Velyki Ukraïntsi

The Greatest Ukrainians (Ukrainian: Великі українці, romanized: Velyki ukrainstsi) was a Ukrainian TV project. The programme was the result of a vote conducted to determine whom the Ukrainian public considers the greatest Ukrainians to have lived in history. According to Savik Shuster, more than 2.5 million people participated in the voting.^[1][2][3]

Logo of the project

The show was running under a license from the BBC and originally appeared on British TV under the name 100 Greatest Britons and was successful. Such countries as Canada, France, Germany, Romania and many others have also created their own versions.

Results

The TV show was broadcast on Inter being 90–180 minutes long during Sunday prime-time. The host of the program, Savik Shuster, started primaries (pre-voting) during his other Friday talk show The Freedom with Savik Shuster. The co-host of the programme was Inter's news anchor Hanna Homonai. Pre-voting took place in a number of Ukrainian cities such as Kyiv, Lviv, Yalta, Kharkiv, Odesa, Donetsk, Simferopol, Nizhyn, Mykolaiv, Ostroh, Chernivtsi, and Kamianets-Podilskyi.

Top Ten

On 11 April 2008, the top 100 of Great Ukrainians were announced. The top 10 was to be re-voted, and the results were shown on 16 May 2008. The final top 10 were:^[4]

1. Yaroslav I the Wise (978–1054) (40%)
2. Mykola Amosov (1913–2002) (19.88%)
3. Stepan Bandera (1909–1959) (16%)
4. Taras Shevchenko (1814–1861) (9.3%)
5. Bohdan Khmelnytskyi (1595–1657) (4.02%)
6. Valeriy Lobanovskyi (1939–2002) (3.18%)
7. Viacheslav Chornovil (1937–1999) (2.63%)
8. Hryhoriy Skovoroda (1722–1794) (1.73%)
9. Lesia Ukrainka (1871–1913) (1.64%)
10. Ivan Franko (1856–1916) (1.49%)

11 – 100

11. Ivan Mazepa (1639–1709) Hetman of Zaporizhian Host in 1687–1708 12. Roman Shukhevych (1907–1950) politician and military leader 13. Vasyl Stus (1938–1985) poet and journalist 14. Mykhailo Hrushevskyi (1866–1934) academician and historian 15. Vitali Klitschko (1971–) politician and former professional boxer and Wladimir Klitschko (1976–) professional boxer from 1996 to til' 2017 16. Volodymyr I of Kyiv (958–1015) prince and grand prince 17. Serhiy Korolyov (1907–1966) rocket engineer for Soviet Union 18. Mykola Hohol (1809–1852) dramatist 19. Andrey Sheptytskyi (1865–1944) Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church 20. Viktor Yushchenko (1954–) President of Ukraine 2005–2010 21. Yuliya Tymoshenko (1960–) politician and the first woman appointed Prime Minister 22. Oleksandr Dovzhenko (1894–1956) film producer 23. Volodymyr Lenin (1870–1924) communist revolutionary and political theorist 24. Volodymyr Dal (1801–1872) lexicographer 25. Lina Kostenko (1930–) poet and writer 26. Symon Petliura (1879–1926) leader of the Ukrainian National Republic 27. Leonid Bykov (1928–1979) actor and film producer 28. Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachnyi (1582–1622) military leader 29. Ivan Kotliarevskyi (1769–1838) writer, pioneer of modern Ukrainian literature 30. Volodymyr Ivasiuk (1949–1979) songwriter

31. Solomiya Krushelnytska (1872–1952) soprano 32. Nestor Makhno (1888–1934) anarchist revolutionary 33. Andriy Shevchenko (1976–) politician, former striker for Milan, Chelsea and football manager 34. Danylo of Halychyna (1201–1264) king of Ruthenia 35. Serhiy Bubka (1963–) former pole vaulter 36. Pylyp Orlyk (1672–1742) a Zaporozhian Cossack statesman, diplomat and starshyna 37. Ivan Kozhedub (1920–1991) military aviator 38. Levko Lukianenko (1927–2018) politician 39. Volodymyr Vernadskyi (1863–1945) founder of geochemistry, biogeochemistry, and radiogeology 40. Yevhen Konovalets (1891–1938) military commander of the UNR army 41. Mykola Lysenko (1842–1912) composer and pianist 42. Sydir Kovpak (1887–1967) partisan leader in Ukraine 43. Olha of Kyiv (890–969) saint 44. Volodymyr Shcherbytskyi (1918–1990) politician 45. Oleh Antonov (1906–1984) aircraft designer 46. Yevheniy Paton (1870–1953) engineer and Borys Paton (1918–2020) chairman of National Academy of Sciences 47. Bohdan Stupka (1941–2012) actor 48. Yosyf Slipyi (1893–1984) Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church 49. Mykhailo Bulhakov (1891–1940) writer 50. Volodymyr Boyko 51. Leonid Kravchuk (1934–2022) First President of Ukraine 52. Petro Mohyla (1596–1647) Metropolitan of Kyiv

