Portal:Ukraine
The Ukraine Portal - Портал України
Ukraine Україна (Ukrainian) | |
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ISO 3166 code | UA |
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which borders it to the east and northeast. It also borders Belarus to the north; Poland and Slovakia to the west; Hungary, Romania and Moldova to the southwest; with a coastline along the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to the south and southeast. Kyiv is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Kharkiv, Dnipro, and Odesa. Ukraine's official language is Ukrainian.
During the Middle Ages, Ukraine was the site of early Slavic expansion and the area later became a key centre of East Slavic culture under the state of Kievan Rus', which emerged in the 9th century. The state eventually disintegrated into rival regional powers and was destroyed by the Mongol invasions of the 13th century. The area was then contested, divided, and ruled by a variety of external powers for the next 600 years, including the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austrian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Tsardom of Russia. The Cossack Hetmanate emerged in central Ukraine in the 17th century, but was partitioned between Russia and Poland, and absorbed by the Russian Empire. Ukrainian nationalism developed and, following the Russian Revolution in 1917, the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic was formed. The Bolsheviks consolidated control over much of the former empire and established the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union when it was formed in 1922. In the early 1930s, millions of Ukrainians died in the Holodomor, a human-made famine. The German occupation during World War II in Ukraine was devastating, with 7 million Ukrainian civilians killed, including most Ukrainian Jews.
Ukraine gained independence in 1991 as the Soviet Union dissolved, and declared itself neutral. A new constitution was adopted in 1996. A series of mass demonstrations, known as the Euromaidan, led to the establishment of a new government in 2014 after a revolution. Russia then unilaterally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, and pro-Russian unrest culminated in a war in the Donbas between Russian-backed separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Since the outbreak of war with Russia, Ukraine has continued to seek closer ties with the United States, European Union, and NATO.
Ukraine is a unitary state and its system of government is a semi-presidential republic. A developing country, it is the poorest country in Europe by nominal GDP per capita and corruption remains a significant issue. However, due to its extensive fertile land, pre-war Ukraine was one of the largest grain exporters in the world. Ukraine is considered a middle power in global affairs, and the Ukrainian Armed Force is the fifth largest armed force in the world in terms of both active personnel as well as total number of personnel with the eighth largest defence budget in the world. The Ukrainian Armed Forces also operates one of the largest and most diverse drone fleets in the world. It is a founding member of the United Nations, as well as a member of the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization, and the OSCE. It is in the process of joining the European Union and has applied to join NATO. (Full article...)
In the news
- 5 November 2024 – Russo-Ukrainian War
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Zaporizhzhia strikes
- Six people are killed and at least 20 others are injured in a Russian missile strike on Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. (Reuters)
- Ukrainian Defense Ministry claims that its troops had for the first time engaged with North Korean units recently deployed to help Russia. (DW)
- 4 November 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- 2024 Kursk offensive
- Ukraine says that its forces have engaged North Korean troops for the first time in Kursk Oblast, Russia. (The Independent)
- 3 November 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Eastern Ukraine campaign
- Pokrovsk offensive
- The Russian Ministry of Defense and Ukrainian military news site DeepStateUA report that Russia has captured the settlement of Vyshneve in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, with Russian troops advancing towards Hryhorivka to the west. (Reuters)
- 31 October 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Foreign involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Featured pictures
Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that the Malyuk rifle was originally developed as a private venture under a contract with the Security Service of Ukraine?
- ... that Major-General Andriy Kovalchuk, commander of the 2022 Ukrainian southern counteroffensive, met his wife, a fellow officer, when she chastised him for wearing an unpolished belt buckle?
- ... that Oleksandr Kamyshin, the head of Ukrainian Railways, who runs the iron diplomacy program that brings world leaders to Kyiv by rail, carries his gun and his son's stuffed owl with him?
- ... that the Dvorichna settlement hromada has remained divided between Russia and Ukraine since the 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive?
- ... that following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a diverse group of exiled Russian public figures formed the Anti-War Committee of Russia to unite different political movements to oppose the war?
- ... that 24-year-old Mahasweta Chakraborty of Operation Ganga helped around 800 students return to India during the Russian invasion of Ukraine?
More did you know -
- ... that the longest of the Kiev bridges, the 1,543 metres long Paton Bridge over the Dnieper River, constructed in 1953 was the first fully welded steel construction of such length at that time?
- ... that the married Western Ukrainian Clergy became a hereditary caste that dominated western Ukrainian society?
- ... that the Kryvbas economic region in Ukraine is one of the largest iron ore and steel industry centers in Europe?
- ... 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 the Privat Group is one of the few Ukrainian companies that own industries in the United States?
- ... 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?
Selected article -
Kharkiv (/ˈkɑːrkɪv/ KAR-kiv; Ukrainian: Харків, IPA: [ˈxɑrkiu̯] ), also known as Kharkov (UK: /ˈkɑːrkɒv/ KAR-kov, US: /ˈkɑːrkɔːf/ KAR-kawf; Russian: Харькoв, IPA: [ˈxarʲkəf] ), is the second-largest city in Ukraine. Located in the northeast of the country, it is the largest city of the historic region of Sloboda Ukraine. Kharkiv is the administrative centre of Kharkiv Oblast and Kharkiv Raion. It had a population, before the Russian invasion, of 1,421,125 (2022 estimate).[1]
Kharkiv was founded in 1654 as a fortress, and grew to become a major centre of industry, trade, and Ukrainian culture in Sloboda Ukraine in the multiethnic Russian Empire. At the beginning of the 20th century the city had a predominantly Ukrainian and Russian population, but as industrial expansion drew in further labor from the distressed countryside, and as the Soviet Union moderated previous restrictions on Ukrainian cultural expression, Ukrainians became the largest ethnic group in the city by the eve of World War II. From December 1919 to January 1934, Kharkiv was the capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. (Full article...)
In the news
- 5 November 2024 – Russo-Ukrainian War
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Zaporizhzhia strikes
- Six people are killed and at least 20 others are injured in a Russian missile strike on Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. (Reuters)
- Ukrainian Defense Ministry claims that its troops had for the first time engaged with North Korean units recently deployed to help Russia. (DW)
- 4 November 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- 2024 Kursk offensive
- Ukraine says that its forces have engaged North Korean troops for the first time in Kursk Oblast, Russia. (The Independent)
- 3 November 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Eastern Ukraine campaign
- Pokrovsk offensive
- The Russian Ministry of Defense and Ukrainian military news site DeepStateUA report that Russia has captured the settlement of Vyshneve in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, with Russian troops advancing towards Hryhorivka to the west. (Reuters)
- 31 October 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Foreign involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Selected anniversaries for November
- November 11—November 12, 1918 — Battle of Przemyśl was fought between Polish and Ukrainian forces.
- November 24, 2007 - the official day of remembrance for people who died as a result of Holodomor and political repression.
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Notes
- ^ Чисельність наявного населення України на 1 січня 2022 [Number of Present Population of Ukraine, as of January 1, 2022] (PDF) (in Ukrainian and English). Kyiv: State Statistics Service of Ukraine. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 July 2022.