Youth With A Mission Ternopil
Reaching Ukraine to reach the Nations

Country

Ukraine (pronounced: yoo-krane) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is Europe's second largest country. Ukraine's capital and largest city is Kyiv.

About three-fourths of the country's people are ethnic Ukrainians, a Slavic nationality group that has its own customs and language. There are over 130 different nationalities and people groups that live on a territory of Ukraine.

The country is famous for its vast plains called steppes. The steppes are covered with fertile black soil, which has made Ukraine one of the world's leading farming regions. During the A.D. 800's, Kiev became the center of a Slavic state called Kievan Rus. In the 1300's, most of Ukraine came under Polish and Lithuanian control. Ukrainian soldiers called Cossacks freed Ukraine from Polish rule in the mid-1600's.

During the late 1700's, nearly all of Ukraine came under Russian control. In 1917, revolutionaries known as Bolsheviks (later called Communists) seized control of Russia. In 1922, Ukraine became one of the four original republics of the Soviet Union, and it was called the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1932 and 1933, millions of Ukrainians died of famine. For many decades, a Soviet policy called Russification forced Ukrainians to use the Russian language and favored the Russian culture over the Ukrainian culture. Ukrainians began protesting the restrictions in the 1960's.

In 1991, following an upheaval in the Soviet government, Ukraine declared its political independence. Later that year, it became recognized as an independent country after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

24th of August 1991 is Ukraine's Indepence Day and it has a great meaning for this nation. For the first time in a last 550 years we have freedom in our country: free to express own culture, customs in our own language.

Government

National government. Ukraine has a democratic political system. Its government features an executive branch headed by a president with strong powers and a legislative branch consisting of a national parliament. The president is commander in chief of the military and can issue orders called edicts without the approval of parliament in some matters. The people of Ukraine elect the president to a five-year term. Ukrainians 18 years old or older may vote.

The president is assisted by a Cabinet, which the president appoints. A prime minister heads the Cabinet. Other ministers have responsibility for such areas as foreign affairs and the economy.

Ukraine's parliament, called the Verhovna Rada (Supreme Council), is the nation's lawmaking body. It has 450 members, who serve four-year terms. The people directly elect half the members of the Supreme Council. The others are chosen under a system called proportional representation. This system gives a political party a share of seats in the parliament according to the party's share of the total votes cast in an election.

Local government. Ukraine - excluding the Crimea - is divided into 24 regions called oblasts. The Crimea, a peninsula in southern Ukraine that separates the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, has special status as an autonomous (self-governing) republic. The Crimea has greater control over its internal affairs than do the oblasts.

Courts. Ukraine's highest court is the Supreme Court. A Constitutional Court decides questions about the constitutionality of laws. Ukraine also has regional supreme courts, as well as district courts called people's courts.

Armed forces. Ukraine has an army, air force, and a small navy. About 400,000 troops serve in the country's armed forces. It is mendatory for every Ukrainian young man to serve in the Army forces for 12 month period.

People

Ancestry. The majority (about 78%) of the people of Ukraine belong to the Ukrainian ethnic group. Russians make up the country's second largest ethnic group. Other groups include Byelorussians, Bulgarians, Moldovans, and Poles. Most Ukrainians are of East Slavic ancestry. In the AD 800's, the East Slavs included the ancestors of the Ukrainians, the Byelorussians, and the Russians. The three groups became separate states in the centuries that followed. Ukrainians are proud of having a nationality separate from the Russians, and they dislike being mislabeled as "Russians."

Language. Ukrainian became the official language of Ukraine in 1990. From the 1930's to the 1980's, during the period when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, the Soviet policy of Russification forced Ukrainians to use the Russian language in government, schools, and newspapers and television. Many Ukrainians resented this policy. But decades of Russification caused many Ukrainians to know the Russian language better than Ukrainian. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, a growing number of ethnic Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians began studying the Ukrainian language. The government allows ethnic minorities to use their own languages in schools and other local affairs.

The Ukrainian language has several regional dialects, which vary according to a region's history and the influence of other cultures on the region. Ukrainian dialects spoken by west Ukrainians, for example, show some Polish influence. Dialects from eastern Ukraine reflect more Russian traits.

