{"id":9128,"date":"2022-01-27T04:00:03","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T12:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/?p=9128"},"modified":"2022-01-27T14:26:44","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T22:26:44","slug":"ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/h2>\n

Ukraine is a country in\u00a0Eastern Europe<\/a>. It is the\u00a0second-largest country<\/a>\u00a0in Europe after\u00a0Russia<\/a>, which it borders to the east and north-east.<\/sup>\u00a0Ukraine also shares borders with\u00a0Belarus<\/a>\u00a0to the north;\u00a0Poland<\/a>,\u00a0Slovakia<\/a>, and\u00a0Hungary<\/a>\u00a0to the west;\u00a0Romania<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Moldova<\/a>\u00a0to the south; and has a coastline along the\u00a0Sea of Azov<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Black Sea<\/a>. It spans an area of 603,628\u00a0km2<\/sup>\u00a0(233,062\u00a0sq\u00a0mi),<\/sup>\u00a0with a population of 41.4 million,<\/sup>\u00a0and is the\u00a0eighth-most populous country<\/a>\u00a0in Europe. The nation’s capital and\u00a0largest city<\/a>\u00a0is\u00a0Kyiv<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Ukraine on the Globe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC. During the\u00a0Middle Ages<\/a>, the area was a key center of East Slavic<\/a>\u00a0culture, with the powerful state of\u00a0Kievan Rus’<\/a>\u00a0forming the basis of Ukrainian identity. Following its fragmentation into several principalities in the 13th century and the devastation created by the\u00a0Mongol invasion<\/a>, the territorial unity collapsed and the area was contested, ruled, and divided by a variety of powers, including the\u00a0Polish\u2013Lithuanian Commonwealth<\/a>,\u00a0Austria-Hungary<\/a>, the\u00a0Ottoman Empire<\/a>, and Russia. A\u00a0Cossack republic<\/a>\u00a0emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries, but its territory was eventually split between\u00a0Poland<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Russian Empire<\/a>. In the aftermath of the\u00a0Russian Revolution<\/a>, a Ukrainian national movement for self-determination emerged, and the internationally recognized\u00a0Ukrainian People’s Republic<\/a>\u00a0was declared on 23 June 1917. After\u00a0World War II<\/a>, the western part of Ukraine merged into the\u00a0Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic<\/a>, and the whole country became a part of the\u00a0Soviet Union<\/a>. Ukraine gained its independence in 1991, following the\u00a0dissolution of the Soviet Union<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Following its independence, Ukraine declared itself a\u00a0neutral state<\/a>;<\/sup>\u00a0it formed a limited military partnership with Russia and other\u00a0CIS countries<\/a>\u00a0while also establishing a\u00a0partnership with NATO<\/a>\u00a0in 1994. In 2013, after the government of President\u00a0Viktor Yanukovych<\/a>\u00a0had decided to suspend the\u00a0Ukraine\u2013European Union Association Agreement<\/a>\u00a0and seek closer economic ties with Russia, a several-months-long wave of demonstrations and protests known as the\u00a0Euromaidan<\/a>\u00a0began, which later escalated into the\u00a02014 Ukrainian revolution<\/a>\u00a0that led to the overthrow of Yanukovych and the establishment of a new government. These events formed the background for the\u00a0annexation of Crimea by Russia<\/a>\u00a0in March 2014 and the\u00a0War in Donbas<\/a>\u00a0in April 2014. On 1 January 2016, Ukraine applied for the economic component of the\u00a0Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area<\/a> with the European Union.<\/p>\n

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Kyiv<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ukraine is a\u00a0developing country<\/a>\u00a0ranking 74th in the\u00a0Human Development Index<\/a>. It is the\u00a0poorest country in Europe<\/a>\u00a0alongside\u00a0Moldova<\/a>, suffering from a very high poverty rate as well as severe\u00a0corruption<\/a>.<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0However, because of its extensive fertile farmlands, Ukraine is one of the largest\u00a0grain exporters<\/a>\u00a0in the world.<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0It also maintains the\u00a0third-largest military<\/a>\u00a0in Europe after\u00a0Russia<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0France<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Ukraine is a\u00a0unitary republic<\/a>\u00a0under a\u00a0semi-presidential system<\/a>\u00a0with\u00a0separate powers<\/a>:\u00a0legislative<\/a>,\u00a0executive<\/a>, and\u00a0judicial branches<\/a>. The country is a member of the\u00a0United Nations<\/a>, the\u00a0Council of Europe<\/a>, the\u00a0OSCE<\/a>, the\u00a0GUAM organization<\/a>\u00a0and is one of the founding states of the\u00a0CIS<\/a>, even though it never became a member of the organization.<\/p>\n

History:<\/h2>\n

Early History:<\/span><\/h3>\n

Neanderthal<\/a> settlement in Ukraine is seen in the Molodova archaeological sites (43,000\u201345,000 BC) which include a mammoth bone dwelling.\u00a0The territory is also considered to be the likely location for the human\u00a0domestication of the horse<\/a>.<\/sup><\/p>\n

Modern human settlement in Ukraine and its vicinity dates back to 32,000 BC, with evidence of the\u00a0Gravettian culture<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0Crimean Mountains<\/a>. By 4,500 BC, the\u00a0Neolithic<\/a>\u00a0Cucuteni\u2013Trypillia culture<\/a>\u00a0flourished in wide areas of modern Ukraine including\u00a0Trypillia<\/a>\u00a0and the entire\u00a0Dnieper<\/a>–Dniester<\/a>\u00a0region. During the\u00a0Iron Age<\/a>, the land was inhabited by\u00a0Cimmerians<\/a>,\u00a0Scythians<\/a>, and\u00a0Sarmatians<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Between 700\u00a0BC and 200\u00a0BC it was part of the Scythian Kingdom, or\u00a0Scythia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Beginning in the sixth century BC, colonies of\u00a0Ancient Greece<\/a>,\u00a0Ancient Rome<\/a>, and the\u00a0Byzantine Empire<\/a>, such as\u00a0Tyras<\/a>,\u00a0Olbia<\/a>, and\u00a0Chersonesus<\/a>, were founded on the northeastern shore of the\u00a0Black Sea<\/a>. These colonies thrived well into the sixth\u00a0century AD. The\u00a0Goths<\/a>\u00a0stayed in the area, but came under the sway of the\u00a0Huns<\/a> from the 370s AD. In the seventh\u00a0century AD, the territory that is now eastern Ukraine was the center of\u00a0Old Great Bulgaria<\/a>. At the end of the century, the majority of Bulgar tribes migrated in different directions, and the\u00a0Khazars<\/a> took over much of the land.<\/p>\n

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Gold Scythian pectoral, or neckpiece, from a royal kurgan in Pokrov, dated to the fourth century BC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In the fifth and sixth centuries, the\u00a0Antes<\/a>\u00a0were located in the territory of what is now Ukraine. The Antes were the ancestors of\u00a0Ukrainians<\/a>:\u00a0White Croats<\/a>,\u00a0Severians<\/a>,\u00a0Polans<\/a>,\u00a0Drevlyans<\/a>,\u00a0Dulebes<\/a>,\u00a0Ulichians<\/a>, and\u00a0Tiverians<\/a>. Migrations from Ukraine throughout the\u00a0Balkans<\/a>\u00a0established many\u00a0South Slavic<\/a>\u00a0nations. Northern migrations, reaching almost to the\u00a0Ilmen<\/a>\u00a0lakes, led to the emergence of the\u00a0Ilmen Slavs<\/a>,\u00a0Krivichs<\/a>, and\u00a0Radimichs<\/a>, the groups ancestral to the\u00a0Russians<\/a>. After an Avar raid in 602 and the collapse of the Antes Union, most of these peoples survived as separate tribes until the beginning of the second millennium.<\/p>\n

Golden Age of Kyiv:<\/span><\/h3>\n

Kievan Rus’ was founded in the territory of the\u00a0Polans<\/a>, who lived among the rivers\u00a0Ros<\/a>,\u00a0Rosava<\/a>, and\u00a0Dnieper<\/a>. Russian historian\u00a0Boris Rybakov<\/a>\u00a0came from studying the linguistics of Russian chronicles to the conclusion that the Polans union of clans of the mid-Dnieper region called itself by the name of one of its clans, “Ros”, that joined the union and was known at least since the 6th century far beyond the Slavic world.<\/sup>\u00a0The origin of the Kyiv princedom is of a big debate and there exist at least three versions depending on interpretations of the chronicles.<\/sup>\u00a0In general it is believed that Kievan Rus’ included the central, western and northern part of modern Ukraine,\u00a0Belarus<\/a>, the far eastern strip of Poland and the western part of present-day Russia. According to the\u00a0Primary Chronicle<\/a><\/i>\u00a0the Rus’ elite initially consisted of\u00a0Varangians<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0Scandinavia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The baptism of Grand Prince Vladimir in 988 led to the adoption of Christianity in Kievan Rus’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

