UKRAINE

'Ukraine' (, ''Ukrayina'', ) 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.

Contents

History

Early history (800 BC–AD 700)

Golden Age of Kiev (800–1100)

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1300–1600)

Rise of the Cossacks (1600–1800)

World War I and Austro-Hungarian rule

Division and early Soviet years

World War II

Postwar development

The Chernobyl Incident

Independence

Modern history

Government and politics

Current political situation

Administrative division

Geography

Economy

Military

Demographics

Religion

Culture

Name etymology

International rankings

See also

References

External links

History

Main articles: History of Ukraine

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 (800 BC–AD 700)

In antiquity, the south and east of modern Ukraine was populated by nomads called Scythians (Iranian tribe).Scythian, Encyclopædia Britannica The Scythian Kingdom existed here from 700 BC to 200 BC. In the third century AD, the Goths settled and called the country ''Oium''. They formed the Chernyakhov culture before moving on.
In the seventh century, the territory of modern Ukraine was the core of the state of the Bulgars (often referred to as Great Bulgaria) with capital city Phanagoria. At the end of the seventh century, most Bulgar tribes migrated in several directions, and the remains of their state was swept by the Khazars, a semi-nomadic people from Central Asia.
The Khazars founded the independent Khazar kingdom in the southeastern part of today's Europe, near the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus. The kingdom included western Kazakhstan, and parts of modern eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, southern Russia, and Crimea.

Golden Age of Kiev (800–1100)

Main articles: Kievan Rus'


During the tenth and eleventh centuries the territory of Ukraine became the centre of a powerful and prestigious state in Europe, the 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 became part of the Rus' first dynasty, the Rurik Dynasty.
Kievan Rus' was comprised of 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' began with the reign of Vladimir the Great (''Volodymyr'', 980–1015) who turned Rus' towards the Byzantine Christianity. During the reign of his son, Yaroslav the Wise (1019–1054), Kievan Rus' reached the zenith of its cultural development and military power. This 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 that devastated Rus' and had disastrous effects on the future of its civilizations.^[1]

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1300–1600)

Main articles: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

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 The Great 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 King Jadwiga (her title was "King" even though she was a woman), most of Ukraine's territory was controlled by the increasingly Ruthenized Lithuanian rulers as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At this time, the term Ruthenia and Ruthenians as the Latinized versions of "Rus'", became widely applied to the land and its people, respectively.

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 Polonized Ruthenian Vishnevetsky (Wiśniowiecki) family. At the same time the common people, especially the peasants retained their old ways, and especially their allegiance to their historic Eastern Orthodox Church. This led to 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 Cossacks who remained fiercely Orthodox at all times.^[2]
From 1569 the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth suffered a series of Tatar invasions, the goal of which was to loot, pillage and capture slaves into jasyr. The borderland area to the south-east was in a state of semi-permanent warfare until the 18th century. Some researchers estimate that altogether more than 3 million people, predominantly Ukrainians but also Circassians, Russians, Belarusians and Poles, were captured and enslaved during the time of the Crimean Khanate.

Rise of the Cossacks (1600–1800)

Main articles: Cossack

In the mid of the seventeenth century, a Cossack 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 enserfment 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 led 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 established the Ukrainian Legion, along with the Polish Legion, to fight against the repression of the Czar. Thousands of young men from both oppressed regions, flocked to their respective standards, and were armed, equipped and trained by the Austrian Hungarian Army. These legions were the foundations of the successful Polish Army and the abortive Ukrainian Army that fought against the Bolsheviks, in eastern Europe in the post World War 1 period (1919-1923)
Possibly up to twenty thousand supporters of Russia from Galicia were detained and placed in an Austrian internment camp in Talerhof, Styria, and in a fortress at Terezín (now in the Czech Republic).

Division and early Soviet years

Main articles: Ukraine after the Russian Revolution

With the Russian and Austrian empires' collapse following 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 the Bolsheviks left Ukraine divided again. The western part of Ukraine had been incorporated into the 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.^[3]
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.Encyclopædia Britannica, Ukraine article, page 51.

