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Ukraine

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Countries; European
Countries

   SOS Children works in Ukraine. For more information see SOS Children in
   Ukraine
   Україна
   Ukrayina
   Ukraine

   Flag of Ukraine Coat of arms of Ukraine
   Flag            Coat of arms
   Anthem: Ukrainian: Ще не вмерла України
   Transliteration: Shche ne vmerla Ukrajiny
   "Ukraine's glory has not perished"
   Location of Ukraine
   Capital Kiev (Kyiv)
   50°27′N 30°30′E
   Largest city Kiev
   Official languages Ukrainian
   Government Parliamentary democracy
    - President Viktor Yushchenko
    - Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych
   Independence from the Soviet Union
    - Declared August 24, 1991
    - Referendum December 1, 1991
    - Finalized December 25, 1991
   Area
    - Total 603,700 km² ( 44th)
   233,090 sq mi
    - Water (%) negligible
   Population
    - 2005 estimate 46,481,000 ( 27th)
    - 2001 census 48,457,102
    - Density 77/km² ( 114th)
   199/sq mi
   GDP ( PPP) 2005 estimate
    - Total $338.5 billion ( 28th)
    - Per capita $7,156 ( 87th)
   HDI  (2004) 0.774 (medium) ( 77th)
   Currency Hryvnia ( UAH)
   Time zone EET ( UTC+2)
    - Summer ( DST) EEST ( UTC+3)
   Internet TLD .ua
   Calling code +380

   Ukraine ( Ukrainian: Україна, Ukraina, /ukraˈjina/) is a country in
   Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north-east, Belarus to the
   north, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to
   the south-west, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The
   historic city of Kiev (Kyiv) is the country's capital.

   From at least the ninth century, the territory of present-day Ukraine
   was a centre of medieval East Slavic civilization forming the state of
   Kievan Rus, and for the following several centuries the territory was
   divided between a number of regional powers. After a brief period of
   independence (1917–1921) following the Russian Revolution of 1917,
   Ukraine became one of the founding Soviet Republics in 1922. The
   Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic's territory was enlarged westward
   after the Second World War, and again in 1954 with the Crimea transfer.
   In 1945 Ukrainian SSR became one of the co-founder members of the
   United Nations. It became independent again after the Soviet Union's
   collapse in 1991.

Etymology of the name

   According to one theory, the Ukrainian word Ukrayina stems from the Old
   Slavic root kraj-, meaning ‘land’, ‘region’, ‘country’, but also ‘edge’
   or ‘borderland’ (see below). In particular, in Ukrainian krayina means
   simply ‘country’. Opinions vary as to the immediate derivation, but the
   first known mentioning in the Kiev Chronicle of 1187 probably uses the
   word in the meaning of ‘region’, ‘principality’, which might be defined
   as ‘land cut out for a Prince’ (maybe referring to the general feudal
   practice of a prince dividing land between his sons). Over time, as the
   dominant self-identification paradigms were changing, the word's
   initial meaning ‘the land of the prince’ may have transformed to a
   wider meaning.

   According to another theory, kraj- in the meaning of ‘ borderland’, ‘
   frontier’ formed the basis for the modern name of the country (cf.
   Russian okraina, ‘outskirts’; a semantic parallel to -mark in Denmark,
   cf. Marches; cf. also Krajina). The voivodship of Kiev, which was
   called Ukraina from the sixteenth century on, was on the south-eastern
   border of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

   In English, the country is sometimes referred to with the definite
   article, the Ukraine, as in the Netherlands, the Gambia, the Sudan or
   the Congo. However, usage without the article is becoming more
   frequent, and has become established in journalism and diplomacy since
   the country's independence (for example, within the style guides of The
   Economist, The Guardian and The Times).

History

   Human settlement in the territory of Ukraine has been documented into
   distant prehistory. The late Neolithic Trypillian culture flourished
   from about 4500 BC to 3000 BC.

Early history of Ukraine (700 BC–700 AD)

   In antiquity, the southern and eastern parts of modern Ukraine were
   populated by Iranian nomads called Scythians. The Scythian Kingdom
   existed on this land between 700 BC and 200 BC. In the third century,
   the Goths arrived, calling their country Oium, and formed the
   Chernyakhov culture before moving on and defeating the Roman empire. In
   the seventh century the territory of the modern Ukraine was the core of
   the state of the Bulgars (often referred to as Great Bulgaria) who had
   their capital in the city of Phanagoria.

   The majority of the Bulgar tribes migrated in several directions at the
   end of the seventh century and the remains of their state was swept by
   the Khazars, a Turkic semi- nomadic people from Central Asia which
   later adopted Judaism. The Khazars founded the independent Khazar
   kingdom in the southeastern part of today's Europe, near the Caspian
   Sea and the Caucasus. In addition to western Kazakhstan, the Khazar
   kingdom also included territory in what is now eastern Ukraine,
   Azerbaijan, southern Russia, and Crimea.

