Ukraine was the center of the first eastern Slavic state, Kyivan Rus, which during the 10th and 11th centuries was the largest and most powerful state in Europe. Weakened by internecine quarrels and Mongol invasions, Kyivan Rus was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and eventually into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The cultural and religious legacy of Kyivan Rus laid the foundation for Ukrainian nationalism through subsequent centuries. A new Ukrainian state, the Cossack Hetmanate, was established during the mid-17th century after an uprising against the Poles. Despite continuous Muscovite pressure, the Hetmanate managed to remain autonomous for well over 100 years. During the latter part of the 18th century, most Ukrainian ethnographic territory was absorbed by the Russian Empire. Following the collapse of czarist Russia in 1917, Ukraine achieved a short-lived period of independence (1917-20), but was reconquered and endured a brutal Soviet rule that engineered two forced famines (1921-22 and 1932-33) in which over 8 million died. In World War II, German and Soviet armies were responsible for 7 to 8 million more deaths. Although Ukraine achieved final independence in 1991 with the dissolution of the USSR, democracy and prosperity remained elusive as the legacy of state control and endemic corruption stalled efforts at economic reform, privatization, and civil liberties.

A peaceful mass protest referred to as the "Orange Revolution" in the closing months of 2004 forced the authorities to overturn a rigged presidential election and to allow a new internationally monitored vote that swept into power a reformist slate under Viktor YUSHCHENKO. Subsequent internal squabbles in the YUSHCHENKO camp allowed his rival Viktor YANUKOVYCH to stage a comeback in parliamentary (Rada) elections, become prime minister in August 2006, and be elected president in February 2010. In October 2012, Ukraine held Rada elections, widely criticized by Western observers as flawed due to use of government resources to favor ruling party candidates, interference with media access, and harassment of opposition candidates. President YANUKOVYCH's backtracking on a trade and cooperation agreement with the EU in November 2013 - in favor of closer economic ties with Russia - and subsequent use of force against civil society activists in favor of the agreement led to a three-month protest occupation of Kyiv's central square. The government's use of violence to break up the protest camp in February 2014 led to all out pitched battles, scores of deaths, international condemnation, and the president's abrupt departure to Russia. New elections in the spring allowed pro-West president Petro POROSHENKO to assume office on 7 June 2014.

Shortly after YANUKOVYCH's departure in late February 2014, Russian President PUTIN ordered the invasion of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula claiming the action was to protect ethnic Russians living there. Two weeks later, a "referendum" was held regarding the integration of Crimea into the Russian Federation. The "referendum" was condemned as illegitimate by the Ukrainian Government, the EU, the US, and the UN General Assembly (UNGA). Although Russia illegally annexed Crimea after the "referendum," the Ukrainian Government, backed by UNGA resolution 68/262, asserts that Crimea remains part of Ukraine and fully under Ukrainian sovereignty. Russia also continues to supply separatists in two of Ukraine's eastern provinces with manpower, funding, and materiel resulting in an armed conflict with the Ukrainian Government. Representatives from Ukraine, Russia, and the unrecognized separatist republics signed a ceasefire agreement in September 2014. However, this ceasefire failed to stop the fighting. In a renewed attempt to alleviate ongoing clashes, leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany negotiated a follow-on peace deal in February 2015 known as the Minsk Agreements. Representatives from Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe also meet regularly to facilitate implementation of the peace deal. Scattered fighting between Ukrainian and Russian-backed separatist forces is still ongoing in eastern Ukraine.

Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Poland, Romania, and Moldova in the west and Russia in the east

49 00 N, 32 00 E

Asia, Europe

almost four times the size of Georgia; slightly smaller than Texas

2,782 km

temperate continental; Mediterranean only on the southern Crimean coast; precipitation disproportionately distributed, highest in west and north, lesser in east and southeast; winters vary from cool along the Black Sea to cold farther inland; warm summers across the greater part of the country, hot in the south

mostly fertile plains (steppes) and plateaus, with mountains found only in the west (the Carpathians) or in the extreme south of the Crimean Peninsula

highest point: Hora Hoverla 2,061 m

iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt, sulfur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, timber, arable land

arable land 56.1%; permanent crops 1.5%; permanent pasture 13.6%

21,670 sq km (2012)

densest settlement in the eastern (Donbas) and western regions; noteable concentrations in and around major urban areas of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donets'k, Dnipropetrovs'k, and Odesa

NA

inadequate supplies of potable water; air and water pollution; deforestation; radiation contamination in the northeast from 1986 accident at Chornobyl' Nuclear Power Plant

strategic position at the crossroads between Europe and Asia; second-largest country in Europe after Russia

44,209,733 (July 2016 est.)