World War II

During World War II, some elements of the Ukrainian nationalist underground fought both Nazi and Soviet forces, forming the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in 1942, while other Ukrainians initially collaborated with the Nazis, 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 650,000 Soviet males between the ages of 15-50 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, deported others (mainly Ukrainians) to work in Germany, and began a systematic depopulation of Ukraine to prepare it for German colonization[1], which included a food blockade on Kiev. 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 8.6 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.

Postwar development

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 forcibly confiscating grain crops in accordance with 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.^[4]
In the Western Ukraine, Ukrainians continued to resist Soviet rule, and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, formed in World War II to fight both Soviets and Nazis, continued to fight the USSR into the 1950s. Using guerilla war tactics, the insurgents were assassinating Soviet party leaders, NKVD and military officers. In particular, due to the resistance, the 1946-47 famine was much less severe in West Ukraine than in other 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's repressions, the liberation of Ukraine from the Nazis, organization of the man-made famine in 1946-47 and suppression of resistance in West Ukraine. But after taking the power, he found it best to propagandize the friendship between the Ukrainian and Russian nations. In 1954, the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Pereyaslav was widely celebrated, and in particular, the Crimea was transferred from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR.
In the times of Khrushchev Thaw of 1960s, there were dissident movements in Ukraine by such prominent figures as Vyacheslav Chornovil, Vasyl Stus, Levko Lukyanenko. As in the other regions of USSR, the movements were quickly suppressed.
In the 1970s, the new Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev was gradually concentrating on 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. At the same time he used his influence as the First Secretary of CPU, and a Politburo member for over 25 years, to advocate economic interests of Ukraine within the USSR.

The Chernobyl Incident

On 26th April 1986, a reactor in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, resulting in the Chernobyl disaster, the worst nuclear reactor accident in history. The disaster was the joint result of a flawed Soviet reactor design, the lack of a containment vessel, and serious mistakes by the plant operators, who were inadequately trained. The disaster contaminated a large area of Belarus and Ukraine to such an extent that a 30 km exclusion zone was established around the plant. Other parts of Europe were contaminated in varying degrees.
After the accident, a new city, Slavutych, was built outside the exclusion zone to house and support the employees of the plant, which was decommissioned in 2000. Around 150,000 people were evacuated from the contaminated area, and 300,000–600,000 took part in the clean-up. As of 2000, about 4000 Ukrainian children have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer whose suspected cause is radiation released by this incident.

