Ukraine

Ukraine Україна   ( Ukrainien )
Drapeau Blason
Hymne :   " Derzhavnyi Himn Ukrainy " (Anglais : " Hymne national de l'Ukraine " )
Localisation de l'Ukraine (vert) Territoires contestés (vert clair)
Capitale et plus grande ville	Kiev 49°N 32°E / 49°N 32°E / 49; 32Coordonnées : 49°N 32°E  / 49°N 32°E / 49; 32
Langues officielles	ukrainien
Langues régionales reconnues	Lister Belarusian Bulgarian Crimean Tatar Gagauz Greek Hebrew Hungarian Polish Romanian Russian Slovak Yiddish[1][2]
Groupes ethniques (2001) [3]	77,8% d' Ukrainiens 17,3 % de Russes 4,9% autres/non précisé
Religion (2018) [4]	87,3% Christianisme 11,0% Irreligion 0,8% Autres 0.9% sans réponse
Démonyme(s)	ukrainien
Gouvernement	République constitutionnelle unitaire semi-présidentielle
•  Président	Volodymyr Zelensky
•  Premier ministre	Denys Shmyhal
•  Président de la Verkhovna Rada	Ruslan Stefanchuk
Corps législatif	Verkhovna Rada
Formation
•  Kyivan Rus	882
•  Christianisation de Kiev	988
•  Royaume de Ruthénie	1199
•  Hetmanat	18 août 1649
•  République populaire d'Ukraine	20 novembre 1917
•  Indépendance de la Russie	22 janvier 1918
•  République populaire d'Ukraine occidentale	1er novembre 1918
•  Acte d'unité	22 janvier 1919
•  Indépendance de l'URSS	24 août 1991
•  Référendum	1er décembre 1991
•  Constitution actuelle	28 juin 1996
•  Révolution de la Dignité [5]	18-23 février 2014
Zone
• Le total	603 628 km 2 (233 062 milles carrés) ( 45e )
• L'eau (%)	7
Population
• Estimation août 2021	41 362 393 [6] (hors Crimée et Sébastopol ) ( 35e )
• Recensement de 2001	48 457 102 [3]
• Densité	73,8/km 2 (191,1/mi carré) ( 115e )
PIB  ( PPA )	Estimation 2020
• Le total	429,947 milliards de dollars [7] ( 48e )
• Par habitant	10 310 $ [7] ( 108e )
PIB  (nominal)	Estimation 2020
• Le total	161,872 milliards de dollars [7] ( 56e )
• Par habitant	3 881 $ [7] ( 119e )
Gini  (2019)	26,6 [8] faible
IDH  (2019)	0,779 [9] haut  ·  74e
Monnaie	Hryvnia (₴) ( UAH )
Fuseau horaire	UTC +2 [10] ( EET )
• Été ( heure d'été )	UTC +3 ( EEST )
Côté conduite	droit
Indicatif d'appel	+380
Code ISO 3166	AU
TLD Internet	.ua .укр

L'Ukraine (en ukrainien : Україна , romanisé :  Ukraina , prononcé  [ʊkrɐˈjinɐ] ( écouter ) ) est un pays d'Europe de l'Est . C'est le deuxième plus grand pays d'Europe après la Russie , qu'il borde à l'est et au nord-est. ^{[a] L'} Ukraine partage également des frontières avec la Biélorussie au nord ; la Pologne , la Slovaquie et la Hongrie à l'ouest ; la Roumanie et la Moldavie au sud ; et a un littoral le long de laMer d'Azov et Mer Noire . Il s'étend sur une superficie de 603 628 km ² (233 062 milles carrés), ^[b] avec une population de 41,4 millions, ^[c] et est le huitième pays le plus peuplé d'Europe. La capitale et la plus grande ville du pays est Kiev .

Le territoire de l'Ukraine moderne est habité depuis 32 000 av. Au Moyen Âge , la région était un centre clé de la culture slave orientale , le puissant État de Kievan Rus formant la base de l'identité ukrainienne. Suite à sa fragmentation en plusieurs principautés au 13ème siècle et à la dévastation créée par l' invasion mongole , l'unité territoriale s'est effondrée et la région a été contestée, gouvernée et divisée par une variété de pouvoirs, y compris le Commonwealth polono-lituanien , l' Autriche-Hongrie , l' Empire ottoman et le tsarisme de Russie . Un hetmanat cosaquea émergé et a prospéré au cours des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, mais son territoire a finalement été divisé entre la Pologne et l' Empire russe . Au lendemain de la Révolution russe , un mouvement national ukrainien pour l'autodétermination a émergé et la République populaire ukrainienne internationalement reconnue a été déclarée le 23 juin 1917. Après la Seconde Guerre mondiale , la partie occidentale de l'Ukraine a fusionné dans la République socialiste soviétique d'Ukraine , et tout le pays est devenu une partie de l' Union soviétique . L'Ukraine a obtenu son indépendance en 1991, à la suite de la dissolution de l'Union soviétique .

Après son indépendance, l'Ukraine s'est déclarée un état neutre ; ^[11] elle a formé un partenariat militaire limité avec la Russie et d'autres pays de la CEI tout en établissant un partenariat avec l'OTAN en 1994. En 2013, après que le gouvernement du président Viktor Ianoukovitch eut décidé de suspendre l' accord d'association Ukraine-Union européenne et de rechercher un rapprochement économique avec la Russie, une vague de manifestations et de protestations de plusieurs mois connue sous le nom d' Euromaidan a commencé, qui s'est ensuite transformée en révolution ukrainienne de 2014qui a conduit au renversement de Ianoukovitch et à la mise en place d'un nouveau gouvernement. Ces événements ont servi de toile de fond à l' annexion de la Crimée par la Russie en mars 2014 et à la guerre du Donbass en avril 2014. Le 1er janvier 2016, l'Ukraine a demandé le volet économique de la zone de libre-échange approfondi et complet avec l'Union européenne. ^[12]

L'Ukraine est un pays en développement classé 74e dans l' indice de développement humain . C'est le pays le plus pauvre d'Europe avec la Moldavie , souffrant d'un taux de pauvreté très élevé ainsi que d'une grave corruption . ^{[13] [14]} Cependant, en raison de ses vastes terres agricoles fertiles, l'Ukraine est l'un des plus grands exportateurs de céréales au monde. ^{[15] [16]} Il maintient également le troisième plus grand militaire en Europe après la Russie et la France . ^{[17] L'} Ukraine est une république unitaire sous unsystème semi-présidentiel avec des pouvoirs séparés : législatif , exécutif et judiciaire . Le pays est membre des Nations Unies , du Conseil de l'Europe , de l' OSCE , de l' organisation GUAM , du Triangle de Lublin et est l'un des États fondateurs de la CEI , même s'il n'est jamais devenu membre de l'organisation.

Étymologie et orthographe

Il existe différentes hypothèses quant à l'étymologie du nom Ukraine . Selon l'ancienne hypothèse largement répandue, cela signifie « pays frontalier », ^[18] tandis que certaines études linguistiques plus récentes revendiquent un sens différent : « patrie » ou « région, pays ». ^[19]

" L'Ukraine " était une forme fréquemment utilisée en anglais tout au long du 20ème siècle, ^[20] mais depuis la déclaration d'indépendance de l'Ukraine en 1991, " l'Ukraine " est devenue moins courante dans le monde anglophone , et le style- les guides mettent en garde contre son utilisation dans la rédaction professionnelle. ^{[21] [22]} Selon l'ambassadeur américain William Taylor , « l'Ukraine » implique désormais le mépris de la souveraineté du pays. ^[23] La position ukrainienne officielle est que l'usage de "'l'Ukraine' est incorrect à la fois grammaticalement et politiquement." ^[24]

Histoire

Histoire ancienne

La colonie de Néandertal en Ukraine est visible dans les sites archéologiques de Molodova (43 000 à 45 000 av. J.-C.) qui comprennent une habitation en os de mammouth. ^{[25] [26]} Le territoire est également considéré comme l'emplacement probable pour la domestication humaine du cheval . ^{[27] [28] [29] [30]}

Les établissements humains modernes en Ukraine et dans ses environs remontent à 32 000 av. J.-C., avec des preuves de la culture gravettienne dans les montagnes de Crimée . ^{[31] [32]} Vers 4 500 av. J.-C., la culture néolithique Cucuteni-Trypillia a prospéré dans de vastes régions de l'Ukraine moderne, y compris Trypillia et toute la région du Dniepr - Dniester . Pendant l' âge du fer , la terre était habitée par des Cimmériens , des Scythes et des Sarmates . ^[33] Entre 700 av. J.-C. et 200 av. J.-C., il faisait partie du royaume scythe, ou Scythie .^[34]

À partir du sixième siècle avant JC, les colonies de la Grèce antique , Rome antique et l' Empire byzantin , comme Tyras , Olbia et Chersonèse , ont été fondées sur la rive nord de la mer Noire . Ces colonies ont prospéré jusqu'au VIe siècle après JC. Les Goths sont restés dans la région, mais sont tombés sous l'emprise des Huns à partir des années 370 après JC. Au VIIe siècle de notre ère, le territoire qui est aujourd'hui l'est de l'Ukraine était le centre de l' ancienne Grande Bulgarie . A la fin du siècle, la majorité des tribus bulgares ont migré dans des directions différentes, et les Khazarss'empara d'une grande partie du terrain. ^[35]

Aux Ve et VIe siècles, les Antes se trouvaient sur le territoire de l'actuelle Ukraine. Les Antes étaient les ancêtres des Ukrainiens : Croates blancs , sévériens , Polans , Drevlyans , Dulebes , Ulichians et Tiverians . Les migrations d'Ukraine à travers les Balkans ont établi de nombreuses nations slaves du Sud . Migrations du Nord, atteignant presque les Ilmen lacs, a conduit à l'émergence des Slaves Ilmen , Krivichs et Radimichs, les groupes ancestraux des Russes . Après un raid avar en 602 et l'effondrement de l'Union Antes, la plupart de ces peuples ont survécu en tant que tribus séparées jusqu'au début du deuxième millénaire. ^[36]

Âge d'or de Kiev

Kievan Rus' a été fondée sur le territoire des Polonais de l' Est , qui vivaient parmi les rivières Ros , Rosava et Dniepr . L'historien russe Boris Rybakov est venu de l'étude de la linguistique des chroniques russes à la conclusion que l'union des clans polonais de la région du milieu du Dniepr s'appelait du nom de l'un de ses clans, "Ros", qui a rejoint l'union et était connue à moins depuis le 6ème siècle bien au-delà du monde slave. ^[37] L'origine de la principauté de Kiev fait l'objet d'un grand débat et il existe au moins trois versions selon les interprétations des chroniques. ^[38]En général, on pense que la Russie kiévienne comprenait la partie centrale, occidentale et septentrionale de l'Ukraine moderne, la Biélorussie , la bande extrême-orientale de la Pologne et la partie occidentale de la Russie actuelle. Selon la Chronique primaire, l'élite russe était initialement composée de Varègues de Scandinavie . ^[39]

Aux Xe et XIe siècles, elle est devenue l'État le plus grand et le plus puissant d'Europe. ^[40] Il a jeté les bases de l'identité nationale des Ukrainiens et des Russes. ^[41] Kiev , la capitale de l'Ukraine moderne, est devenue la ville la plus importante de la Rus'. Aux XIIe-XIIIe siècles sur les efforts de Youri le Long Armé , dans la région de Zalesye ont été fondées plusieurs villes de nom similaire à celui de Kievan Rus' telles que Vladimir sur la Klyazma /Vladimir de Zalesye ^[42] ( Volodymyr ), Galich de Merya ( Halych ), Pereslavl de Zalesye ( Pereyaslav de Ruthène ),Pereslavl d'Erzya .

Les Varègues se sont ensuite assimilés à la population slave et ont fait partie de la première dynastie Rus, la dynastie Rurik . ^[41] Kievan Rus' était composé de plusieurs principautés dirigées par les Rurikid kniazes (les « princes ») interdépendants , qui se sont souvent battus pour la possession de Kiev. ^[43]

L'âge d'or de la Russie kiévienne a commencé avec le règne de Vladimir le Grand (980-1015), qui a tourné la Russie vers le christianisme byzantin . Sous le règne de son fils, Yaroslav le Sage (1019-1054), la Russie kiévienne atteignit l'apogée de son développement culturel et de sa puissance militaire. ^[41] L'État s'est bientôt fragmenté à mesure que l'importance relative des pouvoirs régionaux augmentait à nouveau. Après une dernière résurgence sous le règne de Vladimir II Monomakh (1113-1125) et de son fils Mstislav (1125-1132), Kievan Rus' s'est finalement désintégré en principautés séparées après la mort de Mstislav. ^[44]

L' invasion mongole du XIIIe siècle a dévasté la Russie kiévienne. Kiev a été totalement détruite en 1240 . ^[45] Sur le territoire ukrainien d'aujourd'hui, les principautés de Halych et Volodymyr-Volynskyi ont surgi et ont été fusionnées dans l'état de Galicie-Volhynie . ^[46]

Danylo Romanovych (Daniel Ier de Galicie ou Danylo Halytskyi) fils de Roman Mstyslavych , a réuni tout le sud-ouest de la Russie, y compris la Volhynie, la Galice et l'ancienne capitale de la Russie, Kiev. Danylo a été couronné par l' archevêque papal à Dorohychyn 1253 en tant que premier roi de toute la Russie. Sous le règne de Danylo, le royaume de Ruthénie était l'un des États les plus puissants d'Europe centrale et orientale. ^[47]

Domination étrangère

Au milieu du XIVe siècle, à la mort de Bolesław Jerzy II de Mazovie , le roi Casimir III de Pologne lança des campagnes (1340–1366) pour prendre la Galicie-Volhynie. Pendant ce temps, le cœur de la Rus', y compris Kiev, est devenu le territoire du Grand-Duché de Lituanie, dirigé par Gediminas et ses successeurs, après la bataille de la rivière Irpen' . À la suite de l' Union de Krewo en 1386 , une union dynastique entre la Pologne et la Lituanie, une grande partie de ce qui est devenu le nord de l'Ukraine était gouvernée par les nobles lituaniens locaux de plus en plus slavisés faisant partie du Grand-Duché de Lituanie. En 1392, les soi-disant guerres Galice-Volhynieterminé. Les colonisateurs polonais des terres dépeuplées du nord et du centre de l'Ukraine fondèrent ou refondèrent de nombreuses villes.

