Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe whose capital is Kyiv. Ukraine was formerly known as the Ukrainian S.S.R., and alternatively, is also called Ukraina. The name Ukraine comes from an Old Slavic root word "krai" which is a homonym for both the word "border" and for the word "land", hence the name "Ukraina" is often described as meaning "borderland". Formerly the definite article was used with the country name ("the Ukraine") but the more modern usage is to simply use "Ukraine". Also the name of the capital city is now spelled "Kyiv" rather than "Kiev".The national flag consists of a blue horizontal stripe above a yellow horizontal stripe, symbolizing blue sky above golden grain. The national emblem is the trident (called the tryzub).
Geography
Ukraine is located in Eastern Europe, north of the Black Sea and northwest of the Sea of Azov. It is centered on the geographic coordinates 49 00 N, 32 00 E.
Ukraine has one time zone, UTC+2.
Ukraine's land area is 603,700 square kilometers (233,080 square miles) and it has 2,800 kilometers (1750 miles) of coastline.
The neighboring countries bordering on Ukraine are Russia, Poland, Belarus, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, and Slovakia.
Ukraine's physical landscape consists of mostly flat but fertile plains (called "steppes") and also plateaus, with some forests in the north and some mountains in the south. Major rivers include the Dnipro (Dnieper), Donets, Dniester, and Buh rivers. The climate is temperate continental, plus mediterranean in the south
The mountains include the Carpathian Mountains (2000 meters or 6000 feet high), plus the Crimean Mountains in the southern Crimea peninsula.
The major cities include Kyiv (the capital), Lviv, Odessa, Sevastopol (a Russian naval port), and Dnipropetrovsk.
Demographics
Ukraine's population is about 47 million (47,000,000), with a population density of about 80 per square kilometer (200 people per square mile).
Languages spoken in Ukraine include Ukrainian (70%), Russian (20%), plus 10% miscellaneous, such as Crimean Tartar and also Surzhyk in the southeast (a blend of Russian vocabulary with Ukrainian grammar and pronounciation).
The religion is predominately Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Ukraine is widely known for its lively cossack-style dancing ("hopak") and elaborately batiked easter eggs ("pysanky")
Important Ukrainian literary figures include Taras Shevchenko, Ivan Franko, and Lesia Ukrainka.
Economics
Ukraine is classified as a lower middle-income nation, evolving into a post-soviet developing economy.
Approximate economic statistics are as follows:
- Ukraine's GDP is $103 billion ($103,000,000,000), and has been growing at a rate of 6% fairly consistently.
- Per capita GDP is $2,200, with per capita purchasing power at $7,700.
- Foreign debt is 7% of GDP, and foreign investment is 2% of GDP.
- Average monthly salary is 200 euros per month.
- Commercial prime lending rate is 15%.
- The inflation rate is currently 10%.
The Ukrainian currency is the hryvnia (worth about 20 cents, in $USD), which was introduced 1996 to stabilize runaway inflation (and is currently trading at 5:1 for United States dollars, and at 6:1 for European Union euros).
Taxation rates are as follows:
- Personal income tax is 15%.
- Corporate income tax is 25%.
- Value-added tax (VAT) is 20%.
- Social insurance tax is 30%.
Import/export goods include:
- Metals (35%)
- Machinery (25%)
- Fuel & chemicals (10%)
- Agricultural (10%)
- Other (20%)
Mining includes fuel ores of coal, oil, and natural gas, and metal ores of iron, manganese, titanium, magnesium, nickel, and mercury.
Major trade partners are Russia (25%), then about 5% each for Germany, Poland, Italy, Turkey, and China, and others.
Politics
Ukraine's government is a Democratic Republic with a 450-member legislature, the "Verkhovna Rada" (Supreme Council), plus an executive branch with Viktor Yushchenko as president and Viktor Yanukovych as prime minister, plus a Supreme Court and a Constitutional Court.
There are many political parties, coalitions, and blocks, including Rukh, the Yulia Tymoshenko block, Socialists under Oleksandr Moroz, plus some old-time communists and also Russian separatists.
Ukraine is now nuclear-weapon-free (as of 1996) per the 1992 START and 1994 NNP Treaties, and has reduced its army from one million soldiers after the fall of the Soviet Union to around 300,000 soldiers.
Ukraine is neutral in its alliances, but has some limited military links to both NATO and CIS countries.
Current issues in Ukraine include:
- The parliament was recently disbanded by the president and new elections will likely be required.
- Russia has used its energy imports in attempts to control Ukrainian politics and economics.
- A strong (20%) Russian minority (mostly in the south and east) is campaigning for partition.
- The legal and ecomomic systems are still controlled by powerful and secretive oligarchs.
History
Major historical periods for Ukraine include:
- Prehistory: Neolithic Trypillian culture existed between 4500 BCE and 3000 BCE.
- Tribal history: Scythian, Goth, Bulgar, and Khazar tribes existed between 700 BCE and 700 CE.
- Ancient history: Kyiv grew into an extensive Slavic state (Kievan Rus') between 800 and 1100 CE.
- Medieval history: Ukraine was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth between 1300 and 1600 CE.
- Cossack history: A Cossack ("kozak") state was established by various rebellions between 1600 to 1800 CE, but was eventually absorbed by the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires.
- Soviet history: Ukraine was part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) between 1922 to 1991.
- Modern history: After the fall of the Soviet Union, Ukraine achieved full independence in 1991, and the mostly non-violent "Orange Revolution" street protests of 2004 (after a controversial presidential election) brought in the current reformist government under Viktor Yushchenko.
Regions
Subdivisions: Ukraine is divided into 24 provinces ("oblasti") plus the autonomous republic of Crimea. The 24 provinces are further subdivided into 494 districts ("raions"). The province ("oblast") names are:
- Cherkasy
- Chrenihiv
- Chernivtsi
- Crimea
- Dnipropetrovsk
- Donetsk
- Ivano-Frankivsk
- Kharkiv
- Kherson
- Khmelnytski
- Krovohrad
- Kyiv
- Luhansk
- Lviv
- Mykolaiv
- Odessa
- Poltava
- Rivne
- Sumy
- Ternopil
- Vinnytsia
- Volyn
- Zakarpattia
- Zaporizhia
- Zhytomyr