Ukraine << yoo KRAYN >> is a country in eastern Europe. It is Europe’s second largest country in area. Only Russia, Ukraine’s neighbor to the east, has more land. Ukraine’s capital and largest city is Kyiv.
About four-fifths of the country’s people are ethnic Ukrainians, a Slavic nationality group that has its own customs and language. Russians are the second largest group and make up about a sixth of Ukraine’s population. The country is famous for its vast plains called steppes. The steppes are covered with fertile black soil, which has made Ukraine one of the world’s leading farming regions.
During the A.D. 800’s, Kyiv became the center of a Slavic state that modern historians call Kievan Rus (also spelled Kyivan Rus). In the 1300’s, most of Ukraine came under Polish and Lithuanian control. Ukrainian soldiers called Cossacks freed Ukraine from Polish rule in the mid-1600’s.
During the late 1700’s, nearly all of Ukraine came under Russian control. In 1917, revolutionaries known as Bolsheviks (later called Communists) seized control of Russia. Ukraine became an independent country the following year, but it soon came under Russian rule. In 1922, Ukraine became one of the four original republics of the Soviet Union, and it became known as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. For many decades, the Soviet Union forced Ukrainians to use the Russian language and favored the Russian culture over the Ukrainian culture. Many Ukrainians began protesting the restrictions in the 1960’s.
In 1991, following an upheaval in the Soviet government, Ukraine declared its political independence. Late that year, it became recognized as an independent country after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Some Russian leaders, however, still wanted to control Ukraine. In 2014, Russian troops seized Crimea, a large peninsula in southern Ukraine that juts into the Black Sea. In 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine from the north, south, and east. Many nations condemned the invasion. Ukrainian forces fought to defend the Ukrainian people.
Government
National government.
Ukraine has a democratic political system. The country’s government has an executive branch, which includes a president and a prime minister; and a legislative branch, which consists of a national parliament.
Ukraine national anthem
The president is commander in chief of the military and can issue orders called edicts in some matters without the approval of the parliament. The people of Ukraine elect the president to a five-year term. Ukrainians 18 years old or older may vote.
The prime minister heads a Cabinet. The parliament names the prime minister, who then selects Cabinet members. Cabinet ministers have responsibility for such areas as foreign affairs and the economy.
Ukraine’s parliament, called the Supreme Council, is the nation’s lawmaking body. It has 450 members, who serve five-year terms. Half are directly elected, and half are chosen under a system called proportional representation. This system gives a political party a share of seats in the parliament according to the party’s share of the total votes cast in an election. To qualify, a party needs to receive at least 5 percent of the votes.
Local government.
Ukraine is divided into 24 political units called oblasts. In addition, Kyiv has its own municipal government, with a status similar to that of the oblasts.
Under the Ukrainian constitution, Crimea has special status as an autonomous (self-governing) republic, with greater control over its internal affairs than the oblasts, and Sevastopol has a municipal status similar to that of Kyiv. In 2014, Russian forces seized control of Crimea. The region’s parliament voted to withdraw from Ukraine. Russia then annexed (claimed control of) the peninsula. International observers challenged the legality and fairness of these moves.
Politics.
Ukraine’s political parties generally have fallen into two groups. One group has favored close ties between Ukraine and Russia. The other group has included parties that favor greater association with Western nations and such organizations as the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Parties often form to support specific politicians. Independent politicians, usually wealthy businesspeople known as oligarchs, hold great influence in Ukraine’s politics. The Communist Party, which favored government control of the economy and union with Russia, was banned in 2015 for promoting separatism.
Courts.
Ukraine’s highest court is the Supreme Court. A Constitutional Court decides questions about the constitutionality of laws. Ukraine also has regional and district courts.
Armed forces.
Ukraine has an army, an air force, and a small navy. Ukraine also has paramilitary forces, including a border guard and a coast guard.
People
Ancestry.
The majority of the people of Ukraine belong to the Ukrainian ethnic group. Russians make up a large ethnic group. A majority of the people in the Crimean Peninsula are of Russian ethnicity. Other groups in Ukraine include Belarusians, Bulgarians, Crimean Tatars, and Moldovans. Government leaders have encouraged cooperation among ethnic groups. Independent Ukraine has tried to accommodate the cultural concerns of its ethnic minority groups.
Most Ukrainians are of East Slavic ancestry. In the A.D. 800’s, the East Slavs included the ancestors of the Ukrainians, the Belarusians, and the Russians. The three groups became separate states in the centuries that followed. Ukrainians are proud of their nationality and preserve many of its traditions.