Dans les villes de la mer Noire de l'Ukraine moderne, la République de Gênes a fondé de nombreuses colonies, du milieu du XIIIe siècle à la fin du XVe siècle, y compris les villes de Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi ("Moncastro") et Kiliya ("Licostomo") , les colonies étaient autrefois de grands centres commerciaux dans la région, et étaient dirigées par un consul (un représentant de la République). ^[48]

En 1430 Podolia a été incorporé sous la Couronne du Royaume de Pologne comme Podolia Voivodeship . En 1441, dans le sud de l'Ukraine, en particulier en Crimée et dans les steppes environnantes, le prince Genghisid Haci I Giray fonda le Khanat de Crimée. ^[49]

En 1569, l' Union de Lublin a créé le Commonwealth polono-lituanien, et une grande partie du territoire ukrainien a été transférée de la Lituanie à la Couronne du Royaume de Pologne, devenant territoire polonais de jure. Sous la pression démographique, culturelle et politique de la polonisation , qui a commencé à la fin du 14ème siècle, de nombreux propriétaires terriens de Ruthénie polonaise (un autre nom pour la terre de Rus) se sont convertis au catholicisme et sont devenus indiscernables de la noblesse polonaise . ^[50] Privés de protecteurs indigènes parmi la noblesse russe, les roturiers (paysans et citadins) ont commencé à se tourner vers les cosaques zaporozhiens émergents , qui, au XVIIe siècle, sont devenus dévots.orthodoxe . Les Cosaques n'ont pas hésité à prendre les armes contre ceux qu'ils considéraient comme des ennemis, y compris l'État polonais et ses représentants locaux. ^[51]

Formé à partir du territoire de la Horde d'Or conquis après l' invasion mongole, le Khanat de Crimée était l'une des puissances les plus puissantes d'Europe de l'Est jusqu'au XVIIIe siècle ; en 1571, il a même capturé et dévasté Moscou . ^[52] Les régions frontalières ont subi des invasions tatares annuelles . Du début du XVIe siècle jusqu'à la fin du XVIIe siècle, les bandes de pillages d'esclaves tatars de Crimée ^{[53] ont} exporté environ deux millions d'esclaves de Russie et d'Ukraine. ^[54] Selon Orest Subtelny , "de 1450 à 1586, quatre-vingt-six raids tatars ont été enregistrés, et de 1600 à 1647, soixante-dix".^[55] En 1688, les Tatars ont capturé un nombre record de 60 000 Ukrainiens. ^[56] Les raids tatars ont fait un lourd tribut, décourageant la colonisation dans les régions plus au sud où le sol était meilleur et la saison de croissance était plus longue. Le dernier vestige du khanat de Crimée a finalement été conquis par l'empire russe en 1783. ^[57]

Au milieu du XVIIe siècle, un quasi-État militaire cosaque, l' Armée zaporojie , fut formé par les Cosaques du Dniepr et par les paysans ruthènes qui avaient fui le servage polonais . ^{[58] La} Pologne a exercé peu de contrôle réel sur cette population, mais a trouvé que les Cosaques étaient une force opposée utile aux Turcs et aux Tatars , ^[59] et parfois les deux étaient des alliés dans les campagnes militaires . ^[60] Cependant l' enserfment dur continu de la paysannerie par la noblesse polonaise et surtout la suppression de l'Église orthodoxe ont aliéné les Cosaques. ^[59]

Les Cosaques recherchaient une représentation au Sejm polonais , la reconnaissance des traditions orthodoxes et l'expansion progressive du Registre des Cosaques . Ceux-ci ont été rejetés par la noblesse polonaise, qui a dominé le Sejm. ^[61]

Hetmanat cosaque

En 1648, Bohdan Khmelnytsky et Petro Dorochenko menèrent le plus grand des soulèvements cosaques contre le Commonwealth et le roi de Pologne. ^[62] Après que Khmelnytsky fit son entrée à Kiev en 1648, où il fut salué comme libérateur du peuple de la captivité polonaise, il fonda l' Hetmanat cosaque , qui existait jusqu'en 1764 (certaines sources prétendent jusqu'en 1782). ^{[ citation nécessaire ]}

Khmelnytsky, abandonné par ses alliés tatars, subit une défaite écrasante à la bataille de Berestechko en 1651 et se tourna vers le tsar russe pour obtenir de l'aide. En 1654, Khmelnytsky fut soumis au Conseil de Pereyaslav , formant une alliance militaire et politique avec la Russie qui reconnaissait sa loyauté envers le tsar russe.

En 1657-1686 survint " La Ruine ", une guerre dévastatrice de 30 ans entre la Russie, la Pologne, le Khanat de Crimée , l' Empire ottoman et les Cosaques pour le contrôle de l'Ukraine, qui se produisit à peu près en même temps que le Déluge de Pologne. Les guerres se sont intensifiées avec des centaines de milliers de morts. Le « Traité de paix perpétuelle » entre la Russie et la Pologne en 1686 a divisé les terres de l'Hetmanat cosaque entre eux, réduisant la portion sur laquelle la Pologne avait revendiqué la souveraineté.

En 1686, la métropole de Kiev est annexée par le patriarcat de Moscou par le biais de la lettre synodale du patriarche œcuménique de Constantinople Dionysos IV (plus tard anathématisé ), qui fait une simonie .

En 1709, le cosaque Hetman Ivan Mazepa (1639-1709) a fait défection en Suède contre la Russie lors de la Grande Guerre du Nord (1700-1721). Finalement, le tsar Pierre a reconnu que pour consolider et moderniser le pouvoir politique et économique de la Russie, il était nécessaire de se débarrasser de l'hetmanat cosaque et des aspirations ukrainiennes et cosaques à l'autonomie. Mazepa est mort en exil après avoir fui la bataille de Poltava (1709), au cours de laquelle les Suédois et leurs alliés cosaques ont subi une défaite catastrophique.

La Constitution de Pylyp Orlyk ou Pactes et constitutions des droits et libertés de l'armée zaporizienne était un document constitutionnel de 1710 rédigé par Hetman Pylyp Orlyk , un cosaque d'Ukraine, alors membre du Commonwealth polono-lituanien . ^[63] Il a établi une norme pour la séparation des pouvoirs au sein du gouvernement entre les pouvoirs législatif, exécutif et branches judiciaires, bien avant la publication de Montesquieu de l'Esprit des Lois . La Constitution a limité l'autorité exécutive de l'hetman et a établi un parlement cosaque démocratiquement élu appelé le Conseil général. La constitution de Pylyp Orlykétait unique pour son époque et fut l'une des premières constitutions d'État en Europe. ^{[ citation nécessaire ]}

L'hetmanat a été aboli en 1764 ; le Zaporozhian Sich a été aboli en 1775, alors que la Russie centralisait le contrôle de ses terres. Dans le cadre des partitions de la Pologne en 1772, 1793 et ​​1795, les terres ukrainiennes à l'ouest du Dniepr ont été divisées entre la Russie et l'Autriche. De 1737 à 1834, l'expansion dans le littoral nord de la mer Noire et la vallée orientale du Danube était une pierre angulaire de la politique étrangère russe. ^{[ citation nécessaire ]}

Les Lituaniens et les Polonais contrôlaient de vastes domaines en Ukraine et étaient une loi en eux-mêmes. Les décisions judiciaires de Cracovie étaient régulièrement bafouées, tandis que les paysans étaient lourdement taxés et pratiquement liés à la terre en tant que serfs . De temps en temps, les propriétaires fonciers se sont affrontés en utilisant des armées de paysans ukrainiens. Les Polonais et les Lituaniens étaient catholiques romains et ont tenté avec un certain succès de convertir la petite noblesse orthodoxe. En 1596, ils fondent l'Église « gréco-catholique » ou uniate ; il domine encore aujourd'hui l'ouest de l'Ukraine. La différenciation religieuse a laissé les paysans orthodoxes ukrainiens sans chef, car ils étaient réticents à suivre les nobles ukrainiens. ^[64]

Les cosaques ont mené un soulèvement, appelé Koliivshchyna , qui a commencé dans les régions frontalières ukrainiennes du Commonwealth polono-lituanien en 1768. L'origine ethnique était l'une des causes profondes de cette révolte, qui comprenait le massacre d'Uman qui a tué des dizaines de milliers de Polonais et de Juifs. Des guerres de religion ont également éclaté entre les groupes ukrainiens. Le conflit croissant entre les paroisses uniates et orthodoxes le long de la frontière polono-russe nouvellement renforcée sur le Dniepr à l'époque de Catherine la Grande a préparé le terrain pour le soulèvement. Alors que les pratiques religieuses uniates étaient devenues plus latinisées, l'orthodoxie dans cette région s'est encore plus rapprochée de la dépendance de l' Église orthodoxe russe.. Les tensions confessionnelles reflétaient également des allégeances politiques polonaises et russes opposées. ^[65]

Après l' annexion de la Crimée par l'Empire russe en 1783, Novorossiya fut colonisée par les Ukrainiens et les Russes. ^[66] Malgré les promesses du traité de Pereyaslav, l'élite ukrainienne et les cosaques n'ont jamais obtenu les libertés et l'autonomie qu'ils attendaient. Cependant, au sein de l'Empire, les Ukrainiens ont accédé aux plus hautes fonctions de l'État et de l'Église russes. ^[a] Plus tard, les tsaristes ont établi une politique de russification , supprimant l'utilisation de la langue ukrainienne dans la presse écrite et en public. ^[67]

XIXe siècle, Première Guerre mondiale et révolution

Aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles, le territoire de l'Ukraine actuelle était inclus dans les gouvernorats de Tchernihiv (Tchernigov en russe) , Kharkiv (Kharkov) , Kiev 1708-1764 et Petite Russie 1764-1781 , Podillia (Podolie) et Volyn ( Volhynie) - avec tous sauf les deux premiers regroupés de manière informelle dans le Krai du sud - ouest .

Après la guerre russo-turque (1768-1774) , Catherine la Grande et ses successeurs immédiats encouragent l'immigration allemande en Ukraine et surtout en Crimée , pour éclaircir la population turque auparavant dominante et encourager l'agriculture. ^[68] De nombreux Ukrainiens, Russes, Allemands, Bulgares , Serbes et Grecs se sont installés dans la steppe du nord de la mer Noire anciennement connue sous le nom de « champs sauvages ». ^{[69] [70]}

Avec l'urbanisation et la modernisation croissantes et une tendance culturelle au nationalisme romantique , une intelligentsia ukrainienne engagée dans la renaissance nationale et la justice sociale a émergé. Le serf devenu poète national Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861) et le théoricien politique Mykhailo Drahomanov (1841-1895) ont dirigé le mouvement nationaliste grandissant. ^{[71] [72]}

À partir du XIXe siècle, il y a eu des migrations d'Ukraine vers des régions éloignées de l'Empire russe. Selon le recensement de 1897, il y avait 223 000 Ukrainiens ethniques en Sibérie et 102 000 en Asie centrale . ^[73] 1,6 million de plus ont émigré vers l'est au cours des dix années qui ont suivi l'ouverture du chemin de fer transsibérien en 1906. ^[74] Les régions d' Extrême-Orient avec une population ukrainienne ethnique sont devenues connues sous le nom d' Ukraine verte . ^[75]

Les partis nationalistes et socialistes se sont développés à la fin du XIXe siècle. La Galicie autrichienne , sous la domination relativement clémente des Habsbourg , devint le centre du mouvement nationaliste. ^[76]

Les Ukrainiens sont entrés dans la Première Guerre mondiale aux côtés des puissances centrales , sous l'Autriche, et de la Triple Entente , sous la Russie. 3,5 millions d'Ukrainiens se sont battus avec l' armée impériale russe , tandis que 250 000 se sont battus pour l' armée austro-hongroise . ^{[77] Les} autorités austro-hongroises ont établi la Légion ukrainienne pour lutter contre l'Empire russe. C'est devenu l' armée galicienne ukrainienne qui a combattu les bolcheviks et les Polonais dans la période d'après-guerre (1919-1923). Les personnes soupçonnées de sentiments russophiles en Autriche ont été traitées durement. ^[78]

La Première Guerre mondiale a détruit les deux empires. La révolution russe de 1917 a conduit à la fondation de l'Union soviétique sous les bolcheviks et à la guerre civile qui a suivi en Russie . Un mouvement national ukrainien pour l'autodétermination a émergé, avec une forte influence communiste et socialiste. Plusieurs États ukrainiens ont brièvement émergé : la République populaire ukrainienne internationalement reconnue ( UNR , le prédécesseur de l'Ukraine moderne, a été déclarée le 23 juin 1917, d'abord proclamée comme faisant partie de la République russe ; après la révolution bolchevique , la République populaire d'Ukraine a proclamé son indépendance le 25 janvier 1918), l' Hetmanat , le Directoireet la République socialiste soviétique d'Ukraine bolchevique (ou Ukraine soviétique) ont successivement établi des territoires dans l'ancien Empire russe ; tandis que la République populaire d'Ukraine occidentale et la République houtsoul ont émergé brièvement sur les terres ukrainiennes de l'ancien territoire austro-hongrois. ^[79]

L' acte éphémère Zluky (loi d'unification) était un accord signé le 22 janvier 1919 par la République populaire d'Ukraine et la République populaire d'Ukraine occidentale sur la place Sainte-Sophie à Kiev . ^[80] Cela a conduit à la guerre civile, et un mouvement anarchiste appelé l' Armée noire (plus tard rebaptisée Armée insurrectionnelle révolutionnaire d'Ukraine ) s'est développée dans le sud de l'Ukraine sous le commandement de l'anarchiste Nestor Makhno pendant la guerre civile russe . ^[81] Ils protégeaient le fonctionnement des « soviets libres » et communes libertaires du Territoire Libre , tentative de formation d'une société anarchiste apatride de 1918 à 1921 pendant la Révolution ukrainienne , combattant à la fois l' Armée blanche tsariste sous Dénikine et plus tard l' Armée rouge sous Trotsky , avant d'être vaincu par cette dernière en août 1921.

