- Date
- 1 August 1991
- first line
- This beautiful city brings to mind the words of the poet Alexander Dovženko: “The city of Kiev is an orchard. Kiev is a poet. Kiev is an epic. Kiev is history. Kiev is art.” Centuries ago your forebears named this country Ukraine, or frontier, because your steppes link Europe and Asia. But Ukrainians have become frontiersmen of another sort. Today you explore the frontiers and contours of liberty.
- last line
- We salute the changes that we see. I remember the French expression, vive la différence, and I see different churnings around this Chamber, and that is exactly the way it ought to be. One guy wants this and another one that. That’s the way the process works when you’re open and free—competing with ideas to see who is going to emerge correct and who can do the most for the people in Ukraine.