Language: Ukranian
Calling code: Hryvnia (UAH)
Currency: 380
Central Ukraine
Ukrainian Polissya,
Chernihiv oblast,
Kiev oblast,
Cherkasy oblast,
Poltava oblast
Central Ukraine is the political,
economic and cultural center of Ukraine, located around the capital -
Kyiv.
Western Ukraine
Volyn oblast,
Vinnitsa oblast,
Khmelnytsky oblast,
Ternopil oblast,
Ivano-Frankivsk
oblast, Lviv oblast,
Transcarpathian oblast,
Chernivtsi oblast
Western Ukraine is one of the
culturally richest regions of Ukraine. It is considered the "stronghold"
of the Ukrainian national idea. It differs from other regions in
architecture, traditions and even religion. The region is very diverse
in its ethnic composition, historical past, folklore, dialects of the
Ukrainian language, which were formed here under the influence of
neighboring countries. Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Uzhgorod, Chernivtsi and
other cities are considered to be real pearls of urban development. Most
of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Ukraine are located in this
region. Nevertheless, the region is also rich in natural attractions:
the Ukrainian Carpathians are a popular place for winter and ski
holidays. Western Ukraine is also known for its eccentric festivals,
European charm and respect for the Ukrainian countryside and folk life.
Eastern Ukraine
Dnepropetrovsk oblast,
Zaporozhye oblast,
Luhansk oblast/ LPR. Donetsk oblast/ DPR,
Sumy oblast,
Kharkiv oblast
Eastern Ukraine is the most urbanized region of Ukraine,
where a significant part of Ukraine's industry is concentrated. The
largest cities: Kharkiv, Donetsk and Dnepropetrovsk boast a developed
urban infrastructure, the Zaporozhye region is the historical cradle of
the Ukrainian Cossacks, on its territory there is the famous Museum of
the History of the Ukrainian Cossacks, located in the open air on the
island of Khortytsya - the largest island on the Dnieper. Eastern
Ukraine is known for its deposits of minerals and the mine method of
their extraction, where excursion descents into the mines are organized
for tourists (for example, the Salt Mine in Soledar).
Southern
Ukraine
Kherson oblast,
Nikolaev oblast,
Odessa oblast
Southern
Ukraine is the Black Sea coast with the magnificent city of Odessa. Most
of southern Ukraine is plowed steppe, and settled settlements appeared
here only at the end of the 18th century. Although culturally there is
something to see here - besides Odessa, these are, for example, the
former Turkish fortress of Izmail and the city of Vilkovo standing on
the canals - nature is the most interesting here. In southern Ukraine
there are the lower reaches and mouths of four large rivers - the
Danube, the Dnieper, the Dniester and the Southern Bug - and countless
smaller rivers, the sea coast, an unusual relief, as well as preserved
sections of the steppe, such as the Askania-Nova reserve.
Kyiv is the historical
capital of Kyivan Rus and modern Ukraine on the Dnipro River. Ancient
cathedrals and monasteries, wide boulevards, beautiful views and a
variety of cultural institutions.
Dnipro is an industrial city on the
Dnipro.
Donetsk is the largest industrial center of Ukraine. Occupied
by Russia. Visiting before deoccupation is not recommended.
Kamianets-Podilskyi is an ancient city.
Lviv
is a medieval old city, unique architecture with Polish and Austrian
elements. It is not recommended to visit before the end of shelling from
the Russian side.
Odessa is a port on the Black Sea, a unique mixture of
different cultures. It is not recommended to visit before the end of
shelling from the Russian side.
Kharkiv is the first capital of the former Ukrainian
SSR, a scientific, industrial, transport and student center. Partially
destroyed. It is not recommended to visit before the end of shelling
from the Russian side.
Chernivtsi is the historical center of
Bukovyna and, along with Lviv, is considered the cultural center of
Western Ukraine.
Chernihiv is
a beautiful ancient city of Ukraine with a large number of preserved
architectural monuments. Partially destroyed. You need to be careful,
avoid places where there may be mines.
Visa requirements and rules for entering Ukraine
Non-tourist visas
are no longer required for citizens of the European Union, USA, Canada,
Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Vatican City,
Monaco, Iceland, Norway, San Marino, Mongolia, Serbia, Montenegro,
Georgia, Hong Kong Hong Kong, Israel , Paraguay, Brazil, Brunei, Chile,
Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Panama, Turkey and the
countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (with the exception
of Turkmenistan). As of 2014, Ukraine announced plans to introduce visa
restrictions for travel from Russia due to Russia's occupation of
Crimea.
You can visit Ukraine for tourist purposes for up to 90
days. Visas on arrival can be obtained by citizens of Antigua and
Barbuda, Barbados, El Salvador, Mauritius and the Seychelles.
For
other countries, visas can be obtained within a few hours at the
Ukrainian consulate by receiving a "Letter on company letterhead" if you
already have rented accommodation or documents for a business trip.
More detailed information is available at Ukrainian embassies
abroad.
In connection with the situation with СОVID-19, the rules
of entry into Ukraine have changed significantly. It is important for
tourists planning a trip to Ukraine to familiarize themselves with the
list of documents required for entering the country, for example, such
as a document confirming receipt of a full course of vaccination against
COVID-19, a negative result of an express test for the determination of
the antigen of the SARS-CoV coronavirus -2 or a negative PCR test
result.
For all questions regarding the rules of entry to
Ukraine, you can contact the 24-hour hotline https://visitukraine.today/
Always know how much currency you have with you. Customs officials
could ask about the quantity to be imported into the country. It is
forbidden to bring large amounts of Ukrainian currency (hryvnias) into
Ukraine, if it was not declared when leaving Ukraine.
It is
advisable to check the customs rules in advance (for example, the
Boryspil airport website, which has an English version), norms and rules
have a habit of changing into short and unannounced messages.
When entering the country, you no longer need to fill out an immigration
form.
Visiting Crimea
After the annexation of Crimea to Russia
in March 2014, Russian immigration and customs authorities began to work
in the ports of the Zapis Peninsula. It was announced by the Russian
authorities on April 1, 2014 that foreign citizens need regular Russian
entry visas to visit Crimea. However, the Crimean authorities plan to
apply to the Russian federal government for the introduction of a
simplified visa regime for certain categories of short-term visitors,
different from the one applied in mainland Russia.