Golden Age of Kiev (800–1100)

   Map of the Kievan Rus', eleventh century. During the Golden Age of Kiev
   the lands of Rus' covered much of present day Ukraine, as well as
   Western Russia and Belarus
   Enlarge
   Map of the Kievan Rus', eleventh century. During the Golden Age of Kiev
   the lands of Rus' covered much of present day Ukraine, as well as
   Western Russia and Belarus

   During the tenth and eleventh centuries the territory of Ukraine became
   the centre of a powerful and prestigious state in Europe, Kievan Rus,
   laying the foundation for the national identity of Ukrainians, as well
   as other East Slavic nations, through subsequent centuries. Its capital
   was Kiev, the capital of modern Ukraine, wrestled from Khazars by
   Askold and Dir in about 860. According to the Primary Chronicle the
   Kievan Rus' elite initially consisted of Varangians from Scandinavia.
   The Varangians later became assimilated into the local Slavic
   population and gave the Rus' its first powerful dynasty, the Rurik
   Dynasty.

   Kievian Rus' was comprised from several principalities, ruled by the
   interrelated Rurikid Princes. The seat of Kiev, the most prestigious
   and influential of all principalities, became a subject of many
   rivalries between Rurikids as the most valuable prize in their quest
   for power, sometimes through intrigue but often through bloody
   conflicts. The Golden Age of Kievan Rus' falls on the years of Kiev
   being ruled by Vladimir the Great (Volodymyr, 980– 1015) who turned
   Rus' towards the Byzantine Christianity and his son Yaroslav the Wise (
   1019– 1054) during whose lengthy reign, Kievan Rus' reached a zenith of
   its cultural flowering and military power that was followed by the
   state's increasing fragmentation as the relative importance of regions
   rose again. After the one last resurgence under the rule of Vladimir
   Monomakh 1113– 1125 and his son Mstislav ( 1125– 1132) the Kievan Rus'
   finally disintegrated into the separate principalities following
   Mstislav's death. The thirteenth century Mongol invasion dealt Rus' a
   final blow from which it never recovered.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1300–1600)

   On the Ukrainian territory, the state of Kievan Rus' was succeeded by
   the principalities of Halych and Volodymyr-Volynskyi, which were merged
   into the state of Halych-Volynia. In the mid-fourteenth century it was
   subjugated by Casimir IV of Poland while the heartland of Rus',
   including Kiev, fell under the Gediminids of Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
   Following the 1386 marriage of Lithuania's Grand Duke Jagiello to
   Poland's Queen Jadwiga, most of the Ukrainian territory was controlled
   by the increasingly Ruthenized Lithuanian rulers as part of the Grand
   Duchy of Lithuania (the term Ruthenia and Ruthenians as the Latinized
   versions of "Rus'", became widely applied to the land and its people,
   respectively).
   In the centuries following the Mongol invasion much of Ukraine was
   controlled by Lithuania (from the fourteenth century on) and since the
   Union of Lublin (1569) by Poland as seen at this outline of the
   Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as of 1619.
   Enlarge
   In the centuries following the Mongol invasion much of Ukraine was
   controlled by Lithuania (from the fourteenth century on) and since the
   Union of Lublin (1569) by Poland as seen at this outline of the
   Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as of 1619.

   By the 1569 Union of Lublin that formed the Polish-Lithuanian
   Commonwealth, a significant part of Ukrainian territory was moved from
   largely Ruthenized Lithuanian rule to the Polish administration, as it
   was transferred to the Polish Crown. Under the cultural pressure of
   polonization much of the Ruthenian upper class converted to Catholicism
   (such transitions were beneficial for achieving political influence
   within the state), for example, King Michael of Poland, who reigned
   from 1669 to 1673, was of the Ruthenian Vishnevetsky Wiśniowiecki
   family. At the same time the common people, especially the peasants
   retained their old ways of especially, the allegiance to their historic
   Eastern Orthodox Church, which led to the increasing social tensions,
   visible in such events as the 1596 Union of Brest, created by Sigismund
   III Vasa, who attempted to bring the Orthodox population under the
   Catholicism through creation of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
   This controversial move failed to achieve its goals. Resisted even by
   some Ruthenian magnates, otherwise loyal to the Polish kings (
   Ostrogskis being the most notable example), the new "intermediate"
   religion was unnecessary for the most of the upper class, much of whom
   increasingly turned directly towards Catholicism with each subsequent
   generation. Thus, the Ukrainian commoners, deprived of their native
   protectors among Ruthenian nobility, turned for protection to the
   militant Cossacks who remained fiercely Orthodox at all times.

Rise of the Cossacks (1600–1800)

   In the mid of the seventeenth century, a Cossack quasi-state, the
   Zaporozhian Sich, was established by the Dnieper cossacks and the
   Ruthenian peasants fleeing Polish serfdom. Poland had little real
   control of this land in what is now central Ukraine, which became an
   autonomous military state, at times allied with the Commonwealth in the
   military campaigns. However, the en serfment of peasantry by the Polish
   nobility, overall emphasis of the Commonwealth's agricultural economy
   on the fierce exploitation of the unfree workforce, and, perhaps most
   importantly, the suppression of the Orthodox church pushed the
   allegiances of Cossacks away from Poland. Their aspiration was to have
   a representation in Polish Sejm, recognition of Orthodox traditions and
   the gradual expansion of the Cossack Registry, all being vehemently
   denied by the Polish kings. The cossacks turned toward Orthodox Russia,
   which was one reason for the later downfall of the Polish-Lithuanian
   state.