Language.
Ukrainian is the official language of Ukraine. From the 1930’s to the 1980’s, during the period when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, the Soviets forced Ukrainians to use the Russian language in government, schools, and newspapers and television. Many Ukrainians resented this policy. But decades of the Soviet policy caused many Ukrainians to know the Russian language better than Ukrainian. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, a growing number of ethnic Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians began studying the Ukrainian language. The government allows ethnic minorities to use their own languages in schools and other local affairs.
The Ukrainian language has several regional dialects, which vary according to a region’s history and the influence of other cultures on the region. Ukrainian dialects spoken by west Ukrainians, for example, show some Polish influence. Dialects from eastern Ukraine reflect more Russian traits.
Way of life
City life.
About 70 percent of the people live in cities. Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital and largest city, is an attractive city known for its treelined boulevards. Other large cities include Dnipro, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Lviv, and Odesa.
High-rise apartment buildings from the period of Soviet rule are a common sight in Ukrainian cities. However, many of these buildings were poorly constructed, and the apartments are small and overcrowded.
Pollution is a major problem in Ukraine, especially in its cities. The quality of air and water has been damaged by factory smoke and other wastes, particularly in the heavily industrialized Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. Parts of Ukraine still suffer the environmental and health consequences of the 1986 nuclear power plant accident at Chernobyl (now Chornobyl). The accident caused the release of large amounts of radioactive material, which polluted the air, soil, and water. An environmental movement led by a group called Green World has worked to protect the environment and public health in Ukraine.
Ukraine has a free market economy, which permits people to engage in economic activities free from most government control. However, widespread corruption in government and regulatory institutions has posed challenges for many businesses. Poor economic conditions have contributed to an increase in crime and a lower birth rate than those recorded in the Soviet period.
Rural life.
About 30 percent of Ukraine’s population lives in rural areas. Most rural Ukrainians work on farms or in the timber industry, or they make small handicrafts. Western Ukraine is heavily rural. The standard of living in the countryside is generally lower than that in the cities. Rural Ukrainians have strong ties to their families and farms. But many young people have left the countryside to live and work in the cities.
Clothing.
Ukrainians wear clothing similar to that worn in western Europe and North America. On special occasions, they may wear outfits inspired by traditional peasant costumes. These costumes feature white blouses and shirts decorated with colorful embroidery.
Food and drink.
The Ukrainian diet includes chicken, fish, and such pork products as ham, sausage, and bacon. Ukrainians also eat large amounts of potatoes, cooked buckwheat called kasha, sour rye bread, and sweetened breads. Popular drinks include tea, coffee, cocoa, a special soured milk drink, honey liqueur, and vodka with pepper.
Traditional Ukrainian dishes include varenyky, borsch, and holubtsi. Varenyky consists of boiled dumplings filled with potatoes, sauerkraut, cheese, plums, or blueberries. The dumplings may be eaten with sour cream, fried onions, or bacon bits. Borsch is a soup made of beets, cabbage , and meat. It is served with sour rye bread and sour cream. Holubtsi are stuffed cabbage rolls filled with rice, buckwheat, and meat.
Recreation.
Ukrainians enjoy many sports, including basketball, ice hockey, skating, soccer, swimming, track and field, and volleyball. Soccer is by far the most popular team sport in Ukraine. Dynamo Kyiv has ranked as one of Europe’s top soccer teams for decades.
Ukrainians also enjoy music, and many of them perform in choruses and folk dance groups. Chess is a popular game. Many Ukrainians vacation by camping in the Carpathian Mountains. Ukrainians also travel to the Black Sea coast for its warm weather and mineral springs.
Religion.
Ukrainians remained a strongly religious people despite decades of religious restrictions under Soviet rule. About two-thirds of Ukraine’s people are Eastern Orthodox Christians. Most of the Orthodox Christians live in eastern and central Ukraine.
About 8 percent of Ukraine’s people are Ukrainian Catholics, also known as Uniates or “Greek” Catholics. They practice Eastern Orthodox forms of worship but recognize the authority of the Roman Catholic pope. The church is strongest in western Ukraine. Other religious groups include Protestants, Jews, and Muslims.
Education.
Ukrainian law requires children to attend school for 12 years, from the ages of about 6 to 18. After the ninth grade, students may continue a general academic program or enroll in technical or trade schools.
Ukraine has more than 900 schools of higher education. The largest and best-known universities include Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, and V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University.