Since Ukraine
does not recognize Russia's annexation of the peninsula, entry into
Crimea from outside the mainland of Ukraine is considered by the
Ukrainian authorities as "illegal entry into the territory of Ukraine."
If the fact of such a visit is discovered by the Ukrainian border
authorities, when the foreign citizen later tries to enter the mainland
of Ukraine, the foreign citizen will be subject to "administrative
punishment" (a fine, or possibly a refusal to enter Ukraine), (Flight
Moscow — Crimea now criminal "Flying from Moscow to Crimea will now be a
punishable act", interview with an employee of the border service in
Ukrainian, in Russian).
By air
Detailed information on ticket
prices and flight schedules can be found on these sites:
https://aviatickets.com.ua/booking-aviakvytkiv/
http://www.skyscanner.com.ua/flights-from/ua/cheap-flights-from-ukraine.html
The cheapest way to fly to Ukraine is through Boryspil International
Airport near Kyiv. The main international hubs for these flights are
Budapest, Frankfurt, Milan, Munich, Prague, London, Rome, Vienna and
Warsaw with several flights per day from Austrian AUA, CSA Czech
Airlines, LOT, Lufthansa, Alitalia, Air France, British Airways, KLM.
Budget airline Wizz Air is based in Kyiv (Zhulyani) and Lviv
airports.
There are several airlines that offer direct flights to
cities such as Dnipropetrovsk (Lufthansa), Donetsk (Lufthansa,
Austrian), Odesa (LOT, Austrian, CSA Czech Airlines), Kharkiv and Lviv
(LOT, Austrian Airlines), but they are more expensive.
To fly
within Ukraine, the most common airline is Ukraine International
Airlines. This is an unofficial national airline, and its routes cover
all the main directions of Ukraine.
by train
Detailed
information on ticket prices and train schedules can be found here:
http://booking.uz.gov.ua/ru/
http://poezd.tochka.net/uk/
There
are daily direct overnight trains from Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Warsaw,
Belgrade, Budapest, Bucharest and Sofia to Lviv or Kyiv. When crossing
from Western Europe, there will be a 2-3 hour wait at the border, while
the train carriages will be changed by customs officials in order to
adapt to a different railway track. It is usually faster and cheaper to
buy a ticket to the border and then change trains, rather than waiting
for a through train.
Kyiv has good international connections with
Central Europe and Russia. Departure from Belgrade (36h), Budapest
(24h), Chisinau (15h), Minsk (12h), Prague (35h), Sofia (37h) via
Bucharest (26h) and Warsaw (16H). There are many trains from Moscow, the
fastest of which is the Metropolitan Express, taking only 8½ hours. St.
Petersburg is also well served with an overnight train, taking the 11
p.m. Berlin (22h) has night connections in the summer season during the
retreat from Vienna (34h) there are night connections M-Th. There is
also a connection from Venice (45h) via Ljubljana (41h) once a week,
departing on Thursdays.
More exotic cities from infrequent
departures from Kyiv include Astana (73H, Thu), Baku (64h, Wed) and
Murmansk (61H, seasonal). And if you are looking for a real trip, take
train 133E connecting Kyiv with Vladivostok. This is one of the longest
journeys possible by train, taking eight nights!
Information
about trains can be found on the Ukrainian Railways website in English
and Ukrainian. The website is still in beta and has some issues,
particularly with online booking.
By bus
There are inexpensive
services, for example, a direct bus to Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk from
Poland. As a rule, they offer a budget level of comfort and cost of
about UAH 90-100.
by ship
There are also ferries from
Istanbul, Georgia, Varna (Bulgaria) to Odessa. See Ferries in the
Mediterranean Sea.
by car
The nearest major town on the Polish
side is Przemyśl, and it's easy to find by following Route 4 (which goes
through Przemyśl), also known as the E40 in European terms.
When
you arrive, the road is not narrow enough (NOT a motorway / autobahn it
is) with a line of trucks and vans parked on the right side of the road;
of the car park with a cafe / bar on the left. Do not stop for vehicles
of goods, slide up the slope from them, and then served in the customs
area, when the guy flags you ahead (for important Europeans, you do not
jump the queue - commercial traffic goes through a different process).
If you are in a car registered in the EU, then do for the EU
passport, the passport control section. Thence for Ukrainian passport
control, and then Ukrainian customs, and then you all the way. It used
to be a nightmare, with apocalyptic stories of 5-6+ hours at the border,
but the Ukrainians have made great strides in efficiency and it takes
about an hour to make the crossing (2012). Don't expect the border
police to treat you in a friendly or even respectful manner, in fact,
expect anything ranging from neutral to extremely unpleasant behavior.
Once through, just follow the main road towards Lviv on the E40 -
it's a direct route across Ukraine to Kyiv (and east from there). Follow
this - the main cities on the way are Lviv, Rivne, Zhytomyr.
They
don't miss about 15-20 km inside Ukraine, in Mostysk, because the police
have gone crazy about traffic measures here (lying down policemen or
"sleeping policemen"). They are like icebergs across the road, and very
poorly marked. There are four or five sets of them across the village.
In addition, take care of the road, which, although the main east /
west highway and the main route road in the EU, still remains in a
deplorable condition (cross-surface). You will soon understand why
Ukraine has such poor driver and pedestrian fatality and injury
statistics. Pretext defending!
On foot and by bicycle
You can
walk 200m from the long bridge of Sighetu Marmaciei, Romania. Once you
reach Solotvino, Ukraine, you can continue your journey by car or train.
Cycling is also an option in the summer. When you cross the beautiful
old bridge go uphill, turn right at the church. After 50 meters there is
an ATM on the right! This is important, because train tickets can only
be bought in hryvnias and there is no exchange, no point, no ATM, the
possibility to pay by credit card at the station! Go forward and turn
left before the railway-car crossing. There is one train per day to Lviv
(at the end of the day). It stops at each village and takes about 13
hours to reach the final destination, the ticket costs about €10.
You cannot cross the border in Kroszenko (Poland) on foot or by
bicycle. You must be in a vehicle. Leaving Poland on a bicycle in August
2011, the cyclist only has to wait about 5 minutes to flag down the
driver who was ready (and had a place) to take him, the bicycle, and a
complete set of touring cycles. The actual crossing then took about an
hour or so. There was no charge by the driver or immigration services.
From Slovakia
There are two roads at the border crossing points
between Slovakia and Ukraine (Ubla and Uzhhorod). Ubla for pedestrians
and cyclists, only in Uzhgorod only for cars. You can, however, get into
someone's car just by crossing the border. There is one rail crossing of
the Chop border.