La Pologne a vaincu l'Ukraine occidentale dans la guerre polono-ukrainienne , mais a échoué contre les bolcheviks dans une offensive contre Kiev . Selon la paix de Riga , l'Ukraine occidentale a été incorporée à la Pologne, qui à son tour a reconnu la République socialiste soviétique d'Ukraine en mars 1919. Avec l'établissement du pouvoir soviétique, l'Ukraine a perdu la moitié de son territoire, tandis que l'autonomie moldave a été établie sur la rive gauche. du fleuve Dniestr . L'Ukraine est devenue membre fondateur de l' Union des Républiques socialistes soviétiques en décembre 1922. ^[82]

Ukraine occidentale, Ruthénie des Carpates et Bucovine

La guerre en Ukraine s'est poursuivie pendant encore deux ans ; en 1921, cependant, la majeure partie de l'Ukraine avait été reprise par l'Union soviétique, tandis que la Galicie et la Volhynie (principalement l'Ukraine occidentale d'aujourd'hui ) étaient incorporées à la deuxième République polonaise . La Bucovine d' aujourd'hui a été annexée par la Roumanie et la Ruthénie des Carpates a été admise à la République tchécoslovaque en tant qu'autonomie. ^[83]

Un puissant mouvement nationaliste ukrainien souterrain est né dans l'est de la Pologne dans les années 1920 et 1930, formé par des vétérans ukrainiens de la guerre ukraino-soviétique (dont Yevhen Konovalets , Andriy Melnyk et Yuriy Tyutyunyk ) et a été transformé en l' Organisation militaire ukrainienne et plus tard l' Organisation des nationalistes ukrainiens (OUN) . Le mouvement a attiré un public militant parmi les étudiants. Les hostilités entre les autorités de l'État polonais et le mouvement populaire ont fait un grand nombre de morts et l'autonomie promise n'a jamais été mise en œuvre. Le gouvernement polonais d'avant-guerre exerçait également un sentiment anti-ukrainien; il restreignait les droits des personnes qui déclaraient la nationalité ukrainienne, appartenaient à l' Église orthodoxe orientale et habitaient les régions frontalières orientales . ^{[84] [85]} La langue ukrainienne a été restreinte dans tous les domaines possibles, en particulier dans les institutions gouvernementales, et le terme "ruthène" a été appliqué dans une tentative d'interdire l'utilisation du terme "ukrainien". ^[86] Malgré cela, un certain nombre de partis ukrainiens, l'Église catholique ukrainienne, une presse active et un secteur des affaires existaient en Pologne. Les conditions économiques se sont améliorées dans les années 1920, mais la région a souffert de la Grande Dépression au début des années 1930. ^[87]

L'Ukraine soviétique de l'entre-deux-guerres

La guerre civile russe a dévasté tout l'empire russe, y compris l'Ukraine. Il a fait plus de 1,5 million de morts et des centaines de milliers de sans-abri sur le territoire de l'ancien Empire russe. L'Ukraine soviétique a également été confrontée à la famine russe de 1921 (affectant principalement la région russe Volga - Oural ). ^{[88] [89]} Pendant les années 1920, ^[90] sous la politique d'ukrainisation poursuivie par la direction communiste nationale de Mykola Skrypnyk , la direction soviétique a encouragé une renaissance nationale dans la culture et la langue ukrainiennes . Ukrainisationfaisait partie de la politique soviétique de Korenisation (littéralement indigénisation ). ^[82] Les bolcheviks étaient également attachés aux soins de santé universels , à l'éducation et aux prestations de sécurité sociale, ainsi qu'au droit au travail et au logement. ^[91] Les droits des femmes ont été considérablement accrus grâce à de nouvelles lois. ^[92] La plupart de ces politiques ont été fortement inversées au début des années 1930 après que Joseph Staline est devenu de facto le chef du parti communiste. ^{[ citation nécessaire ]}

À partir de la fin des années 1920 avec une économie planifiée , l'Ukraine a été impliquée dans l'industrialisation soviétique et la production industrielle de la république a quadruplé au cours des années 1930. ^[82] La paysannerie a souffert du programme de collectivisation de l'agriculture qui a commencé pendant et faisait partie du premier plan quinquennal et a été appliqué par les troupes régulières et la police secrète . ^[82] Ceux qui ont résisté ont été arrêtés et déportés et la productivité agricole a fortement diminué. Comme les membres des fermes collectives n'étaient parfois pas autorisés à recevoir des céréales jusqu'à ce que des quotas irréalistes soient atteints, des millions de personnes sont mortes de faim dans une famine known as the Holodomor or the "Great Famine".^[93]

Scholars are divided as to whether this famine fits the definition of genocide, but the Ukrainian parliament and the governments of other countries have acknowledged it as such.^[b]

The Communist leadership perceived famine as a means of class struggle and used starvation as a punishment tool to force peasants into collective farms.^[94]

Largely the same groups were responsible for the mass killing operations during the civil war, collectivisation, and the Great Terror. These groups were associated with Yefim Yevdokimov (1891–1939) and operated in the Secret Operational Division within General State Political Administration (OGPU) in 1929–31. Yevdokimov transferred into Communist Party administration in 1934, when he became Party secretary for North Caucasus Krai. He appears to have continued advising Joseph Stalin and Nikolai Yezhov on security matters, and the latter relied on Yevdokimov's former colleagues to carry out the mass killing operations that are known as the Great Terror in 1937–38.^[95]

On 13 January 2010, Kyiv Appellate Court posthumously found Stalin, Kaganovich and other Soviet Communist Party functionaries guilty of genocide against Ukrainians during the Holodomor famine.^[96]

World War II

Following the Invasion of Poland in September 1939, German and Soviet troops divided the territory of Poland. Thus, Eastern Galicia and Volhynia with their Ukrainian population became part of Ukraine. For the first time in history, the nation was united.^[97][98]

In 1940, the Soviets annexed Bessarabia and northern Bukovina. The Ukrainian SSR incorporated the northern and southern districts of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and the Hertsa region. But it ceded the western part of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to the newly created Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. These territorial gains of the USSR were internationally recognized by the Paris peace treaties of 1947.^{[citation needed]}

German armies invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, initiating nearly four years of total war. The Axis initially advanced against desperate but unsuccessful efforts of the Red Army. In the encirclement battle of Kyiv, the city was acclaimed as a "Hero City", because of its fierce resistance. More than 600,000 Soviet soldiers (or one-quarter of the Soviet Western Front) were killed or taken captive there, with many suffering severe mistreatment.^[99][100]

Although the majority of Ukrainians fought in or alongside the Red Army and Soviet resistance,^[101] in Western Ukraine an independent Ukrainian Insurgent Army movement arose (UPA, 1942). Created as armed forces of the underground (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, OUN)^[102][103] which had developed in interwar Poland as a reactionary nationalist organization. During the interwar period, the Polish government's policies towards the Ukrainian minority were initially very accommodating, however by the late 1930s they became increasingly harsh due to civil unrest. Both organizations, OUN and UPA supported the goal of an independent Ukrainian state on the territory with a Ukrainian ethnic majority. Although this brought conflict with Nazi Germany, at times the Melnyk wing of the OUN allied with the Nazi forces. Beginning in mid-1943 and lasting until the end of the war, UPA carried out massacres of ethnic Poles in the Volhynia and Eastern Galicia regions, killing around 100,000 Polish civilians,^[104] which brought reprisals.^[105] The organized massacres were an attempt by OUN to create a homogeneous Ukrainian state without a Polish minority living within its borders, and to prevent the post-war Polish state from asserting its sovereignty over areas that had been part of prewar Poland.^[106] After the war, the UPA continued to fight the USSR until the 1950s.^[107][108] At the same time, the Ukrainian Liberation Army, another nationalist movement, fought alongside the Nazis.^{[citation needed]}

In total, the number of ethnic Ukrainians who fought in the ranks of the Soviet Army is estimated from 4.5 million^[101] to 7 million.^[109][c] The pro-Soviet partisan guerrilla resistance in Ukraine is estimated to number at 47,800 from the start of occupation to 500,000 at its peak in 1944, with about 50% being ethnic Ukrainians.^[110] Generally, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army's figures are unreliable, with figures ranging anywhere from 15,000 to as many as 100,000 fighters.^[111][112]

Most of the Ukrainian SSR was organised within the Reichskommissariat Ukraine, with the intention of exploiting its resources and eventual German settlement. Some western Ukrainians, who had only joined the Soviet Union in 1939, hailed the Germans as liberators. Brutal German rule eventually turned their supporters against the Nazi administrators, who made little attempt to exploit dissatisfaction with Stalinist policies.^[113] Instead, the Nazis preserved the collective-farm system, carried out genocidal policies against Jews, deported millions of people to work in Germany, and began a depopulation program to prepare for German colonisation.^[113] They blockaded the transport of food on the Kyiv River.^[114]

The vast majority of the fighting in World War II took place on the Eastern Front.^[115] By some estimates, 93% of all German casualties took place there.^[116] The total losses inflicted upon the Ukrainian population during the war are estimated at 6 million,^[117][118] including an estimated one and a half million Jews killed by the Einsatzgruppen,^[119] sometimes with the help of local collaborators. Of the estimated 8.6 million Soviet troop losses,^{[120][121][122]} 1.4 million were ethnic Ukrainians.^{[120][122][c][d]} Victory Day is celebrated as one of ten Ukrainian national holidays.^[123] The losses of the Ukrainian people in the war amounted to 40-44% of the total losses of the USSR.^[124]

Post–World War II

The republic was heavily damaged by the war, and it required significant efforts to recover. More than 700 cities and towns and 28,000 villages were destroyed.^[125] The situation was worsened by a famine in 1946–47, which was caused by a drought and the wartime destruction of infrastructure. The death toll of this famine varies, with even the lowest estimate in the tens of thousands.^[118] In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the founding members of the United Nations organization,^[126] part of a special agreement at the Yalta Conference.^[127]

Post-war ethnic cleansing occurred in the newly expanded Soviet Union. As of 1 January 1953, Ukrainians were second only to Russians among adult "special deportees", comprising 20% of the total.^[128] In addition, over 450,000 ethnic Germans from Ukraine and more than 200,000 Crimean Tatars were victims of forced deportations.^[128]

Following the death of Stalin in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev became the new leader of the USSR. Having served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukrainian SSR in 1938–49, Khrushchev was intimately familiar with the republic; after taking power union-wide, he began to emphasize "the friendship" between the Ukrainian and Russian nations. In 1954, the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Pereyaslav was widely celebrated. Crimea was transferred from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR.^[129]

By 1950, the republic had fully surpassed pre-war levels of industry and production.^[130] During the 1946–1950 five-year plan, nearly 20% of the Soviet budget was invested in Soviet Ukraine, a 5% increase from pre-war plans. As a result, the Ukrainian workforce rose 33.2% from 1940 to 1955 while industrial output grew 2.2 times in that same period.^{[citation needed]}

Soviet Ukraine soon became a European leader in industrial production,^[131] and an important centre of the Soviet arms industry and high-tech research. Such an important role resulted in a major influence of the local elite. Many members of the Soviet leadership came from Ukraine, most notably Leonid Brezhnev. He later ousted Khrushchev and became the Soviet leader from 1964 to 1982. Many prominent Soviet sports players, scientists, and artists came from Ukraine.^{[citation needed]}

On 26 April 1986, a reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, resulting in the Chernobyl disaster, the worst nuclear reactor accident in history.^[132] This was the only accident to receive the highest possible rating of 7 by the International Nuclear Event Scale, indicating a "major accident", until the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in March 2011.^[133] At the time of the accident, 7 million people lived in the contaminated territories, including 2.2 million in Ukraine.^[134]

After the accident, the new city of Slavutych was built outside the exclusion zone to house and support the employees of the plant, which was decommissioned in 2000. A report prepared by the International Atomic Energy Agency and World Health Organization attributed 56 direct deaths to the accident and estimated that there may have been 4,000 extra cancer deaths.^[135]

Independence

On January 21, 1990, over 300,000 Ukrainians^[136] organised a human chain for Ukrainian independence between Kyiv and Lviv, in memory of the 1919 unification of the Ukrainian People's Republic and the West Ukrainian National Republic. Citizens came out to the streets and highways, forming live chains by holding hands in support of unity.

