Ukraine

Region: Europe

Official language: Ukrainian

Population: 35,661,826 (2024 est.)

Nationality: Ukrainian(s) (noun), Ukrainian (adjective)

Land area: 579,330 sq km (223,680 sq miles)

Water area: 24,220 sq km (9,351 sq miles)

Capital: Kyiv

National anthem: "Shche ne vmerla Ukraina" (Ukraine Has Not Yet Perished), by Paul Chubynskyi/Mikhail Verbytskyi

National holiday: Independence Day, August 24 (1991); note - January 22, 1918, the day Ukraine first declared its independence (from Soviet Russia) and the day the short-lived Western and Greater (Eastern) Ukrainian republics united (1919), is now celebrated as Unity Day

Population growth: 2.38% (2024 est.)

Time zone: UTC +2

Flag: The Ukrainian flag features two equal and horizontal stripes: blue (azure) on the top and golden yellow on the bottom. The blue represents the sky; the yellow represents fields of grain.

Independence: August 24, 1991 (from the Soviet Union); notable earlier dates: ca. 982 Volodymyr I consolidates Kyivan Rus), 1648 (establishment of Cossack Hetmanate)

Government type: republic

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Legal system: civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts

The name Ukraine means "borderland." The country shares boundaries with a number of other countries in southeastern Europe. Ukraine is bordered by Belarus on the north and Russia on the north and east. The Black Sea forms a natural border in the south, with Moldova and Romania located to the southwest. Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland share boundaries with Ukraine in the west.

Ukraine became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991. It has been called the "breadbasket" of the Eastern European region. Ukrainian athletes, including the award-winning figure skater Viktor Petrenko, have met with much success in the Olympic Games.

Ukraine has been in conflict with Russia since early 2014, when Russia invaded Ukraine, held what the Ukrainian government and many other nations consider to be an illegitimate referendum, and illegally annexed Crimea. Ukraine maintains that Crimea is still Ukrainian, while Russia supports separatists in the eastern part of Ukraine. A cease-fire agreement signed in September 2014 did not stop the fighting. In February 2015, Ukraine, Russia, and Germany negotiated a peace agreement known as the Minsk Agreements, but some fighting between Ukrainian forces and separatists continued in eastern Ukraine in the Donbas region.

Then, in February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine following a military buildup along the Russia-Ukraine border the previous year. The war continued throughout 2023, by which point tens of thousands of combatants, as well as civilians, had been killed and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians had fled the country.

Note: unless otherwise indicated, statistical data in this article is sourced from the CIA World Factbook, as cited in the bibliography.

People and Culture

Population: While Ukrainians make up the majority of the population of Ukraine, there are a variety of other ethnic groups living there. Russians are the largest minority group. Other groups include Belarusians, Moldovans, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Jews, Poles, Romanians, and Crimean Tatars. Indigenous minority groups include the Boiky, the Hutsuly, and the Dolyniany, which are descended from ancient Slavic tribes.

In the context of Ukrainian culture, there are diverse folk traditions and customs. While Ukrainian, a Slavic language, is the official language of Ukraine, Russian is also frequently used. More than two-thirds of the population in Ukraine lives in towns and urban areas.

The region of Crimea has a special status in the constitution. Russians make up the majority of Crimea's population, and most did not wish to remain part of Ukraine. In 1992 Crimea seceded from Ukraine and created its own constitution as an autonomous region within the country, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, although it remained part of Ukraine. In 2014 Russian forces invaded the Crimean Peninsula. Two weeks after the Russian invasion, a referendum regarding the integration of Crimea into Russia was held, which was deemed illegitimate by Ukraine, the United States, the European Union, and the UN General Assembly.

Ukraine is primarily a Christian country. Tradition asserts that the first Christians were baptized in Ukraine in 988. Religious groups faced persecution under Soviet rule, when many clerics were forced to flee the country or were imprisoned. Today, there are a number of Christian denominations in the country. Up to two-thirds of the Christians in Ukraine identify themselves as Orthodox, which includes Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox, Ukrainian Orthodox-Kyiv Patriarchate, and the Ukrainian Orthodox-Moscow Patriarchate. Christian denominations also include Ukrainian Greek Catholic, Roman Catholic, and Protestant. Other religions practiced in Ukraine include Judaism and Islam (2013 estimates).

