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 a middle power 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
- 16 October 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Foreign involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, North Korea–Ukraine relations
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that North Korea has now become directly involved in the war in Ukraine, with a senior Ukrainian intelligence official saying that around 3,000 North Korean troops are currently in Russia and are training for deployment to Russian-occupied territories. (Politico)
- United States and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- U.S. President Joe Biden announces a new $425 million military aid package for Ukraine, containing long-range weaponry. (The Kyiv Independent)
- 15 October 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Eastern Ukraine campaign
- Governor of Kharkiv Oblast Oleh Syniehubov orders the mandatory evacuation of all civilians from Kupiansk and Borova in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. (Reuters)
- 15 October 2024 – Iran–European Union relations
- The European Union sanctions fourteen Iranian individuals and firms, including Iran Air and several high-ranking members of the Quds Force, for allegedly transferring missiles and drones to Moscow in order to help Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. (Al Jazeera)
- 14 October 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Southern Ukraine campaign
- Russian forces claim that they took the village of Levadne in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine. (Voice of America)
- 13 October 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Foreign involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Featured pictures
Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that Hanna Dmyterko was among 34 Ukrainian women who fought in World War I?
- ... that Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine, said that Ukrainians care less about her being transgender than Americans do?
- ... that Ukrainian designer Anna October showed her collection during Paris Fashion Week after escaping the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine?
- ... that Ukrainian Sheriffs went to summer school after being shot?
- ... that Jenya Kazbekova, a competition climber on Ukraine's 2024 Olympic team, is the daughter and granddaughter of competition climbing medalists?
- ... that Ukrainian artist Kateryna Antonovych worked at Prague's Museum of Ukraine's Struggle for Independence before the US Army Air Forces bombed it?
More did you know -
- ... 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 Kryvbas economic region in Ukraine is one of the largest iron ore and steel industry centers in Europe?
- ... that Vasyl Avramenko is often referred as "The father of the Ukrainian dance"?
- ... that according to legend, a tunnel leads from the Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle to the Khotyn Fortress which is 20 kilometres (12 mi) away?
- ... that the Khreschatyk is the main street of Ukrainian capital Kyiv on which Orange Revolution and other historical events mainly took place?
- ... that at its first years Kiev Zoo had to move its animals into the food storage of the main Kiev railway station for the winter?
Selected article -
Sports in Ukraine as in any other country throughout the World plays an important role in shaping the popular view of Ukraine and Ukrainian popular culture to its residents and the rest of the World. Sports in Ukraine while it is voluntary and spontaneous, it is regulated and standardized by the government and respected government agency as well as legislation. According to the Law of Ukraine "About physical culture and sports", sports is an activity of subjects of the sphere of physical culture and sport directed to identification and the unified comparison of achievements of people in physical, intellectual, and other preparation by holding sports competitions and preparation for them. The sport has such directions: children's sports, sports for children and young people, reserve sports, elite sports (sports of higher achievements), professional sports, sports of veterans of physical culture and sport, veterans of war, the Olympic sport, not Olympic sport, office and applied and military and applied sport, sports of persons with disability and so forth.
Being dominated by Russia since the 18th century, sports in the bigger portion of Ukraine as the rest of popular culture in Ukraine has been overshadowed by Russian culture as its regional deviation. As part of Ukrainian culture, sports began its development in Austria-Hungary and were influenced by various European physical culture movements such as pan-Germanic Turners, pan-Slavic Sokol movement, and others (such as all-Jewish Maccabiah sports). In the Russian Empire, the Ukrainian nation was never recognized and was criminally prosecuted, while the Little-Russian culture was allowed to exist only as folk culture. Only after dissolution of the Soviet Union, in 1992 the Ukrainian anthem first sounded at Olympic Games starting with the Olympic victory of Oleh Kucherenko and immediately followed by victories of Tetiana Hutsu and Oleksandra Tymoshenko. (Full article...)
In the news
- 16 October 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Foreign involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, North Korea–Ukraine relations
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that North Korea has now become directly involved in the war in Ukraine, with a senior Ukrainian intelligence official saying that around 3,000 North Korean troops are currently in Russia and are training for deployment to Russian-occupied territories. (Politico)
- United States and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- U.S. President Joe Biden announces a new $425 million military aid package for Ukraine, containing long-range weaponry. (The Kyiv Independent)
- 15 October 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Eastern Ukraine campaign
- Governor of Kharkiv Oblast Oleh Syniehubov orders the mandatory evacuation of all civilians from Kupiansk and Borova in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. (Reuters)
- 15 October 2024 – Iran–European Union relations
- The European Union sanctions fourteen Iranian individuals and firms, including Iran Air and several high-ranking members of the Quds Force, for allegedly transferring missiles and drones to Moscow in order to help Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. (Al Jazeera)
- 14 October 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Southern Ukraine campaign
- Russian forces claim that they took the village of Levadne in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine. (Voice of America)
- 13 October 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Foreign involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Selected anniversaries for October
- October 4, 2006 — Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 crashed over the Black Sea en route from Tel Aviv (Israel) to Novosibirsk (Russia).
- October 25, 1854 — Battle of Balaclava was fought during the Crimean War, fought between the allied forces of the United Kingdom, French Empire and the Ottoman Empire on one side and Russia on the other.
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