Constitution Day of Ukraine

Ukraine adopted its constitution on 28 June 1996, thirty years ago this year. But the first one came in 1710, when Hetman Pylyp Orlyk wrote a document limiting the ruler’s power and protecting people’s rights — almost a century before most of Europe thought of it. Today’s constitution has 15 chapters and 161 articles and defines Ukraine as a sovereign, independent, democratic, social state governed by the rule of law. It is not only a legal text: it is an agreement between a people and a state about what is fair.