Indigenous People: Modern Ukrainians are eastern European people of Slavic heritage. Like Russians and Belarusians, Ukrainians are known as Eastern Slavs.

There has been some debate over the origins of the Ukrainian people. One theory states that Ukrainians, Russians, and Belarusians are descended from a single group of ancient Slavic people called the Rus. However, Ukrainians have worked toward distinguishing themselves as a separate ethnic group from Russians and Belarusians. The Ukrainian language is distinct from Russian, and Ukrainian literature and culture are unique.

Jews first settled in the region in the fourth century BCE, primarily in Crimea and along the coast near the Black Sea. Most of the country's Muslims also live in Crimea.

Education: The educational system in Ukraine consists of primary, secondary, and vocational education. Basic primary and secondary education, from preschool through senior high school, takes approximately twelve years to complete. Ukraine's Ministry of Education emphasizes civic and cultural values in education. Citizens have the right to pursue learning to the level they choose.

According to the European Commission, there are more than 350 universities in Ukraine. Prominent ones include Bila Tserkva State Agrarian University, Chernivtsi National University, East Ukrainian Volodymyr Dahl National University, and the Odessa State Maritime Academy. The literacy rate in Ukraine is 100 percent (2021 estimate).

Typically, Ukrainian public schools are coeducational; however, many elite private schools support single-sex education. The country is seeing an increasing number of private secondary schools. Private schools tend to emphasize Ukrainian culture, aesthetics, and folklore more than public schools do. Public schools are more likely than private to have inadequate textbooks and outdated curricula.

Health Care: Health care is a social service provided by the Ukrainian government. State and local budgets provide most of the funding for health services. However, the quality of the health care system in Ukraine is inconsistent, even though the country has many hospitals and medical clinics and a high doctor-patient ratio. The best medical care is found in urban areas.

The Ukrainian government is attempting to improve the health care system, and to guarantee fairness and equality in health care distribution. One strategy is to train more primary care and family practice physicians and health care providers. Ukraine ranked 100 out of 193 countries and territories on the 2022 United Nations Human Development Index.

Food: Ukrainian food is similar to the food found in other Eastern European countries, such as Poland. Common ingredients are potatoes, cabbage, beef, beets, and chicken. One traditional dish is called varenyky (pierogies), which consist of various fillings (often sauerkraut, potato, or cheese) wrapped in a dough pocket.

Holubtsi consist of a rice and beef mixture cooked inside cabbage leaves. Borshch is a soup made from beets, and kovbasa is a type of smoked sausage. A traditional Christmas Eve dessert is kutya, which is made from wheat, poppy seed, and honey.

Arts & Entertainment: Ukraine has a long and rich literary tradition, including philosophy, poetry, and religious writings. While artistic freedom was compromised during Soviet rule, the country has produced a number of talented artists, writers, poets, and musicians.

One of the earliest Ukrainian epic poems is "Slovo o polku Ihorevi" (A Song of Igor's Campaign), which was written in the twelfth century. The region experienced a literary renaissance in the eighteenth century, when authors like Ivan Kotliarevsky (1769–1838), Petro Hulak–Artemovsky (1790–1865), and Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovianenko (1778–1843) began writing in the Ukrainian language.

Taras Shevchenko (1814–61) has been called the greatest Ukrainian poet. He mastered the nineteenth-century romantic style of poetry. Some twentieth-century literary figures include Andrii Holovko (1897–1972), Maksym Rlysky (1895–1964), Ivan Drach (1936–2018), and Lina Kostenko (1930– ).

Ukrainian art has long been influenced by the Byzantine tradition, as well as by classicism and impressionism. The country is home to many famous art schools, including the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture (formerly Ukrainian Academy of Arts) in Kyiv, which was founded in 1917. Alexander Archipenko (1887–1969) was an internationally known Ukrainian artist.