Ukrainian 77.8%, Russian 17.3%, Belarusian 0.6%, Moldovan 0.5%, Crimean Tatar 0.5%, Bulgarian 0.4%, Hungarian 0.3%, Romanian 0.3%, Polish 0.3%, Jewish 0.2%, other 1.8% (2001 est.)

Ukrainian (official) 67.5%, Russian (regional language) 29.6%, other (includes small Crimean Tatar-, Moldavian-, and Hungarian-speaking minorities) 2.9% (2001 est.)

Orthodox (includes Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox (UAOC), Ukrainian Orthodox - Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP), Ukrainian Orthodox - Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), Ukrainian Greek Catholic, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish

-0.39% (2016 est.)

10.5 births/1,000 population (2016 est.)

14.4 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.)

0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.)

densest settlement in the eastern (Donbas) and western regions; noteable concentrations in and around major urban areas of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donets'k, Dnipropetrovs'k, and Odesa

KYIV (capital) 2.942 million; Kharkiv 1.441 million; Odesa 1.01 million; Dnipropetrovsk 957,000; Donetsk 934,000; Zaporizhzhya 753,000 (2015)

25 (2013 est.)

24 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.)

1.54 children born/woman (2016 est.)

65.4% (2012)

7.1% of GDP (2014)

3.54 physicians/1,000 population (2013)

9 beds/1,000 population (2012)

urban: 95.5% of population

rural: 97.8% of population

total: 96.2% of population

urban: 4.5% of population

rural: 2.2% of population

total: 3.8% of population (2015 est.)

urban: 97.4% of population

rural: 92.6% of population

total: 95.9% of population

urban: 2.6% of population

rural: 7.4% of population

total: 4.1% of population (2015 est.)

0.86% (2015 est.)

219,000 (2015 est.)

7,900 (2015 est.)

21.7% (2014)

6.7% of GDP (2013)

semi-presidential republic

24 provinces (oblasti, singular - oblast'), 1 autonomous republic* (avtonomna respublika), and 2 municipalities (mista, singular - misto) with oblast status**; Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, Crimea or Avtonomna Respublika Krym* (Simferopol'), Dnipropetrovs'k (Dnipro), Donets'k, Ivano-Frankivs'k, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmel'nyts'kyy, Kirovohrad (Kropyvnyts'kyy), Kyiv**, Kyiv, Luhans'k, L'viv, Mykolayiv, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, Sevastopol'**, Sumy, Ternopil', Vinnytsya, Volyn' (Luts'k), Zakarpattya (Uzhhorod), Zaporizhzhya, Zhytomyr

24 August 1991 (from the Soviet Union); notable earlier dates: ca. 982 (VOLODYMYR I consolidates Kyivan Rus), 1648 (establishment of the Cossack Hetmanate)

Independence Day, 24 August (1991); note - 22 January 1918, the day Ukraine first declared its independence (from Soviet Russia) and the day the short-lived Western and Greater (Eastern) Ukrainian republics united (1919), is now celebrated as Unity Day

civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts

has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt

18 years of age; universal

Batkivshchyna ("Fatherland") [Yuliya TYMOSHENKO]

Bloc of Petro Poroshenko – Solidarnist or BPP [Vitaliy KLYCHKO] (formed from the merger of Solidarnist and UDAR)

Narodnyy Front ("People's Front") or NF [Arseniy YATSENIUK]

Opposition Bloc or OB [Yuriy BOYKO]

Radical Party [Oleh LYASHKO]