During the 10th and 11th centuries, it became the largest and most powerful state in Europe.<\/sup>\u00a0It laid the foundation for the national identity of Ukrainians and Russians.<\/sup>\u00a0Kyiv<\/a>, the capital of modern Ukraine, became the most important city of the Rus’. In 12th\u201313th centuries on efforts of\u00a0Yuri the Long Armed<\/a>, in area of\u00a0Zalesye<\/a>\u00a0were founded several cities similar in name as in Kievan Rus’ such as\u00a0Vladimir on the Klyazma<\/a>\/Vladimir of Zalesye<\/sup>\u00a0(Volodymyr<\/a>),\u00a0Galich of Merya<\/a>\u00a0(Halych<\/a>),\u00a0Pereslavl of Zalesye<\/a>\u00a0(Pereyaslav of Ruthenian<\/a>),\u00a0Pereslavl of Erzya<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The Varangians later assimilated into the Slavic population and became part of the first Rus’ dynasty, the <\/span>Rurik Dynasty<\/a>.<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Kievan Rus’ was composed of several\u00a0<\/span>principalities<\/a>\u00a0ruled by the interrelated Rurikid\u00a0<\/span>kniazes<\/a><\/i> (“princes”), who often fought each other for possession of Kyiv.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Golden Age of Kievan Rus’ began with the reign of\u00a0Vladimir the Great<\/a>\u00a0(980\u20131015), who\u00a0turned Rus’ toward Byzantine Christianity<\/a>. During the reign of his son,\u00a0Yaroslav the Wise<\/a> (1019\u20131054), Kievan Rus’ reached the zenith of its cultural development and military power. The state soon fragmented as the relative importance of regional powers rose again. After a final resurgence under the rule of\u00a0Vladimir II Monomakh<\/a>\u00a0(1113\u20131125) and his son\u00a0Mstislav<\/a>\u00a0(1125\u20131132), Kievan Rus’ finally disintegrated into separate principalities following Mstislav’s death.<\/p>\n

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Furthest extent of Kievan Rus’, 1054\u20131132<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The 13th-century\u00a0Mongol invasion<\/a>\u00a0devastated Kievan Rus’. Kyiv was totally\u00a0destroyed in 1240<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0On today’s Ukrainian territory, the principalities of\u00a0Halych<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Volodymyr-Volynskyi<\/a>\u00a0arose, and were merged into the state of\u00a0Galicia-Volhynia<\/a>.<\/sup><\/p>\n

Danylo Romanovych<\/a>\u00a0(Daniel I of Galicia or Danylo Halytskyi) son of\u00a0Roman Mstyslavych<\/a>, re-united all of south-western Rus’, including Volhynia, Galicia and Rus’ ancient capital of Kyiv. Danylo was crowned by the\u00a0papal<\/a>\u00a0archbishop<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Dorohychyn<\/a>\u00a01253 as the first\u00a0King<\/a>\u00a0of all Rus’. Under Danylo’s reign, the\u00a0Kingdom of Galicia\u2013Volhynia<\/a>\u00a0was one of the most powerful states in east central Europe.<\/sup><\/p>\n

Foreign Domination:<\/span><\/h3>\n
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In the mid-14th\u00a0century, upon the death of\u00a0Boles\u0142aw Jerzy II of Mazovia<\/a>, king\u00a0Casimir III of Poland<\/a>\u00a0initiated campaigns (1340\u20131366) to take Galicia-Volhynia. Meanwhile, the heartland of Rus’, including Kyiv, became the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, ruled by\u00a0Gediminas<\/a>\u00a0and his successors, after the\u00a0Battle on the Irpen’ River<\/a>. Following the 1386\u00a0Union of Krewo<\/a>, a\u00a0dynastic union<\/a>\u00a0between Poland and Lithuania, much of what became northern Ukraine was ruled by the increasingly Slavicised local Lithuanian nobles as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. By 1392 the so-called\u00a0Galicia\u2013Volhynia Wars<\/a> ended. Polish colonizers of depopulated lands in northern and central Ukraine founded or re-founded many towns.<\/p>\n

In the Black sea cities of modern-day Ukraine, the\u00a0Republic of Genoa<\/a>\u00a0founded numerous colonies, from the mid-13th century to the late 15th century, including the cities of\u00a0Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi<\/a>\u00a0(“Moncastro”) and\u00a0Kiliya<\/a> (“Licostomo”), the colonies used to be large commercial centers in the region, and were headed by a consul (a representative of the Republic).<\/p>\n

In 1430\u00a0Podolia<\/a>\u00a0was incorporated under the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland as\u00a0Podolian Voivodeship<\/a>. In 1441, in the southern Ukraine, especially Crimea and surrounding steppes,\u00a0Genghisid<\/a>\u00a0prince\u00a0Haci I Giray<\/a> founded the Crimean Khanate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Polish\u2013Lithuanian Commonwealth, illustrated here in 1619.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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In 1569 the\u00a0Union of Lublin<\/a>\u00a0established the Polish\u2013Lithuanian Commonwealth, and much Ukrainian territory was transferred from Lithuania to the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, becoming Polish territory de jure. Under the demographic, cultural and political pressure of\u00a0Polonisation<\/a>, which began in the late 14th century, many landed gentry of Polish\u00a0Ruthenia<\/a>\u00a0(another name for the land of Rus) converted to Catholicism and became indistinguishable from the\u00a0Polish nobility<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Deprived of native protectors among Rus nobility, the commoners (peasants and townspeople) began turning for protection to the emerging\u00a0Zaporozhian Cossacks<\/a>, who by the 17th century became devoutly\u00a0Orthodox<\/a>. The Cossacks did not shy from taking up arms against those they perceived as enemies, including the Polish state and its local representatives.<\/p>\n

Formed from\u00a0Golden Horde<\/a>\u00a0territory conquered after the\u00a0Mongol invasion<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0Crimean Khanate<\/a>\u00a0was one of the strongest powers in Eastern Europe until the 18th century; in 1571 it even\u00a0captured and devastated Moscow<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0The borderlands suffered annual\u00a0Tatar invasions<\/a>. From the beginning of the 16th century until the end of the 17th century, Crimean Tatar\u00a0slave raiding<\/a>\u00a0bands<\/sup>\u00a0exported about two million slaves from Russia and Ukraine.<\/sup>\u00a0According to\u00a0Orest Subtelny<\/a>, “from 1450 to 1586, eighty-six\u00a0Tatar raids<\/a>\u00a0were recorded, and from 1600 to 1647, seventy.”<\/sup> In 1688, Tatars captured a record number of 60,000 Ukrainians. The Tatar raids took a heavy toll, discouraging settlement in more southerly regions where the soil was better and the growing season was longer. The last remnant of the Crimean Khanate was finally conquered by the Russian Empire in 1783.<\/p>\n

In the mid-17th\u00a0century, a Cossack military quasi-state, the\u00a0Zaporozhian Host<\/a>, was formed by\u00a0Dnieper Cossacks<\/a>\u00a0and by Ruthenian peasants who had fled Polish\u00a0serfdom<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Poland exercised little real control over this population, but found the Cossacks to be a useful opposing force to the\u00a0Turks<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Tatars<\/a>,<\/sup>\u00a0and at times the two were allies in\u00a0military campaigns<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0However the continued harsh\u00a0enserfment<\/a> of peasantry by Polish nobility and especially the suppression of the Orthodox Church alienated the Cossacks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Hetman of Ukraine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Cossacks sought representation in the Polish\u00a0Sejm<\/a>, recognition of Orthodox traditions, and the gradual expansion of the\u00a0Cossack Registry<\/a>. These were rejected by the Polish nobility, who dominated the Sejm.<\/p>\n

Cossack Hetmanate:<\/span><\/h3>\n
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In 1648, <\/span>Bohdan Khmelnytsky<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Petro Doroshenko<\/a>\u00a0led the\u00a0<\/span>largest of the Cossack uprisings<\/a>\u00a0against the Commonwealth and the Polish king.<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0After Khmelnytsky made an entry into Kyiv in 1648, where he was hailed liberator of the people from Polish captivity, he founded the\u00a0<\/span>Cossack Hetmanate<\/a>, which existed until 1764 (some sources claim until 1782).<\/span><\/div>\n
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Khmelnytsky, deserted by his Tatar allies, suffered a crushing deafeat at the\u00a0Battle of Berestechko<\/a>\u00a0in 1651, and turned to the Russian tsar for help. In 1654, Khmelnytsky was subject to the\u00a0Pereyaslav Council<\/a>, forming a military and political alliance with Russia that acknowledged loyalty to the Russian tsar.<\/p>\n