On 16 July 1990, the new parliament adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine.^[137] This established the principles of the self-determination, democracy, independence, and the priority of Ukrainian law over Soviet law. A month earlier, a similar declaration was adopted by the parliament of the Russian SFSR. This started a period of confrontation with the central Soviet authorities. On October 2–17, 1990, the Revolution on Granite took place in Ukraine, the main purpose of the action was to prevent the signing of a new union treaty of the USSR. The demands of the students were satisfied by signing a resolution of the Verkhovna Rada, which guaranteed their implementation.^[138]

In August 1991, a faction among the Communist leaders of the Soviet Union attempted a coup to remove Mikhail Gorbachev and to restore the Communist party's power. After it failed, on 24 August 1991 the Ukrainian parliament adopted the Act of Independence.^[139]

A referendum and the first presidential elections took place on 1 December 1991. More than 90% of the electorate expressed their support for the Act of Independence, and they elected the chairman of the parliament, Leonid Kravchuk as the first President of Ukraine. At the meeting in Brest, Belarus on 8 December, followed by the Alma Ata meeting on 21 December, the leaders of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine formally dissolved the Soviet Union and formed the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).^[140] On 26 December 1991 the Council of Republics of the USSR Supreme Council adapted declaration "In regards to creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States" (Russian: В связи с созданием Содружества Независимых Государств) which de jure dissolved the Soviet Union and the Soviet flag was lowered over the Kremlin.^[141] The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine did not ratify the accession, ie Ukraine has never been a member of the CIS.^[142]

Ukraine was initially viewed as having favourable economic conditions in comparison to the other regions of the Soviet Union.^[143] However, the country experienced deeper economic slowdown than some of the other former Soviet Republics. During the recession, Ukraine lost 60% of its GDP from 1991 to 1999,^[144][145] and suffered five-digit inflation rates.^[146] Dissatisfied with the economic conditions, as well as the amounts of crime and corruption in Ukraine, Ukrainians protested and organized strikes.^[147]

The Ukrainian economy stabilized by the end of the 1990s. A new currency, the hryvnia, was introduced in 1996. After 2000, the country enjoyed steady real economic growth averaging about seven percent annually.^[148][149] A new Constitution of Ukraine was adopted under second President Leonid Kuchma in 1996, which turned Ukraine into a semi-presidential republic and established a stable political system. Kuchma was, however, criticised by opponents for corruption, electoral fraud, discouraging free speech and concentrating too much power in his office.^[150] Ukraine also pursued full nuclear disarmament, giving up the third largest nuclear weapons stockpile in the world and dismantling or removing all strategic bombers on its territory in exchange for various assurances (main article: Nuclear weapons and Ukraine).^[151]

Orange Revolution

In 2004, Viktor Yanukovych, then Prime Minister, was declared the winner of the presidential elections, which had been largely rigged, as the Supreme Court of Ukraine later ruled.^[152] The results caused a public outcry in support of the opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, who challenged the outcome. During the tumultuous months of the revolution, candidate Yushchenko suddenly became gravely ill, and was soon found by multiple independent physician groups to have been poisoned by TCDD dioxin.^[153][154] Yushchenko strongly suspected Russian involvement in his poisoning.^[155] All of this eventually resulted in the peaceful Orange Revolution, bringing Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko to power, while casting Viktor Yanukovych in opposition.^[156]

Activists of the Orange Revolution were funded and trained in tactics of political organisation and nonviolent resistance by Western pollsters^{[clarification needed]} and professional consultants^[who?] who were partly funded by Western government and non-government agencies but received most of their funding from domestic sources.^{[nb 1][157]} According to The Guardian, the foreign donors included the U.S. State Department and USAID along with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the International Republican Institute, the NGO Freedom House and George Soros's Open Society Institute.^[158] The National Endowment for Democracy has supported democracy-building efforts in Ukraine since 1988.^[159] Writings on nonviolent struggle by Gene Sharp contributed in forming the strategic basis of the student campaigns.^[160]

Russian authorities provided support through advisers such as Gleb Pavlovsky, consulting on blackening the image of Yushchenko through the state media, pressuring state-dependent voters to vote for Yanukovych and on vote-rigging techniques such as multiple "carousel voting" and "dead souls" voting.^[157]

Yanukovych returned to power in 2006 as Prime Minister in the Alliance of National Unity,^[161] until snap elections in September 2007 made Tymoshenko Prime Minister again.^[162] Amid the 2008–09 Ukrainian financial crisis the Ukrainian economy plunged by 15%.^[163] Disputes with Russia briefly stopped all gas supplies to Ukraine in 2006 and again in 2009, leading to gas shortages in other countries.^[164][165] Viktor Yanukovych was elected President in 2010 with 48% of votes.^[166]

Euromaidan and 2014 revolution

The Euromaidan (Ukrainian: Євромайдан, literally "Eurosquare") protests started in November 2013 after the president, Viktor Yanukovych, began moving away from an association agreement that had been in the works with the European Union and instead chose to establish closer ties with the Russian Federation.^{[167][168][169]} Some Ukrainians took to the streets to show their support for closer ties with Europe.^[170] Meanwhile, in the predominantly Russian-speaking east, a large portion of the population opposed the Euromaidan protests, instead supporting the Yanukovych government.^[171] Over time, Euromaidan came to describe a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine,^[172] the scope of which evolved to include calls for the resignation of President Yanukovych and his government.^[173]

Violence escalated after 16 January 2014 when the government accepted new Anti-Protest Laws. Violent anti-government demonstrators occupied buildings in the centre of Kyiv, including the Justice Ministry building, and riots left 98 dead with approximately fifteen thousand injured and 100 considered missing^{[174][175][176][177]} from 18 to 20 February.^[178][179] On 21 February, President Yanukovych signed a compromise deal with opposition leaders that promised constitutional changes to restore certain powers to Parliament and called for early elections to be held by December.^[180] However, Members of Parliament voted on 22 February to remove the president and set an election for 25 May to select his replacement.^[181] Petro Poroshenko, running on a pro-European Union platform, won with over fifty percent of the vote, therefore not requiring a run-off election.^{[182][183][184]} Upon his election, Poroshenko announced that his immediate priorities would be to take action in the civil unrest in Eastern Ukraine and mend ties with the Russian Federation.^{[182][183][184]} Poroshenko was inaugurated as president on 7 June 2014, as previously announced by his spokeswoman Irina Friz in a low-key ceremony without a celebration on Kyiv's Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square, the centre of the Euromaidan protests^[185]) for the ceremony.^[186][187] In October 2014 Parliament elections, Petro Poroshenko Bloc "Solidarity" won 132 of the 423 contested seats.^[188]

Civil unrest, Russian intervention, and annexation of Crimea

The ousting^[189] of Yanukovych prompted Vladimir Putin to begin preparations to annex Crimea on 23 February 2014.^[190][191] Using the Russian naval base at Sevastopol as cover, Putin directed Russian troops and intelligence agents to disarm Ukrainian forces and take control of Crimea.^{[192][193][194][195]} After the troops entered Crimea,^[196] a controversial referendum was held on 16 March 2014 and the official result was that 97 percent wished to join with Russia.^[197] On 18 March 2014, Russia and the self-proclaimed Republic of Crimea signed a treaty of accession of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol in the Russian Federation. The UN general assembly responded by passing resolution 68/262 that the referendum was invalid and supporting the territorial integrity of Ukraine.^[198]

Separately, in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, armed men declaring themselves as local militia supported with pro-Russian protesters^[199] seized government buildings, police and special police stations in several cities and held unrecognised status referendums.^[200] The insurgency was led by Russian emissaries Igor Girkin^[201] and Alexander Borodai^[202] as well as militants from Russia, such as Arseny Pavlov.^[203]

Talks in Geneva between the EU, Russia, Ukraine, and the United States yielded a Joint Diplomatic Statement referred to as the 2014 Geneva Pact^[204] in which the parties requested that all unlawful militias lay down their arms and vacate seized government buildings, and also establish a political dialogue that could lead to more autonomy for Ukraine's regions. When Petro Poroshenko won the presidential election held on 25 May 2014, he vowed to continue the military operations by the Ukrainian government forces to end the armed insurgency.^[205] More than 9,000 people have been killed in the military campaign.^{[citation needed]}

In August 2014, a bilateral commission of leading scholars from the United States and Russia issued the Boisto Agenda indicating a 24-step plan to resolve the crisis in Ukraine.^[206] The Boisto Agenda was organized into five imperative categories for addressing the crisis requiring stabilization identified as: (1) Elements of an Enduring, Verifiable Ceasefire; (2) Economic Relations; (3) Social and Cultural Issues; (4) Crimea; and, (5) International Status of Ukraine.^[206] In late 2014, Ukraine ratified the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement, which Poroshenko described as Ukraine's "first but most decisive step" towards EU membership.^[207] Poroshenko also set 2020 as the target for EU membership application.^[208]

In February 2015, after a summit hosted in Belarus, Poroshenko negotiated a ceasefire with the separatist troops. This included conditions such as the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the front line and decentralisation of rebel regions by the end of 2015. It also included conditions such as Ukrainian control of the border with Russia in 2015 and the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Ukrainian territory. The ceasefire began at midnight on 15 February 2015. Participants in this ceasefire also agreed to attend regular meetings to ensure that the agreement is respected.^[209]

On 1 January 2016, Ukraine joined the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with European Union,^[12] which aims to modernize and develop Ukraine's economy, governance and rule of law to EU standards and gradually increase integration with the EU Internal market.^[210] Then, on 11 May 2017 the European Union approved visa-free travel for Ukrainian citizens: this took effect from 11 June entitling Ukrainians to travel to the Schengen area for tourism, family visits and business reasons, with the only document required being a valid biometric passport.^[211]

Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce satisfied Naftogaz's claims for compensation for gas supplies for transit that were not supplied by Gazprom. According to the decision of the Stockholm Arbitration, Naftogaz has achieved compensation in the amount of 4.63 billion dollars for Gazprom's failure to supply the agreed volumes of gas for transit. According to the results of two arbitration proceedings in Stockholm, Gazprom has to pay $2.56 billion in favor of Naftogaz.^[212]

Kerch Strait incident occurred on 25 November 2018 when the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) coast guard fired upon and captured three Ukrainian Navy vessels attempting to pass from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov through the Kerch Strait on their way to the port of Mariupol.^[213][214]

On January 6, 2019, in Fener, a delegation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine with the participation of President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko received a Tomos on autocephaly. The Tomos was presented to the head of the OCU, Metropolitan Epiphanius, during a joint liturgy with the Ecumenical Patriarch.^[215] The next day, Tomos was brought to Ukraine for a demonstration at St. Sophia Cathedral. On January 9, all members of the Synod of the Constantinople Orthodox Church signed the Tomos during the scheduled meeting of the Synod.

On February 21, 2019, the Constitution of Ukraine was amended, the norms on the strategic course of Ukraine for membership in the European Union and NATO are enshrined in the preamble of the Basic Law, three articles and transitional provisions.^[216]

The 2019 Ukrainian presidential election was held on 31 March and 21 April in a two-round system. There were a total of 39 candidates for the election on the ballot. The 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia and the occupation of parts of Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast prevented around 12% of eligible voters from participating in the election. As no candidate received an absolute majority of the vote, a second round was held between the top two candidates, Volodymyr Zelensky, who played the role of Ukraine's president in a popular television comedy and the incumbent president, Petro Poroshenko, on 21 April 2019. According to the Central Election Commission, Zelensky won the second round with 73.22% of the votes.^{[217][218][219]} Snap elections to the Ukrainian parliament were held on 21 July 2019.^[220] Originally scheduled to be held at the end of October, these elections were brought forward after newly inaugurated President Volodymyr Zelensky dissolved parliament on 21 May 2019, during his inauguration.^[221] The election result was the one-party majority, a novelty in Ukraine, for President Zelensky's Servant of the People party with 254 seats.^[222]

On September 7, 2019, 22 Ukrainian sailors, 2 SBU officers, and 11 Ukrainian Kremlin political prisoners, Oleh Sentsov, Volodymyr Balukh, Edem Bekirov, Pavlo Hryb, Mykola Karpyuk, Stanislav Klykh, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Yevhen and Artur Panovy, Oleksiy Syzonovych and Roman Sushchenko returned to Ukraine as a result of a reciprocal release operation.^[223][224]

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752) was a scheduled international passenger flight from Tehran to Kyiv operated by Ukraine International Airlines (UIA). On 8 January 2020, the Boeing 737-800 operating the route was shot down shortly after takeoff from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).^{[225][226][227]} All 176 passengers and crew were killed.^[228]

On March 2, 2020, the first case of COVID-19 infection was confirmed in Chernivtsi.^[229] Subsequently, quarantine was imposed, borders were closed and a state of emergency was declared. The epidemic covered all regions of Ukraine. Every day, the Ministry of Health publishes new information about the spread of the pandemic. Due to quarantine restrictions in the country, the economic crisis intensified, the number of officially unemployed increased by 67%.

On March 4, 2020, The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine accepts the resignation of the Honcharuk Government and begins the formation of the Shmyhal Government.^[230]

Geography

Ukraine is a large country in Eastern Europe, lying mostly in the East European Plain. It is the second-largest European country, after Russia. It covers an area of 603,628 square kilometres (233,062 sq mi) and with a coastline of 2,782 kilometres (1,729 mi).^[40] It lies between latitudes 44° and 53° N, and longitudes 22° and 41° E.

The landscape of Ukraine consists mostly of fertile plains (or steppes) and plateaus, crossed by rivers such as the Dnieper (Dnipro), Seversky Donets, Dniester and the Southern Bug as they flow south into the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. To the southwest, the delta of the Danube forms the border with Romania. Ukraine's various regions have diverse geographic features ranging from the highlands to the lowlands. The country's only mountains are the Carpathian Mountains in the west, of which the highest is the Hora Hoverla at 2,061 metres (6,762 ft), and the Crimean Mountains on Crimea, in the extreme south along the coast.^[231] However Ukraine also has a number of highland regions such as the Volyn-Podillia Upland (in the west) and the Near-Dnipro Upland (on the right bank of Dnieper); to the east there are the south-western spurs of the Central Russian Upland over which runs the border with the Russian Federation. Near the Sea of Azov can be found the Donets Ridge and the Near Azov Upland. The snow melt from the mountains feeds the rivers, and natural changes in altitude form sudden drops in elevation and give rise to waterfalls.