Music has played an important role in Ukrainian folk and religious culture. Folk music traditionally involves stringed instruments, flutes, and woodwinds. Twentieth-century Ukrainian musicians of note include Mykola Leontovych (1877–1921) and Oleksander Koshyts (1875–1944).

Popular sports in Ukraine include football (soccer), volleyball, basketball, and ping-pong. Many Ukrainians also enjoy chess. Hiking and mountaineering remain popular outdoor activities. Ukrainian athletes have been successful participants in the Olympic Games, particularly in events such as gymnastics and figure skating.

Holidays: Christian holidays are very important in Ukrainian culture, including Christmas Eve, Lent, and Holy Week. During the Easter season, special masses are celebrated and Easter eggs, or pysanky, are painted with intricate designs. Ukrainian Independence Day is commemorated on August 24.

Environment and Geography

Topography: Ukraine consists primarily of four vegetative zones: forest, forest-steppe, steppe, and Mediterranean. There are vast plains and plateaus. There are two major mountain ranges in the country: the Carpathian Mountains are located in the southwest, and the Crimean Mountains on the Crimean peninsula. The Crimean Riviera has a number of beaches and bays with tourist resorts.

The country's largest rivers are the Dnieper, Dniester, and the Boh. The Dnieper is the longest river in Ukraine, measuring 1,095 kilometers (680 miles) long from the Belarusian border to the Black Sea. There are a few shallow lakes in the northwest and in south.

Ukraine is known for its many springs. There are healthful mineral springs throughout the country, as well as carbon dioxide springs in the Carpathians and Caucasus. Radioactive springs can be found on the shores of the Black Sea.

Natural Resources: One of Ukraine's most visible resources is its expanse of fertile agricultural land. Beneath the surface are deposits of coal, iron ore, natural gas, and petroleum.

Ukraine is also rich in minerals such as rock salt, sulfur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, and mercury. Precious stones found in Ukraine include topaz, quartz, agate, opal, and garnet. Timber is also harvested there.

Plants & Animals: Ukraine has thousands of species of plants in its various vegetation zones. The forests consist primarily of oak, beech, and hornbeam. Evergreen trees such as juniper, silver fir, and pine are common in the mountain regions. In addition to large expanses of pastureland, Ukraine also contains high mountain meadows. Plants like fig, olive, orange, and lemon trees grow in the country's Mediterranean zone.

There are tens of thousands of animal species in Ukraine, although the country has few native species. Among the larger mammals are elk, lynx, brown bear, and white hare. Bird species such as the capercaillie, black grouse, and hazel hens are also common. Ukraine is home to several bat species, such as the lesser mouse-eared bat and the long-winged bat.

In 1986 the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl exploded in northern Ukraine. This disaster contaminated nearby soil and vegetation with radiation, and Ukraine is still working to repair the environmental damage. Nature preserves in Ukraine include the Askania Nova state park and the Kanivskyi Reserve. The site was captured by the Russian military in late February 2022, leading to power outages that risked further radiation leaks and environmental damage.

Climate: Ukraine experiences a moderate climate that varies according to region. Typically, the south and west are warmer, while the north and east are cooler. The country has four seasons and an annual winter snowfall, although most precipitation occurs during summer. Ukraine receives over 48 centimeters (19 inches) of precipitation per year.

The country's mountain regions have a mountain climate, while areas in southern Crimea are Mediterranean. Summer temperatures average 18 to 20 degrees Celsius (65 to 69 degrees Fahrenheit); winter temperatures are regularly below freezing.

Economy

Ukraine has been a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank since 1992. Widespread poverty and economic decline occurred in the 1990s, but the nation's economy improved in the early twenty-first century before contracting severely in 2009. Growth resumed, but obstacles to widespread successful economic growth, including bureaucracy and corruption, remain a problem. New challenges have emerged since the conflict between Ukraine and Russia began in early 2014, which put an end to financial assistance worth US$15 billion that Ukraine was due to receive from Russia and caused the loss of a significant portion of Ukraine's heavy industry. The two countries waged a trade war that deeply hurt Ukraine's economy, leading the IMF and other international organizations to send billions of dollars in assistance packages. Slow economic growth resumed in 2016 as certain reforms were implemented and the European Union (EU) replaced Russia as Ukraine's chief trading partner.

