You're reading: Ukraine’s leaders gather on Sofiyska Square to mark the 1,000th anniversary of St. Sophia Cathedral

An Interfax-Ukraine reporter said that the event had been attended by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, Ukrainian government ministers, as well as Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, Head of Kyiv City State Administration Oleksandr Popov, Ukraine’s first president (1991-1995), Leonid Kravchuk, and representatives of various Christian confessions in Ukraine.

While addressing the people who gathered on the square, Yanukovych said: "St. Sophia Cathedral was and remains the embodiment of the spirit of Christian unity and a connecting link between the religious traditions of East and West."

He noted that the cathedral is destined to become "a blessed cover, under which Ukraine will establish itself as a European state." Yanukovych also expressed his compliments to the staff of the Sophia of Kyiv National Sanctuary for their work on the protection and reconstruction of the monument.