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, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; and 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; Russian is also widely spoken, especially in the east and south.
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 marked on maps as "Ukraine, land of the Cossacks", 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. Nonetheless, Ukraine is a major middle power and possesses the sixth largest and one of the best-funded armed forces in the world. The Ukrainian Armed Forces also operates one of the largest and most diverse drone fleet 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
- 2 June 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russia accuses NATO and the U.S. of "provoking a new level of tension" after some allies let Ukraine's military use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russia. (BBC News)
- 1 June 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
- Russia launches missile and drone strikes across Ukraine, injuring at least four people and damaging critical infrastructure, including energy facilities. Ukraine says that it shot down 35 of 53 missiles and 46 of 47 drones. (Reuters)
- 31 May 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Ukraine launches missile and drone strikes across Krasnodar Krai, Russia, injuring two people and damaging several oil refineries. (Reuters)
- Kharkiv strikes
- At least three people are killed and 16 others are injured when Russian missiles hit civilian infrastructure in Kharkiv. (Reuters)
- Treatment of prisoners of war in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Ukraine and Russia announce their first exchange of prisoners of war in nearly four months, with 150 people freed following negotiations mediated by the United Arab Emirates. (Reuters)
- 30 May 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War
Featured pictures
Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that a Ukrainian soldier has written a song dedicated to the Turkish combat drone Bayraktar TB2?
- ... that a recent cyberattack on Ukrainian websites was disguised as ransomware?
- ... that Yulia Tolopa, a single mother from Russia, has fought for Ukraine in the war in Donbas since she was 18 years old?
- ... that military volunteer Maria Berlinska led the report that let women hold combat positions in the Ukrainian military?
- ... that the 1885 spiritual anthem Prayer for Ukraine was performed by a choir from New York on Saturday Night Live?
- ... that the Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York, founded in 1949 by immigrants, first toured Ukraine in 1990?
More did you know -
- ... 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 at its first years Kiev Zoo had to move its animals into the food storage of the main Kiev railway station for the winter?
- ... 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 the Kryvbas economic region in Ukraine is one of the largest iron ore and steel industry centers in Europe?
- ... 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?
Selected article -
The Rus', also known as Russes, were a people in early medieval Eastern Europe. The scholarly consensus holds that they were originally Norsemen, mainly originating from present-day Sweden, who settled and ruled along the river-routes between the Baltic and the Black Seas from around the 8th to 11th centuries AD. In the 9th century, they formed the state of Kievan Rusʹ, where the ruling Norsemen along with local Finnic tribes gradually assimilated into the East Slavic population, with Old East Slavic becoming the common spoken language. Old Norse remained familiar to the elite until their complete assimilation by the second half of the 11th century, and in rural areas, vestiges of Norse culture persisted as late as the 14th and early 15th centuries, particularly in the north.
The history of the Rus' is central to 9th through 10th-century state formation, and thus national origins, in Eastern Europe. They ultimately gave their name to Russia and Belarus, and they are relevant to the national histories of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Because of this importance, there is a set of alternative so-called "Anti-Normanist" views that are largely confined to a minor group of Eastern European scholars. (Full article...)In the news
- 2 June 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russia accuses NATO and the U.S. of "provoking a new level of tension" after some allies let Ukraine's military use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russia. (BBC News)
- 1 June 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
- Russia launches missile and drone strikes across Ukraine, injuring at least four people and damaging critical infrastructure, including energy facilities. Ukraine says that it shot down 35 of 53 missiles and 46 of 47 drones. (Reuters)
- 31 May 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Ukraine launches missile and drone strikes across Krasnodar Krai, Russia, injuring two people and damaging several oil refineries. (Reuters)
- Kharkiv strikes
- At least three people are killed and 16 others are injured when Russian missiles hit civilian infrastructure in Kharkiv. (Reuters)
- Treatment of prisoners of war in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Ukraine and Russia announce their first exchange of prisoners of war in nearly four months, with 150 people freed following negotiations mediated by the United Arab Emirates. (Reuters)
- 30 May 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War
Selected anniversaries for June
- June 4, 1920 — Treaty of Trianon was signed between the Allied and Associated Powers and Hungary signed at the Grand Trianon Palace at Versailles, France.
- June 28, 1996 - is a public holiday honoring the adoption of the Constitution in Ukraine by the Verkhovna Rada
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