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 ultimately 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 ultimately 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 a middle power 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
- 23 September 2024 – Russo–Ukrainian war
- August 2024 Kursk Oblast incursion
- The Russian Foreign Ministry reports that at least 56 Russian civilians were killed and 266 more were wounded by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kursk Oblast, which the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry denies as Russian propaganda. (Reuters)
- 22 September 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Zaporizhzhia strikes
- At least 16 people are injured in Russian airstrikes in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. (Reuters)
- 21 September 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Kharkiv strikes
- Twenty-one people are injured when a Russian guided bomb hits an apartment building in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (Reuters)
- 20 September 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant crisis
- Russian management at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant accuses the Armed Forces of Ukraine of creating threats to the plant's safety by launching a drone to attack a nearby electrical substation. (Reuters)
- 20 September 2024 – Ukraine–European Union relations
- President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announces a loan of up to €35 billion (US$39 billion) for Ukraine in military and energy support following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's drafting of a new victory plan against Russia. (Reuters)
- 18 September 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Featured pictures
Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that Love, a sculpture by Ukrainian artist Alexander Milov, represents two wire-frame adults who appear to be alienated, but inside their bodies two children reach out to each other?
- ... that the Malyuk rifle was originally developed as a private venture under a contract with the Security Service of Ukraine?
- ... that Volodymyr Kozhukhar, the chief conductor of the National Opera of Ukraine in Kyiv, led Lysenko's opera Taras Bulba and Shchedrin's ballet Carmen Suite?
- ... that more than 200 Nobel Prize laureates have signed a letter against the war in Ukraine?
- ... that Ruslana Pysanka, who hosted a Ukrainian television program with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, died as a refugee in Germany?
- ... that street artist TVBoy, known for his murals of footballers in Barcelona, painted uplifting art in regions of Kyiv ahead of the one-year anniversary of the 2022 Russian invasion?
More did you know -
- ... 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 Vasyl Avramenko is often referred as "The father of the Ukrainian dance"?
- ... 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 Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych (pictured), known for the "Carol of the Bells", was nicknamed "Ukrainian Bach" in France?
- ... that the Khreschatyk is the main street of Ukrainian capital Kyiv on which Orange Revolution and other historical events mainly took place?
- ... that Ukrainian naturalist, lecturer, artist and author John Lhotsky was credited as the first discoverer of gold in New South Wales?
Selected article -
Crimea (/kraɪˈmiːə/ kry-MEE-ə) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukraine. To the east, the Crimean Bridge, constructed in 2018, spans the Strait of Kerch, linking the peninsula with Krasnodar Krai in Russia. The Arabat Spit, located to the northeast, is a narrow strip of land that separates the Syvash lagoons from the Sea of Azov. Across the Black Sea to the west lies Romania and to the south is Turkey. The population is 2.4 million, and the largest city is Sevastopol. The region has been under Russian occupation since 2014.
Called the Tauric Peninsula until the early modern period, Crimea has historically been at the boundary between the classical world and the steppe. Greeks colonized its southern fringe and were absorbed by the Roman and Byzantine Empires and successor states while remaining culturally Greek. Some cities became trading colonies of Genoa, until conquered by the Ottoman Empire. Throughout this time the interior was occupied by a changing cast of steppe nomads, coming under the control of the Golden Horde in the 13th century from which the Crimean Khanate emerged as a successor state. In the 15th century, the Khanate became a dependency of the Ottoman Empire. Lands controlled by Russia and Poland-Lithuania were often the target of slave raids during this period. In 1783, after the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774), the Russian Empire annexed Crimea. Crimea's strategic position led to the 1854 Crimean War and many short lived regimes following the 1917 Russian Revolution. When the Bolsheviks secured Crimea, it became an autonomous soviet republic within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. It was occupied by Germany during World War II. When the Soviets retook it in 1944, Crimean Tatars were ethnically cleansed and deported under the orders of Joseph Stalin, in what has been described as a cultural genocide. Crimea was downgraded to an oblast in 1945. In 1954, the USSR transferred the oblast to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on the 300th anniversary of the Pereyaslav Treaty in 1654. (Full article...)In the news
- 23 September 2024 – Russo–Ukrainian war
- August 2024 Kursk Oblast incursion
- The Russian Foreign Ministry reports that at least 56 Russian civilians were killed and 266 more were wounded by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kursk Oblast, which the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry denies as Russian propaganda. (Reuters)
- 22 September 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Zaporizhzhia strikes
- At least 16 people are injured in Russian airstrikes in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. (Reuters)
- 21 September 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Kharkiv strikes
- Twenty-one people are injured when a Russian guided bomb hits an apartment building in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (Reuters)
- 20 September 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant crisis
- Russian management at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant accuses the Armed Forces of Ukraine of creating threats to the plant's safety by launching a drone to attack a nearby electrical substation. (Reuters)
- 20 September 2024 – Ukraine–European Union relations
- President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announces a loan of up to €35 billion (US$39 billion) for Ukraine in military and energy support following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's drafting of a new victory plan against Russia. (Reuters)
- 18 September 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Selected anniversaries for September
- September 4, 1985 — Vasyl Stus died of beating in a Soviet forced labor camp for political prisoners near the village of Kuchino, Perm Oblast, Russian SFSR.
- September 14, 1911 — Dmitry Bogrov shot and killed the Russian Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin in the Kiev Opera theater in front of Tsar Nicholas II.
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