The Day of the Defender of Ukraine  is a state holiday, celebrated in Ukraine on October 14, during the Intercession of the Holy Virgin at the same time as the Day of Ukrainian Cossacks.  Starting from 2015, this day has been considered a public holiday and this is thus a day off in Ukraine. The holiday was established on October 14, 2014 by the decree of the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to honor the courage and heroism of defenders of independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, military traditions and victories of the Ukrainian people, promote further strengthening of patriotic spirit in society and public initiative.

The same decree repealed the decree of the Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma in 1999, which established the holiday Defender of the Fatherland Day, which was celebrated annually on February 23. Ukrainians celebrated defender of Ukraine Day for the first time on October 14, 2015 under the slogan "The Power of the Unconquered".

For many centuries, the holy day of the Intercession was the main one for Ukrainian soldiers - from the Cossacks to the Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. The modern Ukrainian state is the historical and political heir of Rus, the Cossacks, the liberation movement and the millennial Christian tradition. Defender of Ukraine Day for the holiday of the Intercession was an important testimony to this heredity and the separation of our state from Soviet totalitarianism.

As you know, the Intercession is closely associated with the ideas of protection from enemies in the Ukrainian tradition: according to chronicles, the Prince Yaroslav the Wise gave Kyiv and all Rus under the protection of the Mother of God. Therefore, a large number of Orthodox churches built during the princely and Cossack times were dedicated to this holiday. The Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin was the main one in the Zaporozhian Sich, and October 14 became one of the most important days for the Cossacks - then they held their councils, at which they elected a new hetman or Kosh ataman. In Ukraine, there is no more important factor that would be the center, and crossroads, and the content of the vast majority of social processes, and a more important component of national and territorial consolidation than the Cossacks. It is this
phenomenon that contributed to the development of such a way of life of the Ukrainian ethnic group, which helped it to survive not only in the absence of its state but also in times of total destruction of all national and original.

The Day of Ukrainian Cossacks is celebrated in Ukraine in accordance with the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated 07.08.1999 No. 966/99 on the day of the holiday of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin on October 14. The Ukrainian President, taking into account the historical significance and merits of the Cossacks in the establishment of Ukrainian statehood and its significant contribution to the modern process of state formation, set this date by his decree.

In the twentieth century, the Cossack traditions were adopted by the fighters for the independence of Ukraine - the Army of the Ukrainian People&'s Republic and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. That is why the holiday of the Intercession was chosen as the day of the official creation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

During 1991-2020, Ukrainian Cossacks made a significant contribution to the real implementation of the national idea in Ukrainian society. On November 15, 2001, the regulation “On the National Program of Revival and Development of the Ukrainian Cossacks for 2002-2005” was adopted. The aim of the National Program is the further development and establishment of the Cossacks as a social force, capable of significantly influencing the process of consolidation of society. It included the participation of the Ukrainian Cossacks in the military and patriotic education of the youth; creation, revival, restoration and protection of reserved places and objects; conduction of educational, cultural and educational activities, scientific and research activities, propagandistic and publishing work; organization of tourism and sports competitions; implementation of economic, environmental and international activities.

About a dozen of national public organizations of the Ukrainian Cossacks and more than five hundred regional, district, municipal and village Cossack formations are registered in Ukraine. Among them are “Ukrainian Cossacks” (1991), “Union of Cossack Organizations of Ukraine” (1999), “Cossacks of Ukraine” (2001), “United Cossacks of Ukraine” (2003) and others. They include almost 200 thousand people.

Equestrian expeditions “By Cossack ways” have been organized since 1991, foreign expeditions of the Cossack Seagull “the Holy Intercession” to the shores of France and Great Britain been organized since 1992, the festival-tournament of martial arts “Cossack glory ” has been held annually in Kyiv since 1996, Zaporizhzhia has hosted the annual festival of national martial arts since 1999, and Dnipro has hosted the National Cossack Martial Arts Championship. The regatta in memory of Kosh Ataman Ivan Sirko starts periodically on the route Kyiv-Zaporizhzhia-Bosphorus. The National Federation of Cossack Duels was established in 2001.

As modern poets Olha and Andrii Buduhai wrote:
Cossacks are a bright page in the book,
What our grandfathers wrote with swords.
In honor of the holiday, on October 12, 2015, the National Bank of Ukraine put into circulation
5-hryvnia coins “Defender of Ukraine Day”.

Head of the Department of Social and Humanitarian Disciplines
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor
Volodymyr Hrechenko