   In 1648 Bohdan Khmelnytsky lead the largest of the Cossack uprisings
   against the Commonwealth and the Polish king John II Casimir. This
   uprising finally led to a partition of Ukraine between Poland and
   Russia. Left-Bank Ukraine was eventually integrated into Russia as the
   Cossack Hetmanate, following the 1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav and the
   ensuing Russo-Polish War. After the partitions of Poland in the end of
   the eighteenth century by Prussia, Habsburg Austria, and Russia at the
   end of the eighteenth century, Western Ukrainian ( Galicia) was taken
   over by Austria, while the rest of Ukraine was progressively
   incorporated into the Russian Empire. Despite the promises of Ukrainian
   autonomy given by the treaty of Pereyaslav, Ukrainians never received
   the freedoms they were hoping for from Imperial Russia. The Ukrainians
   played an important role in the frequent wars between East European
   monarchies and the Ottoman Empire. As a result of Russian successes in
   the wars against Ottoman Empire and Crimean Khanate of 1768–74 and
   1787–1792, the territories along the Black Sea coast were annexed to
   the Russian Empire as well. Within the Empire Ukrainians frequently
   rose to the highest offices of Russian state (e.g., Aleksey Razumovsky,
   Alexander Bezborodko, Ivan Paskevich), and dominated the Russian
   Orthodox Church (e.g., Stephen Yavorsky, Feofan Prokopovich, Dimitry of
   Rostov). At a later period, the tsar regime was implementing a harsh
   policy of Russification, banning the use of the Ukrainian language in
   print, and in public.

World War I and Austro-Hungarian rule

   During World War I Austro-Hungarian authorities subjected Ukrainians in
   Galicia who sympathized with Russia to repression. Over twenty thousand
   supporters of Russia were arrested and placed in an Austrian
   concentration camp in Talerhof, Styria, and in a fortress at Terezín
   (now in the Czech Republic).

Division and early Soviet years

   Map of the West Ukrainian People's Republic.
   Enlarge
   Map of the West Ukrainian People's Republic.

   With the Russian and Austrian empires' collapse following the World War
   I and the Russian Revolution of 1917 Ukrainian national movement for
   self-determination emerged again. During 1917–20 several separate
   Ukrainian states briefly emerged: the Central Rada, the Hetmanate, the
   Directorate, the Ukrainian People's Republic and the West Ukrainian
   People's Republic. However, with the defeat of the latter in the
   Polish-Ukrainian War and the failure of the Polish Kiev Offensive
   (1920) of the Polish-Soviet War, the Peace of Riga concluded in March
   1921 between Poland and Bolsheviks left Ukraine divided again. The
   western part of Ukraine had been incorporated into newly organized
   Second Polish Republic, and the larger, central and eastern part,
   established as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in March of
   1919, later became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, when it
   was formed in December of 1922.

   The Ukrainian national idea lived on during the early-Soviet years and
   the Ukrainian culture and language even enjoyed a revival as the
   Ukrainization became a local implementation of the Soviet-wide
   Korenization ("indigenization") policy whose gains were sharply
   reversed by the early- 1930s policy changes.

   Ukraine saw its share of the Soviet industrialization starting from the
   late 1920s and the republic's industrial output quadrupled in the
   1930s. However, the industrialization had a heavy cost for the
   peasantry, demographically a backbone of the Ukrainian nation. To
   satisfy the state's need for increased food supplies and finance
   industrialization, Stalin instituted a program of collectivization of
   agriculture as the state combined the peasants' lands and animals into
   collective farms and enforcing the policies by the regular troops and
   secret police. Those who resisted were arrested and deported and the
   increased production quotas were placed on the peasantry. The
   collectivization had a devastating effect on agricultural productivity.
   As the members of the collective farms were not allowed to receive any
   grain until the unachievable quotas were met, the starvation became
   widespread. Millions starved to death in a famine, known as the
   Holodomor.

   The times also coincided with the Soviet assault on the national
   political and cultural elite often accused in "nationalist deviations"
   as the Ukrainization. These policies were reversed at the turn of the
   decade. Two waves of purges (1929–1934 and 1936–1938) resulted in the
   elimination of four fifths of the Ukrainian cultural elite.

World War II

   During World War II, some elements of the Ukrainian nationalist
   underground fought both Nazi and Soviet forces, while others
   collaborated with them, having been ignored by all other powers. In
   1941 the German invaders and their Axis allies initially advanced
   against desperate but unsuccessful efforts of the Red Army. In the
   encirclement battle of Kiev, the city was acclaimed by the Soviets as a
   " Hero City", for the fierce resistance of the Red Army and of the
   local population. More than 660,000 Soviet troops were taken captive.

