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 was able to achieve a short-lived period of independence (1917-20), but was reconquered and forced to endure 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 some 7 to 8 million more deaths. Although final independence for Ukraine was achieved 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 "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 elections and become prime minister in August of 2006. An early legislative election, brought on by a political crisis in the spring of 2007, saw Yuliya TYMOSHENKO, as head of an "Orange" coalition, installed as a new prime minister in December 2007. Viktor YANUKOVUYCH was elected president in a February 2010 run-off election that observers assessed as meeting most international standards. The following month, the Rada approved a vote of no-confidence prompting Yuliya TYMOSHENKO to resign from her post as prime minister.

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

slightly smaller than Texas

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; summers are warm across the greater part of the country, hot in the south

most of Ukraine consists of fertile plains (steppes) and plateaus, mountains being found only in the west (the Carpathians), and in the Crimean Peninsula in the extreme south

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

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

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 census)

Ukrainian (official) 67%, Russian 24%, other (includes small Romanian-, Polish-, and Hungarian-speaking minorities) 9%

Ukrainian Orthodox - Kyiv Patriarchate 50.4%, Ukrainian Orthodox - Moscow Patriarchate 26.1%, Ukrainian Greek Catholic 8%, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox 7.2%, Roman Catholic 2.2%, Protestant 2.2%, Jewish 0.6%, other 3.2% (2006 est.)

44,854,065 (July 2012 est.)

9.59 births/1,000 population (2012 est.)

15.76 deaths/1,000 population (July 2012 est.)

-0.08 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2012 est.)

KYIV (capital) 2.779 million; Kharkiv 1.455 million; Dnipropetrovsk 1.013 million; Odesa 1.009 million; Donetsk 971,000 (2009)

32 deaths/100,000 live births (2010)

1.29 children born/woman (2012 est.)

3.125 physicians/1,000 population (2006)

8.73 beds/1,000 population (2006)

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, Donets'k, Ivano-Frankivs'k, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmel'nyts'kyy, Kirovohrad, 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. A.D. 982 (VOLODYMYR I consolidates Kyivan Rus), 1648 (establishment of 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

adopted 28 June 1996

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

unicameral Supreme Council or Verkhovna Rada (450 seats; members allocated on a proportional basis to those parties that gain 3% or more of the national electoral vote; members serve five-year terms)

Supreme Court; Constitutional Court

Block of Yuliya Tymoshenko-Batkivshchyna (BYuT-Batkivshchyna) [Yuliya TYMOSHENKO]; Communist Party of Ukraine or CPU [Petro SYMONENKO]; European Party of Ukraine [Mykola KATERYNCHUK]; Front of Change [Arseniy YATSENYUK]; Lytvyn Block (composed of People's Party and Labor Party of Ukraine) [Volodymyr LYTVYN]; Our Ukraine [Valentyn NALYVAICHENKO]; Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs [Anatoliy KINAKH]; Party of Regions [Mykola AZAROV, chairman]; Party of the Defenders of the Fatherland [Yuriy KARMAZIN]; People's Movement of Ukraine (Rukh) [Borys TARASYUK]; People's Party [Volodymyr LYTVYN]; Peoples' Self-Defense Party [Oleh NOVIKOV]; PORA! (It's Time!) party [Vladyslav KASKIV]; Progressive Socialist Party [Natalya VITRENKO]; Reforms and Order Party [Viktor PYNZENYK]; Republican Party Sobor [Anatoliy MATVIYENKO]; Social Democratic Party [Yevhen KORNICHUK]; Social Democratic Party (United) or SDPU(o) [Yuriy ZAHORODNIY]; Socialist Party of Ukraine or SPU [Oleksandr MOROZ]; Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms or UDAR [Vitaliy KLYCHKO]; Ukrainian People's Party [Yuriy KOSTENKO]; United Center [Viktor BALOHA]; Viche [Inna BOHOSLOVSKA]

Committee of Voters of Ukraine [Aleksandr CHERNENKO]; OPORA [Olha AIVAZOVSKA]

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

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

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 the unique equipment (for example, large diameter pipes) and raw materials to industrial and mining sites (vertical drilling apparatus) 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. 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. After a two-week dispute that saw gas supplies cutoff to Europe, Ukraine agreed to 10-year gas supply and transit contracts with Russia in January 2009 that brought gas prices to "world" levels. The strict terms of the contracts have further hobbled Ukraine's cash-strapped state gas company, Naftohaz. Outside institutions - particularly the IMF - have encouraged Ukraine to quicken the pace and scope of reforms. 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. Ukraine's economy was buoyant despite political turmoil between the prime minister and president until mid-2008. Real GDP growth exceeded 7% in 2006-07, fueled by high global prices for steel - Ukraine's top export - and by strong domestic consumption, spurred by rising pensions and wages. A drop in steel prices and Ukraine's exposure to the global financial crisis due to aggressive foreign borrowing lowered growth in 2008. Ukraine reached an agreement with the IMF for a $16.4 billion Stand-By Arrangement in November 2008 to deal with the economic crisis, but the program quickly stalled due to the Ukrainian Government's lack of progress in implementing reforms. 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. In August 2010, Ukraine, under the YANUKOVYCH Administration, reached a new agreement with the IMF for a $15.1 billion Stand-By Agreement to put the country on the path to fiscal sustainability, reform the gas sector, and shore up the country's banking system. Economic growth resumed in 2010 and 2011, buoyed by exports. After initial disbursements, the IMF program stalled in early 2011 due to the Ukrainian Government's lack of progress in implementing key gas sector reforms, namely gas tariff increases.