Way of life City life. About two-thirds of the people live in cities. Kiev, Ukraine's capital and largest city, is an attractive city known for its tree lined boulevards. Other large cities include Dnepropetrovsk (Dnipropetrovsk in Ukrainian), Donetsk, Kharkov (Kharkiv in Ukrainian), and Odessa.

High-rise apartments built during the period of Soviet rule are a common sight in Ukrainian cities. However, many of these buildings were poorly constructed, and the apartments are small and overcrowded.

Pollution is a major problem in Ukraine, especially in its cities. The quality of air and water have been damaged by factory smoke and other wastes, particularly in the heavily industrialized Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

Rural life. About a third of Ukraine's population lives in rural areas. Western Ukraine is heavily rural. In six of its seven regions, more than half of the people live in the countryside.

The standard of living in the countryside is generally lower than that in the cities. Rural Ukrainians have strong ties to their families and farms. But many young people have left the countryside to live and work in the cities.

Clothing. Ukrainians generally wear Western-style clothing. But on special occasions, they may wear traditional peasant costumes. These costumes feature white blouses and shirts decorated with colorful embroidery.

Food and drink. The Ukrainian diet includes chicken, fish, and such pork products as ham, sausage, and bacon. Ukrainians also eat large amounts of potatoes, cooked buckwheat mush called kasha, rye bread, and sweetened breads. Popular drinks include tea, coffee, cocoa, a special soured milk drink, honey liqueur, and vodka with pepper.

Traditional Ukrainian dishes include varenyky, borsch, and holubtsi. Varenyky consists of boiled dumplings filled with potatoes, sauerkraut, cheese, plums, or blueberries. The dumplings may be eaten with sour cream, fried onions, or bacon bits. Borsch is a soup made of beets, cabbage, and meat. It is served with sour rye bread and sour cream. Holubtsi are stuffed cabbage rolls filled with rice (or sometimes buckwheat), and meat.

Recreation. Ukrainians enjoy many sports, including basketball, ice hockey, skating, soccer, swimming, track and field, and volleyball. Soccer is by far the most popular team sport in Ukraine. Dynamo (Kyiv) has ranked as one of Europe's top soccer teams for decades. The best soccer player in Europe in a year 2004 is Ukrainian - Andrij Shevchenko.

Ukrainians also enjoy music, and many of them perform in choruses and folk dance groups. The winner of the Eurovision song-contest in 2004 is Ukrainian - Ruslana Lyzhychko.

Many Ukrainians vacation by camping in the Carpathian Mountains. Ukrainians also travel to the Black Sea coast for its warm weather and mineral springs and for swimming.

Religion. Ukrainians have remained a strongly religious people in spite of decades of religious restrictions under Soviet rule. About two-thirds of Ukraine's religious believers are Orthodox Christians. Other groups include Ukrainian Catholics, Jews, Protestants and Evangelicals.

Most Orthodox Christians live in Eastern and Central Ukraine. They belong to one of three Orthodox groups. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (District) has the most parishes. It replaced the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Autocephalous (Independent) Orthodox Church has been a strong supporter of Ukrainian independence. In 1930, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin banned the Autocephalous Church. But in 1990, the church regained legal status. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate was established in 1992.

About 15 percent of Ukraine's people are Ukrainian Catholics, also known as Uniates or "Greek" Catholics. They practice Eastern Orthodox forms of worship but recognize the authority of the Roman Catholic pope. The church is strongest in Western Ukraine.

Education. Ukrainian law requires children to attend school for 12 years, from about 6 to 18 years of age. After the ninth grade, students may continue a general academic program or may enroll in technical or trade schools to complete their education.

Ukraine has about 150 schools of higher education, including 9 universities. The largest and best-known universities are Kiev State University, Lvov (Lviv in Ukrainian) State University, and Kharkov (Kharkiv in Ukrainian) State University.