Significant natural resources in Ukraine include iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt, sulphur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, timber and an abundance of arable land. Despite this, the country faces a number of major environmental issues such as inadequate supplies of potable water; air- and water-pollution and deforestation, as well as radiation contamination in the north-east from the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Recycling toxic household waste is still in its infancy in Ukraine.^[232]

Soil

From northwest to southeast the soils of Ukraine may be divided into three major aggregations:^[233]

• a zone of sandy podzolized soils
• a central belt consisting of the extremely fertile Ukrainian black earth (chernozems)
• a zone of chestnut and salinized soils

As much as two-thirds of the country's surface land consists of black earth, a resource that has made Ukraine one of the most fertile regions in the world and well known as a "breadbasket".^[234] These soils may be divided into three broad groups:

• in the north, a belt of deep chernozems, about 5 feet (1.5 metres) thick and rich in humus
• south and east of the former, a zone of prairie, or ordinary, chernozems, which are equally rich in humus but only about 3 feet (0.91 metres) thick
• the southernmost belt, which is even thinner and has still less humus

Interspersed in various uplands and along the northern and western perimeters of the deep chernozems are mixtures of gray forest soils and podzolized black-earth soils, which together occupy much of Ukraine's remaining area. All these soils are very fertile when sufficient water is available. However, their intensive cultivation, especially on steep slopes, has led to widespread soil erosion and gullying.

The smallest proportion of the soil cover consists of the chestnut soils of the southern and eastern regions. They become increasingly salinized to the south as they approach the Black Sea.^[233]

Climate

Ukraine has a mostly temperate climate, with the exception of the southern coast of Crimea which has a subtropical climate.^[235] The climate is influenced by moderately warm, humid air coming from the Atlantic Ocean.^[236] Average annual temperatures range from 5.5–7 °C (41.9–44.6 °F) in the north, to 11–13 °C (51.8–55.4 °F) in the south.^[236] Precipitation is disproportionately distributed; it is highest in the west and north and lowest in the east and southeast.^[236] Western Ukraine, particularly in the Carpathian Mountains, receives around 1,200 millimetres (47.2 in) of precipitation annually, while Crimea and the coastal areas of the Black Sea receive around 400 millimetres (15.7 in).^[236]

Biodiversity

Ukraine contains six terrestrial ecoregions: Central European mixed forests, Crimean Submediterranean forest complex, East European forest steppe, Pannonian mixed forests, Carpathian montane conifer forests, and Pontic steppe.^[237] Ukraine is home to a diverse assemblage of animals, fungi, microorganisms and plants.^{[citation needed]}

Animals

Ukraine falls into two main zoological areas. One of these areas, in the west of the country, is made up of the borderlands of Europe, where there are species typical of mixed forests, the other is located in eastern Ukraine, where steppe-dwelling species thrive. In the forested areas of the country it is not uncommon to find lynxes, wolves, wild boar and martens, as well as many other similar species; this is especially true of the Carpathian Mountains, where many predatory mammals make their home, as well as a contingent of brown bears. Around Ukraine's lakes and rivers beavers, otters and mink make their home, whilst in the waters carp, bream and catfish are the most commonly found species of fish. In the central and eastern parts of the country, rodents such as hamsters and gophers are found in large numbers.^{[citation needed]}

Fungi

More than 6,600 species of fungi (including lichen-forming species) have been recorded from Ukraine,^[238][239] but this number is far from complete. The true total number of fungal species occurring in Ukraine, including species not yet recorded, is likely to be far higher, given the generally accepted estimate that only about 7% of all fungi worldwide have so far been discovered.^[240] Although the amount of available information is still very small, a first effort has been made to estimate the number of fungal species endemic to Ukraine, and 2217 such species have been tentatively identified.^[241]

Politics

Ukraine is a republic under a mixed semi-parliamentary semi-presidential system with separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

Constitution of Ukraine

With the proclamation of its independence on 24 August 1991, and adoption of a constitution on 28 June 1996, Ukraine became a semi-presidential republic. However, in 2004, deputies introduced changes to the Constitution, which tipped the balance of power in favour of a parliamentary system. From 2004 to 2010, the legitimacy of the 2004 Constitutional amendments had official sanction, both with the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, and most major political parties.^[246] Despite this, on 30 September 2010 the Constitutional Court ruled that the amendments were null and void, forcing a return to the terms of the 1996 Constitution and again making Ukraine's political system more presidential in character.

The ruling on the 2004 Constitutional amendments became a major topic of political discourse. Much of the concern was based on the fact that neither the Constitution of 1996 nor the Constitution of 2004 provided the ability to "undo the Constitution", as the decision of the Constitutional Court would have it, even though the 2004 constitution arguably has an exhaustive list of possible procedures for constitutional amendments (articles 154–159). In any case, the current Constitution could be modified by a vote in Parliament.^{[246][247][248][clarification needed]}

On 21 February 2014 an agreement between President Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leaders saw the country return to the 2004 Constitution. The historic agreement, brokered by the European Union, followed the Euromaidan protests that began in late November 2013 and culminated in a week of violent clashes in which scores of protesters were killed. In addition to returning the country to the 2004 Constitution, the deal provided for the formation of a coalition government, the calling of early elections, and the release of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko from prison.^[249] A day after the agreement was reached the Ukrainian parliament dismissed Yanukovych and installed its speaker Oleksandr Turchynov as interim president^[250] and Arseniy Yatsenyuk as the Prime Minister of Ukraine.^[251]

President, parliament and government

Volodymyr Zelensky President	Denys Shmyhal Prime Minister

The President is elected by popular vote for a five-year term and is the formal head of state.^[252] Ukraine's legislative branch includes the 450-seat unicameral parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.^[253] The parliament is primarily responsible for the formation of the executive branch and the Cabinet of Ministers, headed by the Prime Minister.^[254] However, the President still retains the authority to nominate the Ministers of the Foreign Affairs and of Defence for parliamentary approval, as well as the power to appoint the Prosecutor General and the head of the Security Service.

Laws, acts of the parliament and the cabinet, presidential decrees, and acts of the Crimean parliament may be abrogated by the Constitutional Court, should they be found to violate the constitution. Other normative acts are subject to judicial review. The Supreme Court is the main body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction. Local self-government is officially guaranteed. Local councils and city mayors are popularly elected and exercise control over local budgets. The heads of regional and district administrations are appointed by the President in accordance with the proposals of the Prime Minister.

Courts and law enforcement

The courts enjoy legal, financial and constitutional freedom guaranteed by Ukrainian law since 2002. Judges are largely well protected from dismissal (except in the instance of gross misconduct). Court justices are appointed by presidential decree for an initial period of five years, after which Ukraine's Supreme Council confirms their positions for life. Although there are still problems, the system is considered to have been much improved since Ukraine's independence in 1991. The Supreme Court is regarded as an independent and impartial body, and has on several occasions ruled against the Ukrainian government. The World Justice Project ranks Ukraine 66 out of 99 countries surveyed in its annual Rule of Law Index.^[255]

Prosecutors in Ukraine have greater powers than in most European countries, and according to the European Commission for Democracy through Law 'the role and functions of the Prosecutor's Office is not in accordance with Council of Europe standards".^[256] The criminal judicial system maintains an average conviction rate of over 99%,^[257] equal to the conviction rate of the Soviet Union, with^[258] suspects often being incarcerated for long periods before trial.^[259] On 24 March 2010, President Yanukovych formed an expert group to make recommendations how to "clean up the current mess and adopt a law on court organization".^[259] One day later, he stated "We can no longer disgrace our country with such a court system."^[259] The criminal judicial system and the prison system of Ukraine remain quite punitive.

Since 1 January 2010 it has been permissible to hold court proceedings in Russian by mutual consent of the parties. Citizens unable to speak Ukrainian or Russian may use their native language or the services of a translator.^[260][261] Previously all court proceedings had to be held in Ukrainian.

Law enforcement agencies in Ukraine are organised under the authority of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They consist primarily of the national police force and various specialised units and agencies such as the State Border Guard and the Coast Guard services. Law enforcement agencies, particularly the police, faced criticism for their heavy handling of the 2004 Orange Revolution. Many thousands of police officers were stationed throughout the capital, primarily to dissuade protesters from challenging the state's authority but also to provide a quick reaction force in case of need; most officers were armed.^[262] Bloodshed was only avoided when Lt. Gen. Sergei Popkov heeded his colleagues' calls to withdraw.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs is also responsible for the maintenance of the State Security Service; Ukraine's domestic intelligence agency, which has on occasion been accused of acting like a secret police force serving to protect the country's political elite from media criticism. On the other hand, however, it is widely accepted that members of the service provided vital information about government plans to the leaders of the Orange Revolution to prevent the collapse of the movement.

Foreign relations

From 1999 to 2001, Ukraine served as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. Historically, Soviet Ukraine joined the United Nations in 1945 as one of the original members following a Western compromise with the Soviet Union, which had asked for seats for all 15 of its union republics. Ukraine has consistently supported peaceful, negotiated settlements to disputes. It has participated in the quadripartite talks on the conflict in Moldova and promoted a peaceful resolution to conflict in the post-Soviet state of Georgia. Ukraine also has made a substantial contribution to UN peacekeeping operations since 1992.

Ukraine currently considers Euro-Atlantic integration its primary foreign policy objective,^[263] but in practice it has always balanced its relationship with the European Union and the United States with strong ties to Russia. The European Union's Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) with Ukraine went into force on 1 March 1998. The European Union (EU) has encouraged Ukraine to implement the PCA fully before discussions begin on an association agreement, issued at the EU Summit in December 1999 in Helsinki, recognizes Ukraine's long-term aspirations but does not discuss association. On 31 January 1992, Ukraine joined the then-Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (now the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)), and on 10 March 1992, it became a member of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council. Ukraine–NATO relations are close and the country has declared interest in eventual membership.^[263] This was removed from the government's foreign policy agenda upon election of Viktor Yanukovych to the presidency, in 2010.^[263] But after February 2014's Yanukovych ouster and the (denied by Russia) following Russian military intervention in Ukraine Ukraine renewed its drive for NATO membership.^[263] Ukraine is the most active member of the Partnership for Peace (PfP). All major political parties in Ukraine support full eventual integration into the European Union. The Association Agreement with the EU was expected to be signed and put into effect by the end of 2011, but the process was suspended by 2012 because of the political developments of that time.^[264] The Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union was signed in 2014.^[265]

Ukraine long had close ties with all its neighbours, but Russia–Ukraine relations rapidly deteriorated in 2014 by the annexation of Crimea, energy dependence and payment disputes. There are also some tensions with Poland^[266] and Hungary.^[267]

The Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), which entered into force in January 2016 following the ratification of the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement, formally integrates Ukraine into the European Single Market and the European Economic Area.^[268][269] Ukraine receives further support and assistance for its EU-accession aspirations from the International Visegrád Fund of the Visegrád Group that consists of Central European EU members the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia.^[270]

On May 19, 2018, Poroshenko signed a Decree, which put into effect the decision of the National Security and Defense Council on the final termination of Ukraine's participation in the statutory bodies of the Commonwealth of Independent States.^[271][272] As of February 2019, Ukraine has minimized its participation in the Commonwealth of Independent States to a critical minimum and has effectively completed its withdrawal. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine did not ratify the accession, ie Ukraine has never been a member of the CIS.^[142]

On July 28, 2020, in Lublin, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine created the Lublin Triangle initiative, which aims to create further cooperation between the three historical countries of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and further Ukraine's integration and accession to the EU and NATO.^[273]

On May 17, 2021, the Association Trio was formed by signing a joint memorandum between the Foreign Ministers of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Association Trio is tripartite format for the enhanced cooperation, coordination, and dialogue between the three countries (that have signed the Association Agreement with the EU) with the European Union on issues of common interest related to European integration, enhancing cooperation within the framework of the Eastern Partnership, and committing to the prospect of joining the European Union.^[274] As of 2021, Ukraine is preparing to formally apply for EU membership in 2024, in order to join the European Union in the 2030s.^[275]

Armed forces

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine inherited a 780,000-man military force on its territory, equipped with the third-largest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world.^[276][277] In May 1992, Ukraine signed the Lisbon Protocol in which the country agreed to give up all nuclear weapons to Russia for disposal and to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state. Ukraine ratified the treaty in 1994, and by 1996 the country became free of nuclear weapons.^[276]

Ukraine took consistent steps toward reduction of conventional weapons. It signed the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which called for reduction of tanks, artillery, and armoured vehicles (army forces were reduced to 300,000). The country plans to convert the current conscript-based military into a professional volunteer military.^[278]

Ukraine has been playing an increasingly larger role in peacekeeping operations. On Friday 3 January 2014, the Ukrainian frigate Hetman Sagaidachniy joined the European Union's counter piracy Operation Atalanta and will be part of the EU Naval Force off the coast of Somalia for two months.^[279] Ukrainian troops are deployed in Kosovo as part of the Ukrainian-Polish Battalion.^[280] A Ukrainian unit was deployed in Lebanon, as part of UN Interim Force enforcing the mandated ceasefire agreement. There was also a maintenance and training battalion deployed in Sierra Leone. In 2003–05, a Ukrainian unit was deployed as part of the Multinational force in Iraq under Polish command. The total Ukrainian armed forces deployment around the world is 562 servicemen.^[281]

Military units of other states participate in multinational military exercises with Ukrainian forces in Ukraine regularly, including U.S. military forces.^[282]

Following independence, Ukraine declared itself a neutral state.^[11] The country has had a limited military partnership with Russian Federation, other CIS countries and a partnership with NATO since 1994. In the 2000s, the government was leaning towards NATO, and a deeper cooperation with the alliance was set by the NATO-Ukraine Action Plan signed in 2002. It was later agreed that the question of joining NATO should be answered by a national referendum at some point in the future.^[278] Recently deposed President Viktor Yanukovych considered the current level of co-operation between Ukraine and NATO sufficient, and was against Ukraine joining NATO. During the 2008 Bucharest summit, NATO declared that Ukraine would eventually become a member of NATO when it meets the criteria for the accession.