In 1657\u20131686 came “The Ruin<\/a>“, a devastating 30-year war amongst Russia, Poland, the\u00a0Crimean Khanate<\/a>, the\u00a0Ottoman Empire<\/a>, and\u00a0Cossacks<\/a>\u00a0for control of Ukraine, which occurred at about the same time as the\u00a0Deluge<\/a>\u00a0of Poland. The wars escalated in intensity with hundreds of thousands of deaths. The “Treaty of Perpetual Peace<\/a>” between Russia and Poland in 1686 divided the lands of the Cossack Hetmanate between them, reducing the portion over which Poland had claimed sovereignty.<\/p>\n

In 1709, Cossack Hetman\u00a0Ivan Mazepa<\/a>\u00a0(1639\u20131709) defected to\u00a0Sweden<\/a>\u00a0against Russia in the\u00a0Great Northern War<\/a>\u00a0(1700\u20131721). Eventually Tsar\u00a0Peter<\/a>\u00a0recognized that to consolidate and modernize Russia’s political and economic power it was necessary to do away with the Cossack Hetmanate and Ukrainian and Cossack aspirations to autonomy. Mazepa died in exile after fleeing from the\u00a0Battle of Poltava<\/a>\u00a0(1709), in which the Swedes and their Cossack allies suffered a catastrophic defeat.<\/p>\n

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Russia’s victory over Charles XII of Sweden and his ally Ivan Mazepa at the Battle of Poltava (1709) destroyed Cossack autonomy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The <\/span>Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk<\/a>\u00a0or Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host was a 1710 constitutional document written by\u00a0<\/span>Hetman<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>Pylyp Orlyk<\/a>, a Cossack of Ukraine, then within the\u00a0<\/span>Polish\u2013Lithuanian Commonwealth<\/a>.<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0It established a standard for the\u00a0<\/span>separation of powers<\/a>\u00a0in government between the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches, well before the publication of\u00a0<\/span>Montesquieu<\/a>‘s\u00a0<\/span>The Spirit of the Laws<\/a><\/i>. The Constitution limited the executive authority of the hetman, and established a democratically elected Cossack parliament called the General Council. The\u00a0<\/span>Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk<\/a> was unique for its period, and was one of the first state constitutions in Europe.<\/span><\/div>\n
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The hetmanate was abolished in 1764; the\u00a0Zaporozhian Sich<\/a> was abolished in 1775, as Russia centralized control over its lands. As part of the Partitions of Poland<\/a>\u00a0in 1772, 1793 and 1795, the Ukrainian lands west of the Dnieper were divided between Russia and Austria. From 1737 to 1834, expansion into the northern Black Sea littoral and the eastern\u00a0Danube<\/a> valley was a cornerstone of Russian foreign policy.<\/p>\n

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Lithuanians and Poles controlled vast estates in Ukraine, and were a law unto themselves. Judicial rulings from <\/span>Krak\u00f3w<\/a>\u00a0were routinely flouted, while peasants were heavily taxed and practically tied to the land as\u00a0<\/span>serfs<\/a>. Occasionally the landowners battled each other using armies of Ukrainian peasants. The Poles and Lithuanians were Roman Catholics and tried with some success to convert the Orthodox lesser nobility. In 1596, they set up the “Greek-Catholic” or\u00a0<\/span>Uniate Church<\/a>; it dominates western Ukraine to this day. Religious differentiation left the Ukrainian Orthodox peasants leaderless, as they were reluctant to follow the Ukrainian nobles.<\/span><\/sup><\/div>\n
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Cossacks led an uprising, called\u00a0Koliivshchyna<\/a>, starting in the Ukrainian borderlands of the Polish\u2013Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1768. Ethnicity was one root cause of this revolt, which included the\u00a0Massacre of Uman<\/a>\u00a0that killed tens of thousands of Poles and Jews. Religious warfare also broke out among Ukrainian groups. Increasing conflict between Uniate and Orthodox parishes along the newly reinforced Polish-Russian border on the\u00a0Dnieper<\/a>\u00a0in the time of\u00a0Catherine the Great<\/a>\u00a0set the stage for the uprising. As Uniate religious practices had become more Latinized, Orthodoxy in this region drew even closer into dependence on the\u00a0Russian Orthodox Church<\/a>. Confessional tensions also reflected opposing Polish and Russian political allegiances.<\/p>\n

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Kirill Razumovski, the last Hetman of left- and right-bank Ukraine 1750\u20131764 and the first person to declare Ukraine to be a sovereign state<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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After the\u00a0annexation of Crimea by the Russian Empire<\/a>\u00a0in 1783,\u00a0Novorossiya<\/a>\u00a0was settled by Ukrainians and Russians.<\/sup>\u00a0Despite promises in the Treaty of Pereyaslav, the Ukrainian elite and the Cossacks never received the freedoms and the autonomy they had expected. However, within the Empire, Ukrainians rose to the highest Russian state and church offices.<\/sup>\u00a0In a later period,\u00a0tsarists<\/a>\u00a0established a policy of\u00a0Russification<\/a>, suppressing the use of the Ukrainian language in print and in public.<\/p>\n

<\/span>19th Century, World War I and Revolution:<\/span><\/h3>\n
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In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the territory of today’s Ukraine was included in the\u00a0governorates<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Chernihiv (Chernigov in Russian)<\/a>,\u00a0Kharkiv (Kharkov)<\/a>,\u00a0Kyiv 1708\u20131764<\/a>, and\u00a0Little Russia 1764\u20131781<\/a>,\u00a0Podillia (Podolie)<\/a>, and\u00a0Volyn<\/a>\u00a0(Volhynia)\u2014with all but the first two informally grouped into the\u00a0Southwestern Krai<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After the\u00a0Russo-Turkish War (1768\u20131774)<\/a>,\u00a0Catherine the Great<\/a>\u00a0and her immediate successors encouraged German immigration into Ukraine and especially\u00a0into Crimea<\/a>, to thin the previously dominant Turk population and encourage agriculture.<\/sup>\u00a0Numerous Ukrainians, Russians, Germans,\u00a0Bulgarians<\/a>,\u00a0Serbs<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Greeks<\/a>\u00a0moved into the northern\u00a0Black Sea steppe<\/a>\u00a0formerly known as the “Wild Fields<\/a>“.<\/sup><\/p>\n

With growing urbanization and modernization, and a cultural trend toward\u00a0romantic nationalism<\/a>, a Ukrainian\u00a0intelligentsia<\/a>\u00a0committed to national rebirth and social justice emerged. The serf-turned-national-poet\u00a0Taras Shevchenko<\/a>\u00a0(1814\u20131861) and the political theorist\u00a0Mykhailo Drahomanov<\/a> (1841\u20131895) led the growing nationalist movement.<\/sup><\/p>\n

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A map from 1904 showing administrative units of Little Russia, South Russia and West Russia within the Russian Empire prior to Ukrainian independence<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Beginning in the 19th century, there was migration from Ukraine to distant areas of the Russian Empire. According to the 1897 census, there were 223,000 ethnic Ukrainians in\u00a0Siberia<\/a>\u00a0and 102,000 in\u00a0Central Asia<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0An additional 1.6 million emigrated to the east in the ten years after the opening of the\u00a0Trans-Siberian Railway<\/a>\u00a0in 1906.<\/sup>\u00a0Far Eastern<\/a>\u00a0areas with an ethnic Ukrainian population became known as\u00a0Green Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nationalist and socialist parties developed in the late 19th century. Austrian\u00a0Galicia<\/a>, under the relatively lenient rule of the\u00a0Habsburgs<\/a>, became the center of the nationalist movement.<\/sup><\/p>\n

Ukrainians entered\u00a0World War I<\/a>\u00a0on the side of both the\u00a0Central Powers<\/a>, under Austria, and the\u00a0Triple Entente<\/a>, under Russia. 3.5 million Ukrainians fought with the\u00a0Imperial Russian Army<\/a>, while 250,000 fought for the\u00a0Austro-Hungarian Army<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Austro-Hungarian<\/a>\u00a0authorities established the Ukrainian Legion to fight against the Russian Empire. This became the\u00a0Ukrainian Galician Army<\/a> that fought against the Bolsheviks and Poles in the post-World War I period (1919\u201323). Those suspected of Russophile sentiments in Austria were treated harshly.<\/p>\n