The arts. Ukrainians are well known for their folk arts and crafts. Pysanky - Ukrainian Easter eggs decorated with colorful designs - are world famous. Craftworkers in the Hutsul region of the Carpathian Mountains make woodcarvings with striking inlaid designs.

Ukrainian music often features a stringed instrument called the bandura. In a popular Ukrainian folk dance called the hopak, male dancers compete against each other in performing acrobatic leaps.

The poet Taras Shevchenko, who wrote during the mid-1800's, is the country's most famous cultural and national figure. He urged Ukrainians to struggle for freedom and social equality against the Russians. His Kobzar (1840), a collection of poems, dealt with Ukrainian historical themes and made Ukrainian a popular language for poetry and books. Other notable Ukrainian writers include Ivan Franko and Lesia Ukrainka, who both died in 1916. Franko was a journalist, and he wrote novels, poems, and plays. Ukrainka was a poet.

The land

Ukraine lies in eastern Europe, north of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. It covers 233,090 square miles (603,700 square kilometers). Ukraine consists mainly of a flat, fertile plain. About a third of the land is suitable for growing crops. Ukraine can be divided into six main land regions: (1) the Dnepr-Pripyat Lowland, (2) the Northern Ukrainian Upland, (3) the Central Plateau, (4) the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, (5) the Coastal Plain, and (6) the Crimean Mountains. The Dnepr-Pripyat Lowland lies in northern Ukraine. (Dnepr is spelled Dnipro in Ukrainian.) Forests once blanketed all of the lowland but now cover only about a fourth of its area. Farmers use much of the region's land as pasture for dairy cattle. The eastern lowland includes the Dnepr River basin and the city of Kiev. The Pripyat River drains the western lowland, which has many marshes and forests of pine and oak.

The Northern Ukrainian Upland consists of a low plateau in northeastern Ukraine. Farmers in the region grow wheat and sugar beets and raise livestock. Large deposits of natural gas lie to the south of the city of Kharkov.

The Central Plateau extends from eastern to western Ukraine, and it is part of the Great European Plain. Rich, black soils called chernozem and sufficient rain make the region Ukraine's most productive farmland.

The Donets Basin, often called the Donbas, lies in the eastern part of the plateau. This area is Ukraine's leading industrial region and has large deposits of coal. The area includes the cities of Donetsk, Gorlovka (Horlivka in Ukrainian), and Luhansk.

The Eastern Carpathian Mountains rise in western Ukraine. Ukraine's highest peak, Mount Goverla (Hoverla in Ukrainian), soars 6,762 feet (2,061 meters). Farming in the river valleys, raising livestock, and logging are major economic activities in the region. The mountains have deposits of oil and natural gas.

The Coastal Plain extends along the coasts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov and includes most of the Crimean Peninsula. Its coastline has cliffs and many shallow lagoons. The region receives less rain than other parts of Ukraine and sometimes suffers from droughts. The Dnepr River flows through the central plain. Farmers use its water to irrigate crops.

The Crimean Mountains rise in the southern part of the Crimean Peninsula. The mountains climb gradually from the north but slope steeply to the Black Sea in the south. The highest point in the Crimean Mountains, a peak called Roman-Kosh, stands 5,069 feet (1,545 meters) above sea level.

Rivers and lakes. The Dnepr River is Ukraine's longest river. It flows through the country from the north to the Black Sea. It is 1,420 miles (2,285 kilometers) long and ranks as Europe's third longest waterway. Only the Volga and Danube rivers are longer. Ships travel along most of the Dnepr's length. Ukraine's second longest river, the Dnestr (Dnister in Ukrainian), measures 845 miles (1,360 kilometers). It flows through western Ukraine from the Carpathian Mountains to the Black Sea. Other major waterways include the Yuzhnyy Bug, Desna, Pripyat, and Donets rivers. Ukraine has about 3,000 lakes.

Climate

Most of Ukraine has cold winters and warm summers, which favor growing crops. Eastern Ukraine is slightly colder in winter and warmer in summer than western Ukraine. Temperatures in Kharkov in Eastern Ukraine average about 19 °F (-7 °C) in January and 68 °F (20 °C) in July. But temperatures in Lviv in the West average about 25 °F (-4°C) in January and 64 °F (18 °C) in July.