Administrative divisions

The system of Ukrainian subdivisions reflects the country's status as a unitary state (as stated in the country's constitution) with unified legal and administrative regimes for each unit.

Including Sevastopol and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea that were annexed by the Russian Federation in 2014, Ukraine consists of 27 regions: twenty-four oblasts (provinces), one autonomous republic (Autonomous Republic of Crimea), and two cities of special status – Kyiv, the capital, and Sevastopol. The 24 oblasts and Crimea are subdivided into 136^[283] raions (districts) and city municipalities of regional significance, or second-level administrative units.

Populated places in Ukraine are split into two categories: urban and rural. Urban populated places are split further into cities and urban-type settlements (a Soviet administrative invention), while rural populated places consist of villages and settlements (a generally used term). All cities have certain degree of self-rule depending on their significance such as national significance (as in the case of Kyiv and Sevastopol), regional significance (within each oblast or autonomous republic) or district significance (all the rest of cities). A city's significance depends on several factors such as its population, socio-economic and historical importance, infrastructure and others.

Volyn   Rivne   Zhytomyr   Kyiv   Khmeln- ytsky   Ternopil   Ivano- Frankivsk   Zakarpattia   Chernivtsi   Vinnytsia   Cherkasy   Kirovohrad   Mykolaiv   Poltava   Chernihiv   Sumy   Kharkiv   Dnipropetrovsk   Odessa   Kherson   Zaporizhzhia   Donetsk   Crimea   Luhansk Kyiv Sevastopol   Lviv • •

Oblasts Cherkasy Chernihiv Chernivtsi Dnipropetrovsk Donetsk Ivano-Frankivsk Kharkiv Kherson Khmelnytskyi Kyiv Kirovohrad Luhansk Lviv Mykolaiv Odessa Poltava Rivne Sumy Ternopil Vinnytsia Volyn Zakarpattia Zaporizhzhia Zhytomyr Autonomous republic Cities with special status Autonomous Republic of Crimea City of Kyiv City of Sevastopol

Economy

Ukraine has a lower-middle income economy, which is the 55th-largest in the world by nominal GDP, and the 40th-largest by PPP. It is one of the world's largest grain exporters,^[15][16] and is sometimes called the "Breadbasket of Europe".^[284] However, the country is the poorest in Europe and is also among the most severely corrupt in the continent.^[13][14] According to the IMF, Ukraine's GDP per capita by PPP is $13,943.^[285] In 2019, the average nominal salary in Ukraine reached ₴10,000 hryvnias per month or around €300,^[286] while in 2018, Ukraine's median wealth per adult was $40, one of the lowest in the world.^[287] Approximately 1.1% of Ukrainians lived below the national poverty line in 2019,^[288] and unemployment in the country was 4.5% in 2019,^[289] while some 5-15% of the Ukrainian population is categorized as middle class.^[290] As of September 2020^[update], Ukraine's government debt is roughly 52% of its nominal GDP.^[291]

Ukraine produces nearly all types of transportation vehicles and spacecraft. Antonov airplanes and KrAZ trucks are exported to many countries. The majority of Ukrainian exports are marketed to the European Union and CIS.^[292] Since independence, Ukraine has maintained its own space agency, the State Space Agency of Ukraine (SSAU). Ukraine became an active participant in scientific space exploration and remote sensing missions. Between 1991 and 2007, Ukraine has launched six self made satellites and 101 launch vehicles, and continues to design spacecraft.^{[293][294][295]}

Ukraine produces and processes its own natural gas and petroleum. However, the country imports most of its energy supplies, and 80% of Ukraine's natural gas supplies are imported, mainly from Russia.^[296]

Corporations

Ukraine has a very large heavy-industry base and is one of the largest refiners of metallurgical products in Eastern Europe.^[297] However, the country is also well known for its production of high-technological goods and transport products, such as Antonov aircraft and various private and commercial vehicles.^{[citation needed]} The country's largest and most competitive firms are components of the PFTS index, traded on the PFTS Ukraine Stock Exchange.

Well-known Ukrainian brands include Naftogaz Ukrainy, AvtoZAZ, PrivatBank, Roshen, Yuzhmash, Nemiroff, Motor Sich, Khortytsia, Kyivstar and Aerosvit.^[298]

Transport

In total, Ukrainian paved roads stretch for 164,732 kilometres (102,360 mi).^[40] Major routes, marked with the letter 'M' for 'International' (Ukrainian: Міжнародний), extend nationwide and connect all major cities of Ukraine, and provide cross-border routes to the country's neighbours. There are only two true motorway standard highways in Ukraine; a 175-kilometre (109-mile) stretch of motorway from Kharkiv to Dnipro and a section of the M03 which extends 18 km (11 mi) from Kyiv to Boryspil, where the city's international airport is located.^{[citation needed]}

Rail transport in Ukraine connects all major urban areas, port facilities and industrial centres with neighbouring countries. The heaviest concentration of railway track is the Donbas region of Ukraine. Although rail freight transport fell in the 1990s, Ukraine is still one of the world's highest rail users.^[299] The total amount of railroad track in Ukraine extends for 22,473 kilometres (13,964 mi), of which 9,250 kilometres (5,750 mi) was electrified in the 2000s.^[40] Currently the state has a monopoly on the provision of passenger rail transport, and all trains, other than those with cooperation of other foreign companies on international routes, are operated by its company 'Ukrzaliznytsia.

Kyiv Boryspil is the county's largest international airport; it has three main passenger terminals and is the base for the country's flag carrier, Ukraine International Airlines. Other large airports in the country include those in Kharkiv, Lviv and Donetsk (now destroyed), whilst those in Dnipro and Odessa have plans for terminal upgrades in the near future. In addition to its flag carrier, Ukraine has a number of airlines including Windrose Airlines, Dniproavia, Azur Air Ukraine, and AtlasGlobal Ukraine. Antonov Airlines, a subsidiary of the Antonov Aerospace Design Bureau is the only operator of the world's largest fixed wing aircraft, the An-225.

International maritime travel is mainly provided through the Port of Odessa, from where ferries sail regularly to Istanbul, Varna and Haifa. The largest ferry company presently operating these routes is Ukrferry.^[300]

Power generation

Ukraine has been a net energy exporting country, for example in 2011, 3.3% of electricity produced were exported,^[301] but also one of Europe's largest energy consumers.^[302] As of 2011^[update], 47.6% of total electricity generation was from nuclear power^[301] The largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, is located in Ukraine. Until the 2010s, all of Ukraine's nuclear fuel was coming from Russia. In 2008 Westinghouse Electric Company won a five-year contract selling nuclear fuel to three Ukrainian reactors starting in 2011.^[303] Following Euromaidan then President Viktor Yanukovych introduced a ban on Rosatom nuclear fuel shipments to Europe via Ukraine, which was in effect from 28 January until 6 March 2014.^[304] By 2016, Russia's share was down to 55 percent, Westinghouse supplying nuclear fuel for six of Ukraine's VVER-1000 nuclear reactors.^[305] After the Russian annexation of Crimea in April 2014, the National Nuclear Energy Generating Company of Ukraine Energoatom and Westinghouse extended the contract for fuel deliveries through 2020.^[306]

Coal and gas-fired thermal power stations and hydroelectricity are the second and third largest kinds of power generation in the country.^{[citation needed]}

IT

According to A.T. Kearney Global Services Location Index,^[307] Ukraine ranks 24th among the best outsourcing locations, and is among the top 20 offshore services locations in EMEA, according to Gartner.^[308] In the first six months of 2017, the volume of export of computer and information services reached $1.256 billion, which is an 18.3% increase compared to the same period in 2016.^[309] The IT industry ranks third in the export structure of Ukraine after agro-industry and metallurgy.

Ukraine's IT sector employs close to 100,000 workers, including 50,000 software developers. This number is expected to surpass the 200,000 mark by 2020.^{[310][needs update]} There are over 1,000 IT companies in Ukraine.^[311] In 2017, 13 of them made it to the list of 100 best outsourcing service providers in the world.^[312] More than 100 multinational tech companies have R&D labs in Ukraine.^[310]

Ukraine ranks first worldwide in the number of C++ and Unity3D developers, and second in the number of JavaScript, Scala, and Magento engineers.^[313] 78% of Ukrainian tech workers report having an intermediate or higher level of English proficiency.^[314]

Tourism

In 2007 Ukraine occupied 8th place in Europe by the number of tourists visiting, according to the World Tourism Organization rankings.^[315] Ukraine has numerous tourist attractions: mountain ranges suitable for skiing, hiking and fishing: the Black Sea coastline as a popular summer destination; nature reserves of different ecosystems; churches, castle ruins and other architectural and park landmarks; various outdoor activity points. Kyiv, Lviv, Odessa and Kamyanets-Podilskyi are Ukraine's principal tourist centres each offering many historical landmarks as well as formidable hospitality infrastructure. Tourism used to be the mainstay of Crimea's economy but there has been a major fall in visitor numbers following the Russian annexation in 2014.^[316]

The Seven Wonders of Ukraine and Seven Natural Wonders of Ukraine are the selection of the most important landmarks of Ukraine, chosen by the general public through an Internet-based vote.

Demographics

As of July 2021^[update], Ukraine has an estimated population of 41.4 million, and is the eighth-most populous country in Europe. It is a heavily urbanized country, and its industrial regions in the east and southeast are the most densely populated—about 67% of its total population lives in urban areas.^[317] Ukraine has a population density of 69.49 inhabitants per square kilometre (180 per square mile), and the overall life expectancy in the country at birth is 73 years (68 years for males and 77.8 years for females).^[318]

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine's population hit a peak of roughly 52 million in 1993. However, due to its death rate exceeding its birth rate, mass emigration, poor living conditions, and low-quality health care,^[319][320] the total population decreased by 6.6 million, or 12.8% from the same year to 2014.

According to the 2001 census, ethnic Ukrainians make up roughly 78% of the population, while Russians are the largest minority, at some 17.3% of the population. Small minority populations include: Belarusians (0.6%), Moldovans (0.5%), Crimean Tatars (0.5%), Bulgarians (0.4%), Hungarians (0.3%), Romanians (0.3%), Poles (0.3%), Jews (0.3%), Armenians (0.2%), Greeks (0.2%) and Tatars (0.2%).^[3] It is also estimated that there are about 10-40 thousand Koreans in Ukraine, who live mostly in the south of the country, belonging to the historical Koryo-saram group.^{[321][322][323]}

Language

According to the constitution, the state language of Ukraine is Ukrainian.^[324] Russian is widely spoken, especially in eastern and southern Ukraine.^[324] According to the 2001 census, 67.5 percent of the population declared Ukrainian as their native language and 29.6 percent declared Russian.^[325] Most native Ukrainian speakers know Russian as a second language.^[324] Russian was the de facto dominant language of the Soviet Union but Ukrainian also held official status^[326] and in the schools of the Ukrainian SSR learning Ukrainian was mandatory.^[324] Effective in August 2012, a new law on regional languages entitles any local language spoken by at least a 10 percent minority be declared official within that area.^[327] Russian was within weeks declared as a regional language in several southern and eastern oblasts (provinces) and cities.^[328] Russian can now be used in these cities'/oblasts' administrative office work and documents.^[329][330] On 23 February 2014, following the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, the Ukrainian Parliament voted to repeal the law on regional languages, making Ukrainian the sole state language at all levels; however, the repeal was not signed by acting President Turchynov or by President Poroshenko.^{[331][332][333]} In February 2019, the law allowing for regional languages was found unconstitutional.^[334]

Ukrainian is mainly spoken in western and central Ukraine.^[324] In western Ukraine, Ukrainian is also the dominant language in cities (such as Lviv). In central Ukraine, Ukrainian and Russian are both equally used in cities, with Russian being more common in Kyiv,^[f] while Ukrainian is the dominant language in rural communities. In eastern and southern Ukraine, Russian is primarily used in cities, and Ukrainian is used in rural areas. These details result in a significant difference across different survey results, as even a small restating of a question switches responses of a significant group of people.^[f] Hungarian is spoken in the Zakarpattia Oblast.^[335]

For a large part of the Soviet era, the number of Ukrainian speakers declined from generation to generation, and by the mid-1980s, the usage of the Ukrainian language in public life had decreased significantly.^[336] Following independence, the government of Ukraine began restoring the image and usage of Ukrainian language through a policy of Ukrainisation.^[337][338] Today, most foreign films and TV programs, including Russian ones, are subtitled or dubbed in Ukrainian.^[339] Ukraine's 2017 education law bars primary education in public schools in grade five and up in any language but Ukrainian.^[340][341] The Unian reported that "A ban on the use of cultural products, namely movies, books, songs, etc., in the Russian language in the public has been introduced" in the Lviv Oblast in September 2018.^[342]

According to the Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Ukrainian is the only state language of the republic. However, the republic's constitution specifically recognises Russian as the language of the majority of its population and guarantees its usage 'in all spheres of public life'. Similarly, the Crimean Tatar language (the language of 12 percent of population of Crimea)^[343] is guaranteed a special state protection as well as the 'languages of other ethnicities'. Russian speakers constitute an overwhelming majority of the Crimean population (77 percent), with Crimean Tatar speakers 11.4 percent and Ukrainian speakers comprising just 10.1 percent.^[344] But in everyday life the majority of Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea use Russian.^[345]

Religion

Ukraine has the world's second-largest Eastern Orthodox population, after Russia.^[347][348] A 2021 survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that 82% of Ukrainians declared themselves to be religious, while 7% were atheists, and a further 11% found it difficult to answer the question.^[349] The level of religiosity in Ukraine was reported to be the highest in Western Ukraine (91%), and the lowest in the Donbas (57%) and Eastern Ukraine (56%).^[350]

In 2021, 82% of Ukrainians were Christians; out of which 72.7% declared themselves to be Orthodox, 8.8% Greek Rite Catholics, 2.3% Protestants and 0.9% Latin Rite Catholics. 2.3% other Christians. Judaism, Islam and Hinduism were the religions of 0.2% of the population each. According to the study by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, roughly 58.3% of the Ukrainian Orthodox population were members of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and 25.4% were members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.^[351]

According to a 2018 survey by the Razumkov Centre, 9.4% of the Ukrainian Catholics followed the Byzantine Rite, and 0.8% followed the Latin Rite.^[352] Protestants are a growing community in Ukraine, who made up 1.9% of the population in 2016,^[352] but rose to 2.2% of the population in 2018.