   Initially, the Germans were received as liberators by many Ukrainians,
   especially in western Ukraine which had only been occupied by the
   Soviets in 1939. However, German rule in the occupied territories
   eventually aided the Soviet cause. Nazi administrators of conquered
   Soviet territories made little attempt to exploit the population of
   Ukrainian territories' dissatisfaction with Soviet political and
   economic policies. Instead, the Nazis preserved the collective-farm
   system, systematically carried out genocidal policies against Jews, and
   deported others (mainly Ukrainians) to work in Germany. Under these
   circumstances, most people living on the occupied territory passively
   or actively opposed the Nazis.

   Total civilian losses during the war and German occupation in Ukraine
   are estimated between five and eight million, including over half a
   million Jews killed by the Einsatzgruppen, sometimes with the help of
   local collaborators. Of the estimated eleven million Soviet troops who
   fell in battle against the Nazis, about a quarter (2.7 million) were
   ethnic Ukrainians. Ukraine is distinguished as one of the first nations
   to fight the Axis powers in Carpatho-Ukraine, and one that saw some of
   the greatest bloodshed during the war.

Reunification and postwar development

   After the Second World War, the Soviet Ukraine ended up with the
   borders extended West, with most of Ukrainian lands under one political
   state. As a result of a political compromise between the West and the
   Soviets, Ukraine, being a republic of USSR, became one of the founding
   members of the United Nations.

   The republic was heavily damaged by the war, and it required
   significant efforts to recover. The situation was worsened by a
   man-made famine in 1946–47, when the Soviet authorities were forcedly
   confiscating grain crop in accordance to a preset plan, ignoring
   drought conditions of 1946. Collected grain was distributed to the
   other regions of Soviet Union, and on the top, 2.5 million tonnes were
   exported abroad. In Ukraine about one million people, predominantly in
   rural areas, died from the famine.

   In West Ukraine, Ukrainians, facing the harsh reality of Soviet order,
   expressed civil and military resistance, the latter known as Ukrainian
   Insurgent Army. Using guerilla war tactics, the insurgents were
   assassinating Soviet party leaders, NKVD and military officers. In
   particular, due to the resistance, 1946-47 famine was much less severe
   in West Ukraine than in the rest of Ukrainian regions.

   Following the death of Stalin in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev became the new
   leader of USSR. Being the First Secretary of Communist Party of
   Ukrainian SSR in 1938-49, Khrushchev played a role in Stalin
   repressions, liberation of Ukraine from Germans, organization of
   man-made famine in 1946-47, suppression of resistance in West Ukraine.
   But after taking the power, he found the best to propagandize the
   friendship between Ukrainian and Russian nations. In 1954, the 300th
   anniversary of the Treaty of Pereyaslav was widely celebrated, and in
   particular, Crimea from transferred from Russian SFSR to Ukrainian SSR.

   In the times of Khrushchev Thaw of 1960s, there were dissident
   movements in Ukraine, remembered by such prominent figures as
   Vyacheslav Chornovil, Vasyl Stus, Levko Lukyanenko. As in the other
   regions of USSR, the movements were quickly suspended.

   In the 1970s, the new Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev was gradually
   concentrating the power. In 1972, the First Secretary of Communist
   Party of Ukraine Petro Shelest lost his position, as he was seen as
   being "too independent" by the government in Moscow, and was replaced
   by Volodymyr Shcherbytsky.

   The rule of Shcherbytsky was characterized by the expanded policies of
   Russification. In the same time, being the First Secretary of CPU, and
   Politburo member for over 25 years, he used his influence to advocate
   for economic interests of Ukraine within the USSR.

   In April of 1986, a nuclear reactor exploded at the Chernobyl nuclear
   power plant. The true scale of the Chernobyl accident was not at first
   revealed to the public. As people became aware of the accident, they
   were unsatisfied with the way authorities handled the disaster. Around
   150,000 people were evacuated from the contaminated area, and
   300,000–600,000 took part in the clean-up.

Independence

   The wave of Gorbachev’s perestroika came to Ukraine only in 1988–89. It
   was hindered initially by Shcherbytsky and party nomenclature. Also,
   the economic slowdown and product shortages were initially not as
   severe in Ukraine as in the other regions of USSR.

   In 1989, the national movement " People's Movement of Ukraine", known
   in short as Rukh was formed. In the elections to the parliament of
   republic, which were held in March of 1990, Rukh obtained overwhelming
   support in West Ukraine, as well as in the cities of Kiev and Kharkiv.

   In January of 1990, hundreds of thousand Ukrainians organized a human
   chain for Ukrainian independence in memory of 1919 unification of
   Ukrainian People's Republic and West Ukrainian National Republic.
   Citizens came out to the streets and highways forming live chains by
   holding hands in support of unity. On July 16, 1990 the new parliament
   adopted the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine. The declaration
   established the principles of the selfdetermination of Ukrainian
   nation, the democracy, the political and economic independence, and the
   priority of Ukrainian law on the Ukrainian territory over Soviet law. A
   month early similar declaration was adopted by the parliament of
   Russian SFSR. It opened a period of confrontation between the central
   Soviet, and new republican authorities.