Samopomich ("Self Reliance") [Andriy SADOVYY]

Svoboda ("Freedom") [Oleh TYAHNYBOK]

Ukrainian Association of Patriots or UKROP [Ihor KOLOMOYSKYY]

Vidrozhennya ("Revival") [Vitaliy KHOMUTYNNIK] (parliamentary group)

Volya Naroda (“People's Will”) or VN (Yaroslav MOSKALENKO)

Centre UA [Oleh RYBACHUK]

OPORA Civic Network [Olha AIVAZOVSKA]

Australia Group, BSEC, CBSS (observer), CD, CE, CEI, CICA (observer), CIS (participating member, has not signed the 1993 CIS charter), EAEC (observer), EAPC, EBRD, FAO, GCTU, GUAM, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), LAIA (observer), MIGA, MONUSCO, NAM (observer), NSG, OAS (observer), OIF (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, SELEC (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNIDO, UNISFA, UNMIL, UNMISS, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC

two equal horizontal bands of azure (top) and golden yellow represent grain fields under a blue sky

tryzub (trident); national colors: blue, yellow

After Russia, the Ukrainian republic was the most important economic component of the former Soviet Union, producing about four times the output of the next-ranking republic. Its fertile black soil generated more than one-fourth of Soviet agricultural output, and its farms provided substantial quantities of meat, milk, grain, and vegetables to other republics. Likewise, its diversified heavy industry supplied unique equipment, such as, large diameter pipes and vertical drilling apparatus, and raw materials to industrial and mining sites in other regions of the former USSR.

Shortly after independence in August 1991, the Ukrainian Government liberalized most prices and erected a legal framework for privatization, but widespread resistance to reform within the government and the legislature soon stalled reform efforts and led to some backtracking. Output by 1999 had fallen to less than 40% of the 1991 level. Outside institutions - particularly the IMF –encouraged Ukraine to quicken the pace and scope of reforms to foster economic growth. Ukrainian Government officials eliminated most tax and customs privileges in a March 2005 budget law, bringing more economic activity out of Ukraine's large shadow economy. But more improvements are needed, including fighting corruption, developing capital markets, and improving the legislative framework. From 2000 until mid-2008, Ukraine's economy was buoyant despite political turmoil between the prime minister and president.

Ukraine's dependence on Russia for energy supplies and the lack of significant structural reform have made the Ukrainian economy vulnerable to external shocks. Ukraine depends on imports to meet about three-fourths of its annual oil and natural gas requirements and 100% of its nuclear fuel needs. In January 2009, after a two-week dispute that saw gas supplies cut off to Europe, Ukraine agreed to 10-year gas supply and transit contracts with Russia that brought gas prices to "world" levels. The strict terms of the contracts further hobbled Ukraine's cash-strapped state gas company, Naftohaz. The economy contracted nearly 15% in 2009, among the worst economic performances in the world. In April 2010, Ukraine negotiated a price discount on Russian gas imports in exchange for extending Russia's lease on its naval base in Crimea.

Ukraine’s oligarch-dominated economy grew slowly from 2010 to 2014. After former President YANUKOVYCH fled the country during the Revolution of Dignity, the international community began efforts to stabilize the Ukrainian economy, including a March 2014 IMF assistance package of $14-18 billion. Ukraine has made significant progress on reforms designed to make the country a prosperous, democratic, and transparent country.

Russia’s occupation of Crimea in March 2014 and on-going aggression in eastern Ukraine have hurt economic growth. With the loss of a major portion of Ukraine’s heavy industry in Donbas and ongoing violence, Ukraine’s economy contracted by 6.8% in 2014 and by an estimated 10.5% in 2015. Ukraine and Russia have engaged in a trade war with sharply reduced trade between the countries by the end of 2015. The EU-Ukraine Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area finally started up on 1 January 2016, and is expected to help Ukraine integrate its economy with Europe by opening up markets and harmonizing regulations.

$339.5 billion (2015 est.)

$376.7 billion (2014 est.)

$403.1 billion (2013 est.)

$90.52 billion (2015 est.)

-9.9% (2015 est.)