However, the country's economy faced major challenges in the early 2020s, first with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, followed by the Russian invasion in early 2022, which caused widespread damage to Ukrainian infrastructure and also pulled tens of thousands of people out of civilian jobs and into the war effort.

In 2021 Ukraine's gross domestic product (GDP) in terms of purchasing power parity was an estimated US$746.471 billion; by 2023, the GDP had fallen to $559.981 billion. The estimated per capita GDP in 2023 year was $16,200.

Industry: A significant portion of Ukraine's GDP is based on industry, while the services sector accounts for a far larger section of the economy. Major industries include the manufacture of coal, ferrous and nonferrous metals and products, electric power, chemicals, food processing, and machinery. Machinery that is manufactured in the country includes airplanes, turbines, metallurgical equipment, diesel locomotives, and tractors.

While not a major sector of the national economy, fisheries and fish canning are important to local economies. Ukraine is known for fish such as sturgeon, herring, carp, pike, and anchovies, found in the country's rivers, the Black Sea, and the Sea of Azov. The lumber industry supports a number of paper manufacturers.

Agriculture: During Joseph Stalin's regime in the mid-twentieth century, when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, farming was collectivized and controlled by the state. The country continues to work to update farming practices and to find environmentally friendly methods of farming.

Ukraine has fertile soil and has historically been an important source of food in the Eastern European region. Major crops include grain, sugar beets, sunflower seeds, and vegetables. The country has historically been a major producer of beef in the region. However, Ukraine's ability to export agricultural products was impacted by the Russian invasion in 2022, which contributed to increased food prices and a higher risk of food insecurity in many countries that relied on Ukrainian imports.

Tourism: The Ukrainian-Russian conflict dampened Ukraine's tourism industry in 2014 and 2015, although the industry soon began to recover. Travel and tourism overall contributed 5.9 percent of the nation's total GDP in 2019, and about 6.2 percent of jobs in the country were connected to the travel and tourism industry. About 15 million international tourists were projected to visit Ukraine in 2019. However, tourism plummeted in the early 2020s; the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 brought most international tourism to a halt, and the Russian invasion of 2022 made much of the country unsafe for visitors.

There are a number of beaches, spas, and resorts in the country, especially near the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. By the late 2010s, the country saw increasing numbers of tourists from Western Europe, who often visited to go skiing in the Carpathian Mountains or to cycle through the scenic countryside, although this trend largely ended during the early 2020s.

Government

In the seventeenth century, the region that is now Ukraine was partitioned between three countries: the tsarist Russian empire, Austria, and Hungary. The Russian Revolution of 1917 saw several groups emerge in the name of Ukrainian independence, although the Ukrainian people were not granted autonomy by the new Russian government.

In spite of a long history of partition and foreign occupation, Ukrainians have worked toward preserving their national and cultural identity. This depended in large part on establishing Ukrainians as a unique, distinct people. Religion, language, and culture were important tools in building a national identity, as was resistance to non-Ukrainian ethnic groups occupying what were considered Ukrainian lands.

During the years that the country was controlled by the Soviet Union (1922–91), Ukraine was known as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. It was considered the homeland of ethnic Ukrainians, and non-Ukrainians (particularly Poles) faced ethnic cleansing within its borders.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Soviet Union's control over Ukraine weakened, and its ability to govern began to deteriorate. One of the obstacles to independence was the number of Russian-speaking citizens in Ukraine; another problem was the dominance of the Communist Party.

On August 24, 1991, nearly all of the members of the Rada voted in favor of independence. In December 1992, a referendum was held in which the Ukrainian people voted overwhelmingly in support of national independence. While elections in Ukraine have been carried out successfully, there have been instances of illegal activity, such as coercion of voters and candidates and abuse of absentee ballots.