   In March of 1991, a referendum was organized by the central Soviet
   authorities, asking people to express the desire to live in "renewed"
   Soviet Union. The Ukrainian parliament added a second question, asking
   Ukrainian citizens the desire to live in the Soviet Union on the
   principals established in the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine.
   The citizens of Ukraine responded positively on both questions.

   In August of 1991, the conservative Communist leaders of Soviet Union
   attempted a coup to remove Gorbachev and to restore Communist party
   power. In response, on August 22, 1991 the Ukrainian parliament adopted
   the Act of Independence of Ukraine in which the parliament declared
   Ukraine as independent democratic state.

   A referendum and the first presidential elections had been scheduled on
   December 1, 1990. That day, more than 90% of Ukrainians expressed their
   support for the Act of Independence, and they elected the chairman of
   the parliament, Leonid Kravchuk to serve as the first president of the
   country.

   At the meetings in Brest (8 December) and Alma Ata (21 December) the
   leaders of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, formally dissolved the Soviet
   Union, and formed the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Modern history

   Ukraine was initially viewed as a republic with favorable economic
   conditions in comparison to the other regions of the Soviet Union.
   However, the country experienced deeper economic slowdown than the
   other republics. Over the time of the recession Ukraine lost 60% of its
   GDP, and suffered five-digit inflation rates.

   Dissatisfied with the economic conditions, as well as crime and
   corruption, Ukrainians protested and went on strikes. In 1994 the
   President Kravchuk agreed to hold presidential elections ahead of
   schedule, in which he lost the presidential post to former
   Prime-Minister Leonid Kuchma.

   Under Kuchma, who served two terms as the President, the Ukrainian
   economy stabilized by the end of 1990s, and started to grow in early
   2000s. A new Constitution of Ukraine was adopted in 1996, which turned
   Ukraine into a semi-presidential republic, and established a stable
   political system. Kuchma was, however, criticized by opponents for
   concentrating too much of power in his office, corruption, transferring
   public property into hands of loyal oligarchs, discouraging free
   speech, and vote manipulations.

   In 2004, Kuchma's regime was removed through the peaceful Orange
   Revolution. The revolution brought Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia
   Tymoshenko to power, while casting Viktor Yanukovych in opposition.

   In 2006 Verkhovna Rada elections took place in March, and three months
   later the official government was formed by the "Anti-Crisis Coalition"
   among the Party of Regions, Communist Party, and Socialist Party of
   Ukraine. The latter party switched from the "Orange Coalition" with Our
   Ukraine, and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. The new coalition nominated
   Viktor Yanukovych for the post of Prime Minister, while the leader of
   Socialist Party, Oleksander Moroz managed to secure the Chairman of
   parliament position.

Government and politics

   2006 Parliamentary election: Leading party by electoral districts.
   Enlarge
   2006 Parliamentary election: Leading party by electoral districts.
   Verkhovna Rada in Kiev, Ukraine.
   Enlarge
   Verkhovna Rada in Kiev, Ukraine.

   Ukraine is a republic under a semi-presidential system with separate
   legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The President of Ukraine
   is elected by popular vote and is the head of state. The Prime Minister
   is appointed and dismissed by the 450-seat parliament, the Verkhovna
   Rada. The parliament also appoints the Cabinet of Ministers. The heads
   of regional and district administrations are appointed by the
   President, but the Prime Minister's counter-signature is required for
   the appointment edicts to take force.

   Laws, acts of the parliament and the Cabinet, presidential edicts, and
   acts of the Crimean parliament ( Autonomous Republic of Crimea) may be
   nullified by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, when they are found
   to violate the Constitution of Ukraine. Other normative acts are
   subject to judicial review. The Supreme Court of Ukraine is the main
   body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction.

   Local self-government is officially guaranteed. Local councils and city
   mayors are popularly elected and exercise control over local budgets.

   Ukraine has a large number of political parties, many of which have
   tiny memberships and are unknown to the general public. Small parties
   often join in multi-party coalitions (electoral blocks) for the purpose
   of participating in parliamentary elections.

Military

   After the collapse of Soviet Union, Ukraine inherited a one-million-man
   military force on its territory, equipped with the third largest
   nuclear weapon arsenal in the world. In May of 1992, Ukraine signed the
   Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in which the country agreed to
   give up all nuclear weapons, and to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
   Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state. Ukraine ratified the treaty in
   1994, and by 1996 the country became free of nuclear weapons.

   Ukraine also took consistent steps toward the reduction of conventional
   weapons. It signed the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe,
   which called for reduction of tanks, artillery, and armored vehicles.
   The army forces were reduced to 300,000 solders. The country plans to
   convert the current, mostly conscript, army into a professional army.