There is a daily bus from Košice (except Sunday
and Monday) and Prešov (Slovakia) to Uzhgorod. There are also several
daily buses from Michalovce to Uzhhorod. There is also a night train
from Uzhhorod to Lviv and Odesa.
Alternatively, you can travel by
daily local train from Čierna n.Tisou to Chop.
go around
Keep in mind that all foreigners are subject to stricter
police control when traveling by public transport, especially intercity
forms. Be prepared to present your passport and entry documents and keep
your embassy/consulate number handy in case you run into a corrupt
person. If you find yourself outside the base city without your official
documents, be prepared for heavy fines.
The fastest way to get
around in big cities is the so-called minibuses: minibuses that follow
routes in the same way as regular buses. You can usually spot them or
ask them to stop at places other than the designated bus stops. The fare
is paid as soon as you enter the minibus and is fixed regardless of how
far you want to travel. In the same way, regular buses, trams,
trolleybuses and the metro have a fixed fare everywhere. Tell the driver
you want to get off when you get close to your destination.
Every
city has an intercity bus station, from which you can go almost anywhere
in Ukraine. Tariffs and quality of service vary widely.
On the
plane
UIA offers cheap flights that can be booked online and can be a
time-saving alternative. For example, a flight Odesa-Kyiv (one way)
costs USD 180 (including taxes and fees) and takes 1.5 hours. However,
for the cheapest fares, be sure to use early booking.
by train
The trains are managed by the State Railways of Ukraine. As in all
CIS countries, the classes of trains, cars and the ticketing system are
exactly the same as in Russia.
Ukrainian trains are quite old and
slow compared to European standards, but they run exactly according to
the schedule, are reliable and very cheap. For example, there is a 3rd
class sleeping car (platskart) from Simferopol to Lviv for €8, the
travel time is about 10 hours.
As a rule, in Ukraine, for long
distances, the train is better than the bus because of their comfort and
because they are often even cheaper. In "Lux" sleeping cars have
two-seater cabins. Second class cabin with four seats. The third class
has six berths through which the passage passes.
Since trains are
popular in Ukraine, you may have to buy tickets in advance. This is more
often the case for third grade. You can check availability and even buy
tickets online or at the Railways of Ukraine online store (website in
English, Russian and Ukrainian). The online store offers both (CIS only)
domestic and international tickets, starting from Ukraine. Please note
that online purchases will not provide you with a valid travel document.
You must note the reservation code (or simply print the reservation
confirmation) and go to any ticket office that will issue a printed
ticket. Do this at least 30 minutes before departure, as queues at the
ticket office are not uncommon. Major train stations may have special
counters for tickets purchased online. Try to identify such a counter
and go there directly, instead of waiting in line at another counter.
Buying tickets through the box office can be more complicated,
though. The ladies at the counter are not very friendly and you can
hardly speak any other language than Ukrainian or Russian. The usual
strategy of writing your destination and train number on a piece of
paper should work fine. However, you may find it more convenient to ask
locals to buy tickets for you. Major stations have large screens showing
tickets available for upcoming trains. This can be convenient for
last-minute ticket purchases.
By bus
There are two main bus
companies that operate buses from all major cities and from Kyiv: they
are Autolyuks, Gunsel and. Prices run from UAH 100-120 for service in
Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv.
The main advantage of the bus service
is that it leaves from Boryspil and stops in Kyiv, so if your
destination is not Kyiv, it is easier than taking a bus to the main
passenger railway station in Kyiv. Buses are standard buses, tourist
buses, serve cold drinks and tea, show movies, and make a stop
approximately every 3-4 hours. They run every few hours.
Autolux
also has a VIP bus from Odesa, which has good leather seats and is more
or less non-stop. It leaves once a day, takes four hours or so, like
from Kyiv, and costs about UAH 160-170.
By bus
In addition,
just like in Russia, there are private minibuses called minibuses. They
operate on fixed routes and can be licensed as either buses or taxis.
You can board one at the start of your route or at fixed stops. Some
will also stop at any point between the designated stops, but this
largely depends on the region and even the mood of the driver.
Officially, they are not supposed to drop off passengers outside the
designated bus stops, but in reality they do so quite often. At the
beginning of the route and on fixed routes, you may find that you will
have to wait in line. Elsewhere, just wave when you see one. if there
are seats available, the minibus will stop for you. To exit, tell the
driver when you reach your destination and he will stop. You need to pay
the amount of your fare to the driver. You don't get a ticket unless you
ask for it. It is often not so easy to find out which bus will take you
to your destination, as there are literally hundreds of different routes
in any city.
By taxi
Taxis are probably the safest way to get
around the city. You want to put your hotel or restaurant to call you a
taxi. Ukraine is largely the direction of the economy based on how you
get quality, safety and good service. Taxis are always busy. Locals will
tell you to call ahead. Trying to hail a taxi won't be productive at
best, and you'll get into serious trouble at worst.
It may seem
counterintuitive to hire a taxi to take you 100 km to the next town. If
you use the hotels direction, you will get a decent speed. It may be
twice as expensive as the train, but it is convenient, less
time-consuming, and safe. Keep in mind that you need a taxi to take you
to the bus or train station. Americans will find long-distance buses
crowded and uncomfortable.
by car
You can get around in
Ukraine by car, but you need to know about some features: Signs are all
in Ukrainian (Cyrillic). Only a few signs (every 200 km or so) are
written in the Latin alphabet and indicate the main cities. It is
recommended that you have a good road map (those available mainly in
Ukrainian, but Latin alphabet maps are starting to appear), because
place names are not very well placed on road signs.
You are
strongly advised to obey the signs, especially the speed limit. Keep in
mind that unlike Western countries, where the restriction is repeated
several times, in Ukraine, the obligation or prohibition is often
indicated on one sign that you should not miss. And even these symptoms
are often far away from the road, covered with branches, etc. The police
are always there to remind you.
Speed in cities is limited to 60
km/h (40mph). However, people drive fast anyway.
Speed in
"citizens" (one carriageway of rural roads) is limited to 90 km/h (55
miles per hour). Poor average road quality already acts as a speed
check.
Speed on highways (motorways) is limited to 110-120km/h
(75mph).