World War I destroyed both empires. The\u00a0Russian Revolution of 1917<\/a>\u00a0led to the founding of the Soviet Union under the\u00a0Bolsheviks<\/a>, and subsequent\u00a0civil war in Russia<\/a>. A Ukrainian national movement for self-determination emerged, with heavy Communist and Socialist influence. Several Ukrainian states briefly emerged: the internationally recognized\u00a0Ukrainian People’s Republic<\/a>\u00a0(UNR<\/i>, the predecessor of modern Ukraine, was declared on 23 June 1917 proclaimed at first as a part of the Russian Republic; after the\u00a0Bolshevik Revolution<\/a>, the Ukrainian People’s Republic proclaimed its independence on 25 January 1918), the\u00a0Hetmanate<\/a>, the\u00a0Directorate<\/a>\u00a0and the Bolshevik\u00a0Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic<\/a>\u00a0(or Soviet Ukraine) successively established territories in the former Russian Empire; while the\u00a0West Ukrainian People’s Republic<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Hutsul Republic<\/a>\u00a0emerged briefly in the Ukrainian lands of former Austro-Hungarian territory.<\/sup><\/p>\n

The short-lived\u00a0Act Zluky<\/a>\u00a0(Unification Act) was an agreement signed on 22 January 1919 by the\u00a0Ukrainian People’s Republic<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0West Ukrainian People’s Republic<\/a>\u00a0on the\u00a0St. Sophia Square<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Kyiv<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0This led to civil war, and an\u00a0anarchist<\/a>\u00a0movement called the\u00a0Black Army<\/a>\u00a0(later renamed to\u00a0The Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine<\/a>) developed in Southern Ukraine under the command of the anarchist\u00a0Nestor Makhno<\/a>\u00a0during the\u00a0Russian Civil War<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0They protected the operation of “free soviets<\/a>” and\u00a0libertarian<\/a>\u00a0communes<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0Free Territory<\/a>, an attempt to form a\u00a0stateless<\/a>\u00a0anarchist<\/a>\u00a0society from 1918 to 1921 during the\u00a0Ukrainian Revolution<\/a>, fighting both the tsarist\u00a0White Army<\/a>\u00a0under\u00a0Denikin<\/a>\u00a0and later the\u00a0Red Army<\/a>\u00a0under\u00a0Trotsky<\/a>, before being defeated by the latter in August 1921.<\/p>\n

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Polish troops enter Kyiv in May 1920 during the Polish\u2013Soviet War<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Poland defeated Western Ukraine in the\u00a0Polish-Ukrainian War<\/a>, but failed against the Bolsheviks in\u00a0an offensive against Kyiv<\/a>. According to the\u00a0Peace of Riga<\/a>, western Ukraine was incorporated into Poland, which in turn recognized the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in March 1919. With establishment of the Soviet power, Ukraine lost half of its territory, while Moldavian autonomy was established on the left bank of the Dniester<\/a>\u00a0River. Ukraine became a founding member of the\u00a0Union of Soviet Socialist Republics<\/a> in December 1922.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Western Ukraine, Carpathian Ruthenia and Bukovina:<\/span><\/h3>\n
The war in Ukraine continued for another two years; by 1921, however, most of Ukraine had been taken over by the Soviet Union, while Galicia and Volhynia (mostly today’s\u00a0West Ukraine<\/a>) were incorporated into the\u00a0Second Polish Republic<\/a>. Modern-day\u00a0Bukovina<\/a>\u00a0was annexed by Romania and\u00a0Carpathian Ruthenia<\/a>\u00a0was admitted to the\u00a0Czechoslovak Republic<\/a> as an autonomy.<\/div>\n
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Hutsuls\u00a0living in\u00a0Verkhovyna,\u00a0c.\u20091930<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A powerful underground Ukrainian nationalist movement arose in eastern Poland in the 1920s and 1930s, which was formed by Ukrainian veterans of the <\/span>Ukrainian-Soviet war<\/a>\u00a0(including\u00a0<\/span>Yevhen Konovalets<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Andriy Melnyk<\/a>, and\u00a0<\/span>Yuriy Tyutyunyk<\/a>) and was transformed into the\u00a0<\/span>Ukrainian Military Organization<\/a>\u00a0and later the\u00a0<\/span>Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN)<\/a>. The movement attracted a militant following among students. Hostilities between Polish state authorities and the popular movement led to a substantial number of fatalities, and the autonomy which had been promised was never implemented. The pre-war Polish government also exercised\u00a0<\/span>anti-Ukrainian sentiment<\/a>; it restricted rights of people who declared Ukrainian nationality, belonged to the\u00a0<\/span>Eastern Orthodox Church<\/a>\u00a0and inhabited the\u00a0<\/span>Eastern Borderlands<\/a>.<\/span><\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0<\/span>Ukrainian language<\/a>\u00a0was restricted in every field possible, especially in governmental institutions, and the term “Ruthenian” was enforced in an attempt to ban the use of the term “Ukrainian”.<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Despite this, a number of Ukrainian parties, the Ukrainian Catholic Church, an active press, and a business sector existed in Poland. Economic conditions improved in the 1920s, but the region suffered from the\u00a0<\/span>Great Depression<\/a> in the early 1930s.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Inter-war Soviet Ukraine<\/span><\/h3>\n
The <\/span>Russian Civil War<\/a>\u00a0devastated the whole\u00a0<\/span>Russian Empire<\/a>\u00a0including Ukraine. It left over 1.5 million people dead and hundreds of thousands homeless in the former Russian Empire territory. Soviet Ukraine also faced the\u00a0<\/span>Russian famine of 1921<\/a>\u00a0(primarily affecting the Russian\u00a0<\/span>Volga<\/a>–<\/span>Ural<\/a>\u00a0region).<\/span><\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0During the 1920s,<\/span><\/sup> under the Ukrainization policy pursued by the national Communist leadership of <\/span>Mykola Skrypnyk<\/a>, Soviet leadership encouraged a national renaissance in the\u00a0<\/span>Ukrainian culture<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>language<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>Ukrainization<\/a>\u00a0was part of the Soviet-wide policy of\u00a0<\/span>Korenization<\/a>\u00a0(literally\u00a0<\/span>indigenisation<\/i>).<\/span>[81]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0The Bolsheviks were also committed to\u00a0<\/span>universal health care<\/a>, education and social-security benefits, as well as the right to work and housing.<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<\/span>Women’s rights<\/a> were greatly increased through new laws. <\/span>Most of these policies were sharply reversed by the early 1930s after\u00a0<\/span>Joseph Stalin<\/a>\u00a0became the\u00a0<\/span>de facto<\/i> communist party leader.<\/span><\/div>\n
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The Dnieper Hydroelectric Station under construction, around 1930<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Starting from the late 1920s with a\u00a0centrally planned economy<\/a>, Ukraine was involved in\u00a0Soviet industrialization<\/a>\u00a0and the republic’s industrial output quadrupled during the 1930s.<\/sup>\u00a0The peasantry suffered from the\u00a0program of collectivization<\/a>\u00a0of agriculture which began during and was part of the\u00a0first five-year plan<\/a>\u00a0and was enforced by regular troops and\u00a0secret police<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Those who resisted were\u00a0arrested and deported<\/a>\u00a0and agricultural productivity greatly declined. As members of the collective farms were sometimes not allowed to receive any grain until unrealistic quotas were met, millions starved to death in a\u00a0famine<\/a>\u00a0known as the\u00a0Holodomor<\/a> or the “Great Famine”.<\/p>\n

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A starved man on the streets of Kharkiv, 1933.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Scholars are divided as to whether this famine fits the definition of\u00a0genocide<\/a>, but the\u00a0Ukrainian parliament<\/a>\u00a0and the governments of other countries have acknowledged it as such.<\/sup><\/p>\n

The Communist leadership perceived famine as a means of class struggle and used starvation as a punishment tool to force peasants into collective farms.<\/p>\n

Largely the same groups were responsible for the mass killing operations during the civil war, collectivization, and the Great Terror<\/a>. These groups were associated with\u00a0Yefim Yevdokimov<\/a>\u00a0(1891\u20131939) and operated in the Secret Operational Division within General State Political Administration (OGPU<\/a>) in 1929\u201331. Yevdokimov transferred into Communist Party administration in 1934, when he became Party secretary for\u00a0North Caucasus Krai<\/a>. He appears to have continued advising Joseph Stalin and\u00a0Nikolai Yezhov<\/a> on security matters, and the latter relied on Yevdokimov’s former colleagues to carry out the mass killing operations that are known as the Great Terror in 1937\u201338.<\/p>\n