The arts.
Ukrainians are well known for their folk arts and crafts. Pysanky—Ukrainian Easter eggs decorated with colorful designs—are world famous. Craftworkers in the Hutsul region of the Carpathian Mountains make woodcarvings with striking inlaid designs. 
Ukrainian music often features a stringed instrument called the bandura. In a popular Ukrainian folk dance called the hopak, male dancers compete against each other in performing acrobatic leaps.
The poet Taras Shevchenko, who wrote during the mid-1800’s, is the country’s most famous cultural and national figure. He urged Ukrainians to struggle for social equality and freedom from oppression by the Russian czars. His Kobzar (1840), a collection of poems, dealt with Ukrainian historical themes and made Ukrainian a popular language for poetry and books. Other notable Ukrainian writers include Ivan Franko and Lesia Ukrainka, who both died in 1916. Franko was a journalist who wrote novels, poems, and plays. Ukrainka was a poet.
The land
Ukraine lies in eastern Europe, north of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The country consists mainly of a flat, fertile plain. About a third of the land is suitable for growing crops. Ukraine can be divided into six main land regions: (1) the Dnieper-Prypiat Lowland, (2) the Northern Ukrainian Upland, (3) the Central Plateau, (4) the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, (5) the Coastal Plain, and (6) the Crimean Mountains.
The Dnieper-Prypiat Lowland
lies in northern Ukraine. Forests once blanketed all of the lowland but now cover only about a fourth of its area. Farmers use much of the region’s land as pasture for dairy cattle. The eastern lowland includes the Dnieper River basin and the city of Kyiv. The Prypiat River drains the western lowland, which has many marshes and forests of pine and oak.
The Northern Ukrainian Upland
consists of a low plateau in northeastern Ukraine. Farmers in the region grow wheat and sugar beets and raise livestock. Deposits of natural gas lie to the south of the city of Kharkiv.
The Central Plateau
extends from eastern to western Ukraine, and it is part of the Great European Plain. Rich, black soils called chernozem and sufficient rain make the region Ukraine’s most productive farmland.
The Donets Basin, often called the Donbas, lies in the eastern part of the plateau. This area is Ukraine’s leading industrial region and has large coal deposits. The area includes the cities of Donetsk, Horlivka, and Luhansk.
The Eastern Carpathian Mountains
are in western Ukraine. Ukraine’s highest peak, Mount Hoverla, rises 6,762 feet (2,061 meters). Farming in the river valleys, raising livestock, and logging are major economic activities in the region. The mountains have deposits of oil and natural gas.
The Coastal Plain
extends along the coasts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov and includes most of the Crimean Peninsula. Its coastline has cliffs and many shallow lagoon. The region receives less rain than other parts of Ukraine and sometimes suffers from droughts. The Dnieper River flows through the central plain. Farmers use its water to irrigate crops.
The Crimean Mountains
rise in the southern part of the Crimean Peninsula. The mountains climb gradually from the north but slope steeply to the Black Sea in the south. The highest point in the Crimean Mountains, a peak called Roman-Kosh, stands 5,069 feet (1,545 meters) above sea level.
Rivers and lakes.
The Dnieper River is Ukraine’s longest river. It flows through the country from the north to the Black Sea. It is 1,420 miles (2,285 kilometers) long and ranks as Europe’s third longest waterway. Only the Volga and Danube rivers are longer. Ships travel along most of the Dnieper’s length. Ukraine’s second longest river, the Dniester (Dnister in Ukrainian), measures 845 miles (1,360 kilometers). It flows through western Ukraine from the Carpathian Mountains to the Black Sea. Other major waterways include the Pivdennyi Buh, Desna, Prypiat, and Donets rivers. Ukraine has about 3,000 lakes.
Climate
Most of Ukraine has cold winters and warm summers, which favor growing crops. Eastern Ukraine is slightly colder in winter and warmer in summer than western Ukraine. Temperatures in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine average about 19 °F (–7 °C) in January and 68 °F (20 °C) in July. Temperatures in Lviv in the west average about 25 °F (–4 °C) in January and 64 °F (18 °C) in July.
Precipitation ranges from about 30 inches (76 centimeters) a year in the north to about 9 inches (23 centimeters) in the south. Rainfall is highest in June and July. In the Carpathian and Crimean mountains, weather is colder and wetter at higher elevations. The southern coast of Crimea has warmer weather and less rainfall.
