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 country in Europe after Russia, which borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the north; Poland and Slovakia to the west; Hungary, Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and 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.
Humans have inhabited Ukraine since 32,000 BC. During the Middle Ages, it was the site of early Slavic expansion and later became a key centre of East Slavic culture under the state of Kievan Rus', which emerged in the 9th century. Kievan Rus' became the largest and most powerful realm in Europe in the 10th and 11th centuries, but gradually disintegrated into rival regional powers before being destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century. The area was then contested, divided, and ruled by a variety of external powers for the next 600 years, including the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Kingdom of Poland, 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 before being absorbed by the Russian Empire in the late 19th century. 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 in 1922. In the early 1930s, millions of Ukrainians died in the Holodomor, a human-made famine. During World War II, Ukraine was occupied by Germany and endured major battles and atrocities, resulting in 7 million 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 as the country transitioned to a free market liberal democracy amid endemic corruption and a legacy of state control. The Orange Revolution of 2004–2005 ushered electoral and constitutional reforms. Resurgent political crises prompted a series of mass demonstrations in 2014 known as the Euromaidan, leading to a revolution, at the end of which Russia unilaterally occupied and annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, and pro-Russian unrest culminated in a war in Donbas with Russian-backed separatists and Russia. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. (Full article...)
In the news
- 7 February 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Battle of Toretsk
- Russia says its forces have taken full control of Toretsk, Donetsk Oblast, after months of urban warfare. (Reuters)
- 6 February 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Attacks on civilians during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Three people are killed in a Russian guided bomb attack that destroyed a residential building in Myropillia, Sumy Oblast, Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials. (Reuters)
- Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War
- The Ukrainian Air Force receives the first shipment of Mirage 2000 fighter jets from France and more F-16 Fighting Falcons from the Netherlands. (DW)
- 4 February 2025 – Russo-Ukrainian War
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russian attacks on civilians in the Russo-Ukrainian War
- A Russian missile strikes a residential building in Izium, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine, killing four people and injuring twenty others. (Ukrainska Pravda)
- Peace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Featured pictures
Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that Monika Buczkowska, who, as a student in Poznań, performed as Mozart's Susanna, was a soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at a charity concert for Ukraine at the Alte Oper?
- ... that Mali and Niger broke off diplomatic relations with Ukraine over the country's alleged support for rebel groups in the Battle of Tinzaouaten?
- ... that Valeriy Chybineyev was honored as a Hero of Ukraine in 2016 for his actions during the war in Donbas?
- ... that the historian and political journalist Lancelot Lawton addressed a House of Commons committee in London in 1935, beginning: "The chief problem in Europe to-day is the Ukrainian problem"?
- ... that after the Russian invasion, the daughter of the Ukrainian ambassador to Indonesia was evacuated together with Indonesian citizens in Ukraine?
- ... that Ukrainian museum director Horpyna Vatchenko forced the Hermitage Museum to abide by its agreement and return the Kernosovskiy idol after a loan?
More did you know -
- ... that journalist Savik Shuster who used to work for Russian TV channels now prefers to work for the Ukrainian TV because he felt the Russian Government was limiting his journalistic freedom?
- ... that the Kryvbas economic region in Ukraine is one of the largest iron ore and steel industry centers in Europe?
- ... that Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych (pictured), known for the "Carol of the Bells", was nicknamed "Ukrainian Bach" in France?
- ... that Ukrainian naturalist, lecturer, artist and author John Lhotsky was credited as the first discoverer of gold in New South Wales?
- ... that the married Western Ukrainian Clergy became a hereditary caste that dominated western Ukrainian society?
- ... 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 -
Little Russia, also known as Lesser Russia, Malorussia, or Little Rus', is a geographical and historical term used to describe Ukraine.
At the beginning of the 14th century, the patriarch of Constantinople accepted the distinction between what it called the eparchies of Megalē Rosiia (lit. 'Great Rus, Great Russia') and Mikrà Rosiia (lit. 'Little Rus, Little Russia'). The jurisdiction of the latter became the metropolis of Halych in 1303. The specific meaning of the adjectives "Great" and "Little" in this context is unclear. It is possible that terms such as "Little" and "Lesser" at the time simply meant geographically smaller and/or less populous, or having fewer eparchies. Another possibility is that it denoted a relationship similar to that between a homeland and a colony (just as "Magna Graecia" denoted a Greek colony). (Full article...)
In the news
- 7 February 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Battle of Toretsk
- Russia says its forces have taken full control of Toretsk, Donetsk Oblast, after months of urban warfare. (Reuters)
- 6 February 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Attacks on civilians during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Three people are killed in a Russian guided bomb attack that destroyed a residential building in Myropillia, Sumy Oblast, Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials. (Reuters)
- Military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War
- The Ukrainian Air Force receives the first shipment of Mirage 2000 fighter jets from France and more F-16 Fighting Falcons from the Netherlands. (DW)
- 4 February 2025 – Russo-Ukrainian War
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russian attacks on civilians in the Russo-Ukrainian War
- A Russian missile strikes a residential building in Izium, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine, killing four people and injuring twenty others. (Ukrainska Pravda)
- Peace negotiations in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Selected anniversaries for February
- February 4, 1945—February 11, 1945 — Yalta Conference was held between the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union; Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin, respectively.
- February 10, 1995 — the first prototype of the Ukrainian Antonov An-70 transport aircraft crashed during a test flight in Kyiv Oblast.
- February 23, 1954 — Viktor Yushchenko, a former President of Ukraine, was born in Khoruzhivka, Sumy Oblast.
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