-6.6% (2014 est.)

0% (2013 est.)

$7,500 (2015 est.)

$8,300 (2014 est.)

$9,400 (2013 est.)

15.1% of GDP (2015 est.)

10% of GDP (2014 est.)

9.5% of GDP (2013 est.)

(2015 est.)

grain, sugar beets, sunflower seeds, vegetables; beef, milk

coal, electric power, ferrous and nonferrous metals, machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, food processing

-13.4% (2015 est.)

18.1 million (2015 est.)

(2014)

9.1% (2015 est.)

9.3% (2014 est.)

24.1% (2010 est.)

24.6 (2013)

28.2 (2009)

33% of GDP (2015 est.)

-1.4% of GDP (2015 est.)

79.4% of GDP (2015 est.)

69.4% of GDP (2014 est.)

calendar year

48.7% (2015 est.)

12.1% (2014 est.)

22% (23 December 2015)

7.5% (31 January 2012)

21.82% (31 December 2015 est.)

17.72% (31 December 2014 est.)

$19.68 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$27.62 billion (31 December 2014 est.)

$78.02 billion (31 December 2014 est.)

$113.4 billion (31 December 2013 est.)

$62.77 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$95.93 billion (31 December 2014 est.)

$20.71 billion (31 December 2012 est.)

$25.56 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

$39.46 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

-$260 million (2015 est.)

-$5.332 billion (2014 est.)

$35.5 billion (2015 est.)

$50.76 billion (2014 est.)

ferrous and nonferrous metals, fuel and petroleum products, chemicals, machinery and transport equipment, foodstuffs

Russia 12.7%, Turkey 7.3%, China 6.3%, Egypt 5.5%, Italy 5.2%, Poland 5.2% (2015)

$38.94 billion (2015 est.)

$58.24 billion (2014 est.)

energy, machinery and equipment, chemicals

Russia 20%, Germany 10.4%, China 10.1%, Belarus 6.5%, Poland 6.2%, Hungary 4.2% (2015)

$13.3 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$7.53 billion (31 December 2014 est.)

$119.8 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$130.7 billion (31 December 2014 est.)

$60.95 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$57.9 billion (31 December 2014 est.)

$7.183 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$7.145 billion (31 December 2014 est.)

hryvnia (UAH) per US dollar -

21.8447 (2015 est.)

11.8867 (2014 est.)

11.8867 (2013 est.)

7.99 (2012 est.)

7.9676 (2011 est.)

171 billion kWh (2014 est.)

143 billion kWh (2014 est.)

8.5 billion kWh (2014 est.)

89 million kWh (2014 est.)

56 million kW (2014 est.)

63.7% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)

23.7% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)

9.9% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)

1.1% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)

35,910 bbl/day (2015 est.)

668.1 bbl/day (2013 est.)

24,180 bbl/day (2013 est.)

400 million bbl (1 January 2016 es)

96,210 bbl/day (2013 est.)

257,000 bbl/day (2014 est.)

19,250 bbl/day (2013 est.)

153,000 bbl/day (2013 est.)

19.9 billion cu m (2015)

33.8 billion cu m (2015 est.)

0 cu m (2015 est.)

20 billion cu m (2014 est.)

1.104 trillion cu m (1 January 2016 es)

291 million Mt (2013 est.)

state-controlled nationwide TV broadcast channel (UT1) and a number of privately owned TV networks provide basic TV coverage; multi-channel cable and satellite TV services are available; Russian television broadcasts have a small audience nationwide, but larger audiences in the eastern and southern regions; the radio broadcast market, a mix of independent and state-owned networks, is comprised of some 300 stations (2007)

.ua

UR (2016)

187 (2013)

9 (2013)

gas 36,720 km; oil 4,514 km; refined products 4,363 km (2013)

1,672 km (most on Dnieper River) (2012)

Ground Forces, Naval Forces, Air Forces (2013)

20-27 years of age for compulsory military service; conscript service obligation is 18 months (2015)

3.8% of GDP (2016)

2.7% of GDP (2015)

1.77% of GDP (2014)

0.97% of GDP (2013)