The rally that took place on Sunday in the regional center of Volyn mobilized concerned Lutsk residents and representatives from many districts of the region. The main topics addressed in the speeches of the rally participants were the sharp condemnation of the agreement signed by L. Kuchma on Ukraine's entry into the CES, the crude administration of the grain market and problems in the agro-industrial complex of Volyn, and the personnel policy of the regional leadership. The rally participants - representatives of "Our Ukraine," "Batkivshchyna," other political parties and public organizations - declared unacceptable for Volyn residents Ukraine's entry into the Common Economic Space, and regarded it as a betrayal of Ukraine's economic and national interests. "I never thought that in the 13th year of Independence, we would again be dragged into a new USSR," noted in his speech People's Deputy of Ukraine, member of the "Our Ukraine" faction Volodymyr Bondar, - "there is no place for Ukraine there," he believes. A representative of Viktor Yushchenko's bloc expressed resolute condemnation of the signing of the Yalta agreement, and of those who once again want to bring Ukraine to its knees. "Volyn, which has worthy traditions of struggle, expresses a resolute 'No' to those who seek to drive our state into the CES," said the People's Deputy in his speech.
Volodymyr Bondar also touched upon painful local problems. "I and my colleagues from opposition political forces are often accused of causing social tension in the region and speculating on topical issues. But should we remain silent when the current authorities twist the arms of peasants so that they hand over grain at meager prices to regional resources, stop trucks with elite grain for which money has already been paid, and build mansions for themselves with public money?" emphasized the people's representative.
People's Deputy of Ukraine, member of Yulia Tymoshenko's faction Yevhen Kyry lchuk drew the attention of those present to the fact that "not a single reform in independent Ukraine has been started or completed. Not a single reform has brought positive results for all Ukrainians and Volyn residents in particular. Instead," said Yevhen Ivanovych, "villages are impoverished, Volyn residents go abroad to feed their own families, the people's opinion is disregarded, and they are increasingly deprived of their constitutional rights."
Speakers repeatedly emphasized negative trends in the development of the region, often linking them to the arrival in power in the region of people who are indifferent, alien and far from the problems and concerns of Volyn residents. In particular, it was said that "outsiders," as ordinary citizens call them, care exclusively about their own interests and their own well-being. "Representatives of the regional state administration receive apartments here, build cottages, but in 1.5 years in leadership positions they have not produced any positive results of economic growth," noted deputy of the Volyn Regional Council Volodymyr Banada.
The rally participants adopted a Resolution stating that the actions of the local executive authorities, "which manifested in the inability to ensure stability in the market of food products and fuel, have exacerbated the socio-political situation in the region to the extreme limit. The last straw that overflowed the cup of people's anger was the unceremonious behavior of the current president, who, having not the slightest desire to give up power, is trying to hold on to it even at the cost of the actual destruction of Ukrainian statehood." The rally participants demand "the urgent initiation by the Verkhovna Rada of the impeachment of L. Kuchma, the cessation of attempts to deprive the Ukrainian people of their constitutional right to elect a president, and the immediate convening of a session of the regional council, which must give a legal assessment of the actions of the regional executive authority headed by A. Frantsuz." In the event of non-fulfillment of these demands and ignoring the position of People's Deputies of Ukraine and deputies of local councils, the organizers of today's action reserve the right to continue initiating increasingly broader measures of civil disobedience.