Keep in mind that corruption is widespread among
Ukrainian police officers, and tourists are a particularly profitable
target. When you are stopped for speeding or other offenses, officials
can aggressively try to extract ridiculous amounts of money from you (€
100 and above), offering a "reduction" if you pay on the spot (the
proposed alternative is some unpleasant and more expensive way, all done
up). If you have asked for nothing but require a written ticket for you
to pay later instead. Don't let them intimidate you. It is very useful
to have the embassy phone number handy for these cases. If you say that,
they'll let you off the hook before you know it. In any case, write down
the officer's badge numbers, rank, license plate of the police car, and
report it to the nearest embassy / consulate in detail to help fight
these corruptions.
Fuel is no longer a problem in Ukraine,
especially for those who remember trips to Ukraine during the early
1990s, when gasoline was considered precious. Today there are many
service stations. There are different types of fuel, such as diesel, 95
octane unleaded and (less commonly) 98 octane unleaded; 80 and 76 octane
were also detected. Please note that if you choose to fill up in a rural
gas station, you will need to pay first, and in cash. Even there, many
stations do accept credit cards, however.
Road condition is a
huge topic: Main roads are OK for all cars, as long as you don't go too
fast. Numerous ongoing repairs have created a patchy road surface, and
it will seriously test its suspension—even on big two-lane roads.
Secondary roads are passable, but be careful: some areas can be full
of potholes and you should treat them with extra care or avoid them
completely. Roads between villages are often little more than dirt and
unpaved tracks.
Road works were ongoing, but the quality of the
roads is shy of Western Europe (with the exception of Kyiv).
Be
careful when driving in towns or villages. Sometimes animals prefer to
walk on the road, and they pose a danger to all drivers. You are likely
to see a lot of animals that have been hit by cars, so be prepared...
bicycle traffic is not very often, but sometimes you will see an
elderly person transporting a bag of grass on an old road bicycle or a
bicycle enthusiast in bright clothes riding a professional racing
bicycle on the floor. It is even more likely to be performed on an
orderly road where the pavement is smooth. Also, cyclists will use both
lanes of the road in both directions equally, meaning you are just as
likely to meet the cyclist closest to you riding the limit as you will
be traveling in your direction. And almost always without lights or
light-colored clothing, so be extra careful when driving at night and at
dawn/dusk.
Also, don't be surprised to see lots of horses in
harness - even on two-lane roads.
Behind the thumb
Hitchhiking
in Ukraine is at an average level. You can hitchhike - usually trucks
will take you for free - but it's still worth trying to stop private
cars as well. Good people are everywhere; you can be picked up in a Lada
or a Lexus. (More usually the first.)
Usually, the hitchhiker's
gesture (also used for hailing taxis and minibuses) is to face oncoming
traffic and pull a point on the road away from the body with a straight
right hand. Sometimes, for visibility, you can add a downward fanning
motion with an open right hand. It is a good idea to write on a piece of
paper the name of the destination.
Ukrainian is the official language. Russian, Romanian, Polish, and
Hungarian are spoken near the borders with neighboring countries. The
Russian language is similar to Ukrainian and is most often spoken in the
south and east of Ukraine. It is safe to say that almost every Ukrainian
understands the Russian language; however, in western regions, people
may not want to help you if you speak Russian, also to other foreigners,
Ukrainians will be more lenient than Russians. Especially in Lviv, it
will be the most difficult for you, because they not only mainly speak
Ukrainian, but also have their own special dialect.
On the other
hand, in the eastern part, Russian is the most widely spoken language.
In the central and eastern parts of the country, you can also find
people speaking transitional dialects (commonly referred to as Surzhik,
i.e. "mix [of languages]"). In addition, it is common for people to
speak to others in their native language, regardless of the interlocutor
alone, so that a visitor who speaks Russian may be given a response in
Ukrainian and vice versa.
Kyiv, the capital, speaks both
languages, but Russian is more often used. Thus, Ukrainian was more
often found in Central and Western Ukraine, Russian in Eastern and
Southern Ukraine.
Young people are more inclined to speak a
little English, as it is the most widely taught foreign language in
school. Most people in the tourism industry (hostels, etc.) speak
English. Also, thanks to Ukraine hosting Euro 2012, there have been many
improvements in tourist facilities and police officers learning English
to better assist people there for the games.
In general,
Ukrainian makes more ground as time goes on. Some regions may have
special rules and may have schooling in Russian, as in Luhansk. Russia
as a whole is still a lingua franca, but a new generation of people
encourages their children to speak Ukrainian at home. The biggest wall
for Ukrainization is that there is resistance in the East and the South,
which would even like the Russian language to be the official language
of the state, also many mass media such as books, videos and video games
only in Russia, but there were a few titles with the possibility of
Ukrainian subtitles on DVD, and some authors write exclusively in
Ukrainian, so this makes the land. Universities used to have a choice
between Ukrainian or Russian, but nowadays most national universities,
except for those in special regions or private schools, teach
exclusively in Ukrainian. There are many people, however, who believe
that Ukraine will always have both languages and do not feel that one
threatens the existence of the other.
It should also be noted,
however, that all have Ukrainian citizenship, but there are more than a
million who have Russian origins, for example, Kharkiv itself sports 1
million ethnic Russians, so to speak. It is difficult to say that they
are actually ethnically different people, but they migrated during the
time of the Soviet Union and are proud of their roots, as Russians
continue to speak Russian with their children, even if their children
are educated in Ukrainian. The whole subject of the Ukrainian language
is a sensitive topic, so I hope the information presented seems neutral.
If you are traveling in Ukraine, learning basic Ukrainian or basic
Russian in advance (knowing your phrases book is good) and / or having
some means of access to a bilingual speaker, mobile / cellular /
convenient number (almost everyone has a mobile phone) can be a godsend.
Practically no one in any official position (at train stations,
policemen, bus drivers, information desks, etc.) will be able to speak
in any other language except Ukrainian and Russian. If you already know
another Slavic language, you will nevertheless be able to communicate as
the Slavic languages are closely related.
Large in size and diverse in culture and landscape, Ukraine has a
number of must-see destinations to offer. These are both historical
architectural monuments and the beauty of forests, mountains and seas.
The capital, the ancient Russian city of Kyiv, has such UNESCO World
Heritage sites as St. Sophia Cathedral and Pechersk Lavra. It is worth
taking a walk along Andriivsky Uzvoz, the Montmartre of Kyiv, where you
will see a mixed mix of interesting things from the hands of artists and
souvenir sellers. The decoration is the church named after the apostle
Andrew, who - according to legend - two thousand years ago climbed to
the top where the church now stands.