Independence

The wave of Gorbachev’s ''perestroika'' arrived in Ukraine only in 1988–89. It was hindered initially by Shcherbytsky and party ''nomenklatura''. 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 the memory of the 1919 unification of the Ukrainian People's Republic and the 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 State Sovereignty of Ukraine. The declaration established the principles of the self-determination of the Ukrainian nation, democracy, political and economic independence, and the priority of Ukrainian law on the Ukrainian territory over Soviet law. A month earlier, a similar declaration was adopted by the parliament of the Russian SFSR. It started 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 whether they wanted to live in a "renewed" Soviet Union. The Ukrainian parliament added a second question, asking Ukrainian citizens whether they wished to live in the Soviet Union on the principles established in the Declaration of State Sovereignty. The citizens of Ukraine responded positively to both questions.
In August of 1991, the conservative Communist leaders of the Soviet Union attempted a coup to remove Gorbachev and to restore the Communist party's power power. After the attempt failed, on 22 August 1991 the Ukrainian parliament adopted the Act of Independence of Ukraine in which the parliament declared Ukraine as an independent democratic state.
A referendum and the first presidential elections took place on December 1, 1991. That day, more than 90% of the Ukrainian people 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 meeting in Brest on 8 December, followed by Alma Ata meeting on 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 in the period of 1991-1999, 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 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 president, the Ukrainian economy stabilized by the end of 1990s, and
ever since 2000 it enjoyed a steady economic growth averaging approximately 7% annually, which is one of the highest growth rates in Europe and the world. 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 election fraud.
The first National Space Agency of Ukraine astronaut to enter space under the Ukrainian flag was Leonid Kadenyuk on 13 May 1997. Ukraine became an active participant in scientific space exploration and remote sensing missions. In a period from 1992 to 2007 Ukraine has launched 6 self made satellites, 97 launch vehicles, and continues to further design future spacecrafts.
In 2004, Victor Yanukovich, then Prime Minister, was declared the winner of the presidential elections, which had been rigged, as many observers agreed. The results caused a public outcry in support of the opposition candidate, Victor Yuschenko, who challenged the results and led the peaceful Orange Revolution. The revolution brought Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko to power, while casting Viktor Yanukovych in opposition. The same year, Ukrainian pop-folk singer Ruslana won Eurovision Song Contest 2004 which allowed Ukraine to host Eurovision Song Contest 2005 in Kiev.
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. Yanukovich once again became the Prime Minister, while the leader of Socialist Party, Oleksander Moroz, managed to secure the Chairman of parliament position, which is believed by many to have been the reason for his leaving the Orange Coalition, where he had not been considered for this position. On April 2nd, 2007, President Yushchenko dissolved the Verkhovna Rada with a bill that had to be revised three times because of the uncertainties in the legal basis for the early parliamentary elections. As a result of protracted negotiations between all parties to the conflict, the elections are now set to take place in September, 2007.
On April 18, 2007 in Cardiff, Wales, Ukraine won a joint bid with Poland to host the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship which is the third largest sporting event in the world after the World Cup and the Olympics. This is the first time in Ukrainian history that the country got a chance to host an international event of such scale. Experts and politicians have noted that it will boost Ukrainian infrastructure development, tourist attractiveness and overall investments into the country. Among the most significant developments that will take place in the process of preparation are the road infrastructure improvement, expanding hotel networks in at least six major cities, in particular Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Odessa and Lviv, modernization of airports and construction of modern football stadiums. One of the stadiums which is currently under construction is the Shakhtar Stadium in Donetsk which received a 5-star FIFA rating, meaning that it will be classified as one of the best in the world.

Government and politics

Main articles: Government of Ukraine, Elections in Ukraine, Foreign relations of Ukraine



Ukraine is a republic under a mixed semi-parliamentary semi-presidential system with separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The President is elected by popular vote and formally is the head of state.
The 450-seat unicameral parliament, Verkhovna Rada is primary responsible for the formation of the executive branch, the Cabinet of Ministers, which is headed by the Prime Minister.
Laws, acts of the parliament and the Cabinet, presidential decrees, and acts of the Crimean parliament may be abrogated by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, should they be 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. The heads of regional and district administrations are appointed by the President.
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.

Current political situation

Main articles: Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2007

Ukraine is currently through a transition state after a substantial constitutional reform was introduced in the beginning of 2006. The amendments to the Constitution were meant to transform the Ukrainian state from a presidential republic to a mixed parliamentary-presidential republic. However, the amendments happened to be far from perfect and created a great opportunity for potential conflicts between the President on one side and the Parliamentary coalition on the other. The political life of Ukraine during this time could be characterized as a constant struggle between the President and the Prime-Minister for power. This has been aggravated by the fact that the President and the Prime-Minister represent opposite poles of the political spectrum and have some very significant differences concerning foreign and internal policy. The conflict has been accompanied by accusations from both parts. President Yushchenko accuses the coalition of trying to usurp power and take away even those powers that he preserved after the reform. On the other hand, the coalition accuses the President of unwillingness to accept the consequences of the constitutional reform and trying to regain his former powers by all means possible.
In late March of 2007 and early April the Ukrainian political system dealt with another constitutional crisis. President Viktor Yushchenko dissolved the Ukrainian parliament and ordered an early election to be held May 27, 2007. Crowds of about 70,000 gathered on Maidan Nezalezhnosti, the central square of Kiev, and supported the dismissal of parliament, with 20,000 supporting Yanukovych's plan to keep the parliament together.^[5] On April 3, 2007, President Yushchenko signed the bill into existence. Two hours later on Kiev's Maidan, it was announced to the crowds that Parliament no longer existed.
The Verkhovna Rada immediately called an emergency session and voted against Yuschenko's decree (255 votes in favor; opposition didn't participate). A group of members of the parliament took the case to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, challenging the validity of the President's decree. But the Court closed the case without opinion. A political struggle ensued between the Parliamentary coalition and the opposition.
A compromise between Yushchenko and Yanukovych has been reached to reschedule parliamentary elections for September 30, 2007.^[6]
The current legal status of the parliament is unclear. Formally, the parliament has been dissolved, because more than a third of its members have resigned, and their parties cleared the reserve deputies lists. According to the Constitution this rendered the parliament inoperative. On the other hand, the Constitution states that the existing parliament is valid until the new parliament is elected.