   Following independence, Ukraine declared itself as a neutral country.
   The country had limited military partnership with Russia and other CIS
   countries, as well as, since 1994, it established a partnership with
   NATO. In 2000s Ukraine was inclining toward NATO, and a deeper
   cooperation with the alliance was set by NATO-Ukraine Action Plan
   signed in 2002. As of 2006, it's a subject of extensive debate within
   Ukrainian society of whether the country should join NATO. In August of
   2006 the leading political parties signed the Universal of National
   Unity in which they agreed that the question of joining NATO should be
   answered by a national referendum, a date of which has not been set.

Administrative divisions

   Ukraine is subdivided into twenty-four oblasts ( provinces) and one
   autonomous republic (avtonomna respublika), Crimea. Additionally, two
   cities (misto), Kiev and Sevastopol, have a special legal status.The
   oblasts are subdivided into 494 raions ( districts).
   Subdivisions of Ukraine
   Enlarge
   Subdivisions of Ukraine

   CAPTION: Oblasts and autonomous republic

   1 Cherkasy        10 Khmelnytskyi 19 Sumy
   2 Chernihiv       11 Kirovohrad   20 Ternopil
   3 Chernivtsi      12 Kiev Oblast  21 Vinnytsia
   4 Crimea          13 Luhansk      22 Volyn
   5 Dnipropetrovsk  14 Lviv         23 Zakarpattia
   6 Donetsk         15 Mykolaiv     24 Zaporizhia
   7 Ivano-Frankivsk 16 Odessa       25 Zhytomyr
   8 Kharkiv         17 Poltava
   9 Kherson         18 Rivne

Geography

   Map of Ukraine
   Enlarge
   Map of Ukraine

   At 603,700 km² (233,074 mi²), Ukraine is the world's 44th-largest
   country (after the Central African Republic). It is comparable in size
   to Botswana, and is somewhat smaller than the US state of Texas.

   The Ukrainian landscape consists mostly of fertile plains, or steppes,
   and plateaus, crossed by rivers such as the Dnieper, Seversky Donets,
   Dniester and the Southern Buh as they flow south into the Black Sea and
   the smaller Sea of Azov. To the southwest the delta of the Danube forms
   the border with Romania. The country's only mountains are the
   Carpathian Mountains in the west, of which the highest is the Hora
   Hoverla at 2,061 metres (6,762 ft), and those in the Crimean peninsula,
   in the extreme south along the coast.

   Ukraine has a mostly temperate continental climate, though a more
   mediterranean climate is found on the southern Crimean coast.
   Precipitation is disproportionately distributed; it is highest in the
   west and north and lesser in the east and southeast. Winters vary from
   cool along the Black Sea to cold farther inland. Summers are warm
   across the greater part of the country, but generally hot in the south.

Economy

   Shopping in Odessa
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   Shopping in Odessa
   20 Hryvnia
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   20 Hryvnia
   10 Hryvnia
   Enlarge
   10 Hryvnia
   Donetsk industry
   Enlarge
   Donetsk industry

   Ukraine represents one of top thirty world economies, with below
   average per capita income, and above average economic growth.

   In the Soviet times, the economy of republic was the second largest in
   the Soviet Union, being an important industrial and agricultural
   component of country's planned economy. With the collapse of Soviet
   system, the country progressed toward a market economy, but the move
   was somewhat longer and more painful than the proponents of shock
   therapy were to advise.

   In 1991, the government liberalized most prices in order to combat
   widespread product shortages, and was successful in overcoming the
   problem. In the same time, the government continued to subside the
   government-owned industries and agriculture by uncovered monetary
   emission. The loose monetary policies of early 1990s pushed inflation
   to hyperinflationary levels. For year 1993 Ukraine holds the world
   anti-record of inflation. The prices stabilized only after the
   introduction of new currency, hryvnia in 1996.

   The country was also slow in the implementation of structural reforms.
   Following independence, the government erected a legal framework for
   privatization. However, widespread resistance to reforms within the
   government and from a significant part of population soon stalled the
   reform efforts. A large number of governed-owned enterprises were
   exempt from the privatization process. Meantime, by 1999, the output
   had fallen to less than 40% of the 1991 level.

   Since the late 1990s the government has pledged to reduce the number of
   government agencies, streamline the regulatory process, create a legal
   environment to encourage entrepreneurs, and enact a comprehensive tax
   overhaul. Outside institutions—particularly the IMF—have encouraged
   Ukraine to quicken the pace and scope of reforms and have threatened to
   withdraw financial support. But reforms in some politically sensitive
   areas of structural reform and land privatizations are still lagging.

   In early 2000s the economy showed strong export-based growth of 5% to
   10%, with industrial production growing more than 10% per year. The
   growth was largely attributed to a surge in exports of metals and
   chemicals to China.

   In 2005, the economic growth temporary slowed down due to unfavorable
   changes in terms of trade, as world energy prices went up and metal
   prices went down. In 2006, the economy is again experiencing above 5%
   growth. The growth was undergirded by strong domestic demand and
   growing consumer and investor confidence.