Precipitation (rain, snow, and other measurable forms of moisture) ranges from about 30 inches (76 centimeters) a year in the north to about 9 inches (23 centimeters) in the south. Rainfall is highest in June and July. In the Carpathian and Crimean mountains, weather is colder and wetter at higher elevations.

Economy

Ukraine has a developed economy with strong industry and agriculture. However, the nation lacks modern technology and equipment in its factories and on its farms. About two-fifths of Ukraine's people work in industry, and about a fifth work in agriculture. Most other Ukrainians have jobs in such service industries as education and health care. Manufacturing. Ukraine's heavy industries produce iron and steel and such machines as tractors, machine tools, and mining equipment. The machine industry accounts for a third of Ukraine's industrial output and employs about a fourth of Ukraine's workers. Ukraine also produces airplanes, automobiles, buses, locomotives and railway cars, ships, and trucks. Many of Ukraine's heavy industries are in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, near mines that supply raw materials. Ukraine also manufactures chemical fertilizers; such processed foods as canned foods, meat, refined sugar, and wine; and consumer goods, including clothes, refrigerators, shoes, television sets, and washing machines.

Ukraine has a strong defense industry. During Soviet rule, defense factories accounted for about a fourth of Ukraine's industrial output. Independent Ukraine produces some military equipment for export. But it plans to convert some defense factories to manufacture other products.

Agriculture. Because of its agricultural production, Ukraine became known as the breadbasket of Europe. Its moderate climate and rich black soils, called chernozem, have made the country one of the world's most productive farming regions.

Most farms in Ukraine are owned by people. State farms are managed entirely by the government, which pays wages to farmworkers. Collective farms are owned and managed in part by the workers, who receive wages as well as a share in farm profits.

Since 1991, Ukraine has been selling some of its state farms to individual farmers or converting them to cooperative farms. A cooperative farm is owned and managed entirely by a group of farmers, who divide the profits equally. In 1996, Ukraine began subdividing its collective farms and selling the smaller plots to individual farmers or private farm corporations. About 85 percent of Ukraine's farms are now privately owned. These private plots are the most productive farms in Ukraine.

Ukraine ranks among the leading countries in the production of sugar beets and wheat. Other important crops include barley, corn, potatoes, sunflowers, and tobacco. Ukrainian farmers also raise beef and dairy cattle and hogs. Near cities, farmers often grow fruits and vegetables to sell at markets.

Service industries employ more than a fourth of Ukraine's workers. The country's chief service industries include education, health care, scientific research and engineering, transportation, and trade.

Mining. Ukraine is a leading producer of manganese, which is used in making steel. The country also produces nickel and titanium. Huge coal deposits lie in the Donbas, the center of Ukraine's heavy industry. Ukraine also mines iron ore, natural gas, and salt.

Fishing. Ukrainian fishing fleets operate mainly in the Antarctic and Indian oceans, and in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Ukrainians also fish in the country's rivers and lakes. Ocean fleets catch mackerel and tuna. River fishing is most important on the Dnepr and lower Danube rivers. The chief commercial fish from seas and rivers include bream, carp, perch, pike, and trout.

Energy sources. Coal, natural gas, and petroleum have long been Ukraine's major sources of electric power. The country also has hydroelectric plants located mainly on the Dnepr River. Ukraine imports much natural gas and petroleum from Russia and Turkmenistan.

During the 1980's, nuclear power plants began providing an important new source of energy. Today, these plants produce about a third of Ukraine's electric power. Many Ukrainians, however, oppose the use of nuclear energy because of an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in north-central Ukraine in 1986. The accident caused the release of large amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere.

Trade. Ukraine's chief exports include coal, construction equipment, manufactured goods, sugar beets, and wheat. Ukraine imports consumer goods, oil, natural gas, rubber, and wood products. Ukraine's major trading partners include China, Germany, Iran, Poland, Russia, Turkmenistan, and the United States.