The Pirogovo Museum of Folk
Architecture, which is located not far from the capital, is the largest
open-air museum in Europe.
Kyiv is the largest economic,
scientific and educational center of the country with numerous company
offices, shopping centers, markets, universities and museums.
The
ensemble of the historic center of Lviv is included in the UNESCO World
Heritage List, but the city is not full of history, but also offers
numerous restaurants, museums, cultural and educational institutions.
Walking through its cobbled compact streets, you can see buildings whose
foundations date back to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The wars
almost did not affect the architecture of the city, which combines the
styles of different centuries and is authentic. a gem for lovers of
history, architecture and culture.
Odesa is a "pearl by the sea"
- a port on the Black Sea coast. It is famous for its beautiful
architecture, recreation areas, theaters (Odesa Opera House) and
museums. From there you can also travel to the fortress in
Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, as well as Bolgrad (the center of the Bulgarian
community) and Izmail (a former mosque, the remains of Turkish
fortifications). Or abroad - to Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, or the
unrecognized Transnistrian Republic.
For those who like small
towns and relaxing near ancient fortresses, we recommend a trip
Kamianets-Podilskyi (castle) — Khotyn (fortress) — Chernivtsi (residence
of Bukovina and Dalmatian metropolitans).
The "Island of Freedom"
Khortytsia in Zaporizhzhia is the cradle of Ukrainian Cossacks. Now the
Cossack village has been rebuilt from wood and hosts numerous festivals
and historical reenactments.
"Ukrainian Versailles" is the
residence of the last Hetman of Ukraine, Kyril Razumovsky, located in
Baturyn.
Chernihiv considers its ancient churches from the times
of Russia.
Excursion tours to Chernobyl have been developed for
extremes and fans of unusual recreation.
Nature
The Carpathian
Mountains are one of the most beautiful places in Ukraine. They have
beautiful panoramas of wooded hills, lush valleys in the warm season and
snow-capped peaks in winter, and offer ample opportunities for hiking,
cycling, and winter sports (complexes Bukovel near Yaremcha and
Bukovitsa near Truskavets).
The town of Vylkove is located near
the Danube Delta - "Ukrainian Venice", because half of the city is on
islands, and instead of streets, people sail along the canals on boats.
The Danube Biosphere Reserve is another good choice for nature lovers
and ornithologists.
Valley of daffodils. The reserve, which is
located in the village of Kireshi, Khust district, Zakarpattia region.
Narrow-leaved daffodils, listed in the Red Book of Ukraine, grow in this
reserve. During the period of mass flowering (the second to the
beginning of the third decade of May), the "Valley" is covered with an
almost continuous white carpet of blooming daffodils.
Synevir The
largest lake in the Ukrainian part of the Carpathians. It is located in
the Mizhhirsky district of the Transcarpathian region. Synevyr is one of
the hallmarks of the Ukrainian Carpathians. The landscapes are noted for
their extraordinary picturesqueness and majesty.
WARNING! To
travel to Crimea, one must go through border control at checkpoints
between Ukraine and Crimea, which was occupied by Russia
It is in
Crimea that Ukraine's deepest canyon — the Great Canyon of Crimea — is
located, which separates the Boyka and Ai-Petri mountain ranges and is 3
kilometers long. The depth of the canyon is 320 meters, and inside you
can find everything: from abrupt slopes to lakes with spring water.
The currency unit is hryvnia (UAH). It is written hryvnia and
pronounced hryvnia in Ukrainian and hryvnia in Russian. Just to make it
a bit more confusing, Russian-speakers in the east often refer to it as
a ruble, and this sometimes appears as a "₴" both before and after
amounts both with and without spaces. National Bank actual rates.
Money
Every reasonably sized city will have exchange booths and
banks that convert euros, US dollars or Russian rubles into hryvnias,
just pay attention to the signs with the exchange rates. British pounds
are also often replaced, albeit at a slower rate. In tourist areas, a
much wider range of currencies can be exchanged. Shop around as the
rates offered change frequently.
Kiosks and banks, as a rule, do
not try to scam you, but calculate your notes to be sure. In many
places, bank clerks will refuse money even for minor damage or grease
stains. A tear in the work of more than five millimeters may be too
much.
ATMs
ATMs (ATM, cash machine) are spread throughout the
country and generally work with international cards. They almost always
dispense UAH, although you can find some give USD. They basically don't
charge for foreign cards. (Unless you withdraw dollars).
Debit
cards, such as the meter, work at ATMs. Cirrus / Maestro / Plus bank
cards can be the most effective way to get cash in Ukraine. Not all ATMs
show that they support the Plus system, but in most cases they do if
they support Visa. PrivatBank ATMs show that they support plus, but they
do not work with North American cards.
Banks
Changing money in
banks takes a lot - there are many documents and time is involved. Bank
employees may not want to go through all the procedures just to change
their USD100 account and may try FOB you excuse: "Sorry, we don't have
money" is common. If you absolutely must change money there, you could
convince them to change their mind; but if you can go somewhere else,
you will probably save time. At the bank, you also need to present your
passport. Banks can also only allow you to buy UAH; they can prevent you
from buying "hard" currency.
Even with big branches, you can't
expect to speak English. Doing anything other than exchanging currency
may require a translator, or at least a lot of patience.
You can
get dollars from most banks that use a Visa or MasterCard cash advance.
There is a small service charge (3%) to do this in addition to what your
bank charges are.
Exchange points
Exchange offices, while
looking rather dubious, are generally the best places to exchange money.
Their rates are usually better than banks "(but not always), and you
will not need your passport. The service is fast and there are often no
documents or receipts.
Purchase
According to the law, all
transactions must be in hryvnias, although less formal transactions can
be in euros or US dollars.
If you want to buy any kind of art
(paintings, krashanki) in Kyiv, the place to visit is Andriivskij spusk
(Andriivskij uzviz in Ukrainian, Andriivskij uzviz in Russian).
It is illegal to take all items of historical importance out of the
country. This includes badges, medals, badges, historical paintings,
etc. Although you are unlikely to encounter a bag search, do not wear
any old badges or display anything that might arouse suspicion.