On 13 January 2010, Kyiv Appellate Court posthumously found Stalin,\u00a0Kaganovich<\/a>\u00a0and other Soviet Communist Party functionaries guilty of\u00a0genocide<\/a> against Ukrainians during the Holodomor famine.<\/p>\n

World War II<\/span><\/h3>\n
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Following the\u00a0Invasion of Poland<\/a>\u00a0in September 1939,\u00a0German<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Soviet<\/a>\u00a0troops divided the territory of Poland. Thus, Eastern\u00a0Galicia<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Volhynia<\/a> with their Ukrainian population became part of Ukraine. For the first time in history, the nation was united.<\/sup><\/p>\n

In 1940, the Soviets annexed\u00a0Bessarabia<\/a>\u00a0and northern\u00a0Bukovina<\/a>. The Ukrainian SSR incorporated the northern and southern districts of Bessarabia, northern Bukovina, and the\u00a0Hertsa region<\/a>. But it ceded the western part of the\u00a0Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic<\/a>\u00a0to the newly created\u00a0Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic<\/a>. These territorial gains of the USSR were internationally recognized by the\u00a0Paris peace treaties of 1947<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Territorial evolution of the\u00a0Ukrainian SSR, 1922\u20131954<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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German armies<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>invaded the Soviet Union<\/a>\u00a0on 22 June 1941, initiating nearly four years of\u00a0<\/span>total war<\/a>. The\u00a0<\/span>Axis<\/a>\u00a0initially advanced against desperate but unsuccessful efforts of the\u00a0<\/span>Red Army<\/a>. In the encirclement\u00a0<\/span>battle of Kyiv<\/a>, the city was acclaimed as a “<\/span>Hero City<\/a>“, because of its fierce\u00a0<\/span>resistance<\/a>. More than 600,000 Soviet soldiers (or one-quarter of the\u00a0<\/span>Soviet Western Front<\/a>) were killed or taken captive there, with many suffering\u00a0<\/span>severe mistreatment<\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Although the majority of Ukrainians fought in or alongside the Red Army and\u00a0Soviet resistance<\/a>,<\/sup>\u00a0in Western Ukraine an independent\u00a0Ukrainian Insurgent Army<\/a>\u00a0movement arose (UPA, 1942). Created as armed forces of the underground (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists<\/a>, OUN)\u00a0which had developed in\u00a0interwar Poland<\/a>\u00a0as a reactionary nationalist organization. During the interwar period, the\u00a0Polish government’s policies towards the Ukrainian minority<\/a>\u00a0were initially very accommodating, however by the late 1930s they became increasingly harsh due to civil unrest. Both organizations, OUN and UPA supported the goal of an\u00a0independent Ukrainian state<\/a>\u00a0on the territory with a Ukrainian ethnic majority. Although this brought conflict with Nazi Germany, at times the\u00a0Melnyk<\/a>\u00a0wing of the OUN allied with the Nazi forces. Beginning in mid-1943 and lasting until the end of the war, UPA carried out\u00a0massacres of ethnic Poles<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0Volhynia<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Eastern Galicia<\/a>\u00a0regions, killing around 100,000 Polish civilians,<\/sup>\u00a0which brought reprisals.<\/sup> The organized massacres were an attempt by OUN to create a homogeneous Ukrainian state without a Polish minority living within its borders, and to prevent the post-war Polish state from asserting its sovereignty over areas that had been part of prewar Poland.\u00a0<\/sup>After the war, the UPA continued to fight the USSR until the 1950s.\u00a0At the same time, the\u00a0Ukrainian Liberation Army<\/a>, another nationalist movement, fought alongside the Nazis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Marshal\u00a0Timoshenko<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In total, the number of ethnic Ukrainians who fought in the ranks of the Soviet Army is estimated from 4.5 million to 7 million. The\u00a0pro-Soviet partisan<\/a>\u00a0guerrilla resistance in Ukraine is estimated to number at 47,800 from the start of occupation to 500,000 at its peak in 1944, with about 50% being ethnic Ukrainians.<\/sup> Generally, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army’s figures are unreliable, with figures ranging anywhere from 15,000 to as many as 100,000 fighters.<\/sup><\/p>\n

Most of the Ukrainian SSR was organized within the Reichskommissariat Ukraine<\/a>, with the intention of exploiting its resources and eventual German settlement. Some western Ukrainians, who had only joined the Soviet Union in 1939, hailed the Germans as liberators. Brutal German rule eventually turned their supporters against the Nazi administrators, who made little attempt to exploit dissatisfaction with Stalinist policies.\u00a0Instead, the Nazis preserved the collective-farm system, carried out\u00a0genocidal policies<\/a>\u00a0against\u00a0Jews<\/a>,\u00a0deported millions of people to work in Germany<\/a>, and began a depopulation program to prepare for German colonization.<\/sup> They blockaded the transport of food on the Kyiv River.<\/p>\n

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Kyiv suffered significant damage during World War I<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The vast majority of the fighting in World War II took place on the\u00a0Eastern Front<\/a>. By some estimates, 93% of all German casualties took place there.\u00a0The\u00a0total losses<\/a>\u00a0inflicted upon the Ukrainian population during the war are estimated at about 6 million,<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0including an estimated one and a half million Jews killed by the\u00a0Einsatzgruppen<\/a>,<\/sup> sometimes with the help of local collaborators. Of the estimated 8.6 million Soviet troop losses,\u00a01.4\u00a0million were ethnic\u00a0Ukrainians<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Victory Day<\/a> is celebrated as one of ten Ukrainian national holidays. The losses of the Ukrainian people in the war amounted to 40-44% of the total losses of the USSR.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Post\u2013World War II<\/span><\/h3>\n
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The republic was heavily damaged by the war, and it required significant efforts to recover. More than 700 cities and towns and 28,000 villages were destroyed.<\/sup>\u00a0The situation was worsened by a\u00a0famine<\/a>\u00a0in 1946\u201347, which was caused by a drought and the wartime destruction of infrastructure. The death toll of this famine varies, with even the lowest estimate in the tens of thousands.<\/sup>\u00a0In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the founding members of the\u00a0United Nations<\/a> organization,\u00a0part of a special agreement at the\u00a0Yalta Conference<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Post-war\u00a0ethnic cleansing<\/a>\u00a0occurred in the newly expanded Soviet Union. As of 1 January 1953, Ukrainians were second only to Russians among adult “special deportees<\/a>“, comprising 20% of the total.<\/sup>\u00a0In addition, over 450,000 ethnic\u00a0Germans<\/a>\u00a0from Ukraine and more than 200,000\u00a0Crimean Tatars<\/a>\u00a0were victims of\u00a0forced deportations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sergey Korolyov, a native of\u00a0Zhytomyr, the head\u00a0Soviet rocket engineer\u00a0and designer during the\u00a0Space Race<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Following the death of\u00a0Stalin<\/a>\u00a0in 1953,\u00a0Nikita Khrushchev<\/a>\u00a0became the new leader of the USSR. Having served as First Secretary of the\u00a0Communist Party of Ukrainian SSR<\/a>\u00a0in 1938\u201349, Khrushchev was intimately familiar with the republic; after taking power union-wide, he began to emphasize “the friendship” between the Ukrainian and Russian nations. In 1954, the 300th anniversary of the\u00a0Treaty of Pereyaslav<\/a>\u00a0was widely celebrated.\u00a0Crimea<\/a>\u00a0was\u00a0transferred<\/a>\u00a0from the\u00a0Russian SFSR<\/a>\u00a0to the\u00a0Ukrainian SSR<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By 1950, the republic had fully surpassed pre-war levels of industry and production.<\/sup>\u00a0During the 1946\u20131950\u00a0five-year plan<\/a>, nearly 20% of the Soviet budget was invested in Soviet Ukraine, a 5% increase from pre-war plans. As a result, the Ukrainian workforce rose 33.2% from 1940 to 1955 while industrial output grew 2.2 times in that same period.<\/p>\n

Soviet Ukraine soon became a European leader in industrial production, and an important center of the Soviet\u00a0arms industry<\/a>\u00a0and high-tech research. Such an important role resulted in a major influence of the local elite. Many members of the Soviet leadership came from Ukraine, most notably\u00a0Leonid Brezhnev<\/a>. He later ousted Khrushchev and became the Soviet leader from 1964 to 1982. Many prominent Soviet sports players, scientists, and artists came from Ukraine.<\/p>\n

