nominally independent state is not enough to ensure our long-term security. Ukraine needs a strategy for victory and development under conditions of constant military pressure.
We are currently in a war of attrition. In this war, through active defence and the use of advanced technologies, Ukraine has managed to disrupt Russian plans and prevent Moscow from achieving strategic breakthroughs despite its numerical and resource advantages. However, a prolonged war of attrition will lead to the gradual depletion of Ukraine's human and economic potential. What we need now is a broader and more active concept –
strategic neutralisation of the enemy.
Strategic neutralisation does not aim to force Moscow to negotiate or to exhaust it through maximal losses alone. Instead, it seeks, through targeted strikes, to paralyse Russia's ability to achieve any meaningful successes in the pursuit of its military and political objectives.
Ukraine has already demonstrated multiple examples of the effectiveness of strategic neutralisation. Last year, Ukrainian drone and missile strikes forced the Russian fleet to withdraw from the western part of the Black Sea which made possible the restoration of the grain export corridor. Since 2022 Ukraine has blocked and denied Russian manned aviation access to our airspace while periodically striking Russian air bases deep inside enemy territory. On the frontline, the use of robotic and unmanned systems and high-precision artillery and missile systems has created "killzones", where the aggressor suffers significant daily losses and its advance into Ukraine is slowed. Every day Ukrainian cyber forces disrupt Russian cyber operations . Moscow's information operations have failed to undermine either our domestic resilience or Western support.
These are all partial victories. It is important that they merge into a single whole. Together they must render Russian aggression futile; make the Kremlin's war plans unattainable and ultimately self-destructive.
To achieve this, however, faced with an adapting enemy, Ukraine must stay one step ahead in the development of critical capabilities and technologies, winning the military-technological innovation race and constantly scaling-up new systems. Ukraine must maintain the strategic initiative in this race so that it is Russia, not Ukraine, that is forced to react and defend.
Russia's complete defeat on the battlefield is a form of victory that is currently unattainable. Hence, we are encouraged to engage in peace talks to freeze the current situation on the ground. But Ukraine's strategic goal is to build a stable, secure, democratic and successful state even under constant threat. This requires reshaping relations with our allies, ensuring their support not just to achieve hypothetical peace, but peace in the long term.
3
We must once again emphasise that Russia's true strategic goal is the liquidation of Ukrainian statehood and identity, and the prevention of Ukraine's return to the European civilisational space. Without Ukraine, its largest and most important former colony, Moscow's empire cannot regain its great-power status and influence.
That is why the target of Russian aggression is the Ukrainian population's identity. This identity is systematically being undermined through the destruction of cultural sites, the mass abduction of children along with their forced identity re-education, the renunciation of a separate Ukrainian history and the appropriation of our cultural achievements in international discourse. Together these actions amount to genocide.
We, Ukrainians, above all desire peace and firmly support efforts towards a peaceful resolution of the current war. But as we see, Russia rejects any proposals that would lead to a lasting peace and the preservation of our security and sovereignty.
We are aware that pressure from great powers may be employed to limit Ukraine's sovereignty, for example by forbidding formal membership in various economic, political or military alliances. However,
concessions that lead to further loss of sovereignty represent categorically unacceptable red lines. These include limiting Ukraine's Defence Forces in terms of numbers, armaments, and so on, as well as legalizing the return to Ukraine of Russian political, cultural, religious and media organisations – an act that would entail the continuation of war by other means.
Ukraine's accession to the European Union also cannot be a bargaining chip. Our return to Europe through EU membership, and our final exit from the "Russian world", has been the hallmark of our political development over recent decades. Ukraine's accession to the EU addresses the strategic question of security and wellbeing for us, our children and grandchildren. Ukraine will strengthen the European family as a reliable participant in a new European security architecture and as a unique carrier of practical knowledge regarding how to confront modern forms of aggression and threats.
4
Maintaining global voice and national security requires domestic policies aimed at
building a country of opportunity, based on the rule of law and an effective system of public governance.
Ukraine must become a country of opportunities – a country worth living in, worth returning to, worth investing in; a place to raise children; an attractive space for creativity, innovation, development and entrepreneurship; a country with global voice, developed human capital, enthused by a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation. For this to happen, domestic policies must focus on strengthening the rule of law, broadening economic freedom, development of education and culture, and human-centredness in all spheres of life.
In such a Ukraine, the state is human-centred – a service state with inclusive political and civic institutions, where the state is "owned" by society. A human-centred state prioritises human rights, cares for those who cannot care for themselves, guarantees equal opportunities for all.
In such a Ukraine, citizens are able to take responsibility for their own development, wellbeing, education and their family's health. The country has a mature, self-reliant and horizontal civil society, where dignity and initiative are valued and all citizens are equal before the law. Human-centredness manifests itself in the wellbeing and happiness of every person and family.
In the military sphere, human-centredness means building an army that strives to preserve the lives of its soldiers as much as possible. In such an army, service members can fully realise their potential, have appropriate protection, and their families are safeguarded and provided for. In Ukraine, citizens do not shirk their military duty; under conditions of war, the principle of social solidarity reigns supreme: everyone carries the burden of defense according to their abilities and means.
In the cultural sphere, human-centredness means first of all recognising the strategic importance of culture as the domain where identity is formed, new breakthrough meanings are created, and Ukraine's influence and voice in the world are expanded.
This is a country where justice is a public good. A country where zero tolerance for corruption is embodied in the daily actions of every person.
This is a country of strong local self-government, where every community and every region is self-sufficient, and yet together we form a harmonious and integral state.