Health

The Ukrainian Red Cross Society was established in April 1918 in Kyiv as an independent humanitarian society of the Ukrainian People's Republic. Its immediate tasks were to help refugees and prisoners of war, care for handicapped people and orphaned children, fight famine and epidemics, support and organize sick quarters, hospitals and public canteens. At present, society involves more than 6.3 million supporters and activists. Its Visiting Nurses Service has 3,200 qualified nurses. The organization takes part in more than 40 humanitarian programmes all over Ukraine, which are mostly funded by public donation and corporate partnerships. By its own estimates, the Society annually provides services to more than 105,000 lonely, elderly people, about 23,000 people disabled during the Second World War and handicapped workers, more than 25,000 war veterans, and more than 8,000 adults handicapped since childhood. Assistance for orphaned and disabled children is also rendered.

Ukraine's healthcare system is state subsidised and freely available to all Ukrainian citizens and registered residents. However, it is not compulsory to be treated in a state-run hospital as a number of private medical complexes do exist nationwide.^[353] The public sector employs most healthcare professionals, with those working for private medical centres typically also retaining their state employment as they are mandated to provide care at public health facilities on a regular basis.

All of the country's medical service providers and hospitals are subordinate to the Ministry of Healthcare, which provides oversight and scrutiny of general medical practice as well as being responsible for the day-to-day administration of the healthcare system. Despite this, standards of hygiene and patient-care have fallen.^[354]

Hospitals in Ukraine are organised along the same lines as most European nations, according to the regional administrative structure; as a result most towns have their own hospital (Міська Лікарня) and many also have district hospitals (Районна Лікарня). Larger and more specialised medical complexes tend only to be found in major cities, with some even more specialised units located only in the capital, Kyiv. However, all oblasts have their own network of general hospitals which are able to deal with almost all medical problems and are typically equipped with major trauma centres; such hospitals are called 'regional hospitals' (Обласна Лікарня).

Ukraine currently faces a number of major public health issues and is considered to be in a demographic crisis because of its high death rate and low birth rate (the current Ukrainian birth rate is 11 births/1,000 population, and the death rate is 16.3 deaths/1,000 population). A factor contributing to the high death rate is a high mortality rate among working-age males from preventable causes such as alcohol poisoning and smoking.^[355] In 2008, the country's population was one of the fastest declining in the world at −5% growth.^[356][357] The UN warned that Ukraine's population could fall by as much as 10 million by 2050 if trends did not improve.^[358] In addition, obesity, systemic high blood pressure and the HIV endemic are all major challenges facing the Ukrainian healthcare system.

As of March 2009 the Ukrainian government is reforming the health care system, by the creation of a national network of family doctors and improvements in the medical emergency services.^[359] In November 2009, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko proposed introducing a public healthcare system based on health insurance in the spring of 2010.^[360]

Active reformation of Ukraine's healthcare system was initiated right after the appointment of Ulana Suprun as a head of the Ministry of Healthcare.^[361] Assisted by deputy Pavlo Kovtoniuk, Suprun first changed the distribution of finances in healthcare.^[362] Funds must follow the patient. General practitioners will provide basic care for patients. The patient will have the right to choose one. Emergency medical service is considered to be fully funded by the state. Emergency Medicine Reform is also an important part of the healthcare reform. In addition, patients who suffer from chronic diseases, which cause a high toll of disability and mortality, are provided with free or low price medicine.^[363]

Education

According to the Ukrainian constitution, access to free education is granted to all citizens. Complete general secondary education is compulsory in the state schools which constitute the overwhelming majority. Free higher education in state and communal educational establishments is provided on a competitive basis.^[364] There is also a small number of accredited private secondary and higher education institutions.

Because of the Soviet Union's emphasis on total access of education for all citizens, which continues today, the literacy rate is an estimated 99.4%.^[40] Since 2005, an eleven-year school programme has been replaced with a twelve-year one: primary education takes four years to complete (starting at age six), middle education (secondary) takes five years to complete; upper secondary then takes three years.^[365] In the 12th grade, students take Government tests, which are also referred to as school-leaving exams. These tests are later used for university admissions.

The first higher education institutions (HEIs) emerged in Ukraine during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The first Ukrainian higher education institution was the Ostrozka School, or Ostrozkiy Greek-Slavic-Latin Collegium, similar to Western European higher education institutions of the time. Established in 1576 in the town of Ostrog, the Collegium was the first higher education institution in the Eastern Slavic territories. The oldest university was the Kyiv Mohyla Academy, first established in 1632 and in 1694 officially recognised by the government of Imperial Russia as a higher education institution. Among the oldest is also the Lviv University, founded in 1661. More higher education institutions were set up in the 19th century, beginning with universities in Kharkiv (1805), Kyiv (1834), Odessa (1865) and Chernivtsi (1875) and a number of professional higher education institutions, e.g.: Nizhyn Historical and Philological Institute (originally established as the Gymnasium of Higher Sciences in 1805), a Veterinary Institute (1873) and a Technological Institute (1885) in Kharkiv, a Polytechnic Institute in Kyiv (1898) and a Higher Mining School (1899) in Katerynoslav. Rapid growth followed in the Soviet period. By 1988 a number of higher education institutions increased to 146 with over 850,000 students.^[366] Most HEIs established after 1990 are those owned by private organisations.

The Ukrainian higher education system comprises higher educational establishments, scientific and methodological facilities under national, municipal and self-governing bodies in charge of education.^[367] The organisation of higher education in Ukraine is built up in accordance with the structure of education of the world's higher developed countries, as is defined by UNESCO and the UN.^[368] Ukraine has more than 800 higher education institutions and in 2010 the number of graduates reached 654,700 people.^[369]

Ukraine produces the fourth largest number of post-secondary graduates in Europe, while being ranked seventh in population. Higher education is either state funded or private. Students that study at state expense receive a standard scholarship if their average marks at the end-of-term exams and differentiated test suffice; this rule may be different in some universities. For highest grades, the scholarship is increased by 25%. For most students the government subsidy is not sufficient to cover their basic living expenses. Most universities provide subsidised housing for out-of-city students. Also, it is common for libraries to supply required books for all registered students. Ukrainian universities confer two degrees: the bachelor's degree (4 years) and the master's degree (5–6th year), in accordance with the Bologna process. Historically, Specialist degree (usually 5 years) is still also granted; it was the only degree awarded by universities in the Soviet times.

The Law of Ukraine On Higher Education came into force on 6 September 2014. It was approved in Ukrainian Parliament on 1 July 2014. The main changes in the system of higher education:^[370] a separate collegiate body to monitor the quality of education was established (Ukrainian: Національне агентство із забезпечення якості вищої освіти); each higher education institution has the right to implement its own educational and research programs; role of the student government was increased; higher education institution has the right to freely administer own revenues; 5 following types of higher education qualifications were established: Junior Bachelor, Bachelor, Master, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Doctor of Science; load on lecturers and students was reduced; academic mobility for faculty and students etc.

Regional differences

Ukrainian is the dominant language in Western Ukraine and in Central Ukraine, while Russian is the dominant language in the cities of Eastern Ukraine and Southern Ukraine. In the Ukrainian SSR schools, learning Russian was mandatory; currently in modern Ukraine, schools with Ukrainian as the language of instruction offer classes in Russian and in the other minority languages.^{[324][371][372][373]}

On the Russian language, on Soviet Union and Ukrainian nationalism, opinion in Eastern Ukraine and Southern Ukraine tends to be the exact opposite of those in Western Ukraine; while opinions in Central Ukraine on these topics tend be less extreme.^{[372][374][375][376]}

Similar historical cleavages also remain evident at the level of individual social identification. Attitudes toward the most important political issue, relations with Russia, differed strongly between Lviv, identifying more with Ukrainian nationalism and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and Donetsk, predominantly Russian orientated and favourable to the Soviet era, while in central and southern Ukraine, as well as Kyiv, such divisions were less important and there was less antipathy toward people from other regions (a poll by the Research & Branding Group held March 2010 showed that the attitude of the citizens of Donetsk to the citizens of Lviv was 79% positive and that the attitude of the citizens of Lviv to the citizens of Donetsk was 88% positive).^[377] However, all were united by an overarching Ukrainian identity based on shared economic difficulties, showing that other attitudes are determined more by culture and politics than by demographic differences.^[377][378] Surveys of regional identities in Ukraine have shown that the feeling of belonging to a "Soviet identity" is strongest in the Donbas (about 40%) and the Crimea (about 30%).^[379]

During elections voters of Western and Central Ukrainian oblasts (provinces) vote mostly for parties (Our Ukraine, Batkivshchyna)^[380][381] and presidential candidates (Viktor Yuschenko, Yulia Tymoshenko) with a pro-Western and state reform platform, while voters in Southern and Eastern oblasts vote for parties (CPU, Party of Regions) and presidential candidates (Viktor Yanukovych) with a pro-Russian and status quo platform.^{[382][383][384][385]} However, this geographical division is decreasing.^{[386][387][388]}

Urbanisation

In total, Ukraine has 457 cities, 176 of them are labelled oblast-class, 279 smaller raion-class cities, and two special legal status cities. These are followed by 886 urban-type settlements and 28,552 villages.^[389]

v t e Largest cities or towns in Ukraine 2021 [2]
	Rank	Name	Region	Pop.	Rank	Name	Region	Pop.
Kyiv Kharkiv	1	Kyiv	Kyiv (city)	2,962,180	11	Luhansk	Luhansk	399,559	Odessa Dnipro
	2	Kharkiv	Kharkiv	1,433,886	12	Vinnytsia	Vinnytsia	370,601
	3	Odessa	Odessa	1,015,826	13	Makiivka	Donetsk	340,337
	4	Dnipro	Dnipropetrovsk	980,948	14	Sevastopol	Sevastopol (city)	340,297
	5	Donetsk	Donetsk	905,364	15	Simferopol	Crimea	336,330
	6	Zaporizhzhia	Zaporizhzhia	722,713	16	Chernihiv	Chernihiv	285,234
	7	Lviv	Lviv	721,510	17	Kherson	Kherson	283,649
	8	Kryvyi Rih	Dnipropetrovsk	612,750	18	Poltava	Poltava	283,402
	9	Mykolaiv	Mykolaiv	476,101	19	Khmelnytskyi	Khmelnytskyi	274,582
	10	Mariupol	Donetsk	431,859	20	Cherkasy	Cherkasy	272,651

Culture

Ukrainian customs are heavily influenced by Orthodox Christianity, the dominant religion in the country.^[390] Gender roles also tend to be more traditional, and grandparents play a greater role in bringing up children, than in the West.^{[391][citation needed]} The culture of Ukraine has also been influenced by its eastern and western neighbours, reflected in its architecture, music and art.^{[392][citation needed]}

The Communist era had quite a strong effect on the art and writing of Ukraine.^[393] In 1932, Stalin made socialist realism state policy in the Soviet Union when he promulgated the decree "On the Reconstruction of Literary and Art Organisations". This greatly stifled creativity. During the 1980s glasnost (openness) was introduced and Soviet artists and writers again became free to express themselves as they wanted.^[394]

The tradition of the Easter egg, known as pysanky, has long roots in Ukraine. These eggs were drawn on with wax to create a pattern; then, the dye was applied to give the eggs their pleasant colours, the dye did not affect the previously wax-coated parts of the egg. After the entire egg was dyed, the wax was removed leaving only the colourful pattern. This tradition is thousands of years old, and precedes the arrival of Christianity to Ukraine.^[395] In the city of Kolomyia near the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in 2000 was built the museum of Pysanka which won a nomination as the monument of modern Ukraine in 2007, part of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine action.

Weaving and embroidery

Artisan textile arts play an important role in Ukrainian culture,^[396] especially in Ukrainian wedding traditions. Ukrainian embroidery, weaving and lace-making are used in traditional folk dress and in traditional celebrations. Ukrainian embroidery varies depending on the region of origin^[397] and the designs have a long history of motifs, compositions, choice of colours and types of stitches.^[398] Use of colour is very important and has roots in Ukrainian folklore. Embroidery motifs found in different parts of Ukraine are preserved in the Rushnyk Museum in Pereiaslav.

National dress is woven and highly decorated. Weaving with handmade looms is still practised in the village of Krupove, situated in Rivne Oblast. The village is the birthplace of two famous personalities in the scene of national crafts fabrication. Nina Myhailivna^[399] and Uliana Petrivna^[400] with international recognition. To preserve this traditional knowledge the village is planning to open a local weaving centre, a museum and weaving school.