Ukrainian cuisine is very tasty, similar to Russian cuisine. Just
like other cuisines in the region, it uses a lot of fatty ingredients,
especially in festive dishes. Traditional local food includes "Salo"
(salted lard) and soups like "Solyanka" (solyanka in Ukrainian, meat
soup) or "borscht" (borscht in Ukrainian) beetroot soup. Western Ukraine
also has a green version of borscht, with herbs and boiled eggs. First,
Salo, maybe something you couldn't bring yourself to try - but it's a
delicious side dish, just like the soups that are a must.
If you
are outside of a big city or in doubt about food, exercise caution and
common sense about where you buy food. Try not to buy food only in
supermarkets or large grocery stores, always check the expiration date,
and never buy meat or dairy products on the street (you can buy them in
the market, but not next to the market).
Most cities in Ukraine
have several very good restaurants. Read the menu boards posted at the
entrance of each establishment to help you choose.
You can also
find good places to eat not unfamiliar, but simply by the smoke of
traditional wood fires. They are often places where they prepare dishes
of traditional Ukrainian cuisine, including very tasty shashlyky (kebabs
in Ukrainian). Restaurateurs are very friendly and, more often than not,
you will be one of the first foreign visitors. Next to "borsch", you can
also ask for "varenyky" (varenyky in Ukrainian, Varenyky with meat,
vegetables or fruit) or "deruny" (deruny, potato fritters). You must try
dumplings with potatoes and cheese in fried onions and sour cream sauce,
a fantastic dish. These are only snacks, but ones that could fill you up
quickly.
You can also use some online services that will help you
find any restaurant you want. As a rule, they have many options and the
translation into English makes the search easier. These services are
free and provide information about major cities. If there is no
possibility to connect to the Internet, you can ask people about
restaurants, but remember that the knowledge of English among Ukrainians
is low, and you can also meet unfriendly people. But in most cases,
English or another foreign language makes people more polite.
Drinks
Ukrainian specialty vodka (local name for vodka) with pepper.
Other types of vodka are also very popular - linden (Tilia), honey,
birch, wheat. Prices vary from € 1-20 for 1 liter. Souvenir bottles are
available at higher prices (some bottles go for over €35 for 0.5L. There
is a wide selection of wines, both domestic and imported. Domestic wines
are mainly made in the south, although wines from the Carpathian region
of Uzhhorod are also quite tasty .Ukraine is also famous for it's red
sparkling wines. Prices on local wine range from €2-35 for a 0.75L
bottle (to avoid the cheapest wines, €1 or less, as they are sometimes
bottled as domestic wines, but local vintages are sold) , however, you
can find genuine Italian, French, Australian wines from €50 a bottle or
more in large supermarkets and most restaurants.The cost of imported
wines has fallen significantly over the last few years, and trends point
to further reductions in prices. There are many drinks (alcoholic and
non-alcoholic). Ukrainian beer of very good quality. Beer from kegs or
kegs (more common in cafes) was often poured down. Canned beer is not
very common in Ukraine, and sometimes does not have those of the same
quality of the same variety sold in bottles. The best types of beer are
brewed by Lvivske, Obolonsky and PPB (First PRIVATE Brovarnia). Imported
beers are also widely available, but more expensive - for example, a
bottle of Austrian Edelweiss can cost more than €2, while the average
price of Ukrainian beer is €0.50. Everyone said that Ukrainian beer is
very tasty and is gaining more and more popularity in other European
countries.
From non-alcoholic drinks, you should try kvass, a
typically Slavic drink made from rye or wheat. During the summer, it can
be easily purchased from designated street vendors. There are many
yellow kvass kegs around the city during the summer. It is better to buy
it in bottles due to the unknown purity of the barrel. Milk drinks, of
all varieties, are also available, although mainly in supermarkets.
Bottles of mineral water are available everywhere, as well as lemonade,
beer and spirits. When looking to buy bottled water, be sure to ask for
"Voda Bez Hazu" (water without gas) otherwise you will most likely be
handed a carbonated drink.
Never buy vodka or Konjak (the local
name for brandy) except in supermarkets or liquor stores, as there are
many counterfeits. Every year, several die or go blind as a result of
poisoning by methyl alcohol, a compound used to make fake vodka.
In Ukraine, you can buy alcohol obtained in other former Soviet
republics. Moldovan and Armenian cognacs are quite good and not
expensive. Georgian wines are quite unusual and aromatic, if too sweet.
Hotels can be a traumatic experience for a Westerner anywhere outside
Kyiv and Lviv. The cheaper the hotel, the greater the probability of
some very sad surprises, especially for those who are not familiar with
the level of Soviet-type service that still remains in many places.
There are many mid-range (€25-45) options outside Kyiv. For example,
in Ivano-Frankivsk (near the Carpathians), the usual rate is about € 35
per room (bedroom and living room) in one such hotel. Many hotels have a
choice between renovated rooms / suites ("Western style"), rather than
renovated rooms (Eastern European style). The latter option is more than
50% cheaper and gives you a spacious old fashioned 2 bedroom suite,
simple but clean!
There are several 5-star hotels in Kyiv and one
in Donetsk; see the guides for these cities for listings. In one such
hotel in Lviv, the usual rate ranges from € 40-60 per night.
Another option is to rent an apartment online before leaving the
country. There are many to choose from in Kyiv and Odesa.
What
many people from former USSR countries do is go to the train station
where they try to find people who are willing to rent a room. The prices
are usually much cheaper and if there are enough people offering the
room you can make great deals.
These agreements are usually not
legal and they will put you in a corner to negotiate. Make sure they
have warm water and don't be afraid to say it's not what you expected
when you saw the room.
There are many foreign students in Ukrainian universities. Bribery is
common and you can even get a degree here with only two transfers (first
and last days of term) if you have the money. That's hyperbole, of
course, but it's not much different in real life. Of course, if someone
wants to get good knowledge, they will, but the motivation in such a
situation is low.
After graduating from the institute, many
students find work that is not related to their education, but this does
not mean that the education system is bad. This is due to economic
instability. The education system itself is comprehensive and
competitive, and many foreign students can be a confirmation of this
fact (not only in the previously mentioned hyperbole).
