Portal:Ukraine

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The Ukraine Portal - Портал України

Ukraine
Україна (Ukrainian)
ISO 3166 codeUA

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. 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

18 April 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Foreign involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Germany arrests two German-Russian nationals for an alleged military sabotage plot on behalf of Russia to undermine military support for Ukraine. (Reuters)
17 April 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
April 2024 Chernihiv missile strike
At least 18 people are killed and 60 others are injured in a Russian missile strike which damaged an eight-storey building in a densely populated area of Chernihiv. (BBC News) (Reuters)
16 April 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signs a new army draft law. (Reuters)
13 April 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
The Russian Ministry of Defence claims that the village of Pervomaiske near Donetsk has been captured by Russian troops. (Barron's)
12 April 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
Russia launches drone strikes across Ukraine. Critical infrastructure is damaged in Kherson Oblast and a fire occurs at the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station in Zaporizhzhia causing around half a tonne of oil products to leak into the Dnieper river. (Reuters) (Ukrainska Pravda)
11 April 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Mykolaiv strikes
At least four people are killed and five others are injured in a Russian missile strike in Mykolaiv. (Reuters)

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Ukraine's borders were declared by the Ukrainian People's Republic delegation at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919-20.

Ukraine emerged as the concept of a nation, and the Ukrainians as a nationality, with the Ukrainian National Revival which began in the late 18th and early 19th century. The first wave of national revival is traditionally connected with the publication of the first part of "Eneyida" by Ivan Kotlyarevsky (1798). In 1846, in Moscow the "Istoriya Rusov ili Maloi Rossii" (History of Ruthenians or Little Russia) was published. During the Spring of Nations, in 1848 in Lemberg (Lviv) the Supreme Ruthenian Council was created which declared that Galician Ruthenians were part of the bigger Ukrainian nation. The council adopted the yellow and blue flag, the current Ukrainian flag.

Ukraine first declared its independence with the invasion of Bolsheviks in late 1917. Following the conclusion of World War I and with the Peace of Riga, Ukraine was partitioned once again between Poland and the Bolshevik Russia. The Bolshevik-occupied portion of the territory became the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, with some boundary adjustments. (Full article...)
List of selected articles

In the news

18 April 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Foreign involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Germany arrests two German-Russian nationals for an alleged military sabotage plot on behalf of Russia to undermine military support for Ukraine. (Reuters)
17 April 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
April 2024 Chernihiv missile strike
At least 18 people are killed and 60 others are injured in a Russian missile strike which damaged an eight-storey building in a densely populated area of Chernihiv. (BBC News) (Reuters)
16 April 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signs a new army draft law. (Reuters)
13 April 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
The Russian Ministry of Defence claims that the village of Pervomaiske near Donetsk has been captured by Russian troops. (Barron's)
12 April 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
Russia launches drone strikes across Ukraine. Critical infrastructure is damaged in Kherson Oblast and a fire occurs at the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station in Zaporizhzhia causing around half a tonne of oil products to leak into the Dnieper river. (Reuters) (Ukrainska Pravda)
11 April 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Mykolaiv strikes
At least four people are killed and five others are injured in a Russian missile strike in Mykolaiv. (Reuters)

Selected anniversaries for April

Naval Ensign of Ukraine (1918)
Naval Ensign of Ukraine (1918)
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