Literature

The history of Ukrainian literature dates back to the 11th century, following the Christianisation of Kievan Rus'.^[401] The writings of the time were mainly liturgical and were written in Old Church Slavonic. Historical accounts of the time were referred to as chronicles, the most significant of which was the Primary Chronicle.^[402][g] Literary activity faced a sudden decline during the Mongol invasion of Rus'.^[401]

Ukrainian literature again began to develop in the 14th century, and was advanced significantly in the 16th century with the introduction of print and with the beginning of the Cossack era, under both Russian and Polish dominance.^[401] The Cossacks established an independent society and popularized a new kind of epic poems, which marked a high point of Ukrainian oral literature.^[402] These advances were then set back in the 17th and early 18th centuries, when publishing in the Ukrainian language was outlawed and prohibited. Nonetheless, by the late 18th century modern literary Ukrainian finally emerged.^[401]

The 19th century initiated a vernacular period in Ukraine, led by Ivan Kotliarevsky's work Eneyida, the first publication written in modern Ukrainian. By the 1830s, Ukrainian romanticism began to develop, and the nation's most renowned cultural figure, romanticist poet-painter Taras Shevchenko emerged. Where Ivan Kotliarevsky is considered to be the father of literature in the Ukrainian vernacular; Shevchenko is the father of a national revival.^[403]

Then, in 1863, use of the Ukrainian language in print was effectively prohibited by the Russian Empire.^[67] This severely curtailed literary activity in the area, and Ukrainian writers were forced to either publish their works in Russian or release them in Austrian controlled Galicia. The ban was never officially lifted, but it became obsolete after the revolution and the Bolsheviks' coming to power.^[402]

Ukrainian literature continued to flourish in the early Soviet years, when nearly all literary trends were approved (the most important literary figures of that time were Mykola Khvylovy, Valerian Pidmohylny, Mykola Kulish, Mykhayl Semenko and some others). These policies faced a steep decline in the 1930s, when prominent representatives as well as many others were killed by NKVD as part of the Great Purge. In general around 223 writers were repressed by what was known as the Executed Renaissance.^[404] These repressions were part of Stalin's implemented policy of socialist realism. The doctrine did not necessarily repress the use of the Ukrainian language, but it required that writers follow a certain style in their works.

In post-Stalinist times literary activities continued to be somewhat limited under the Communist Party. The most famous figures of Ukrainian post-war Soviet literature were Lina Kostenko, Dmytro Pavlychko, Borys Oliynyk (poet), Ivan Drach, Oles Honchar, Vasyl Stus, Vasyl Symonenko.

Literary freedom grew in the late 1980s and early 1990s alongside the decline and collapse of the USSR and the reestablishment of Ukrainian independence in 1991.^[401]

Architecture

Ukrainian architecture includes the motifs and styles that are found in structures built in modern Ukraine, and by Ukrainians worldwide. These include initial roots which were established in the Eastern Slavic state of Kievan Rus'. Since the Christianization of Kievan Rus' for several ages Ukrainian architecture was influenced by the Byzantine architecture. After the 12th century, the distinct architectural history continued in the principalities of Galicia-Volhynia. During the epoch of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, a new style unique to Ukraine was developed under the western influences of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. After the union with the Tsardom of Russia, many structures in the larger eastern, Russian-ruled area were built in the styles of Russian architecture of that period, whilst the western Galicia was developed under Austro-Hungarian architectural influences. Ukrainian national motifs would finally be used during the period of the Soviet Union and in modern independent Ukraine.

The great churches of the Rus', built after the adoption of Christianity in 988, were the first examples of monumental architecture in the East Slavic lands. The architectural style of the Kyivan state was strongly influenced by the Byzantine. Early Eastern Orthodox churches were mainly made of wood, with the simplest form of church becoming known as a cell church. Major cathedrals often featured scores of small domes, which led some art historians to take this as an indication of the appearance of pre-Christian pagan Slavic temples.

Several examples of these churches survive; however, during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, many were externally rebuilt in the Ukrainian Baroque style (see below). Examples include the grand St. Sophia of Kyiv – the year 1017 is the earliest record of foundation laid, Church of the Saviour at Berestove – built from 1113 to 1125 and St. Cyril's Church, circa 12th-century. All can still be found in the Ukrainian capital. Several buildings were reconstructed during the late-19th century, including the Assumption Cathedral in Volodymyr-Volynskyi, built in 1160 and reconstructed in 1896–1900, the Paraskevi church in Chernihiv, built in 1201 with reconstruction done in the late 1940s, and the Golden gates in Kyiv, built in 1037 and reconstructed in 1982. The latter's reconstruction was criticised by some art and architecture historians as a revivalist fantasy. Unfortunately little secular or vernacular architecture of Kievan Rus' has survived.

As Ukraine became increasingly integrated into the Russian Empire, Russian architects had the opportunity to realise their projects in the picturesque landscape that many Ukrainian cities and regions offered. St. Andrew's Church of Kyiv (1747–1754), built by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, is a notable example of Baroque architecture, and its location on top of the Kyivan mountain made it a recognisable monument of the city. An equally notable contribution of Rasetrelli was the Mariinskyi Palace, which was built to be a summer residence to Russian Empress Elizabeth. During the reign of the last Hetman of Ukraine, Kirill Razumovsky, many of the Cossack Hetmanate's towns such as Hlukhiv, Baturyn and Koselets had grandiose projects built by Andrey Kvasov. Russia eventually conquered the south of Ukraine and Crimea, and renamed them as New Russia. New cities such as Nikolayev, Odessa, Kherson and Sevastopol were founded. These would contain notable examples of Imperial Russian architecture.

In 1934, the capital of Soviet Ukraine moved from Kharkiv to Kyiv. Previously, the city was seen as only a regional centre, hence received little attention. All of that was to change, at great price. The first examples of Stalinist architecture were already showing, and, in light of the official policy, a new city was to be built on top of the old one. This meant that much-admired examples such as the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery were destroyed. Even the St. Sophia Cathedral was under threat. Also, the Second World War contributed to the wreckage. After the war, a new project for the reconstruction of central Kyiv transformed Khreshchatyk avenue into a notable example of Stalinism in Architecture. However, by 1955, the new politics of architecture once again stopped the project from fully being realised.

The task for modern Ukrainian architecture is diverse application of modern aesthetics, the search for an architect's own artistic style and inclusion of the existing historico-cultural environment. An example of modern Ukrainian architecture is the reconstruction and renewal of the Maidan Nezalezhnosti in central Kyiv. Despite the limit set by narrow space within the plaza, the engineers were able to blend together the uneven landscape, and use underground space for a new shopping centre.

A major project, which may take up most of the 21st century, is the construction of the Kyiv City-Centre on the Rybalskyi Peninsula, which, when finished, will include a dense skyscraper park amid the picturesque landscape of the Dnieper.^[406]

Music

Music is a major part of Ukrainian culture, with a long history and many influences. From traditional folk music, to classical and modern rock, Ukraine has produced several internationally recognised musicians including Kirill Karabits, Okean Elzy and Ruslana. Elements from traditional Ukrainian folk music made their way into Western music and even into modern jazz.

Ukrainian music sometimes presents a perplexing mix of exotic melismatic singing with chordal harmony. The most striking general characteristic of authentic ethnic Ukrainian folk music is the wide use of minor modes or keys which incorporate augmented 2nd intervals.

During the Baroque period, music was an important discipline for those that had received a higher education in Ukraine. It had a place of considerable importance in the curriculum of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Much of the nobility was well versed in music with many Ukrainian Cossack leaders such as (Mazepa, Paliy, Holovatyj, Sirko) being accomplished players of the kobza, bandura or torban.

The first dedicated musical academy was set up in Hlukhiv, Ukraine in 1738 and students were taught to sing, play violin and bandura from manuscripts. As a result, many of the earliest composers and performers within the Russian empire were ethnically Ukrainian, having been born or educated in Hlukhiv, or had been closely associated with this music school. See: Dmytro Bortniansky, Maksym Berezovsky and Artemiy Vedel.

Ukrainian classical music falls into three distinct categories defined by whether the composer was of Ukrainian ethnicity living in Ukraine, a composer of non-Ukrainian ethnicity who was born or at some time was a citizen of Ukraine, or an ethnic Ukrainian living outside of Ukraine within the Ukrainian diaspora. The music of these three groups differs considerably, as do the audiences for whom they cater.

Since the mid-1960s, Western-influenced pop music has been growing in popularity in Ukraine. Folk singer and harmonium player Mariana Sadovska is prominent. Ukrainian pop and folk music arose with the international popularity of groups and performers like Vopli Vidoplyasova, Dakh Daughters, Dakha Brakha, Ivan Dorn and Okean Elzy.

Modern musical culture of Ukraine is presented both with academic and entertainment music. Ukraine has five conservatories, 6 opera houses, five houses of Chamber Music, Philharmony in all regional centers.

Ukraine hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 and the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.

Cinema

Ukraine has had an influence on the history of the cinema. Ukrainian directors Alexander Dovzhenko, often cited as one of the most important early Soviet filmmakers, as well as being a pioneer of Soviet montage theory, Dovzhenko Film Studios, and Sergei Parajanov, Armenian film director and artist who made significant contributions to Ukrainian, Armenian and Georgian cinema. He invented his own cinematic style, Ukrainian poetic cinema, which was totally out of step with the guiding principles of socialist realism.

Other important directors including Kira Muratova, Sergei Loznitsa, Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi, Larisa Shepitko, Sergei Bondarchuk, Leonid Bykov, Yuri Ilyenko, Leonid Osyka, Ihor Podolchak with his Delirium and Maryna Vroda. Many Ukrainian actors have achieved international fame and critical success, including: Vera Kholodnaya, Bohdan Stupka, Milla Jovovich, Olga Kurylenko, Mila Kunis.

Despite a history of important and successful productions, the industry has often been characterised by a debate about its identity and the level of European and Russian influence. Ukrainian producers are active in international co-productions and Ukrainian actors, directors and crew feature regularly in Russian (Soviet in past) films. Also successful films have been based on Ukrainian people, stories or events, including Battleship Potemkin, Man with a Movie Camera, Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom, Everything Is Illuminated.

Ukrainian State Film Agency owns National Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Centre, film copying laboratory and archive, takes part in hosting of the Odessa International Film Festival, and Molodist is the only one FIAPF accredited International Film Festival held in Ukraine; competition program is devoted to student, first short and first full feature films from all over the world. Held annually in October.

Media

Ukrayinska Pravda^[407] was founded by Georgiy Gongadze in April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukrainian with selected articles published in or translated to Russian and English, the newspaper has particular emphasis on the politics of Ukraine. Freedom of the press in Ukraine is considered to be among the freest of the post-Soviet states other than the Baltic states. Freedom House classifies the Internet in Ukraine as "free" and the press as "partly free". Press freedom has significantly improved since the Orange Revolution of 2004. However, in 2010 Freedom House perceived "negative trends in Ukraine".

Kyiv dominates the media sector in Ukraine: the Kyiv Post is Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper. National newspapers Den, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, tabloids, such as The Ukrainian Week or Focus, and television and radio are largely based there, although Lviv is also a significant national media centre. The National News Agency of Ukraine, Ukrinform was founded here in 1918. The Ukrainian publishing sector, including books, directories and databases, journals, magazines and business media, newspapers and news agencies, has a combined turnover. Sanoma publishes Ukrainian editions of such magazines as Esquire, Harpers Bazaar and National Geographic Magazine. BBC Ukrainian started its broadcasts in 1992.

Ukrainians listen to radio programming, such as Radio Ukraine or Radio Liberty, largely commercial, on average just over two-and-a-half hours a day. Several television channels operate, and many websites are popular.

Sport

Ukraine greatly benefited from the Soviet emphasis on physical education. Such policies left Ukraine with hundreds of stadia, swimming pools, gymnasia and many other athletic facilities.^[408] The most popular sport is football. The top professional league is the Vyscha Liha ("premier league").

Many Ukrainians also played for the Soviet national football team, most notably Ballon d'Or winners Ihor Belanov and Oleh Blokhin. This award was only presented to one Ukrainian after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Andriy Shevchenko. The national team made its debut in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and reached the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champions, Italy.

Ukrainian boxers are amongst the best in the world.^[409] The brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko are former heavyweight world champions who held multiple world titles throughout their careers. Also hailing from Ukraine, Vasyl Lomachenko, a 2008 and 2012 Olympic gold medalist. He is the current unified lightweight world champion who ties the record for winning a world title in the fewest professional fights; three. As of September 2018, he is ranked as the world's best active boxer, pound for pound, by ESPN,^[410]

Sergey Bubka held the record in the Pole vault from 1993 to 2014; with great strength, speed and gymnastic abilities, he was voted the world's best athlete on several occasions.^[411][412]

Basketball is becoming popular in Ukraine. In 2011, Ukraine was granted a right to organize EuroBasket 2015. Two years later the Ukraine national basketball team finished 6th in EuroBasket 2013 and qualified to FIBA World Cup for the first time in its history. Euroleague participant Budivelnyk Kyiv is the strongest professional basketball club in Ukraine.

Chess is a popular sport in Ukraine. Ruslan Ponomariov is the former world champion. There are about 85 Grandmasters and 198 International Masters in Ukraine.

Rugby league is played throughout Ukraine.^[413]

Ukraine made its Olympic debut at the 1994 Winter Olympics. So far, Ukraine at the Olympics has been much more successful in Summer Olympics (115 medals in five appearances) than in the Winter Olympics. Ukraine is currently ranked 35th by number of gold medals won in the All-time Olympic Games medal count, with every country above it, except for Russia, having more appearances.^{[citation needed]}

Cuisine

The traditional Ukrainian diet includes chicken, pork, beef, fish and mushrooms. Ukrainians also tend to eat a lot of potatoes, grains, fresh, boiled or pickled vegetables. Popular traditional dishes include varenyky (boiled dumplings with mushrooms, potatoes, sauerkraut, cottage cheese, cherries or berries), nalysnyky (pancakes with cottage cheese, poppy seeds, mushrooms, caviar or meat), kapuśniak (soup made with meat, potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, millet, tomato paste, spices and fresh herbs), borscht (soup made of beets, cabbage and mushrooms or meat), holubtsy (stuffed cabbage rolls filled with rice, carrots, onion and minced meat) and pierogi (dumplings filled with boiled potatoes and cheese or meat). Ukrainian specialties also include Chicken Kiev and Kyiv cake. Ukrainians drink stewed fruit, juices, milk, buttermilk (they make cottage cheese from this), mineral water, tea and coffee, beer, wine and horilka.^[414]

See also

• Outline of Ukraine

Notes

References