Taras
Shevchenko Kyiv National University
Kharkiv National University named
after V. N. Karazin
Chernivtsi National University named after Yury
Fedkovich
Lviv National Medical University named after Danylo
Halytskyi
Lviv Ivan Franko National University
National Academy of
Internal Affairs
Cherkasy National University named after Bohdan
Khmelnytskyi
Obtaining a work permit (visa) is a necessity for foreigners if they are going to be employed by any legal entity (exceptions apply only to international organizations and representative offices of foreign companies). A work permit is more than an employment permit. A potential employer must contact the labor administration to hire a non-resident employee. With the help of the program, you will be able to find a complete resume, as well as documents proving the accredited education must be presented.
Many people will tell you that you can take a copy of the visa with
you. Unfortunately, some people have problems with this. It is always
better to have your passport with you. A photocopy may be refused as an
identity document. A phone call to a local who can help can be quite
effective.
Get detailed information about your local embassy
and/or consulates in advance and note their emergency numbers.
If
you can, it's helpful to have a bilingual friend who can be called in
case of an emergency or if you run into difficulties. If staying for a
long time, it is advisable to get a local SIM card for your mobile phone
in case of emergencies and for cheaper local calls/texts. They are
widely available, cheap (often free) and easy to "top up",
The
issue of crime
As in any country, using common sense when driving in
Ukraine will minimize any chances of being a victim of petty crime and
theft. Try not to advertise the fact that you are a foreigner or flaunt
your wealth, through your choice of clothing or otherwise. With the
exception of Kyiv, Odesa and other large cities, Western tourists are
still quite rare. As in any country, the possibility of petty theft
exists. In Kyiv, make sure to protect your bags and person, because
pickpocketing is very common, especially in crowded metro stations. The
guides told the tourists to keep an eye on certain people because they
heard people say, "They look like Americans: let's follow them for a
while and see what we can get."
Robberies and scams on tourists
are quite common, especially the wallet scam in Kyiv.
But if you
are arrested by the police or other law enforcement agencies, do
everything you can to let them know that you are a foreign visitor. Not
many police officers speak foreign languages fluently, but many people
are eager to help with translation.
Do not drink alcohol in the
company of unknown people (which may be offered more freely than in the
West). You don't know how much they're going to drink (and convince you
to drink with them), and what conflicts may arise afterward. In
addition, many Ukrainians, known for their penchant for a good drink,
can sometimes consume such an amount of vodka that it can be considered
lethal for an average beer-addicted Westerner.
Financial support
Ukraine is mainly a money economy. The network of bank branches and
automated teller machines (ATMs) has grown rapidly and is now readily
available in all but the smallest villages. How to check the security of
the machine - it would be wise to use one that is obviously at a bank
and not at another establishment. V PAY cards are not accepted in the
country. You can use your credit cards (mainly MasterCard and Visa) or
cash traveler's checks easily. Credit and debit cards are accepted in
supermarkets. But avoid using your credit / debit card to make payments
in establishments in small towns, as retailers are not trained and
controlled enough to ensure your card confidentiality. Instead, it is
widely accepted to pay in cash. Local residents (especially businessmen)
sometimes carry money with them and pay in it, which is considered
unusually large in other countries. They do not suspect criminal
activity in every such case.
In addition, it is strongly
recommended to avoid individual (street) currency exchange offices, as
there are thieves among such exchangers who can give you instead of old,
Soviet-era currencies or also coupons that have been withdrawn from
circulation since the mid-1990s. Use special booths for exchange
(widespread) and banks; Also be careful of currency tricks like 5.059 /
5.62 buy / sell instead of 5.59 / 5.62.
Euros and US dollars are
generally accepted as alternative forms of currency, especially in
tourist areas. They are also the most widely accepted convertible
currency at exchange offices, with British pounds in third place.
The area around the American embassy in Kyiv is a known provocateur
for groups targeting black people, and there have been reports of such
attacks on Andriyivski, the main tourist street running from
Mykhailivska down into Podol. Especially in rural areas, having dark
skin is often a source of harm. Anti-Semitism still remains a problem in
some western regions and/or other parts of Ukraine. However, there are
two Jewish mayors elected in Kherson and Vinnytsia.
Russophobia
is on the rise as a result of Russia's annexation of Crimea in early
2014, especially in the European Union-friendly western regions of the
country. Russian citizens may face negative perceptions due to the
ongoing war waged (as of 2014) against Ukraine by Russian-backed
separatists in the eastern part of the country. There were ethnic
clashes between Russians and Ukrainians in Odessa. On July 17, 2014,
Russian-backed rebels shot down a civilian airliner over Ukraine
carrying hundreds of EU citizens; this led to the escalation of economic
sanctions from the West and Russia, and polarized the already tense
situation on the ground.
Individual examples show that in
Ukraine, in fact a large part of the former Soviet Union, migrants from
Central and Central Asia and Roma / Sinti people receive much closer and
more frequent attention from the police (Militia). Always have your
passport (or a photocopy of the main pages if you're worried about
losing it or if you're staying at a hotel that holds it), as foreigners
are treated more kindly than others. This does not mean that it is
dangerous or threatening, but it is better to be warned about the
realities.
Disasters
While there are many swimming and diving
attractions throughout Ukraine, local water rescues are extremely
underfunded. It is unlikely that you would notice while drowning,
especially on a river. Use only officially established beaches.
Ukraine has some of the worst statistics for traffic-related deaths and
injuries in the world so act accordingly. Be careful when crossing
roads; walk and drive defensively: be aware that traffic is overtaking
both inside and outside. Sometimes you don't even need to be careful
when using footpaths, as during rush hour black, bumpy-sided Audi / BMW
/ Mercedes can sometimes choose to avoid traffic using wide pavements;
pedestrians or not. Owners/drivers of expensive cars have been known, at
times, to be more careless about the safety of pedestrians. Drivers
rarely give priority to pedestrians crossing the road if there are no
pedestrian lights. Always take care of your safety.
Also remember
that bridges suffer in the same way as roads in terms of infrastructure
destruction. Be careful when walking, especially in the dark and far
from the central areas of the main cities (a torch is a useful
possession), the streets are poorly lit, as are most of the entries /
stairs to the buildings, and the street and pavement surfaces are often
dangerously potholed. Do not step on the covers of the human assignees,
as they can tip-toe into the hole with all the potential injuries!
Prohibitions
It is illegal to smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol
in public places in Ukraine. Despite the ban, you can see some locals
doing it, but don't be fooled. These are bad examples. Local police can
insist on a bribe if they see a foreigner violating the ban. So be wise
and avoid unnecessary problems.