53. Ivan Sirko (1605–1680) Ukrainian Cossack military leader 54. Sofiya Rotaru (1947–) pop singer 55. Anatoliy Solovianenko (1932–1999) opera singer 56. Oleh Blokhin (1952–) football manager 57. Liliya Podkopaieva (1978–) former artistic gymnast 58. Volodymyr II Monomakh (1053–1125) Grand Prince of Kievan Rus 59. Mykola Hrynko (1920–1989) actor 60. Nina Matviyenko (1947–2023) singer 61. Ihor Sikorskyi (1889–1972) American aviation pioneer 62. Viktor Yanukovych (1950–) politician and fourth President of Ukraine 63. Leonid Brezhnev (1906–1982) General Secretary of the Central Committee 64. Sviatoslav Vakarchuk (1975–) lead vocalist of Okean Elzy 65. Illia Repin (1844–1930) realist painter 66. Mariya Zankovetska (1854–1934) theater actress 67. Ivan Mykolaichuk (1941–1987) Soviet actor 68. Vasyl Virastiuk (1974–) Former strongman competitor 69. Ivan Pulyui (1845–1918) physicist and inventor 70. Mykola Pyrohov (1810–1881) medical doctor 71. Oles Honchar (1918–1995) writer 72. Vasyl Symonenko (1935–1963) poet and journalist 73. Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi (1864–1913) author 74. Raisa Kyrychenko 75. Nazariy Yaremchuk (1951–1995) singer 76. Ruslana (1973–) pop singer 77. Yana Klochkova (1982–) swimmer

78. Les Kurbas (1887–1937) Most important theatre director of 20th century in Ukraine 79. Petro Symonenko (1952–) politician 80. Kostiantyn Vasyl Ostrozkyi (1526–1608) prince 81. Roksolana (1504–1558) Wife of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent 82. Pavlo Skoropadskyi (1873–1945) state leader 83. Oleksiy Stakhanov (1906–1977) miner, known for Stakhanovite movement 84. Kateryna Vasylivna Bilokur (1900–1961) folk artist 85. Ivan Bohun Cossack colonel 86. Vasyl Sukhomlynskyi (1918–1970) teacher 87. Anton Makarenko (1888–1939) social worker and educator 88. Petro Kalnyshevskyi (1690–1803) Koshovyi Otaman of the Zaporozhian Host 89. Mykola Vatutin (1901–1944) military commander 90. Oleh Skrypka (1964–) musician 91. Ivan Piddubnyi (1871–1949) professional wrestler 92. Illia Mechnikov (1845–1916) zoologist 93. Mykyta Khrushchov (1894–1971) statesman 94. Olena Teliha (1906–1942) poet and activist 95. Oleg Koshevoy (1926–1943) Soviet partisan 96. Ostap Vyshnia (1889–1956) writer, humourist 97. Dmytro Vyshnevetskyi (1516–1563) Hetman of the Ukrainian Cossacks 98. Valentyn Yenevskyi 99. Victor Glushkov (1926–1982) Founder of cybernetics 100. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Great Ukrainians series

An hour-long documentary was filmed on each of the top 10 nominees, each of them hosted by a celebrity advocate, who delivered a passionate argument as to why their choice should be voted the greatest Ukrainian of all. The series concluded with a debate on the merits of each selected Ukrainian, bringing all of the advocates together to make a final plea to voters.

No.	Great Ukrainian	Celebrity Supporter
1	Mykola Amosov (1913–2002)	Vitaliy Korotych (1936–)
2	Stepan Bandera (1909–1959)	Vakhtang Kipiani (1971–)
3	Valeriy Lobanovskyi (1939–2002)	Leonid Kravchuk (1934–2022)
4	Hryhoriy Skovoroda (1722–1794)	Ostap Stupka (1967-)
5	Lesia Ukrainka (1871–1913)	Roman Viktiuk (1936–2020)
6	Ivan Franko (1856–1916)	Sviatoslav Vakarchuk (1975–)
7	Bohdan Khmelnytskyi (1595–1657)	Dmytro Korchynskyi (1964–)
8	Viacheslav Chornovil (1937–1999)	Taras Chornovil (1964–)
9	Taras Shevchenko (1814–1861)	Bohdan Stupka (1941–2012)
10	Yaroslav I the Wise (978–1054)	Dmytro Tabachnyk (1963–)

Controversy

Manipulations

The Chief of Great Ukrainians project, journalist Vakhtang Kipiani, informed the public in his blog, that the voting system had been manipulated by unknown persons. He stated that a couple of days prior to publishing the results he was aware of a possible win for Yaroslav the Wise. Prior to that, with a huge lead in first place was the controversial Stepan Bandera. For example, the winner, Yaroslav I, received 60,000 votes in one month and almost 550,000 in just one day. Mykola Amosov, who took second place, received almost 150,000 votes in just one day. Kipiani said that if these manipulation hadn't taken place Yaroslav would not have won.

Among other Great Ukrainians for whatever reasons appeared Vladimir Lenin as well as such names like Stakhanov, Glushkov, and Vatutin.

Other editions

Other countries have produced similar shows; see Greatest Britons spin-offs