On 26 April 1986, a reactor in the\u00a0Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant<\/a>\u00a0exploded, resulting in the\u00a0Chernobyl disaster<\/a>, the worst\u00a0nuclear reactor<\/a>\u00a0accident in history.<\/sup>\u00a0This was the only accident to receive the highest possible rating of 7 by the\u00a0International Nuclear Event Scale<\/a>, indicating a “major accident”, until the\u00a0Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster<\/a>\u00a0in March 2011.<\/sup> At the time of the accident, 7 million people lived in the contaminated territories, including 2.2 million in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Two future leaders of the\u00a0Soviet Union,\u00a0Nikita Khrushchev\u00a0(pre-war\u00a0CPSU\u00a0chief in Ukraine) and\u00a0Leonid Brezhnev\u00a0(an engineer from\u00a0Kamianske), depicted together<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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After the accident, the new city of <\/span>Slavutych<\/a>\u00a0was built outside the exclusion zone to house and support the employees of the plant, which was decommissioned in 2000. A report prepared by the\u00a0<\/span>International Atomic Energy Agency<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>World Health Organization<\/a> attributed 56 direct deaths to the accident and estimated that there may have been 4,000 extra cancer deaths.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Independence:<\/span><\/h3>\n

On 16 July 1990, the new parliament adopted the\u00a0Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0This established the principles of the self-determination, democracy, independence, and the priority of Ukrainian law over Soviet law. A month earlier, a\u00a0similar declaration<\/a>\u00a0was adopted by the parliament of the\u00a0Russian SFSR<\/a>. This started a period of confrontation with the central Soviet authorities. In August 1991, a faction among the Communist leaders of the Soviet Union\u00a0attempted a coup<\/a>\u00a0to remove\u00a0Mikhail Gorbachev<\/a>\u00a0and to restore the Communist party’s power. After it failed, on 24 August 1991 the Ukrainian parliament adopted the\u00a0Act of Independence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0referendum<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0first presidential elections<\/a>\u00a0took place on 1 December 1991. More than 90% of the electorate expressed their support for the Act of Independence, and they elected the chairman of the parliament,\u00a0Leonid Kravchuk<\/a>\u00a0as the first\u00a0President of Ukraine<\/a>. At the\u00a0meeting in Brest<\/a>, Belarus on 8 December, followed by the\u00a0Alma Ata<\/a>\u00a0meeting on 21 December, the leaders of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine formally dissolved the Soviet Union and formed the\u00a0Commonwealth of Independent States<\/a>\u00a0(CIS).<\/sup>\u00a0On 26 December 1991 the Council of Republics of the USSR Supreme Council adapted declaration “In regards to creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States” (Russian<\/a>:\u00a0\u0412 \u0441\u0432\u044f\u0437\u0438 \u0441 \u0441\u043e\u0437\u0434\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0435\u043c \u0421\u043e\u0434\u0440\u0443\u0436\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0430 \u041d\u0435\u0437\u0430\u0432\u0438\u0441\u0438\u043c\u044b\u0445 \u0413\u043e\u0441\u0443\u0434\u0430\u0440\u0441\u0442\u0432<\/span>) which de jure dissolved the\u00a0Soviet Union<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Soviet flag<\/a>\u00a0was lowered over\u00a0the Kremlin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk and President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin signed the Belavezha Accords, dissolving the Soviet Union, on 8 December 1991.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Ukraine was initially viewed as having favorable economic conditions in comparison to the other regions of the Soviet Union.<\/sup>\u00a0However, the country experienced deeper economic slowdown than some of the other\u00a0former Soviet Republics<\/a>. During the recession, Ukraine lost 60% of its GDP from 1991 to 1999, and suffered five-digit inflation rates.Dissatisfied with the economic conditions, as well as the amounts of crime and\u00a0corruption in Ukraine<\/a>, Ukrainians protested and organized strikes.<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian economy stabilized by the end of the 1990s. A new currency, the\u00a0hryvnia<\/a>, was introduced in 1996. After 2000, the country enjoyed steady\u00a0real economic growth<\/a> averaging about seven\u00a0percent annually.\u00a0A new\u00a0Constitution of Ukraine<\/a>\u00a0was adopted under second President\u00a0Leonid Kuchma<\/a>\u00a0in 1996, which turned Ukraine into a\u00a0semi-presidential republic<\/a> and established a stable political system. Kuchma was, however, criticized by opponents for corruption,\u00a0electoral fraud<\/a>, discouraging free speech and concentrating too much power in his office. Ukraine also pursued full nuclear disarmament, giving up the third largest nuclear weapons stockpile in the world and dismantling or removing all strategic bombers on its territory in exchange for various assurances.<\/sup><\/p>\n

Orange Revolution:<\/span><\/h3>\n
In 2004,\u00a0Viktor Yanukovych<\/a>, then Prime Minister, was declared the winner of the\u00a0presidential elections<\/a>, which had been largely rigged, as the\u00a0Supreme Court of Ukraine<\/a>\u00a0later ruled.<\/sup>\u00a0The results caused a public outcry in support of the opposition candidate,\u00a0Viktor Yushchenko<\/a>, who challenged the outcome. During the tumultuous months of the revolution, candidate Yushchenko\u00a0suddenly became gravely ill<\/a>, and was soon found by multiple independent physician groups to have been poisoned by\u00a0TCDD dioxin<\/a>. Yushchenko strongly suspected Russian involvement in his poisoning.\u00a0All of this eventually resulted in the peaceful\u00a0Orange Revolution<\/a>, bringing Viktor Yushchenko and\u00a0Yulia Tymoshenko<\/a> to power, while casting Viktor Yanukovych in opposition.<\/div>\n
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Protesters at\u00a0Independence Square\u00a0on the first day of the\u00a0Orange Revolution<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Activists of the Orange Revolution were funded and trained in tactics of political organization and nonviolent resistance<\/a> by Western pollsters and professional consultants who were partly funded by Western government and non-government agencies but received most of their funding from domestic sources.\u00a0According to\u00a0The Guardian<\/a><\/i>, the foreign donors included the\u00a0U.S. State Department<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0USAID<\/a>\u00a0along with the\u00a0National Democratic Institute for International Affairs<\/a>, the\u00a0International Republican Institute<\/a>, the\u00a0NGO<\/a>\u00a0Freedom House<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0George Soros<\/a>‘s\u00a0Open Society Institute<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0National Endowment for Democracy<\/a>\u00a0has supported democracy-building efforts in Ukraine since 1988.<\/sup>\u00a0Writings on\u00a0nonviolent struggle<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Gene Sharp<\/a> contributed in forming the strategic basis of the student campaigns.<\/p>\n

