Ukraine

Ukraine Україна
Anthem:  Ще не вмерла України  (Ukrainian) Shche ne vmerla Ukrayiny  (transliteration) Ukraine's glory has not perished
Location of  Ukraine  (green) on the European continent  (dark grey)  —  [Legend]
Capital (and largest city)		Kiev 50°27′N 30°30′E
Official language(s)		Ukrainian
Recognised regional languages		Russian, Crimean Tatar
Ethnic groups (2001)		77.8% Ukrainians, 17.3% Russians, 4.9% others and unspecified
Demonym		Ukrainian
Government		Unitary semi-presidential republic
-	President	Viktor Yanukovych
-	Prime Minister	Mykola Azarov
-	Speaker of Parliament	Volodymyr Lytvyn
Legislature		Verkhovna Rada
Formation
-	Kievan Rus'	882
-	Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia	1199
-	Cossack Hetmanate	1649
-	Ukrainian National Republic	November 7, 1917
-	West Ukrainian National Republic	November 1, 1918
-	Ukrainian SSR	December 30, 1922
-	Second Declaration of Independence	June 30, 1941
-	Independence from the Soviet Union	August 24, 19911
Area
-	Total	603,628 km2 (46th) 233,090 sq mi
-	Water (%)	7%
Population
-	2010 estimate	45,888,000 (28th)
-	2001 census	48,457,102
-	Density	77/km2 (115th) 199/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2010 estimate
-	Total	$302.679 billion
-	Per capita	$6,656
GDP (nominal)		2010 estimate
-	Total	$136.561 billion
-	Per capita	$3,003
Gini (2006)		31 (medium)
HDI (2011)		▲ 0.710 (high) (76th)
Currency		Hryvnia (UAH)
Time zone		Eastern European Time (UTC+2)
-	Summer (DST)	Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)
Drives on the		right
Internet TLD		.ua, .укр
Calling code		380
1 An independence referendum was held on December 1, after which Ukrainian independence was finalized on December 26. The current constitution was adopted on June 28, 1996.

Ukraine (Україна, [ukrajina]) is a country in Eastern Europe. Russia is to the East of Ukraine, Belarus is to the North, Poland and Slovakia are to the West, Hungary, Romania, Moldova and self-proclaimed Transnistria are to the South West and the Black Sea is to the South.

Ukraine is a republic. The capital of Ukraine is Kiev (Київ — Kyiv [Kyjiv] by Ukrainian; Киев by Russian [Kijef]). It was a part of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991.

Official language

The official language of Ukraine is Ukrainian (українська мова, [ukrajin’s’ka mova] by Ukrainian). In the 2001 census, about 29% of people in Ukraine said that they consider Russian to be their main language.

Division of Ukraine

Ukraine is divided into 24 oblasts, Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Автономна Республіка Крим [autonomna respublika krym] by Ukrainian) and two cities with special status — Kyiv and Sevastopol in Crimea. Russian indeed is similar to Ukrainian in some ways but is completely different in other ways.

The largest cities of Ukraine

The largest cities in Ukraine are:

• Kiev (the capital from 1934)
• Kharkiv (the capital of Soviet Ukraine in 1917—1934)
• Dnipropetrovsk
• Donetsk
• Odesa
• Zaporizhia
• Lviv (last one before 1939 — the Polish territory).

History

While Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union, millions of people starved to death in 1932 and 1933 in the Holodomor.

Presidents of Ukraine

The Presidents of the third republic are:

• Kravchuk Leonid Makarovych (1991—1994)
• Kuchma Leonid Danylovych (1994—2005)
• Yushchenko Victor Andriyovych (2005—2010)
• Yanukovych Victor Fedorovich (from 2010)

Modern History

In the Soviet epoch Ukraine was a Soviet Socialist Republic in Soviet Union. Independence day — 24 August 1991.

President elections: 1 December 1991, July 1994, October-November 1999, October-December 2004

Parliament elections: March 1994, March 1998, March 2002, March 2006, September 2007 (prematurely)

Constitution of Ukraine was adopted by Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) 28 July 1996 with changes 8 December 2004.

Orange Revolution

The political demonstrations in autumn-winter 2004 after the Presidential elections gathered millions of people all over the country. On November 26, 2004, Victor Yuschenko lost the Ukrainian presidential election (Viktor Yanukovych was declared winner). However, Yuschenko and his followers argued that the election had been corrupted. They argued that the election results had been falsified by the Ukrainian government, in support of the opposing candidate Victor Yanukovych. They organized political demonstrations in autumn-winter 2004 that gathered millions of people all over the country. They called the demonstrations The Orange Revolution. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was an important ally of Victor Yuschenko during the demonstrations. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine ordered a second round of elections, which Yuschenko won.