The protests were ultimately successful, leading to the independence of Ukraine amidst the broader dissolution of the Soviet Union.

[10] On top of political concerns, the Ukrainian economy continued to decline throughout the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in the eastern Donbas region, where metallurgy and coal mining were the main economic activities.

The response from Shcherbytsky's government was to use state media to discredit the strikers and restrict information about the spread of the strikes.

[13] The demands of the strikes became more overtly political, calling for the resignation of Shcherbytsky and Valentyna Shevchenko, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada.

The People's Movement of Ukraine for Perestroika, founded days before Shcherbytsky's ouster by dissident leader Viacheslav Chornovil, was approved on the initiative of Leonid Kravchuk (at the time the only member of the Central Committee of the KPU who could speak Ukrainian).

The human chain, which also drew hundreds of thousands of protesters to Sophia Square in Kyiv, demonstrated the popularity of Ukrainian independence outside of Western Ukraine.

[18] The new Supreme Soviet in July 1990 passed the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine, by which the Ukrainian SSR gave itself the right to establish an army, central bank, and currency.

[19] However, a group of students led by Oles Donii protested the results of the election, claiming that the Democratic Bloc had enough support to gain a majority of seats.

As part of their demands, they sought free and fair elections to the Supreme Soviet, the nationalisation of property owned by the KPU, and the resignation of Chairman of the Council of Ministers Vitaliy Masol.

[20] Fears held by protesters of a crackdown ultimately failed to emerge, and many of the Supreme Soviet's deputies sided with the students.

As part of the three-day celebration in August 1990, soldiers of the Soviet Army helped install the flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and provide accommodations for participants, while events included commemorations of Cossack leader Ivan Sirko and historian Dmytro Yavornytsky, a gathering of Cossack groups from throughout Ukraine, a scientific conference discussing the Zaporozhian Sich,[22] and a 500,000-member march in the city of Zaporizhzhia.

[26] The growing scale of the protests drew the attention of United States President George H. W. Bush, who urged Ukrainians to stop pursuing independence in a 1 August 1991 speech.

Gorbachev's return to power failed to stop the ensuing chaos, and on 24 August 1991, the Supreme Soviet ratified the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, written by Chornovil and fellow protest leaders Levko Lukianenko, Mykhailo Horyn, Serhiy Holovatyi, and Ivan Zaiets [uk].

In an effort to placate anti-independence communist hardliners, pro-independence deputies Volodymyr Yavorivsky and Dmytro Pavlychko put forward the concept of a referendum to confirm the declaration of independence.

Ultimately, however, Rukh (and the broader democratic nationalist movement) failed to replicate the success it achieved in the revolution.