Administrative division

Main articles: Administrative divisions of Ukraine


The system of Ukrainian subdivisions reflects country's status as a unitary state (as stated in the country's constitution) with unified legal and administrative regime for each unit.
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).

'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

Main articles: Geography of Ukraine


At 603,700 km² (233,074 mi²) and with a coastline of 2,782 km (1,729 sq mi) [2], Ukraine is the world's 44th-largest country (after the Central African Republic, before Madagascar). It is the second largest country in Europe (after European part of Russia, before metropolitan France).
According to some, the geographical center of Europe lies in Ukraine, perhaps, near the western town of Rakhiv. The question of Europe's geographical location is subject to ongoing debate, however.
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 m (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

Main articles: Economy of Ukraine





Ukraine is among the world's thirty largest economies. In the Soviet times, the economy of the 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 the year 1993 Ukraine holds the world record for inflation in one calendar year.^[7] 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. In the meantime, by 1999, the output had fallen to less than 40% of the 1991 level, but recovered to slightly over the 100% mark by the end of 2006.
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 temporarily 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.
The current Ukrainian economy is a typical example of a post-soviet era developing economy. The World Bank classifies Ukraine as a lower middle-income state. Some significant issues are underdeveloped infrastructure and transportation, corruption and bureaucracy, and a lack of modern-minded professionals - despite the large number of universities. But the rapidly growing Ukrainian economy has a very interesting emerging market with a relatively big population, and large profits associated with the high risks.^[8] 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. Growing sectors of the Ukrainian economy include the IT Outsourcing market, which has been growing at over 100% per annum.
The average nominal salary in Ukraine by the start of 2007 reached over 200 euro per month. Despite remaining much lower than in neighboring central European countries, the annual growth of average salary income is approximately 30% for several years in a row. For 2006, the Index of Economic Freedom of Ukraine was 3.24, rank 99 amongst 157 states.
The country imports most energy supplies, especially oil and natural gas, and to a large extent depends on Russia as an energy supplier. While 25% of the natural gas in Ukraine comes from its own sources, about 35 % comes from Russia and the remaining 30% come from Central Asia through the transit routes that Russia controls. At the same time 85% of the Russian gas is delivered to Western Europe via Ukraine.
Ukraine produces nearly all types of transporting vehicles; automobiles, buses, trucks, ships, airplanes, space rockets, subway and railroad trains. During the last couple of years high technological production activated. Most of the industries have undergone significant modernization in the last five years, making Ukrainian made vehicles more economically competitive, Antonov airplanes and KRAZ trucks are already exported to many countries worldwide.

Military

Main articles: Military of Ukraine

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 soldiers. The country plans to convert the current, mostly conscript, army into a professional army.
Following independence, Ukraine declared itself to be a neutral state. 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 leaning toward NATO, and a deeper cooperation with the alliance was set by NATO-Ukraine Action Plan signed in 2002. As of 2006, this issue is a subject of extensive debates within Ukrainian society of whether the country should join NATO. In August of 2006, the leading political parties signed the Universal of National Unity, a non-binding document, in which they agreed that the question of joining NATO should be answered by a national referendum at some point in the future.