Economy
Ukraine has a developed economy with strong industry and agriculture. However, the nation lacks modern technology and equipment in its factories and on its farms. Over half of all Ukrainians have jobs in such service industries as education and health care.
Manufacturing.
Ukraine’s heavy industries produce iron and steel and such machines as tractors, machine tools, and mining equipment. The machine industry accounts for much of Ukraine’s industrial output. Ukraine also produces airplanes, automobiles, buses, locomotives and railway cars, ships, and trucks. Many of Ukraine’s heavy industries are in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, near mines that supply raw materials. Ukraine also manufactures chemicals; such processed foods as beer, dairy products, and meat; and consumer goods, including clothes, refrigerators, shoes, television sets, and washing machines.
Ukraine has a strong defense industry. During Soviet rule, defense factories accounted for about a fourth of Ukraine’s industrial output. Independent Ukraine produces some military equipment.
Agriculture.
Because of its agricultural production, Ukraine became known as the breadbasket of Europe. Its moderate climate and rich soils have made the country one of the world’s most productive farming regions. Its agricultural exports are important to world supplies of a number of food products, including barley, sunflower oil, and wheat. 
Until the late 1990’s, most farms in Ukraine were owned and controlled by the government. They included state farms and collective farms. State farms were managed entirely by the government, which paid wages to farmworkers. Collective farms were owned and managed in part by the workers, who received wages as well as a share in farm profits.
Between 1991 and 2001, Ukraine gradually converted all of its state and collective farms into various forms of privately owned farms. Large corporations purchased some farms. Other farms are cooperative farms. A cooperative farm is owned and managed entirely by a group of farmers, who divide the profits equally. Many farm workers who received land when the collective farms were broken up leased their land to one of the larger groups. The number of individual farmers who own and work their land has been growing, however.
Much of Ukraine’s agricultural production occurs in the center of the country. Important crops include apples, barley, cabbages, corn, potatoes, soybeans, sugar beets, sunflowers, tomatoes, and wheat. Ukrainian farmers also raise beef and dairy cattle, chickens, and hogs. Near cities, farmers often grow fruits and vegetables to sell at markets.
Service industries
account for more than half of Ukraine’s economic production and employ more than half of the country’s workers. Tourism has been an important industry for Ukraine’s hotels, restaurants, and shops.
Mining.
Coal is an important mined product in Ukraine. Huge coal deposits lie in the Donbas region, the center of Ukraine’s heavy industry. Ukraine also mines alumina, iron ore, manganese, natural gas, nickel, salt, titanium, and uranium.
Fishing.
Ukrainian fishing fleets operate mainly in the Antarctic and Indian oceans, and in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Ukrainians also fish in the country’s rivers and lakes. Ocean fleets catch anchovies and mackerel. River fishing is most important on the Dnieper and lower Danube rivers. The chief commercial fish from seas and rivers include bream, carp, perch, and pike.
Energy sources.
Coal, natural gas, and petroleum have long been Ukraine’s major sources of electric power. The country also has hydroelectric plants, mainly on the Dnieper River. Ukraine imports natural gas and petroleum.
During the 1980’s, nuclear power plants began providing an important new source of energy. Many Ukrainians, however, oppose the use of nuclear energy because of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in north-central Ukraine in 1986.
Trade.
Ukraine imports more than it exports. The country imports chemicals, machinery, natural gas, motor vehicles, and oil. Ukraine’s chief exports include chemicals, food products, fuels, iron and steel, and machinery. Until the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia was Ukraine’s main trading partner. Other trading partners have included Belarus, China, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Turkey, and the United States. In 2008, Ukraine joined the World Trade Organization, a group that promotes international trade.
Transportation and communication.
Ukraine has a well-developed transportation system. Most of the system is owned by the government. Almost all of Ukraine’s roads are paved. Buses and taxis are common in larger cities. Kyiv and Kharkiv have subway systems. A large railroad network connects major cities and industrial centers. Ukraine has several international airports. Its chief international airport is at Boryspil, near Kyiv. The country’s major ports include Chornomorsk, Mariupol, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sevastopol, and Yalta. After Russia seized Crimea in 2014, Ukraine lost control of the important transportation and tourist hubs of Sevastopol and Yalta.
Ukraine has both state-owned and privately owned radio and television stations. Most of Ukraine’s newspapers are privately owned. Cell phone and internet usage increased dramatically during the early 2000’s.
History
Early days.