Transportation and communication. Ukraine has a well-developed transportation system. Most of the system is owned by the government. Ukraine has about 91,000 miles (147,000 kilometers) of paved roads. About a third of its people own automobiles or motorcycles. Buses and taxis are common in larger cities. Kiev and Kharkov have subway systems. A large railroad network connects major cities and industrial centers. Ukraine's chief airports are at Borispol, near Kiev, and at Kharkov and Odessa. The country's major ports include Illichevsk, Kerch, Kherson, Mariupol, Mykolayiv, Odessa, Sevastopol, and Yalta.

History

Early days. One of the earliest cultures was that of the Trypillians, who lived in southwestern Ukraine from about 4000 to 2000 B.C. The Trypillians raised crops for a living, decorated pottery, and made drills for boring holes in wood and stone.
By about 1500 BC, nomadic herders occupied the region. They included a warlike, horse-riding people called the Cimmerians. The Scythians, a people from central Asia, conquered the Cimmerians about 700 BC Between 700 and 600 BC, Greeks started colonies on the northern coast of the Black Sea. But the Scythians controlled most of the region until about 200 BC, when they fell to a group called the Sarmatians. The region was invaded by Germanic tribes from the west in AD 270 and by the Huns, an Asian people, in 375.


Kievan Rus. During the AD 800's, a Slavic civilization called Rus grew up at Kiev and at other points along river routes between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea. Kiev became the first of the East Slavic states and was known as Kievan Rus. Scandinavian merchant-warriors called Varangians (also known as Vikings) played a part in organizing the East Slavic tribes into Kievan Rus. Oleg, a Varangian, became its first ruler in 882. During the 900's, other states recognized Kiev's leadership.

Vladimir I (Volodymyr in Ukrainian), the ruler of the Russian city of Novgorod, conquered Kievan Rus in 980. Under his rule, the state became a political, economic, and cultural power in Europe. About 988, Vladimir became a Christian and made Christianity the state religion. Before the East Slavs became Christians, they had worshiped idols and nature spirits. In 1240, Mongol tribes known as Tatars swept across the Ukrainian plains from the east and conquered the region.

Lithuanian and Polish rule. After the fall of Kievan Rus, several principalities (regions ruled by princes) developed in the Ukraine region. The state of Galicia-Volynia grew in importance in what is now western Ukraine. In the 1300's, however, Poland took control of Galicia. Lithuania seized Volhynia and later, Kiev. Under Polish and Lithuanian rule, Ukrainian peasants were bound to the land as serfs, farmworkers who were not free to leave the land they worked. By 1569, Poland ruled all of the region.

Many discontented peasants joined bands of independent soldiers that became known as Cossacks. They occupied the territory that lay between the Poles and the Tatars. In the mid-1600's, a Cossack named Bohdan Khmelnitsky led an uprising that freed Ukraine from Polish control. In 1654, Khmelnitsky formed an alliance with the czar (emperor) of Russia against Poland.

Russian rule. Ukraine was divided between Poland and Russia in 1667. Poland gained control of lands west of the Dnepr River. Ukrainian lands east of the Dnepr had self-rule but came under Russian protection. By 1764, Russia abolished Ukrainian self-rule. In the 1790's, Russia gained control of all of Ukraine except Galicia, which Austria ruled from 1772 until 1918.

Russia favored its language and culture over those of the Ukrainians and other peoples. From 1863 to 1905, it banned publications in Ukrainian. The Austrians, however, allowed the Ukrainians greater freedom than did the Russians. As a result, Galicia became a major center of Ukrainian culture during the 1800's.

Soviet rule. In 1917, revolutionaries known as Bolsheviks (later called Communists) overthrew the czar of Russia and seized control of the government. In 1918, Ukraine became independent country called the Ukrainian People's Republic. However, Communist Rus-had superior military power and seized Eastern and Central Ukraine by 1920. The rest of Ukraine came under Polish, Czechoslovak, and Romanian control.

In 1922, Ukraine became one of the four original republics of the Soviet Union. During the 1920's, the Soviet government encouraged Ukrainian culture and the use of the Ukrainian language to weaken opposition to the Communist system. By the 1930's, however, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin began his policy of Russification, which imposed the Russian language and culture on the Ukrainian people.