   Current Ukrainian economy is a typical example of the post soviet era -
   developing economy. The World Bank classifies Ukraine as a lower
   middle-income state. Among significant issues there are underdeveloped
   infrastructure and transportation, corruption and bureaucracy, lack of
   modern-minded professionals - despite big number of universities. But
   rapidly growing Ukrainian economy is very interesting emerging market
   with relatively big population, and high profits associated with high
   risks. The Ukrainian stock market grew up 10 times between 2000 and
   2006, including the tremendous 341% growth in 2004, followed by 28%
   growth in 2005, and 24% growth in 2006.

   In a cross-country comparison, Ukraine is still one of relatively poor
   and corrupted countries in Europe. Average nominal salary in Ukraine
   was on September 2006 according to the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine -
   1004.1 UAH which is around 150 EUR. For 2006, the Index of Economic
   Freedom of Ukraine was 3.24 and rank 99 among 157 states; the
   Corruption Perceptions Index of Ukraine was 2.8 and rank 99 among 163
   states.

   The country imports most energy supplies, especially oil and natural
   gas, and to a large extend depends on Russia as the only monopolistic
   energy supplier, although lately Ukraine has been trying to diversify
   its sources.

Demographics

   A Cossack and horse statue in Odessa
   Enlarge
   A Cossack and horse statue in Odessa

   According to the Ukrainian Census of 2001, ethnic Ukrainians make up
   77.8% of the population. Other significant ethnic groups are Russians
   (17.3%), Belarusians (0.6%), Moldovans (0.5%), Crimean Tatars (0.5%),
   Bulgarians (0.4%), Hungarians (0.3%), Romanians (0.3%), Poles (0.3%),
   Jews (0.2%), Armenians (0.2%), Greeks (0.2%) and Tatars (0.2%).

   The industrial regions in the east and south-east are the most heavily
   populated, and about 67.2% of the population lives in urban areas.

   Ukrainian is the only official state language. Russian, which was a de
   facto official language in the Soviet Union, is widely spoken,
   especially in eastern and southern Ukraine. According to the census,
   67.5% of the population declared Ukrainian as their native language and
   29.6% declared Russian. It is sometimes difficult to determine the
   extent of the two languages, since many people use a Surzhyk (a mixture
   of Ukrainian and Russian where the vocabulary is often combined with
   Ukrainian grammar and pronunciation) while claiming in surveys that
   they speak Russian or Ukrainian (most of them are able to speak both
   literary languages though). Besides, some ethnic Ukrainians, while
   calling Ukrainian their 'native' language, use Russian more frequently
   in their daily lives. These details result in a significant difference
   across different survey results, as even a small restating of a
   question switches responses of a significant group of people. Standard
   literary Ukrainian is mainly spoken in western and central Ukraine. In
   western Ukraine, Ukrainian is also the dominant language in cities
   (such as Lviv). In central Ukraine, Ukrainian and Russian are both
   equally used in cities, with Russian being more common in Kiev, while
   Ukrainian is the dominant language in rural communities. In eastern and
   southern Ukraine, mainly Russian is used in cities, and Surzhyk is used
   in rural areas.

   The Government follows a policy of Ukrainization—the increase of
   Ukrainian language, generally at the expense of Russian. This takes the
   form of use of Ukrainian in various spheres that are under Government
   control, such as schools, Government offices, and some media. This is
   even done in areas which are largely Russian-speaking. However, in
   non-Government areas of life, the language of convenience (usually
   Russian) is used.

   According to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea constitution, Ukrainian
   is the only state language of the republic. However, the republic's
   constitution specifically recognizes Russian as the language of the
   majority of its population and guarantees its usage 'in all spheres of
   public life'. Similarly, the Crimean Tatar language (the language of a
   sizeable 12% minority of the republic is guaranteed a special state
   protection as well as the 'languages of other nationalities'. Russian
   speakers constitute an overwhelming majority of the Crimean population
   (77%), with Ukrainian speakers comprising 10.1%, and Crimean Tatar
   speakers 11.4%. But in everyday life the majority of Cimean Tatars and
   Ukrainians in Crimea use Russian.

   Romanians and Moldavians are another significant minority in Ukraine,
   concentrated mainly in Chernivtsi Oblast.

   Jews played a very important role in cultural life especially in the
   19th and early 20th century. Nowadays Yiddish, the Ukrainian Jews'
   traditional language, is only used by a few older people.

   After independence, a significant change in the language of instruction
   in educational institutions took place. According to the Razumkov
   centre, while 49% of high school students in 1991/92 were receiving
   their education in Ukrainian, and 50% in Russian, 70% of students in
   2000/01 attended Ukrainian schools (where Ukrainian is the primary
   language of instruction) while 29% were studying in Russian schools
   (both languages are studied in all schools in Ukraine, as part of the
   curriculum). This trend is opposite to the changes in the 1970s and
   1980s, when the number of Russian schools was constantly being
   increased. The transition toward Ukrainian-language usage is taking a
   long time, and in some schools that had switched to Ukrainian from
   Russian, part or most of the instruction is still given in Russian.