Demographics

Main articles: Demographics of Ukraine



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%).Ethnical composition of the population of Ukraine according to the 2001 Census
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 ''de facto'' the official language in the Soviet Union, is widely spoken, especially in eastern and southern Ukraine. According to the 2001 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. 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 (though most can speak both literary languages). 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.According to the official 2001 census data (by nationality; by language) approximately 75% of Kiev's population responded 'Ukrainian' to the native language (ridna mova) census question, and roughly 25% responded 'Russian'. On the other hand, when the question 'What language do you use in everyday life?' was asked in the 2003 sociological survey, the Kievans' answers were distributed as follows: 'mostly Russian': 52%, 'both Russian and Ukrainian in equal measure': 32%, 'mostly Ukrainian': 14%, 'exclusively Ukrainian': 4.3%.
What language is spoken in Ukraine? 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,"[As of 2006, in Kiev] Ukrainian is used at home by 23% of the respondents [to a survey]; while 52% use Russian and 24% use both"
Kiev: the city, its residents, problems of today, wishes for tomorrow. . Available online in Russian and in Ukrainian 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.Roman Woronowycz, Ruling on pre-eminence of Ukrainian language stirs controversy, ''The Ukrainian Weekly'', February 27, 2000
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 republicNational structure of the population of Autonomous Republic of Crimea, 2001 Ukrainian Census.) is guaranteed a special state protection as well as the 'languages of other ethnicities'. Russian speakers constitute an overwhelming majority of the Crimean population (77%), with Ukrainian speakers comprising 10.1%, and Crimean Tatar speakers 11.4%.Linguistic composition of population Autonomous Republic of Crimea, 2001 Ukrainian Census. But in everyday life the majority of Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea use Russian.For a more comprehensive account of language politics in Crimea, see Natalya Belitser, "The Constitutional Process in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in the Context of Interethnic Relations and Conflict Settlement," International Committee for Crimea. Retrieved August 12, 2007.
Romanians and Moldavians are another significant minority in Ukraine, concentrated mainly in Chernivtsi, Odessa, Zakarpattia and Vinnytsia oblasts.
Jews played a very important role in Ukrainian cultural life, especially in the 19th and first half of the 20th century. Today Yiddish, the Ukrainian Jews' traditional language, is only used by a small number of older people.
After independence, a significant change in the language of instruction in educational institutions took place. According to the Razumkov centre, 49% of high school students in 1991/92 were receiving their education in Ukrainian, and 50% in Russian. In 2000/01, however, 70% of students 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 independence. More than 1 million people moved into Ukraine in 1991-1992, mostly from the other former Soviet republics. In total, between 1991 and 2004, 2.2 million immigrated to Ukraine (among them, 2.0 million came from the other former Soviet Union states), and 2.5 million emigrated from Ukraine (among them, 1.9 million moved to other former Soviet Union republics).Olena Malynovska, Caught Between East and West, Ukraine Struggles with Its Migration Policy, National Institute for International Security Problems, Kiev, January 2006.
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

Main articles: History of Christianity in Ukraine, History of the Jews in Ukraine, Islam in Ukraine

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: Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate, and Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.
A distant second is the Eastern Rite Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which practices a similar 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 879 Catholic communities, and 499 clergy members serving the some one million Roman Catholics in Ukraine. The group forms some 2.19% of the population and consists mainly of ethnic Poles, living predominantly in the western regions of the country.
Protestant Christians also form some 2.19% of the population. Protestant numbers have grown greatly since Ukrainian independence. Evangelical Baptist Union of Ukraine is the largest group, with more than 300,000 members and about 3000 clergy. Other groups include Calvinists, Lutherans, Methodists, Seventh-day Adventists.
The Jewish community is a tiny fraction of what it was before World War II, but Jews still form some 0.63% of the population. A 2001 census indicated 103,600 Jews, although community leaders claimed that the population could be as large as 300,000. Most Ukrainian Jews are Orthodox,^[9] and there is a small Reform population. Additionally, there is a presence of the middle-ground sect, Conservative Judaism (aka Masorti Judaism) as well.^[10]
There are an estimated 500,000 Muslims in Ukraine, some 320,000 on the Crimean Peninsula. Most Ukrainian Muslims are Crimean Tatars. In addition, some 50,000 foreign-born Muslims live in Kiev.
As of January 1, 2006, there were 29 Krishna Consciousness and 47 Buddhist registered communities in the country .