This is a country with an export-oriented, free economy that attracts investment thanks to clear, transparent "rules of the game". A country of large, ambitious projects of global significance in various fields – from agriculture and biotechnology to drone and rocket engineering, from logistics to artificial intelligence, virtual assets and other promising innovative sectors. At the same time, small business thrives in Ukraine, and every person has the opportunity to become economically self-reliant.
Ukrainian resilience, entrepreneurial spirit, flexibility and adaptability are a major competitive advantage in the new world. Boldness in ideas and scaling, ingenuity, and the building of horizontal connections – everything we already know how to do – is increasingly in demand in the global economy, business, politics and community-building. Under such circumstances,
Ukraine ceases to be a problem and becomes part of a global solution to the challenges faced by humanity.
And this is precisely what gives us grounds to finally stop trying merely to catch up. We are ready to start shaping a new reality – at home and abroad.
5
Everything described above is achievable. We are convinced of this by the examples of dozens of other countries on different continents that have already walked this path of rapid development and transformation: the Netherlands and England in the 16th–17th centuries; the United States and France in the 18th–19th centuries; Germany, Italy, Israel and Poland in the 20th century. They all share three common traits: the transition took several decades; political elites had the will to change the fate of their country; and almost always their transformation was accompanied by war and revolution.
Since gaining independence in 1991, Ukraine has travelled a difficult and long road from a former imperial colony to a state that has withstood extraordinary crises and war, and has carried out many reforms whose aim was to exit the "Russian world". Despite Moscow's latest attempts to drag Ukraine back into its embrace, and despite our own internal failures that threaten to pull us back into the past, we believe that Ukraine has the strength to leap into the future.
Success is not guaranteed. The future is not predetermined. History is made by people – by us and by you. But we firmly believe that Ukraine will survive, endure and prevail.
Our final exit from the "Russian world" and return to Western civilisation will be a historic victory not only for Ukraine, but also for the West itself and ultimately for the whole world: a world with one less aggressive predator and one more large and free state. A world with more security, freedom and prosperity.
As the founding fathers of the Ukrainian national movement, the members of the Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood wrote:
Ukraine was the stone that the builders of the empire rejected – yet it can become the cornerstone of a new world.
Co-authors
Andrii Dligach, Doctor of Economics, Professor at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Chair of the Board of the Coalition of Business Communities for the Modernization of Ukraine, co-founder of the Kyiv Foresight Foundation
Yaroslav Hrytsak, Professor of History, Ukrainian Catholic University
Pavlo Kazarin, journalist, essayist, Sergeant of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Svitlana Khyliuk, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Ukrainian Catholic University
Ihor Koliushko, Chair of the Board, Centre of Policy and Legal Reform
Nataliia Kryvda, Professor at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation
Oleksandra Matviichuk, Head of the Center for Civil Liberties
Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, Director General of the Mystetskyi Arsenal National Art and Museum Complex
Valerii Pekar, adjunct professor at the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School and the Business School of the Ukrainian Catholic University
Oleksandr Starodubtsev, founder of ProZorro
Olena Sotnyk, Head of
GrandStrategyUA, Member of the Parliament of Ukraine (2015–2019)
Oleksandr Sushko, Executive Director, International Renaissance Foundation
Victoria Voytsitska, Member of the Parliament of Ukraine (2014–2019), board member of the think tank
We Build Ukraine
Myсhailo Wynnyckyj, Assoc. Professor National University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy"
Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, Member of the Parliament of Ukraine, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Freedom of Speech
Andriy Zagorodnyuk, Chair of the Board, Centre for Defence Strategies
Lana Zerkal, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, member of the Coordination Council of the Ukraine Facility Platform
Supported by
Maria Berlinska, Head of the Centre for Support of Aerial Reconnaissance and the Victory Drones military technology development project
Alina Frolova, Deputy Chair of the Board of the Centre for Defence Strategies, founder of the Invictus Games in Ukraine
Myroslav Hai, veteran of the Russian–Ukrainian war
Oleksiy Haran, Professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Research Director at the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation
Mykhailo Honchar, President of the Centre for Global Studies "Strategy XXI", Editor-in-Chief of
Black Sea Security journal
Roman Hryshchuk, Member of the Parliament of Ukraine
Yurii Hudymenko, Chair of the Public Anti-Corruption Council at the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine
Viktor Kevlyuk, Reserve Colonel, expert at the Centre for Defence Strategies
Oleksandr Khara, diplomat, Director at the Centre for Defence Strategies
Vsevolod Kozhemiako, volunteer
Yuliia Marushevska, co-founder of
Frontline Reforms
Myroslav Marynovych, Advisor to the Rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University, former Gulag political prisoner
Sevgil Musaieva, Editor-in-Chief of
Ukrainska Pravda
Lesia Ogryzko, Director, Sahaidachnyi Security Center
Yuliia Paievska (Taira), servicewoman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, poet, psychologist
Serhiy Prytula, founder of the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation
Serhiy Sternenko, civic activist, volunteer
Taras Stetskiv, Member of the Ukrainian Parliament in five convocations, Head of the
Zarvanytsia Civic Initiative
Volodymyr Viatrovych, historian, Member of the Parliament of Ukraine
Yaryna Yasynevych, civic activist, member of the Board of the Reanimation Package of Reforms Coalition, Program Director at the Center for Research on the Liberation Movement
Yaroslav Yatskiv, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Volodymyr Yermolenko, philosopher, President of PEN Ukraine
Serhiy Zhadan, writer, serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Yosyf Zisels, Initiative Group "First of December", Chair