   In general, most of the population is bilingual, at least to some
   degree. Most of the Ukrainophone population is also fluent in Russian
   and many Russian native speakers in Ukraine are fluent in Ukrainian as
   well. An overwhelming majority has at least a reasonable command in
   Ukrainian even in primarily Russophone southern and eastern parts of
   the country.

   Significant migration took place in the first years of Ukrainian
   independance. More than 1 million people moved in Ukraine in 1991-1992,
   mostly from the other former Soviet republics. In total, between 1991
   and 2004, 2.2 millions immigrated to Ukraine (among them, 2.0 mln came
   from the other former Soviet Union states), and 2.5 millions immigrated
   from Ukraine (among them, 1.9 mln moved to the rest of former Soviet
   Union republics).

   In the context of low salaries and unemployment within Ukraine, labor
   emigration became a mass phenomenon at the end of the 1990s. Although
   estimates vary, approximately two to three million Ukrainian citizens
   are currently working abroad, many illegally, in construction, service,
   housekeeping, and agriculture industries. Moreover, a significant
   number of women from Ukraine had been dragged into prostitution and sex
   slavery in foreign lands, mainly Western Europe and Turkey.

Religion

   South facade of Mary's Nativity Church, executed in the Ukrainian
   Baroque style.
   Enlarge
   South facade of Mary's Nativity Church, executed in the Ukrainian
   Baroque style.

   The dominant religion in Ukraine is Eastern Orthodox Christianity,
   which is currently split between three Church bodies; the distant
   second is the Eastern Rite Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which
   practices the same liturgical and spiritual tradition as Eastern
   Orthodoxy, but is in communion with the See of Peter and recognizes the
   primacy of the Pope as head of the Church. There are also smaller
   groups of Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim faithful.

Culture

   Panorama of downtown Lviv.
   Enlarge
   Panorama of downtown Lviv.

   The culture of Ukraine has been formed by influences of its eastern and
   western neighbors, and the architecture, music and dance of Ukraine all
   reflect this.

   Communist rule had quite a strong effect on the art and writing of
   Ukraine. During the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Soviets began
   enforcing the socialist realism art style in Ukraine; this style
   dictated that all artists and writers glorify the Soviet Regime with
   their talents. After the Soviet Union collapsed, Ukrainian artists and
   writers again became free to express themselves as they wanted.

   The tradition of the Easter egg had its beginnings in Ukraine: these
   eggs were drawn on with wax to create pattern; dye was then added to
   give the eggs their delightful colors—the dye not affecting the wax
   coated parts of the egg. Once the whole egg was dyed, the wax was
   removed leaving only the colorful pattern. The tradition is thousands
   of years old, and predates the arrival of Christianity in the country.

   Ukrainians also have food culture which dates back to the old time. The
   Ukrainian diet includes chicken, pork, beef, fish and mushrooms.
   Ukrainians eat a lot of potatoes, grains, fresh and sour vegetables,
   different kinds of bread. Popular traditional dishes include varenyky
   (boiled dumplings with mushrooms, potatoes, sauerkraut, cottage cheese
   or cherries), borsch (soup made of beets, cabbage and mushrooms or
   meat) and golubtsy (stuffed cabbage rolls filled with rice, carrots and
   meat). Ukrainian specialties also include Chicken Kiev and Kiev Cake.
   Ukrainians drink stewed fruit, juices, milk, sour milk, mineral water,
   tea and coffee, beer, wine and vodka.

Chernobyl

   The April 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine
   was the product of a flawed Soviet reactor design coupled with serious
   mistakes made by the plant operators in the context of a system where
   training was minimal. Large areas of Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and
   beyond were contaminated in varying degrees. By the year 2000, about
   4000 cases of thyroid cancer had been diagnosed in exposed children.

   After the accident a 30km exclusion zone was established around the
   power plant. A new city Slavutych was built outside the exclusion zone
   to house and support the employees of the plant.

   The Chernobyl facility includes four reactors. Unit 4 was destroyed in
   the accident. Units 1 and 2 were decommissioned. Unit 3 was upgraded to
   make it safe and continued to produce power supplying about 2% of
   Ukraine’s electrical power until December 15, 2000. At that time
   then-President Leonid Kuchma personally turned off Reactor 3 in an
   official ceremony, effectively shutting down the entire plant.

Neighbouring countries

   Flag of Poland  Poland Flag of Belarus  Belarus Flag of Russia  Russia
   Flag of Slovakia  Slovakia North
   West    Flag of Ukraine  Ukraine     East
   South
   Flag of Moldova  Moldova
   Flag of Romania  Romania
   Flag of Hungary  Hungary Black Sea
   Image:Template CanadianCityGeoLocation South.png
   Flag of Romania  Romania •  Flag of Bulgaria  Bulgaria •  Flag of
   Turkey  Turkey  Sea of Azov  Image:Template CanadianCityGeoLocation
   East.png   Flag of Russia  Russia
   Flag of Georgia (country)  Georgia
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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