$333.7 billion (2011 est.)

$317.2 billion (2010 est.)

$304.7 billion (2009 est.)

$165 billion (2011 est.)

22.09 million (2011 est.)

20% of GDP (2011 est.)

30.3% of GDP (2011 est.)

-3.9% of GDP (2011 est.)

39% of GDP (2011 est.)

39.5% of GDP (2010 est.)

11.97% (31 December 2010 est.)

10.25% (31 December 2009 est.)

15.95% (31 December 2011 est.)

15.869% (31 December 2010 est.)

$45.43 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

$36.41 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$85.8 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

$74.96 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$121 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

$108.1 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$25.56 billion (31 December 2011)

$39.46 billion (31 December 2010)

$16.79 billion (31 December 2009)

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

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

-$9.006 billion (2011 est.)

-$3.018 billion (2010 est.)

$69.42 billion (2011 est.)

$52.19 billion (2010 est.)

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

Russia 27.3%, Turkey 5.9%, Italy 4.7% (2009 est.)

$83.22 billion (2011 est.)

$60.58 billion (2010 est.)

energy, machinery and equipment, chemicals

Russia 30.8%, Germany 9.1%, China 8.9%, Poland 5.3%, Belarus 5% (2009 est.)

$31.79 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

$34.58 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$123.7 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

$116.8 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$60.51 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

$53.3 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$2.995 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

$2.803 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

hryvnia (UAH) per US dollar -

164.5 billion kWh (2009 est.)

138.3 billion kWh (2009 est.)

7.961 billion kWh (2009 est.)

1.894 billion kWh (2009 est.)

54.38 million kW (2009 est.)

64.4% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)

25.4% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)

10% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)

0.1% of total installed capacity (2009 est.)

73,180 bbl/day (2011 est.)

160 bbl/day (2009 est.)

143,600 bbl/day (2009 est.)

395 million bbl (1 January 2012 est.)

262,200 bbl/day (2008 est.)

320,600 bbl/day (2011 est.)

76,140 bbl/day (2008 est.)

148,900 bbl/day (2008 est.)

19.36 billion cu m (2010 est.)

53.16 billion cu m (2010 est.)

2.6 billion cu m (2010 est.)

36.4 billion cu m (2010 est.)

1.104 trillion cu m (1 January 2012 est.)

275.5 million Mt (2010 est.)

12.941 million (2009)

53.929 million (2009)

Ukraine's 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; Ukraine's radio broadcast market, a mix of independent and state-owned networks, is comprised of some 300 stations (2007)

1.997 million (2010)

gas 36,493 km; oil 4,514 km; refined products 4,211 km (2010)

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

Feodosiya (Theodosia), Illichivsk, Mariupol', Mykolayiv, Odesa, Yuzhnyy

Ground Forces, Naval Forces, Air Forces (2010)

18-25 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service; conscript service obligation - 12 months for Army and Air Force, 18 months for Navy (2010)

1.4% of GDP (2005 est.)

1997 boundary delimitation treaty with Belarus remains unratified due to unresolved financial claims, stalling demarcation and reducing border security; delimitation of land boundary with Russia is complete with preparations for demarcation underway; the dispute over the boundary between Russia and Ukraine through the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov remains unresolved despite a December 2003 framework agreement and ongoing expert-level discussions; Moldova and Ukraine operate joint customs posts to monitor transit of people and commodities through Moldova's break-away Transnistria Region, which remains under Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe supervision; the ICJ ruled largely in favor of Romania its dispute submitted in 2004 over Ukrainian-administered Zmiyinyy/Serpilor (Snake) Island and Black Sea maritime boundary delimitation; Romania opposes Ukraine's reopening of a navigation canal from the Danube border through Ukraine to the Black Sea

limited cultivation of cannabis and opium poppy, mostly for CIS consumption; some synthetic drug production for export to the West; limited government eradication program; used as transshipment point for opiates and other illicit drugs from Africa, Latin America, and Turkey to Europe and Russia; Ukraine has improved anti-money-laundering controls, resulting in its removal from the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF's) Noncooperative Countries and Territories List in February 2004; Ukraine's anti-money-laundering regime continues to be monitored by FATF