Portal:Ukraine
The Ukraine Portal - Портал України
Ukraine Україна (Ukrainian) | |
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ISO 3166 code | UA |
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which borders it to the east and northeast. It also borders Belarus to the north; Poland and Slovakia to the west; Hungary, Romania and Moldova to the southwest; with a coastline along the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to the south and southeast. Kyiv is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Kharkiv, Dnipro, and Odesa. Ukraine's official language is Ukrainian.
During the Middle Ages, Ukraine was the site of early Slavic expansion and the area later became a key centre of East Slavic culture under the state of Kievan Rus', which emerged in the 9th century. The state eventually disintegrated into rival regional powers and was destroyed by the Mongol invasions of the 13th century. The area was then contested, divided, and ruled by a variety of external powers for the next 600 years, including the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austrian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Tsardom of Russia. The Cossack Hetmanate emerged in central Ukraine in the 17th century, but was partitioned between Russia and Poland, and absorbed by the Russian Empire. Ukrainian nationalism developed and, following the Russian Revolution in 1917, the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic was formed. The Bolsheviks consolidated control over much of the former empire and established the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union when it was formed in 1922. In the early 1930s, millions of Ukrainians died in the Holodomor, a human-made famine. The German occupation during World War II in Ukraine was devastating, with 7 million Ukrainian civilians killed, including most Ukrainian Jews.
Ukraine gained independence in 1991 as the Soviet Union dissolved, and declared itself neutral. A new constitution was adopted in 1996. A series of mass demonstrations, known as the Euromaidan, led to the establishment of a new government in 2014 after a revolution. Russia then unilaterally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, and pro-Russian unrest culminated in a war in the Donbas between Russian-backed separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Since the outbreak of war with Russia, Ukraine has continued to seek closer ties with the United States, European Union, and NATO.
Ukraine is a unitary state and its system of government is a semi-presidential republic. A developing country, it is the poorest country in Europe by nominal GDP per capita and corruption remains a significant issue. However, due to its extensive fertile land, pre-war Ukraine was one of the largest grain exporters in the world. Ukraine is considered a middle power in global affairs, and the Ukrainian Armed Force is the fifth largest armed force in the world in terms of both active personnel as well as total number of personnel with the eighth largest defence budget in the world. The Ukrainian Armed Forces also operates one of the largest and most diverse drone fleets in the world. It is a founding member of the United Nations, as well as a member of the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization, and the OSCE. It is in the process of joining the European Union and has applied to join NATO. (Full article...)
In the news
- 6 December 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Southern front of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Attacks on civilians in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- A Russian missile strike kills ten civilians in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, and injures four others, including two children. Separately, a missile attack on an administrative building in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, kills two people and injures 16 others. (Reuters)
- 6 December 2024 – Belarus–Russia relations, Nuclear risk during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko sign an agreement in Minsk, Belarus, offering security guarantees to Belarus including nuclear security and the possible use of Russian nuclear weapons in order to repel aggressions. (AP)
- 4 December 2024 – Russo-Ukrainian War
- Russia–NATO relations
- A Russian Navy warship fires warning shots at a German helicopter conducting a routine patrol over the Baltic Sea, forcing the helicopter pilots to make evasive maneuvers. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock condemns the incident as part of Russia's hybrid warfare against NATO. (Anadolu Agency)
- 2 December 2024 – Russo-Ukrainian War
- Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War
- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announces that the United States will provide Ukraine with a $725 million weapons package. (Reuters)
- 1 December 2024 – Ukraine–United States relations
- U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says that the United States will not return to Ukraine the nuclear weapons that they dismantled. (Reuters)
- 29 November 2024 – Russo-Ukrainian War
- Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine–NATO relations
- Peace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Featured pictures
Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that the Crimean Mountain karst nature reserve in Ukraine has more than 1,000 natural karst cavities?
- ... that military volunteer Maria Berlinska led the report that let women hold combat positions in the Ukrainian military?
- ... that the historian and political journalist Lancelot Lawton addressed a House of Commons committee in London in 1935, beginning: "The chief problem in Europe to-day is the Ukrainian problem"?
- ... that Italian Jacopo Tissi became one of the few foreign principal dancers in Bolshoi Ballet's history, only to leave two months later due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine?
- ... that in August 2022, Igor Mangushev spoke on a stage in a Russian nightclub with what he said was the skull of a Ukrainian soldier killed in the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works?
- ... that after the Russian invasion, the daughter of the Ukrainian ambassador to Indonesia was evacuated together with Indonesian citizens in Ukraine?
More did you know -
- ... that the married Western Ukrainian Clergy became a hereditary caste that dominated western Ukrainian society?
- ... that although the secular music of Mykola Leontovych was well known in the twentieth century, the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom was little known because of a ban on sacred music in the Soviet Union?
- ... that among many historic landmarks at the Andrew's Descent in Kyiv, there is a medieval Gothic style castle that locals call the "Castle of Richard the Lion Heart" due to the legend the 12th century King of England had visited the building?
- ... that the neo-classical Verkhovna Rada building in Kyiv features a hundred-tonne glass dome over the chamber where the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine convenes to enact legislation?
- ... that journalist Savik Shuster who used to work for Russian TV channels now prefers to work for the Ukrainian TV because he felt the Russian Government was limiting his journalistic freedom?
- ... that according to legend, a tunnel leads from the Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle to the Khotyn Fortress which is 20 kilometres (12 mi) away?
Selected article -
Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, 391 km (243 mi) southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnipro River, after which its name is derived. Dnipro is the administrative centre of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. It hosts the administration of Dnipro urban hromada. Dnipro has a population of 968,502 (2022 estimate).[1]
Archeological evidence suggests the site of the present city was settled by Cossack communities from at least 1524. Yekaterinoslav ("glory of Catherine") was established by decree of the Russian Empress Catherine the Great in 1787 as the administrative center of Novorossiya. From the end of the 19th century, the town attracted foreign capital and an international, multi-ethnic workforce exploiting Kryvbas iron ore and Donbas coal. (Full article...)
In the news
- 6 December 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Southern front of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Attacks on civilians in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- A Russian missile strike kills ten civilians in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, and injures four others, including two children. Separately, a missile attack on an administrative building in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, kills two people and injures 16 others. (Reuters)
- 6 December 2024 – Belarus–Russia relations, Nuclear risk during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko sign an agreement in Minsk, Belarus, offering security guarantees to Belarus including nuclear security and the possible use of Russian nuclear weapons in order to repel aggressions. (AP)
- 4 December 2024 – Russo-Ukrainian War
- Russia–NATO relations
- A Russian Navy warship fires warning shots at a German helicopter conducting a routine patrol over the Baltic Sea, forcing the helicopter pilots to make evasive maneuvers. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock condemns the incident as part of Russia's hybrid warfare against NATO. (Anadolu Agency)
- 2 December 2024 – Russo-Ukrainian War
- Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War
- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announces that the United States will provide Ukraine with a $725 million weapons package. (Reuters)
- 1 December 2024 – Ukraine–United States relations
- U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says that the United States will not return to Ukraine the nuclear weapons that they dismantled. (Reuters)
- 29 November 2024 – Russo-Ukrainian War
- Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine–NATO relations
- Peace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Selected anniversaries for December
- December 1, 1991 — Ukraine's first presidential election takes place.
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Notes
- ^ In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Sergeyevich and the family name is Khrushchev.
- ^ Чисельність наявного населення України на 1 січня 2022 [Number of Present Population of Ukraine, as of January 1, 2022] (PDF) (in Ukrainian and English). Kyiv: State Statistics Service of Ukraine. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 July 2022.