In the late 1920's and early 1930's, the Communist government took over privately owned farms in Ukraine and combined them into larger, state-run farms. This program, called collectivization, brought great hardship to the people of Ukraine. Several hundred thousand Ukrainian farmers resisted the seizure of their land and were sent to prison labor camps in Siberia or Soviet Central Asia. In 1932 and 1933, the Soviet government seized grain and food from people's homes, causing a major famine. Between 5 million and 7,5 million Ukrainians died of starvation.

World War II. Nazi Germany occupied Ukraine from mid-1941 to mid-1944, during World War II. About 5 million Ukrainian civilians, including 600,000 Ukrainian Jews, were killed during the war. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army, a force of about 40,000 soldiers, fought both Germany and the Soviet Union for Ukrainian independence. The force continued fighting the Soviets until the early 1950's.

By the end of World War II in 1945, the Soviet Union had taken control of many parts of Ukraine that had belonged to Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. That year, Soviet Ukraine became one of the original members of the United Nations. In 1954, Russia transferred control of the Crimea to Ukraine.

Protest movements. Many Ukrainians opposed Soviet Russian control and the limits on Ukrainian culture. In the 1960's, a protest movement developed to advance human rights and the rights of the Ukrainian people. Although thousands of protesters were arrested, the movement continued during the 1970's and 1980's.

The Chernobyl disaster. In 1986, an explosion and fire at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, near Kiev, released large amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere. Nuclear fallout from the accident caused many health and environmental problems.

Soviet officials claimed only 31 people died from the accident and about 200 were seriously injured. But in the early 1990's, Ukrainian officials estimated that 6,000 to 8,000 people died as a result of the explosion and its aftermath. The disaster caused high rates of cancer and other illnesses in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia.

Independence. During the period of Soviet rule, the government owned most of Ukraine's factories, farms, and businesses. By the 1980's, many government-owned farms and factories operated inefficiently and wasted resources. The economy slumped, and the government Soviet struggled to meet demands for consumer goods. During the late 1980's, the government took steps to increase private ownership of economic activities. A Ukrainian nationalist movement began to gain strength during the late 1980's. Ukrainians demanded more control over their government, economy, and culture.

In 1990, Ukraine's parliament passed a declaration of state sovereignty. This declaration stated that Ukraine would follow its own laws if they came in conflict with those of the Soviet Union.

In August 1991, conservative Communists failed in an attempt to overthrow the reform-minded Soviet president, Mikhail S. Gorbachev. The failed coup renewed demands for self-rule among the Soviet republics, including Ukraine. Soon afterward, Ukraine's parliament declared Ukraine independent, and several other republics made similar declarations.

On December 1, over 90 percent of Ukrainians voted in favor of independence. Leonid M. Kravchuk, a former Communist official who became a Ukrainian nationalist and a democrat, was elected president. That same month, Ukraine and most of the other former Soviet republics created a loose association called the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to deal with the economic and military problems caused by the breakup of the Soviet Union. On December 25, the Soviet Union was formally dissolved.

After gaining independence, Ukraine began to change its economy to one based on free enterprise. At the time, most factories, farms, and businesses were still owned by the government.

Many Ukrainians viewed the CIS as a temporary association. They feared that a commonwealth led by Russia would limit Ukrainian independence. Ukraine and Russia argued over many issues, including how much of the Soviet national debt each country should assume and how the Soviet Navy's Black Sea fleet should be divided. In May 1992, Russia's Supreme Soviet voted to declare the Soviet government's 1954 grant of Crimea to Ukraine an illegal act. Ukraine opposed this decision.

In 1992, Ukraine and two other former Soviet republics with nuclear weapons - Belarus and Kazakhstan - agreed to eliminate all nuclear weapons on their territories within seven years. The three countries also agreed to become parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, a United Nations treaty that forbids the spread of nuclear weapons. Ukraine ratified the treaty in 1994. In 1996, Ukraine completed the transfer of its short- and long-range Soviet nuclear weapons to Russia for destruction.