Culture

Downtown Lviv

Main articles: Culture of Ukraine

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 holubtsy (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 (They make cottage cheese from this), mineral water, tea and coffee, beer, wine and vodka.

Name etymology

Main articles: Name of Ukraine

The Ukrainian word ''Ukrayina'' is from Old East Slavic ''oukraina'' "borderland", from ''ou'' "by, at" and the Slavic root ''kraj'' "edge; region" ^[11]. In particular, in Ukrainian ''krayina'' means simply "country". On the other hand, "ou" means "in" in Ukrainian, so it can mean "inner country".
In English, the country is sometimes referred to with the definite article, as ''the Ukraine'', similar to ''the Netherlands'', ''the Gambia'', ''the Sudan'' or ''the Congo''. However, usage without the article is now more frequent, and has become established in diplomacy and journalism since the country's independence.

International rankings

Organization	Survey	Ranking
Heritage Foundation/''The Wall Street Journal''	Index of Economic Freedom	99 out of 157
Reporters Without Borders	Worldwide Press Freedom Index	105 out of 168
Transparency International	Corruption Perceptions Index	99 out of 163
United Nations Development Programme	Human Development Index	77 out of 177
World Economic Forum	Global Competitiveness Report	78 out of 125
A.T. Kearney/Foreign Policy Magazine	Globalization Index 2005 PDF	39 out of 62

See also

References

1. "Eastern Orthodoxy.", Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007.
2. "Poland.", Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007.
3. Available data is inconclusive as the Soviet government actively denied the existence of the famine. Therefore, precise calculations and estimates vary.
4. 1946–1947 Holodomor in Ukraine (Ukrainian)
5. Thousands urge new elections in Ukraine Mara D. Bellaby
6. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/05/26/ukraine-politics.html
7. Yuriy Skolotiany, The past and the future of Ukrainian national currency, Interview with Anatoliy Halchynsky, ''Mirror Weekly'', #33(612), 2—8 September 2006
8. Waldoch, Marta and Katarzyna Klimasinska. ''Poland Banks on Ukraine as Ex-Soviet State Looks West''. Bloomberg.com. 11 January 2007.
9. There were 104 Chabad communities as of 2004 according to the Directory of Chabad-Lubavitch Centers in Ukraine
10. [3]
11. Room, Adrian. ''Placenames of the World''. London: MacFarland and Co., Inc., 1997.

'General'

★ CIA World Factbook - ''Ukraine''

★ Country profile: Ukraine, BBC's Country Profile on Ukraine.

★ Country Briefings: Ukraine, by The Economist

★ Special Report: Ukraine, ongoing coverage by Guardian Unlimited

★ Background Note: Ukraine, the U.S. Department of State website

★ Ukraine, Portals to the World, Internet resources selected by Library of Congress subject experts

External links

'Official'

★ The President of Ukraine

★ Verkhovna Rada: the parliament of Ukraine

★ Government Portal of Ukraine— Branches of government

★ Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

★ Constitution of Ukraine

★ Конституційний Процес в Україні — Ukraine's constitutional process ''(available in Ukrainian only)''
'Miscellaneous'

★ Open Directory Project - ''Ukraine'' directory category

★ Detailed map of Ukraine

★ Ukraine cities and regions guide

★ Currency, Stock market, Bank's financial results, Currency converter

★ Encyclopedia of Ukraine

★
'Religion'

★ Religious Information Service of Ukraine