The Ukraine Portal - Портал України

Ukraine
Україна (Ukrainian)
ISO 3166 codeUA

Ukraine (/juːˈkrn/ yoo-KRAYN; Ukrainian: Україна, romanized: Ukraina, pronounced [ʊkrɐˈjinɐ] ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which borders it to the east and northeast. It also borders Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; and Romania and Moldova to the southwest; with a coastline along the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to the south and southeast. Kyiv is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Kharkiv, Dnipro and Odesa. Ukraine's official language is Ukrainian; Russian is also widely spoken, especially in the east and south.

During the Middle Ages, Ukraine was the site of early Slavic expansion and the area later became a key centre of East Slavic culture under the state of Kievan Rus', which emerged in the 9th century. The state eventually disintegrated into rival regional powers and was ultimately destroyed by the Mongol invasions of the 13th century. The area was then contested, divided, and ruled by a variety of external powers for the next 600 years, including the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austrian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Tsardom of Russia. The Cossack Hetmanate emerged in central Ukraine in the 17th century marked on maps as "Ukraine, land of the Cossacks", but was partitioned between Russia and Poland, and ultimately absorbed by the Russian Empire. Ukrainian nationalism developed, and following the Russian Revolution in 1917, the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic was formed. The Bolsheviks consolidated control over much of the former empire and established the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union when it was formed in 1922. In the early 1930s, millions of Ukrainians died in the Holodomor, a human-made famine. The German occupation during World War II in Ukraine was devastating: 7 million Ukrainian civilians were killed, including the majority of Ukrainian Jews.

Ukraine gained independence in 1991 as the Soviet Union dissolved, and declared itself neutral. A new constitution was adopted in 1996. A series of mass demonstrations, known as the Euromaidan, led to the establishment of a new government in 2014 after a revolution. Russia then unilaterally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, and pro-Russian unrest culminated in a war in the Donbas between Russian-backed separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine. Since the outbreak of war with Russia, Ukraine has continued to seek closer ties with the United States, European Union, and NATO. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Ukraine is a unitary state and its system of government is a semi-presidential republic. A developing country, it is the poorest country in Europe by nominal GDP per capita and corruption remains a significant issue. However, due to its extensive fertile land, pre-war Ukraine was one of the largest grain exporters in the world. It is a founding member of the United Nations, as well as a member of the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization, and the OSCE. It is in the process of joining the European Union and has submitted an application for NATO membership. (Full article...)

In the news

2 December 2023 – Human rights in Ukraine
Ukraine's security service stops former president Petro Poroshenko from leaving the country. Poroshenko's political party, European Solidarity, said he had scheduled meetings in Poland and the United States. (France 24)
1 December 2023 – Child abductions in the Russo-Ukrainian War
The International Committee of the Red Cross suspends the Belarus Red Cross after its Secretary General Dzmitry Shautsou refuses to resign following statements that the organization was involved in bringing Ukrainian children to Belarus for health improvement purposes. (AP) (Nasha Niva)
30 November 2023 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Ukraine says its special forces bombed a freight train as it was passing through the Severomuysky Tunnel in Buryatia, Russia. Russia's Investigative Committee acknowledges an explosion and fire inside the tunnel, and says that a preliminary probe is underway to determine the cause. (Reuters)
28 November 2023 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Eastern Ukraine campaign
Battle of Avdiivka
Russian forces advance on "all sides" of Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine as they encircle the city. Heavy fighting is reported for control of the Avdiivka Coke Plant. (Reuters) (The Independent)
27 November 2023 –
A snowstorm kills at least five people in Ukraine and three people in neighbouring Moldova with hundreds of towns and villages losing power. A least ten state highways are also closed with thousands of vehicles stranded in Ukraine amid the severe weather. (Reuters)
25 November 2023 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Russia launches 75 drones against Ukraine from two directions, Primorsko-Akhtarsk and the Kursk region. In response, Ukraine launches 20 drones against Russia, including the capital, Moscow. (CNN) (Reuters) (AP)
23 November 2023 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Southern Ukraine campaign

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A fragment of the “new and accurate map of Europe collected from the best authorities...” by Emanuel Bowen published in 1747 in his A complete system of geography. The territory around Voronezh and Tambov is shown as “Little Russia”. White Russia is located north-east of Smolensk, and the legend “Ukrain” straddles the Dnieper river near Poltava.

Little Russia (Russian: Малороссия/Малая Россия, romanized: Malorossiya/Malaya Rossiya; Ukrainian: Малоросія/Мала Росія, romanized: Malorosiia/Mala Rosiia), also known in English as Malorussia, Little Rus' (Russian: Малая Русь, romanized: Malaya Rus'; Ukrainian: Мала Русь, romanized: Mala Rus'), Rus' Minor (from Greek: Μικρὰ Ῥωσία, romanized: Mikrá Rosía), and the French equivalent Petite Russie, is a geographical and historical term used to describe Ukraine. Since 1334, Yuri II Boleslav, the ruler of the Ruthenian Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, signed his decrees Natus dux totius Russiæ minoris, but the expression μικρὰ Ρωσσία is found as early as 1292, in the Byzantine writer Codinus. The distinction between "Great" and "Little" Rus' probably originated among Byzantine, Greek-speaking clerics who wanted to separate the two Ruthenian ecclesiastical metropolises of Halych and Moscow.

The specific meaning of the adjectives "Great" and "Little" in this context is unclear. It is possible that terms such as "Little" and "Lesser" at the time simply meant geographically smaller and/or less populous, or having fewer eparchies. Another possibility is that it denoted a relationship similar to that between a homeland and a colony (just as "Magna Graecia" denoted a Greek colony). (Full article...)
List of selected articles

In the news

2 December 2023 – Human rights in Ukraine
Ukraine's security service stops former president Petro Poroshenko from leaving the country. Poroshenko's political party, European Solidarity, said he had scheduled meetings in Poland and the United States. (France 24)
1 December 2023 – Child abductions in the Russo-Ukrainian War
The International Committee of the Red Cross suspends the Belarus Red Cross after its Secretary General Dzmitry Shautsou refuses to resign following statements that the organization was involved in bringing Ukrainian children to Belarus for health improvement purposes. (AP) (Nasha Niva)
30 November 2023 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Ukraine says its special forces bombed a freight train as it was passing through the Severomuysky Tunnel in Buryatia, Russia. Russia's Investigative Committee acknowledges an explosion and fire inside the tunnel, and says that a preliminary probe is underway to determine the cause. (Reuters)
28 November 2023 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Eastern Ukraine campaign
Battle of Avdiivka
Russian forces advance on "all sides" of Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine as they encircle the city. Heavy fighting is reported for control of the Avdiivka Coke Plant. (Reuters) (The Independent)
27 November 2023 –
A snowstorm kills at least five people in Ukraine and three people in neighbouring Moldova with hundreds of towns and villages losing power. A least ten state highways are also closed with thousands of vehicles stranded in Ukraine amid the severe weather. (Reuters)
25 November 2023 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Russia launches 75 drones against Ukraine from two directions, Primorsko-Akhtarsk and the Kursk region. In response, Ukraine launches 20 drones against Russia, including the capital, Moscow. (CNN) (Reuters) (AP)
23 November 2023 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
Southern Ukraine campaign

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