Ukraine became a semi-presidential republic. The president is the chief of state while the prime minister heads the parliament. Ukraine's parliament is known as the Supreme Council or Verkhovna Rada; it has 450 elected members who serve five-year terms. The Supreme Court of Ukraine and the Constitutional Court are the highest courts in the country; a High Anti-Corruption Court was created in 2019. Suffrage in Ukraine is universal at age eighteen.

The country's constitution, which was adopted and ratified in 1996, guarantees freedom of speech, religion, and the press. However, the state has been known to try to control media outlets through intimidation. While the constitution does not deny rights to ethnic minorities, it prioritizes the social and political development of the Ukrainian culture.

In 2013, Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych started pulling away from trade and cooperation with the European Union. After the government used force against pro–European Union protesters, activists occupied Kyiv's central square for several months until government forces used violence to dismantle the activists' camp. Violence escalated and the pro-Russian Yanukovych left Ukraine for Russia in March 2014. Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion, illegitimate referendum, and subsequent annexation of Crimea. Elections were subsequently held and pro-Western president Petro Poroshenko took office on June 7, 2014. Elections were next held in March and April 2019, with Volodymyr Zelensky, a former actor and director, beating Poroshenko to become president.

Following the Russian annexation of Crimea, the separatist states of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) emerged in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. The largely unrecognized governments of the DPR and LPR consisted of pro-Russian nationalists seeking independence from Ukraine and were considered terrorist organizations by the Ukrainian government. Following a period of Russian troop buildup along the Russia-Ukraine border that began in March 2021 and intensified that November, Russia recognized the DPR and LPR as sovereign states on February 21, 2022, and ordered troops into the Donbas region.

Then, on February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion was unexpectedly strong, with heavy fighting erupting around the capital of Kyiv and eastern and southeastern Ukraine. Russian troops invaded from both the north of Ukraine through Russia and Belarus, as well as through Crimea from the east. After a period of intense conflict, the Ukrainian military successfully repelled Russian forces from Kyiv at the end of March 2022, after which the fighting largely shifted into the heavily contested Donbas region to the east. By May 2022, the Russian military claimed it had completely overtaken the critical port city of Mariupol after a deadly two–month battle, but elsewhere in the Donbas, they only made incremental gains in the face of heavy Ukrainian resistance and high casualties.

Meanwhile, legal disputes over the status of certain Ukrainian territories continued. In October 2022 Putin signed a decree which formally annexed four Ukrainian territories—Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia—even though the Ukrainian military had already recaptured some of the territory claimed by Russia in this decree. At that time those territories remained legally part of Ukraine; however, in the areas its military still occupied, Russia worked to establish political, legal, and other systems which would align the region with other territories in Russia.

The war continued to rage throughout 2023 as Ukraine recaptured significant territory and the Russian military suffered a number of major setbacks. Meanwhile, casualties, while impossible to verify, continued to mount. By December 2023 the United Nations had confirmed that at least 9,600 Ukrainian civilians had been killed in the conflict, and the United States government estimated that at least tens of thousands of soldiers on each side had been killed in action.

Interesting Facts

• Instead of exchanging gifts on Christmas like people in many Christian cultures, Ukrainian families typically give gifts on New Year's Day.
• In 1240, Mongolian tribes led by Batu Khan, who was Genghis Khan's grandson, captured the city of Kyiv and ruled there for a century.
• The Golden Gates of Kyiv are the country's oldest historical monument. The city celebrated its 1,500th anniversary in 1982, although archeological evidence suggests that it may have been founded in the sixth or seventh century.
• Ukraine is home to seven UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Bibliography

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Sullivan, Becky, and Laurel Wamsley. "Mariupol has Fallen to Russia. Here's What That Means for Ukraine." NPR, 19 May 2022, www.npr.org/2022/05/18/1099885151/mariupol-falls-ukraine-russia-what-it-means. Accessed 8 Apr. 2022.

"Ukraine." Human Development Reports, United Nations Development Programme, 13 Mar. 2024, hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/UKR. Accessed 7 Jan. 2025.

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