People have lived in the Ukraine region for thousands of years. One of the earliest cultures was that of the Trypillians, who lived in southwestern Ukraine from about 4000 to 2000 B.C. The Trypillians raised crops for a living, decorated pottery, and made drills for boring holes in wood and stone.
By about 1500 B.C., nomadic herders occupied the region. They included a warlike, horse-riding people called the Cimmerians. The Scythians, a people from central Asia, conquered the Cimmerians about 700 B.C. and drove them south. Between 700 and 600 B.C., Greeks started colonies on the northern coast of the Black Sea. But the Scythians controlled most of the region until about 200 B.C., when they fell to a group called the Sarmatians. The region was invaded by Germanic tribes from the west in A.D. 270 and by the Huns, an Asian people, in 375.
Kievan Rus.
During the A.D. 800’s, a Slavic civilization called Rus grew up at Kyiv and at other points along river routes between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea. The region around Kyiv became the first of the East Slavic states. Modern historians call this state Kievan Rus. The city of Kyiv was its capital. Scandinavian merchant-warriors called Varangians (also known as Vikings) played a part in organizing the East Slavic tribes into Kievan Rus. In 882, a Varangian named Oleg became the first ruler of Kievan Rus. During the 900’s, other states recognized Kyiv’s leadership.
Vladimir I (Volodymyr in Ukrainian), the ruler of the Russian principality of Novgorod, conquered Kievan Rus in 980. Under his rule, the state became a political, economic, and cultural power in Europe. About 988, Vladimir became a Christian and made Christianity the state religion. Before the East Slavs became Christians, they had worshiped idols and nature spirits. In 1240, Mongol tribes known as Tatars swept across the Ukrainian plains from the east and conquered the region.
Lithuanian and Polish rule.
After the fall of Kievan Rus, several principalities (regions ruled by princes) developed in the Ukraine region. The state of Galicia-Volhynia grew in importance in what is now western Ukraine. In the 1300’s, however, Poland took control of Galicia. Lithuania seized Volhynia and later, Kyiv. Under Polish and Lithuanian rule, Ukrainian peasants were bound to the land as serfs, farm workers who were not free to leave the land they worked. By 1569, Poland ruled all of the region.
Many discontented peasants joined bands of independent soldiers that became known as Cossacks. They occupied the territory that lay between the Poles and the Tatars. In the mid-1600’s, a Cossack named Bohdan Khmelnitsky led an uprising that freed Ukraine from Polish control. In 1654, Khmelnitsky formed an alliance with the czar (emperor) of Russia against Poland.
Russian rule.
Ukraine was divided between Poland and Russia in 1667. Poland gained control of lands west of the Dnieper River. Ukrainian lands east of the Dnieper had self-rule but came under Russian protection. By 1764, Russia abolished Ukrainian self-rule. In the 1790’s, Russia gained control of all of Ukraine except Galicia, which Austria ruled from 1772 until 1918.
Russia favored its language and culture over those of the Ukrainians and other peoples. From 1863 to 1905, it banned publications in Ukrainian. The Austrians, however, allowed the Ukrainians greater freedom than did the Russians. As a result, Galicia became a major center of Ukrainian culture during the 1800’s.
Soviet rule.
In 1917, revolutionaries known as Bolsheviks (later called Communists) overthrew the czar of Russia and seized control of the government. In 1918, the Ukrainians formed an independent country called the Ukrainian People’s Republic. However, Communist Russia had superior military power and seized eastern and central Ukraine by 1920. The rest of Ukraine came under Polish, Czechoslovak, and Romanian control.
In 1922, Ukraine became one of the four original republics of the Soviet Union. In the 1920’s, the Soviet government encouraged Ukrainian culture and use of the Ukrainian language to weaken opposition to the Communist system. By the 1930’s, however, the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin began a program that imposed the Russian language and culture on the Ukrainian people.
In the late 1920’s and early 1930’s, the government took over privately owned farms in Ukraine and combined them into larger, state-run farms. This program, called collectivization, brought great hardship to the people of Ukraine. Several hundred thousand Ukrainian farmers resisted the seizure of their land and were sent to prison labor camps in Siberia or Soviet Central Asia. In 1932 and 1933, the government seized grain and food from people’s homes, causing a major famine. Between 5 million and 8 million people died of starvation (see Holodomor).
World War II.
Nazi Germany occupied Ukraine from mid-1941 to mid-1944, during World War II. About 5 million Ukrainian civilians, including 600,000 Ukrainian Jews, were killed during the war. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army, a force of about 40,000 soldiers, fought both Germany and the Soviet Union for Ukrainian independence. The force continued fighting the Soviets until the early 1950’s.
