57 Facts About Ukraine

In 2013, a series of mass demonstrations, known as the Euromaidan, erupted across Ukraine, eventually escalating into the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, which led to the establishment of a new government and pro-Russian unrest.

Since the outbreak of war with Russia in 2014, Ukraine has continued to seek closer economic, political, and military ties with the Western world, including with the United States, European Union, and NATO.

Ukraine is a unitary republic under a semi-presidential system and a developing country, ranking 77th on the Human Development Index.

Ukraine is the poorest country in Europe by nominal GDP per capita, and has high levels of corruption.

However, due to its extensive fertile land, pre-war Ukraine was one of the largest grain exporters in the world.

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Name of Ukraine probably comes from the old Slavic term for "borderland", as does the word krajina.

Ukraine is considered to be the likely location of the first domestication of the horse.

Ukraine was crowned by the papal archbishop as the first king of the newly created Kingdom of Ruthenia in 1253.

The western part of present-day Ukraine was split between Russia and Habsburg-ruled Austria after the fall of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795.

Ukraine joined the Industrial Revolution later than most of Western Europe due to the maintenance of serfdom until 1861.

The Austrian part of Ukraine was particularly destitute, which forced hundreds of thousands of peasants into emigration, who created the backbone of an extensive Ukrainian diaspora in countries such as Canada, the United States and Brazil.

Ukraine plunged into turmoil with the beginning of World War I, and fighting on Ukrainian soil persisted until late 1921.

Meanwhile, the recently constituted Soviet Ukraine became one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union.

Ukraine was one of the most important republics of the Soviet Union, which resulted in many top positions in the Soviet Union occupied by Ukrainians, including notably Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982.

Soviet Ukraine soon became a European leader in industrial production and an important centre of the Soviet arms industry and high-tech research, though heavy industry still had an outsided influence.

Ukraine was initially viewed as having favourable economic conditions in comparison to the other regions of the Soviet Union, though it was one of the poorer Soviet republics by the end of the Soviet Union.

In January 2019, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was recognized as independent of Moscow, which reversed the 1686 decision of the patriarch of Constantinople and dealt a further blow to Moscow's influence in Ukraine.

Finally, amid a full-scale war with Russia, Ukraine was granted candidate status to the European Union on 23 June 2022.

Ukraine has a number of highland regions such as the Volyn-Podillia Upland and the Near-Dnipro Upland .

Significant natural resources in Ukraine include lithium, natural gas, kaolin, timber and an abundance of arable land.

Ukraine has a mostly temperate climate, except for the southern coast of Crimea which has a subtropical climate.

Ukraine contains six terrestrial ecoregions: Central European mixed forests, Crimean Submediterranean forest complex, East European forest steppe, Pannonian mixed forests, Carpathian montane conifer forests, and Pontic steppe.

Ukraine has 457 cities, of which 176 are designated as oblast-class, 279 as smaller -class cities, and two as special legal status cities.

Ukraine is a republic under a semi-presidential system with separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

Constitution of Ukraine was adopted and ratified at the 5th session of the Verkhovna Rada, the parliament of Ukraine, on 28 June 1996.

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Prosecutors in Ukraine have greater powers than in most European countries, and according to the European Commission for Democracy through Law "the role and functions of the Prosecutor's Office is not in accordance with Council of Europe standards".

From 1999 to 2001, Ukraine served as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Ukraine has made contributions to UN peacekeeping operations since 1992.

Ukraine considers Euro-Atlantic integration its primary foreign policy objective, but in practice it has always balanced its relationship with the European Union and the United States with strong ties to Russia.

The European Union has encouraged Ukraine to implement the PCA fully before discussions begin on an association agreement, issued at the EU Summit in December 1999 in Helsinki, recognizes Ukraine's long-term aspirations but does not discuss association.

In 1992, Ukraine joined the then-Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and became a member of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council.

Ukraine is the most active member of the Partnership for Peace .

Ukraine long had close ties with all its neighbours, but Russia–Ukraine relations rapidly deteriorated in 2014 due to the annexation of Crimea, energy dependence and payment disputes.

Ukraine receives further support and assistance for its EU-accession aspirations from the International Visegrad Fund of the Visegrad Group that consists of Central European EU members the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia.

In 2020, in Lublin, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine created the Lublin Triangle initiative, which aims to create further cooperation between the three historical countries of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and further Ukraine's integration and accession to the EU and NATO.

In 1992, Ukraine signed the Lisbon Protocol in which the country agreed to give up all nuclear weapons to Russia for disposal and to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state.

However, Ukraine remains among the poorest countries in Europe, and corruption remains a widespread issue; the country was rated 122nd out of 180 in the Corruption Perceptions Index for 2021, the second-lowest result in Europe after Russia.

Ukraine produces nearly all types of transportation vehicles and spacecraft.

Ukraine is among the world's top agricultural producers and exporters and is often described as the "bread basket of Europe".

Ukraine has numerous tourist attractions: mountain ranges suitable for skiing, hiking and fishing; the Black Sea coastline as a popular summer destination; nature reserves of different ecosystems; and churches, castle ruins and other architectural and park landmarks.

Energy in Ukraine is mainly from gas and coal, followed by nuclear then oil.

In eastern and southern Ukraine, Russian is the primary language in some cities, while Ukrainian is used in rural areas.

Ukraine has the world's second-largest Eastern Orthodox population, after Russia.

The organisation of higher education in Ukraine is built up in accordance with the structure of education of the world's higher developed countries, as is defined by UNESCO and the UN.

Ukraine produces the fourth largest number of post-secondary graduates in Europe, while being ranked seventh in population.

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Ukraine was ranked 49th in the Global Innovation Index in 2021.

Surveys of regional identities in Ukraine have shown that the feeling of belonging to a "Soviet identity" is strongest in the Donbas and the Crimea .

The culture of Ukraine has been influenced by its eastern and western neighbours, reflected in its architecture, music and art.

Ukraine is known for its decorative and folk traditions such as Petrykivka painting, Kosiv ceramics, and Cossack songs.

However, much of the contemporary architectural skyline of Ukraine is dominated by Soviet-style Khrushchyovkas, or low-cost apartment buildings.

From traditional folk music, to classical and modern rock, Ukraine has produced several internationally recognised musicians including Kirill Karabits, Okean Elzy and Ruslana.

Ukrainian classical music differs considerably depending on whether the composer was of Ukrainian ethnicity living in Ukraine, a composer of non-Ukrainian ethnicity who was a citizen of Ukraine, or part of the Ukrainian diaspora.

The main regulatory authority for the broadcast media is the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine, tasked with licensing media outlets and ensure their compliance with the law.

Kyiv dominates the media sector in Ukraine: National newspapers Den, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, tabloids, such as The Ukrainian Week or Focus, and television and radio are largely based there, although Lviv is a significant national media centre.

Ukraine greatly benefited from the Soviet emphasis on physical education.

Also hailing from Ukraine is Vasyl Lomachenko, a 2008 and 2012 Olympic gold medalist.

Ukraine is the unified lightweight world champion who ties the record for winning a world title in the fewest professional fights; three.