UKRAINE
Ukraine is bordered by
Belarus on the north, by Russia on the north, north-east, and east, by
the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea on the south, by Moldova and Romania
on the south-west, and by Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland on the west. Richly endowed in natural resources, Ukraine
has been fought over and subjugated for centuries; its 20th-century
struggle for liberty is not yet complete. A short-lived independence
from Russia (1917-1920) was followed by brutal Soviet rule that
engineered two artificial famines (1921-22 and 1932-33) in which over 8
million died, and World War II, in which German and Soviet armies were
responsible for some 7 million more deaths. Although independence was
attained in 1991 with the dissolution of the USSR, true freedom remains
elusive as many of the former Soviet elite remain entrenched, stalling
efforts at economic reform, privatization, and civic liberties.
Ukraine occupies an area of 233,100 square miles
(603,700 square km) and its population is about 50,000,000. Ukraine
consists almost entirely of level plains and occupies a large portion of
the East European Plain. The Dnipro River runs from north to south.
Other lowlands extend along the shores of the Black and Azov seas in
southern Ukraine, while the Crimean Peninsula, in the extreme south, has
both lowlands and low mountains. Western Ukraine has some uplands, and
the Carpathian Mountains extend through that region for more than 150
miles (240 km). Ukraine has extremely fertile black-earth soils in the
central and southern portions, totaling nearly two-thirds of the
territory. Mixed forest vegetation occupied the northern third of the
country, forest-steppe the middle portion, and steppe the southern third
of the country. Now, however, much of the original vegetation has been
cleared and replaced by cultivated crops. Much of the original wildlife
has also disappeared, but many animal species still remain.
Ukraine lies in a temperate climatic zone and receives 16 to 24 inches
(400 to 600 mm) of precipitation annually. The Dnipro, Don, Dniester,
and other rivers all drain southward through the plains to empty into
the Azov-Black Sea Basin. Ukraine's most important river, the Dnipro, is
extensively dammed along much of its course for hydroelectric and
irrigation purposes.
Ethnic Ukrainians make up more than seven-tenths of the total population
of about fifty million people. The Ukrainian language is related to
Russian and Belarussian and belongs to the Slavic group of languages.
Russians are the largest minority group, accounting for about two-tenths
of the population. Other ethnic minorities of varying sizes are
Belarussian, Moldavians, Poles, Bulgarians, Jews, Greeks, Tartars, and
others. The highest population densities are found in the industrialized
Donets Basin and Dnipro Bend regions and in the agriculturally
productive forest-steppe belt.
The capital is Kyiv. Kyiv (also known as Kiev), a scenic city of close to 3 million people
situated on the Dnipro River, is the bustling capital of Ukraine.
Ancient Kievan Rus, which reached its greatest period of ascendancy
during the 11th and 12th centuries, was a center of trade routes between
the Baltic and the Mediterranean. The city of Kyiv and the power of
Kievan Rus were destroyed in 1240 by Mongol invaders and the lands of
Kievan Rus were divided into principalities located to the west and
north: Galicia, Volynia, Muscovy and later, Poland, Lithuania, and
Russia. Once a powerful force on the European scene, Ukraine's fate in
modern times has been decided in far-off capitals. As a result, modern
Ukrainian history, for the most part, has been defined by foreign
occupation.