By the end of World War II in 1945, the Soviet Union had taken control of many parts of Ukraine that had belonged to Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. That year, Soviet Ukraine became one of the original members of the United Nations. In 1954, Russia transferred control of Crimea to Ukraine.
Protest movements.
Many Ukrainians opposed Soviet Russian rule and the limits on Ukrainian culture. In the 1960’s, a protest movement developed to advance human rights and the rights of the Ukrainian people. Although thousands of protesters were arrested, the movement continued during the 1970’s and 1980’s.
The Chernobyl disaster.
In 1986, an explosion and fire at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl (also spelled Chornobyl), near Kyiv, released large amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere. Soviet officials reported that 31 people died as a result of the explosion and its aftermath, and about 200 were seriously injured. The disaster led to increased rates of cancer and other illnesses among the cleanup workers and residents in parts of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. Health experts estimated that as many as 4,000 people would die from radiation exposure caused by the accident. 
Independence.
During the period of Soviet rule, the government owned Ukraine’s factories, farms, and businesses. By the 1980’s, many government-owned farms and factories operated inefficiently and wasted resources. The economy slumped, and the Soviet government struggled to meet demands for consumer goods. During the late 1980’s, the government took steps to increase private ownership of economic activities. A nationalist movement began to gain strength, as Ukrainians demanded more control over their government, economy, and culture.
In August 1991, hard-line Communists failed in an attempt to overthrow the reform-minded Soviet president, Mikhail S. Gorbachev. The failed coup renewed demands for self-rule among the Soviet republics. Soon afterward, Ukraine’s parliament declared Ukraine independent, and several other republics made similar declarations.
On Dec. 1, 1991, over 90 percent of Ukrainians voted in favor of independence. Leonid M. Kravchuk, a former Communist official who became a Ukrainian nationalist and a democrat, was elected president. On December 25, the Soviet Union was formally dissolved.
After gaining independence, Ukraine began to change its economy to one based on a free market. At the time, most factories, farms, and businesses were still owned by the government.
Ukraine and Russia argued over many issues, including how much of the Soviet national debt each country should assume and how the Soviet Navy’s Black Sea fleet should be divided. In May 1992, Russia’s Supreme Soviet voted to declare the Soviet government’s 1954 grant of Crimea to Ukraine an illegal act. Ukraine opposed this decision.
In 1992, Ukraine and two other former Soviet republics with nuclear weapons—Belarus and Kazakhstan—agreed to eliminate all nuclear weapons on their territories within seven years in exchange for security guarantees from NATO and Russia. The three countries also agreed to become parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, a United Nations agreement that forbids the spread of nuclear weapons. Ukraine ratified the treaty in 1994. In 1996, Ukraine completed the transfer of its short- and long-range Soviet nuclear weapons to Russia for destruction.
In 1994, Leonid D. Kuchma was elected to succeed Kravchuk as Ukraine’s president. Kuchma continued the efforts toward economic reform. In 1996, Ukraine’s parliament passed the country’s first post-Soviet constitution. 
In 1997, Ukraine and Russia signed an agreement on the division of the Black Sea fleet. Ukraine kept about a fifth of the fleet. Russia leased from Ukraine docking space for its ships at the port of Sevastopol in Crimea.
Kuchma was reelected in 1999. In 2000, a scandal erupted when Kuchma was linked to the murder of a journalist who had published reports critical of the government. Criminal charges were filed against Kuchma over the murder, but the case was later dismissed.
The Orange Revolution.
A presidential election in October 2004 was followed by accusations of government interference and unfair voting practices. The two leading candidates, Viktor Yanukovych and Viktor Yushchenko, faced each other in a runoff election in November. Yanukovych was declared the winner, but Yushchenko’s supporters and international observers disputed the results. About 1 million Ukrainians protested peacefully in Kyiv. Many stayed in tents for several weeks in the winter cold. These protests became known as the Orange Revolution, after the campaign color of Yushchenko’s political party. In December, Ukraine’s Supreme Court annulled (canceled) the results of the runoff election and called fresh elections. Yushchenko, the democratic reformer, won the second runoff election and took office in January 2005. However, Yushchenko faced opposition in the parliament after Yanukovych’s Party of Regions joined with the Communist and Socialist parties to form a majority. 