Russian authorities provided support through advisers such as\u00a0Gleb Pavlovsky<\/a>, consulting on blackening the image of Yushchenko through the state media, pressuring state-dependent voters to vote for Yanukovych and on vote-rigging techniques such as multiple “carousel voting<\/a>” and “dead souls” voting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Yulia Tymoshenko\u00a0(right),\u00a0Angela Merkel\u00a0and\u00a0Mikhail Saakashvili<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Yanukovych returned to power in 2006 as Prime Minister in the <\/span>Alliance of National Unity<\/a>,<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0until\u00a0<\/span>snap elections in September 2007<\/a>\u00a0made Tymoshenko Prime Minister again.<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Amid the\u00a0<\/span>2008\u201309 Ukrainian financial crisis<\/a>\u00a0the Ukrainian economy plunged by 15%.<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<\/span>Disputes with Russia<\/a> briefly stopped all gas supplies to Ukraine in 2006 and again in 2009, leading to gas shortages in other countries.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Viktor Yanukovych<\/a>\u00a0was\u00a0<\/span>elected President in 2010<\/a> with 48% of votes.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Euromaidan and 2014 revolution<\/span><\/h3>\n
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The <\/span>Euromaidan<\/a> protests started in November 2013 after the president,\u00a0<\/span>Viktor Yanukovych<\/a>, began moving away from an association agreement that had been in the works with the\u00a0<\/span>European Union<\/a> and instead chose to establish closer ties with the Russian Federation.<\/span>\u00a0Some Ukrainians took to the streets to show their support for closer ties with Europe.<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Meanwhile, in the predominantly Russian-speaking east, a large portion of the population opposed the\u00a0<\/span>Euromaidan<\/i>\u00a0protests, instead supporting the Yanukovych government.<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Over time,\u00a0<\/span>Euromaidan<\/i>\u00a0came to describe a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine,<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0the scope of which evolved to include calls for the resignation of President Yanukovych and\u00a0<\/span>his government<\/a>.<\/span><\/sup><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Pro-EU demonstration in Kyiv, 27 November 2013, during the Euromaidan protests<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Violence escalated after 16 January 2014 when the government accepted new\u00a0Anti-Protest Laws<\/a>. Violent anti-government demonstrators occupied buildings in the center of Kyiv, including the Justice Ministry building, and riots left 98 dead with approximately fifteen thousand injured and 100 considered missing from 18 to 20 February.\u00a0On 21 February, President Yanukovych signed a compromise deal with opposition leaders that promised constitutional changes to restore certain powers to Parliament and called for early elections to be held by December.<\/sup>\u00a0However, Members of Parliament voted on 22 February to remove the president and set\u00a0an election<\/a>\u00a0for 25 May to select his replacement.<\/sup>\u00a0Petro Poroshenko<\/a>, running on a pro-European Union platform, won with over fifty percent of the vote, therefore not requiring a run-off election. Upon his election, Poroshenko announced that his immediate priorities would be to take action in the civil unrest in Eastern Ukraine and mend ties with the Russian Federation.\u00a0Poroshenko was inaugurated as president on 7 June 2014, as previously announced by his spokeswoman Irina Friz in a low-key ceremony without a celebration on\u00a0Kyiv<\/a>‘s\u00a0Maidan Nezalezhnosti<\/a>\u00a0(Independence Square, the centre of the\u00a0Euromaidan<\/a>\u00a0protests<\/sup>) for the ceremony.\u00a0In October 2014\u00a0Parliament elections<\/a>,\u00a0Petro Poroshenko Bloc “Solidarity”<\/a> won 132 of the 423 contested seats.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Civil unrest, Russian intervention, and annexation of Crimea:<\/span><\/h3>\n
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Separately, in the <\/span>Donetsk<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Luhansk<\/a>\u00a0regions, armed men declaring themselves as local militia supported with pro-Russian protesters<\/span><\/sup> seized government buildings, police and special police stations in several cities and held unrecognized <\/span>status referendums<\/a>.<\/span> The insurgency was led by Russian emissaries\u00a0<\/span>Igor Girkin<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Alexander Borodai <\/a>as well as militants from\u00a0<\/span>Russia<\/a>, such as\u00a0<\/span>Arseny Pavlov<\/a>.<\/span><\/sup>The ousting<\/sup> of Yanukovych prompted Vladimir Putin to begin preparations to annex Crimea on 23 February 2014. Using the Russian naval base at Sevastopol as cover, Putin directed Russian troops and intelligence agents to disarm Ukrainian forces and take control of Crimea. After the troops entered Crimea, a controversial\u00a0referendum<\/a>\u00a0was held on 16 March 2014 and the official result was that 97 percent wished to join with Russia.<\/sup>\u00a0On 18 March 2014, Russia and the self-proclaimed Republic of Crimea signed a\u00a0treaty of accession of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol<\/a>\u00a0in the Russian Federation. The UN general assembly responded by passing\u00a0resolution 68\/262<\/a> that the referendum was invalid and supporting the territorial integrity of Ukraine.<\/sup><\/p>\n

Talks in\u00a0Geneva<\/a>\u00a0between the EU, Russia, Ukraine, and the United States yielded a Joint Diplomatic Statement referred to as the\u00a02014 Geneva Pact<\/a>[200]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0in which the parties requested that all unlawful militias lay down their arms and vacate seized government buildings, and also establish a political dialogue that could lead to more autonomy for Ukraine’s regions. When\u00a0Petro Poroshenko<\/a> won the presidential election held on 25 May 2014, he vowed to continue the military operations by the Ukrainian government forces to end the armed insurgency. More than 9,000 people have been killed in the military campaign.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Pro-Russian protesters in\u00a0Donetsk, 8 March 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
In August 2014, a bilateral commission of leading scholars from the United States and Russia issued the Boisto Agenda indicating a 24-step plan to resolve the crisis in Ukraine.<\/sup>\u00a0The Boisto Agenda was organized into five imperative categories for addressing the crisis requiring stabilization identified as: (1) Elements of an Enduring, Verifiable Ceasefire; (2) Economic Relations; (3) Social and Cultural Issues; (4) Crimea; and, (5) International Status of Ukraine.<\/sup>\u00a0In late 2014, Ukraine ratified the\u00a0Ukraine\u2013European Union Association Agreement<\/a>, which Poroshenko described as Ukraine’s “first but most decisive step” towards EU membership.<\/sup>\u00a0Poroshenko also set 2020 as the target for\u00a0EU membership application<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Crimea<\/a>, which Russia annexed in 2014, is shown in pink. Pink in the\u00a0Donbas<\/a>\u00a0area represents areas held by the\u00a0DPR<\/a>\/LPR<\/a>\u00a0separatists in September 2014 (cities in red).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In February 2015, after a\u00a0<\/span>summit hosted in Belarus<\/a>, Poroshenko negotiated a ceasefire with the separatist troops. This included conditions such as the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the front line and decentralization of rebel regions by the end of 2015. It also included conditions such as Ukrainian control of the border with Russia in 2015 and the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Ukrainian territory. The ceasefire began at midnight on 15 February 2015. Participants in this ceasefire also agreed to attend regular meetings to ensure that the agreement is respected.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

On 1 January 2016, Ukraine joined the\u00a0Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area<\/a>\u00a0with European Union,<\/sup>\u00a0which aims to modernize and develop Ukraine’s economy, governance and rule of law to EU standards and gradually increase integration with the EU\u00a0Internal market<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Then, on 11 May 2017 the European Union approved visa-free travel for Ukrainian citizens: this took effect from 11 June entitling Ukrainians to travel to the\u00a0Schengen area<\/a> for tourism, family visits and business reasons, with the only document required being a valid biometric passport.<\/p>\n

The\u00a02019 Ukrainian presidential election<\/a>\u00a0was held on\u00a031 March<\/a>\u00a0and 21 April in a\u00a0two-round system<\/a>. There were a total of 39 candidates for the election on the\u00a0ballot<\/a>. The\u00a02014 annexation<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Crimea<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Russia<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0occupation<\/a>\u00a0of parts of\u00a0Donetsk Oblast<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Luhansk Oblast<\/a>\u00a0prevented around 12% of eligible voters from participating in the election. As no candidate received an\u00a0absolute majority<\/a>\u00a0of the vote, a second round was held between the top two candidates,\u00a0Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a>, who played the role of Ukraine’s president in a popular television comedy and the incumbent president,\u00a0Petro Poroshenko<\/a>, on 21 April 2019. According to the\u00a0Central Election Commission<\/a>, Zelensky won the second round with 73.22% of the votes.<\/p>\n

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OSCE SMM monitoring the movement of heavy weaponry in eastern Ukraine, 4 March 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Snap elections<\/a>\u00a0to the Ukrainian parliament were held on 21 July 2019.<\/sup>\u00a0Originally scheduled to be held at the end of October, these elections were brought forward after newly inaugurated\u00a0President<\/a>\u00a0Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a>\u00a0dissolved parliament on 21 May 2019, during his inauguration.<\/sup>\u00a0The election result was the one-party majority, a novelty in Ukraine, for President Zelensky’s\u00a0Servant of the People<\/a>\u00a0party with 254 seats.<\/sup>\u00a0About 80 percent of the elected candidates were new to parliament; 83 deputies managed to get reelected from\u00a0the previous parliament<\/a>\u00a0and 13 deputies from earlier convocations.<\/sup>\u00a0All deputies from Servant of the People were political newcomers.<\/sup> 61 percent of the new MPs had never before been engaged in politics.<\/p>\n

Geography:<\/span><\/h2>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Ukraine is a large country in\u00a0Eastern Europe<\/a>, lying mostly in the\u00a0East European Plain<\/a>. It is the\u00a0second-largest European country<\/a>, after Russia. It covers an area of 603,628 square kilometers (233,062 sq mi) and with a coastline of 2,782 kilometers (1,729 mi).<\/sup><\/p>\n