In 2006, Yushchenko’s rival Yanukovych became prime minister after his coalition won a majority of the votes in parliamentary elections. Yushchenko and Yanukovych repeatedly clashed over policies and power. After new parliamentary elections in 2007, Yanukovych was replaced as prime minister by Yulia Tymoshenko, who had sided with Yushchenko in the Orange Revolution.
Economic troubles plagued Ukraine in the following years, and voters blamed Yushchenko. His popularity waned, and voters elected Yanukovych to the presidency in 2010.
Conflict with Russia.
Yanukovych ignited controversy in November 2013 when his government suspended plans to sign a trade agreement with the European Union. International observers suspected Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, had pressured Yanukovych not to sign the deal in return for economic support. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians protested against the government’s increasing ties to Russia and called for Yanukovych to step down. Unrest spread throughout the country, though many people in eastern and southern Ukraine continued to support Yanukovych.
Protests continued into 2014, and confrontations between protesters and government forces turned violent. Many protesters died in the clashes, as did some police officers. In February, Yanukovych fled the country. Opposition politicians formed an interim (temporary) government. The new government voted to remove Yanukovych from the presidency. The government charged him with mass murder over the deaths of protesters and issued a warrant for his arrest.
Shortly after Yanukovych fled, Russian forces seized control of the Crimean Peninsula. In March, the region’s parliament voted to withdraw from Ukraine. Days later, Putin signed legislation annexing Crimea. Ukraine’s government, as well as the United Nations and the European Union, saw these moves as illegal. In response, Ukraine and other countries in Europe and North America introduced economic sanctions against Russia. In return, Russia imposed trade restrictions on Ukraine and the European Union.
In early April, armed pro-Russian separatists took control of government buildings throughout eastern Ukraine. In May, the separatists in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk held referendums (direct public votes) in which voters called for separation from Ukraine. Many of Ukraine’s mines and factories lie in eastern areas of the country, and the economy weakened after the government lost control of those areas to separatists.
Later in May, the Ukrainian people elected businessman Petro Poroshenko as the nation’s president. Poroshenko soon sent Ukrainian forces to combat the separatists in eastern Ukraine. On July 17, a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet crashed in rebel-held eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people. Western officials believed pro-Russian rebels shot down the plane. Russian officials claimed the Ukrainian government was responsible for the disaster. 
In September, Ukraine’s parliament voted to grant self-rule to the rebel-held areas of Donetsk and Luhansk and to give amnesty to most of the rebel fighters. However, heavy fighting continued, and the area remained outside the control of the central government.
In 2015, Russia and Ukraine agreed to withdraw heavy weapons from the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine as part of a cease-fire agreement. Some fighting continued, and parts of the region remained outside of the central government’s control.
Also in 2015, Russia vetoed an attempt to establish a United Nations tribunal to prosecute those found responsible for downing the Malaysian Airlines jet. In 2016, a Dutch-led investigation team issued a detailed report concluding that the jet had been shot down by a missile supplied by the Russian military and fired from an area of Ukraine that was under the control of Russian-backed separatist rebels. The Russian government and the rebels continued to deny involvement in the incident. In 2022, a Dutch court convicted two Russian security-force officers and the Ukrainian leader of a pro-Russian military unit of murder for their roles in shooting down the plane.
In 2016, a long-delayed free trade agreement between Ukraine and the EU came into effect. Russia responded by imposing further trade restrictions on Ukraine. Ukraine then imposed additional limits on imports from Russia. Also in 2016, Poroshenko’s government came under increasing criticism for its failure to root out corruption, reform the economy, and return Ukraine’s eastern regions to government control.
In 2019, Poroshenko lost the presidential election to Volodymyr Zelensky, an actor. Zelensky starred in a popular television program called “Servant of the People” as a teacher who became president of Ukraine. Zelensky took office in May. He soon called early parliamentary elections. His party—also called Servant of the People—won a majority of the seats in the parliament. 
Zelensky’s policy agenda included ending government corruption and working to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine. In October 2019, Zelensky and the separatists in eastern Ukraine signed an agreement that outlined steps for holding local elections in the region. In December, they conducted a prisoner exchange.
Beginning in early 2020, Ukraine, like other nations, faced the health and economic challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, tension continued over Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the situation in eastern Ukraine.