The landscape of Ukraine consists mostly of fertile plains (or\u00a0steppes<\/a>) and plateaus, crossed by rivers such as the\u00a0Dnieper<\/a>\u00a0(Dnipro<\/i>),\u00a0Seversky Donets<\/a>,\u00a0Dniester<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Southern Bug<\/a>\u00a0as they flow south into the\u00a0Black Sea<\/a>\u00a0and the smaller\u00a0Sea of Azov<\/a>. To the southwest, the\u00a0delta<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0Danube<\/a>\u00a0forms the border with Romania. Ukraine’s various regions have diverse geographic features ranging from the highlands to the lowlands. The country’s only mountains are the\u00a0Carpathian Mountains<\/a>\u00a0in the west, of which the highest is the\u00a0Hora Hoverla<\/a>\u00a0at 2,061 metres (6,762\u00a0ft), and the\u00a0Crimean Mountains<\/a>\u00a0on Crimea, in the extreme south along the coast.<\/sup>\u00a0However Ukraine also has a number of highland regions such as the\u00a0Volyn-Podillia Upland<\/a>\u00a0(in the west) and the Near-Dnipro Upland (on the right bank of Dnieper); to the east there are the south-western spurs of the\u00a0Central Russian Upland<\/a>\u00a0over which runs the border with the Russian Federation. Near the\u00a0Sea of Azov<\/a>\u00a0can be found the Donets Ridge and the Near Azov Upland. The\u00a0snow melt<\/a>\u00a0from the mountains feeds the rivers, and natural changes in altitude form sudden drops in elevation and give rise to\u00a0waterfalls<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Topographic Map of Ukraine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Significant natural resources in Ukraine include iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt, sulphur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin<\/a>, nickel, mercury, timber and an abundance of arable land. Despite this, the country faces a number of major environmental issues such as inadequate supplies of potable water; air- and water-pollution and deforestation, as well as radiation contamination in the north-east from the\u00a01986 accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant<\/a>.\u00a0Recycling toxic household waste<\/a> is still in its infancy in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Economy:<\/h2>\n

Ukraine has a lower-middle income economy, which is the\u00a055th-largest in the world<\/a>\u00a0by nominal GDP, and the\u00a040th-largest<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0PPP<\/a>. It is one of the world’s largest\u00a0grain exporters<\/a>,\u00a0and is sometimes called the “Breadbasket<\/a>\u00a0of Europe”.<\/sup>\u00a0However, the country is the\u00a0poorest in Europe<\/a>\u00a0alongside\u00a0Moldova<\/a>, and is also among the\u00a0most severely corrupt<\/a>\u00a0in the continent.<\/sup><\/sup>\u00a0According to the IMF, Ukraine’s GDP per capita by PPP is $13,943.<\/sup> In 2019, the average nominal salary in Ukraine reached \u20b410,000 hryvnias per month or around \u20ac300, while in 2018, Ukraine’s median wealth per adult was $40, one of the lowest in the world.\u00a0Approximately 1.1% of Ukrainians lived\u00a0below the national poverty line<\/a>\u00a0in 2019,<\/sup>\u00a0and unemployment in the country was 4.5% in 2019,<\/sup>\u00a0while some 5-15% of the Ukrainian population is categorized as middle class.<\/sup>\u00a0As of September 2020, Ukraine’s\u00a0government debt<\/a> is roughly 52% of its nominal GDP.<\/p>\n

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Ukraine Exports Treemap<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ukraine produces nearly all types of transportation vehicles and\u00a0spacecraft<\/a>.\u00a0Antonov<\/a>\u00a0airplanes and\u00a0KrAZ<\/a>\u00a0trucks are exported to many countries. The majority of Ukrainian exports are marketed to the\u00a0European Union<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0CIS<\/a>.<\/sup>\u00a0Since independence, Ukraine has maintained its own space agency, the\u00a0State Space Agency of Ukraine<\/a>\u00a0(SSAU). Ukraine became an active participant in scientific space exploration and remote sensing missions. Between 1991 and 2007, Ukraine has launched six self made\u00a0satellites<\/a>\u00a0and 101\u00a0launch vehicles<\/a>, and continues to design spacecraft.<\/sup><\/sup><\/sup><\/p>\n

Ukraine produces and processes its own natural gas and\u00a0petroleum<\/a>. However, the country imports most of its energy supplies, and 80% of Ukraine’s natural gas supplies are imported, mainly from Russia.<\/p>\n

Transportation:<\/h2>\n

In total, Ukrainian paved roads stretch for 164,732 kilometres (102,360\u00a0mi).<\/sup> Major routes, marked with the letter ‘M’ for ‘International’, extend nationwide and connect all major cities of Ukraine, and provide cross-border routes to the country’s neighbors. There are only two true motorway<\/a>\u00a0standard highways in Ukraine; a 175-kilometre (109-mile) stretch of motorway from\u00a0Kharkiv<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0Dnipro<\/a>\u00a0and a section of the M03 which extends 18\u00a0km (11\u00a0mi) from\u00a0Kyiv<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0Boryspil<\/a>, where the city’s\u00a0international airport<\/a> is located.<\/p>\n

Rail transport in Ukraine<\/a>\u00a0connects all major urban areas, port facilities and\u00a0industrial centers<\/a> with neighboring countries. The heaviest concentration of\u00a0railway track<\/a>\u00a0is the\u00a0Donbas<\/a>\u00a0region of Ukraine. Although\u00a0rail freight transport<\/a>\u00a0fell in the 1990s, Ukraine is still one of the\u00a0world’s highest rail users<\/a>.<\/sup> The total amount of railroad track in Ukraine extends for 22,473 kilometers (13,964 mi), of which 9,250 kilometers (5,750 mi) was electrified in the 2000s.<\/sup>\u00a0Currently the state has a monopoly on the provision of passenger rail transport, and all trains, other than those with cooperation of other foreign companies on international routes, are operated by its company ‘Ukrzaliznytsia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The Kharkiv\u2013Dnipro motorway (M18)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Kyiv Boryspil<\/a>\u00a0is the county’s largest international airport; it has three main passenger terminals and is the base for the country’s flag carrier,\u00a0<\/span>Ukraine International Airlines<\/a>. Other large airports in the country include those in\u00a0<\/span>Kharkiv<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Lviv<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Donetsk<\/a>\u00a0(now destroyed), whilst those in\u00a0<\/span>Dnipro<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Odessa<\/a>\u00a0have plans for terminal upgrades in the near future. In addition to its flag carrier, Ukraine has a number of airlines including\u00a0<\/span>Windrose Airlines<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Dniproavia<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Azur Air Ukraine<\/a>, and\u00a0<\/span>AtlasGlobal Ukraine<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>Antonov Airlines<\/a>, a subsidiary of the Antonov Aerospace Design Bureau is the only operator of the world’s largest fixed wing aircraft, the\u00a0<\/span>An-225<\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

International maritime travel is mainly provided through the\u00a0Port of Odessa<\/a>, from where ferries sail regularly to\u00a0Istanbul<\/a>,\u00a0Varna<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Haifa<\/a>. The largest ferry company presently operating these routes is\u00a0Ukrferry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Flag of Ukraine:<\/h2>\n

The\u00a0flag of\u00a0Ukraine<\/a>\u00a0is a banner of two equally sized horizontal bands of blue and yellow (Constitution of Ukraine<\/a>,\u00a0Article 20<\/a>). The top represents sky and the yellow represents wheat. The combination of blue and yellow as a symbol of Ukrainian lands comes from the flag of the\u00a0Kingdom of Galicia\u2013Volhynia<\/a>\u00a0used in the 12th century.<\/p>\n

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Flag of Ukraine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a\u00a0national flag<\/a>, the blue and yellow bicolour has been officially used since the 1848\u00a0Spring of Nations<\/a>, when it was hoisted over the\u00a0Lviv Rathaus<\/a>. It was officially adopted as a state flag for the first time in 1918 by the short-lived\u00a0West Ukrainian People’s Republic<\/a>\u00a0and subsequently used by the\u00a0Ukrainian People’s Republic<\/a>. When Ukraine was part of the\u00a0Soviet Union<\/a>, the flag was outlawed and, before 1949, there was no official state flag until adoption of the red-azure\u00a0flag of the Ukrainian SSR<\/a>. The blue and yellow flag was provisionally adopted for official ceremonies in September 1991 following\u00a0Ukrainian independence<\/a>, before finally officially being restored on 28 January 1992 by the\u00a0parliament of Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The flag of Ukraine is a banner of two equally sized horizontal bands of blue and yellow (Constitution of Ukraine, Article 20). The top represents sky and the yellow represents wheat. The combination of blue and yellow as a symbol of Ukrainian lands comes from the flag of the Kingdom of Galicia\u2013Volhynia used in the 12th century. As a national flag, the blue and yellow bicolour has been officially used since the 1848 Spring of Nations, when it was hoisted over the Lviv Rathaus. It was officially adopted as a state flag for the first time in 1918 by the short-lived West Ukrainian People’s Republic and subsequently used by the Ukrainian People’s Republic. When Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, the flag was outlawed and, before 1949, there was no official state flag until adoption of the red-azure flag of the Ukrainian SSR. The blue and yellow flag was provisionally adopted for official ceremonies in September 1991 following Ukrainian independence, before finally officially being restored on 28 January 1992 by the parliament of Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[59,26,5,6,7,18,153,60],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9128"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9128"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9584,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9128\/revisions\/9584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}