In 2021, Russia began massing thousands of troops along the borders of Ukraine. By January 2022, more than 100,000 Russian troops were positioned near Ukraine’s borders. Russian authorities claimed the forces were engaged in military exercises, including joint exercises with Russia’s ally Belarus, north of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russian president Vladimir Putin demanded that the United States and other Western nations reduce their military presence in eastern Europe and guarantee that NATO would never permit Ukraine to join NATO. Both NATO and the United States refused to allow Russian demands to interfere with NATO’s membership rules and policies. They offered instead to negotiate on Russia’s security concerns about weapons and military forces based in Europe. They also warned against Russian military intervention in Ukraine. A number of nations sent military equipment to aid Ukraine.
By late February, Russia had more than 150,000 troops positioned near Ukraine’s northern, eastern, and southern borders. On February 21, Putin announced that Russia officially recognized the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine as independent. This recognition included not only the areas actually controlled by pro-Russian separatists, but also lands in eastern Ukraine that were claimed by the separatists but controlled by Ukrainian government forces. Putin then authorized Russian troops to be sent to the regions to “maintain peace.” The European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and a number of other nations responded with sanctions on the separatist regions and on Russia. They said harsher sanctions would follow if Russian troops moved into Ukraine. Putin demanded that Ukraine formally agree never to seek to join NATO and that Ukraine reduce its military forces.
On February 23, leaders of the separatist regions recently recognized by Russia asked for Russian military assistance. On February 24, Zelensky addressed the people of both Ukraine and Russia. He appealed for peace, but vowed that Ukraine would defend itself if attacked. A few hours later, Putin announced that Russia was undertaking what he called a “special military operation” in Ukraine. Russian forces immediately crossed the borders to attack Ukraine from three sides. Russian missiles struck cities and other targets throughout the country. Nations around the world condemned Russia’s aggression. Many imposed strict economic sanctions against Russia and offered humanitarian aid and military supplies to Ukraine. 
Russian forces seized land in the resources-rich Donbas region of eastern Ukraine and along the southern coast. They also attacked cities in the north. Ukrainian forces fought to defend the Ukrainian people as Russian troops tried to surround and capture Kyiv and other cities. As the fighting continued into late spring and summer, Russian forces increasingly concentrated their attacks on eastern Ukraine. However, a Ukrainian offensive in September regained about 3,500 square miles (9,000 square kilometers) in northeastern Ukraine. Ukraine also made small gains in the south.
The invasion and the bombing of cities by Russia created a humanitarian crisis. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that by February 2023, more than 8 million Ukrainians who had fled the violence were refugees outside the country. In addition, more than 8 million people still in Ukraine had been displaced from their homes by the conflict. Together, these numbers represented about a third of the nation’s population. Thousands of civilians had been killed or wounded. 
Early in the war, Russia blocked the shipping of millions of tons of grain and other agricultural products that Ukraine normally exported to other countries each year from ports on the Black Sea. In July 2022, the United Nations and Turkey helped arrange an agreement with Russia to allow grain shipments from some Ukrainian ports. But the deal expired in July 2023, and Russia refused to renew it.
In late September 2022, Putin declared that Russia was annexing four Ukrainian regions that were partially held by Russian troops, based on a referendum conducted by Russia in the areas under its military occupation. The regions were Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia. Other nations did not recognize the referendum as a free vote or Putin’s claim to have annexed the regions as legitimate.
In November 2022, Ukrainian forces regained, from Russian troops, control of the city of Kherson, the capital of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine. Kherson is a port city at a strategic location along the Dnieper River, near where the river flows into the Black Sea. Russian troops still occupied part of the Kherson region, however, and fighting continued in the area. Russian forces also began to bomb electric power stations and other infrastructure that civilians in cities throughout Ukraine needed during the country’s cold winter season.
In the final weeks of 2022 and into 2023, the front lines of the war remained largely unchanged, as Russia continued to launch missile strikes against Ukrainian cities that were far from the front. President Zelensky pleaded with Ukraine’s allies to provide the country with heavier, more powerful weaponry. By the spring of 2023, Ukrainian forces had gained an ability to use air defense systems to shoot down many of the missiles and drones that Russia launched against Ukraine’s cities. Many of the defense systems were provided by the United States and other nations.
In June 2023, Ukraine began a long-planned counteroffensive (attempt to push back) against Russian troops. That same month, the Kakhovka Dam on the Dnieper River in southern Ukraine was destroyed, causing major flooding and killing dozens of people. Evidence suggested that Russian forces destroyed the dam with explosives. Russia, however, claimed that Ukraine destroyed the dam. By the end of 2023, the Ukrainian counteroffensive was considered to have failed. Ukraine had not achieved its goal of retaking large amounts of territory from Russian forces. Fighting continued into 2024.