Extraordinary
phone numbers of
emergency services in Ukraine:
112 - general
101 - fire protection
102 - the police
103 — ambulance
104 — gas leak
Water
As a general rule, avoid drinking tap water. The main reason
for this is that the water in many regions is disinfected with chlorine,
so it tastes terrible. If possible, buy bottled water, which is widely
available and generally OK.
Infectious diseases
Ukraine has
the highest rate of HIV-infected people in Europe at almost 1.5% or 1 in
66 adults. Be careful.
Radiative
There is radiation pollution
in the northeast from the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
in 1986. However, the effect is very small if you live permanently in
the Chernobyl zone itself. There are even tours to the city of Pripyat,
which is the closest to the station. The city is famous for the haunting
scenery of blocks of apartment buildings abandoned in 1986, now standing
out against the background of vegetation that arose from years of
neglect.
Respect the fact that Ukraine is an independent state. You may find
that people here are very sensitive about being classified as "Russian".
Ukrainians have their own ethnicity and don't like being seen as
Russian.
Don't say "Ukraine," because the usage is outdated and
implies that Ukraine is a region, not a country.
Ukraine is by no
means a conservative country in terms of clothing or behavior, and
charges you, if they can get away with it, get what you paid for
(quality). However, homosexuals were not liked there.
Raising the
issue of Ukraine in the context of being part of the Soviet Union cannot
be welcomed by local residents. The Holodomor, like the Holocaust, is a
sensitive issue. It is best not to praise the Soviet Union or Joseph
Stalin, the Soviet leader during World War II and the architect of the
Holodomor. Nevertheless, some Ukrainians also recall the recent period
of the Soviet Union as a period of economic prosperity.
Phone
Ukrtelecom is the main communication operator. The country
code for Ukraine is 380.
Mobile
The largest mobile operators
are Kyivstar, Vodafone (formerly MTS), Lifecell.
Internet
GPRS
mobile access is available in the vast majority of Ukraine. 3G mobile
access is developing steadily. Public Wi-Fi access points are widespread
in cities. There are plans and projects to provide mass wireless
broadband access in urban open spaces, on Ukrzaliznytsia's long-distance
trains, and in public city vehicles.
Ukraine has several historical names that are partially or completely
identical. Modern Ukraine is located on the lands that in the first
centuries of our era were known mostly as "Scythia" and "Sarmatia", but
the ethnic and cultural continuity from the then population of these
lands to the present day is mostly considered indirect. The most famous
historical names referring to the set of lands on which the ethnogenesis
of the Ukrainian people took place and the relative strength of its
statehood took place were: "Rus", "Росия" ("Ρωσία", "Rosia", "Russia"),
"Ruthenia" ( "Ruthenia"), "Roxolania", "Ukraine", "Little Russia",
"Zaporozhian Army", "Hetmanship".
Rus
The earliest known
mention of the word "Rus" as a geographical name occurs in the
Byzantine-Russian treaty of 911, where it was used to designate the
state and territory subject to Prince Oleg of Kyiv (which at that time
was limited mainly to the outskirts of Kyiv). In the future, the name
"Rus" was used to denote the lands over which the power of the Kiev
princes extended, in a narrow sense only in relation to the Middle
Dnieper (Kyiv, Chernihiv, Pereyaslav principalities), in a broader sense
- to a significant part of Eastern Europe, while the lands beyond In a
number of sources, Transdnieper region was referred to as "Outer
Russia". At the same time, in Byzantium, the Hellenized word "Russia"
("Ρωσία") was used, among other names, to denote Russia. After the
decline of Rus due to the Mongol invasion, in the 13th-14th centuries
the name "Kingdom of Rus" was for some time borne by the Galicia-Volyn
state, during the years 1398-1569 the word "Rus" was used in the full
name of the Lithuanian state, and during the years 1434-1772 the name
"Ruskie Voivodeship" » was worn by Galicia as part of the Kingdom of
Poland and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Muscovy did not directly
claim the common heritage of Russia and did not use this word in the
name of its state until Ivan IV in 1547 began to call himself, among
other titles, "tsar and grand prince of all Russia", after which Muscovy
in some documents, except as "Moscow kingdom", the names "Russian
kingdom" or "Russia" also began to be used. Peter I fixed this name for
Muscovy, gaining control over the left-bank Hetmanship and Kyiv and
renaming the Muscovite Kingdom to the Russian Empire in 1721. Before
these events, the lands of Kyiv and Moscow were not part of one state
for about 500 years in the XIII-XVIII centuries. A number of historians
later characterized such borrowing as a groundless appropriation by
Muscovy of the name and history of Ukraine-Russia. Among those who
defended the legality of using the name "Rus" only in relation to
Ukraine, but not to Russia-Muscovy, was the anonymous author of the
influential work of the beginning of the 19th century "History of the
Rus". Subsequently, Mykhailo Hrushevskyi substantiated a similar
position in detail, noting in particular that "we are a people whose
name was stolen", to emphasize which he called his greatest work
"History of Ukraine-Rus". This opinion is shared by many modern
researchers.
Ukraine
The Slavic word "Ukraine" is mentioned
for the first time in the Kyiv annals according to the Ipatiev list
under the year 1187. It outlined the territory of the Pereyaslav
principality, which was part of the historical core of Russia, next to
the Kyiv and Chernihiv principalities. This word is also found in
Russian chronicles under the years 1189, 1213, 1280 and 1282, denoting
Halychyna, Western Volhynia, Kholmshchyna and Podlasie. In Lithuanian
and Polish chronicles and official documents of the 14th-17th centuries,
the Russian lands of Halychyna, Volhynia, Kyiv region, Podillia, and
Bratslav region were called "Ukraine" in a broad sense, and the
territory of the Middle Dnieper region in a narrow sense. The same
double meaning of this word was preserved from the middle of the 17th
century, after the emergence of the Russian state of the Zaporozhian
Army.
In connection with the inclusion of part of the lands of
Russia in the composition of the Muscovite Empire, and later the Russian
Empire, the word "Ukraine" was attached to the Dnieper region; they also
denoted Slobozhanshchyna. After the renaming of the Muscovite Kingdom to
the Russian Empire in 1721, Ukrainian lands began to be called "Little
Russia". In the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the
20th century, under the influence of the national movement of the
Russian intelligentsia, the name "Ukraine" acquired the meaning of the
Russian ethnic territory, and the ethnonym "Rusyns" itself was replaced
by the ethnonym "Ukrainians". In 1917, the first state to use the word
"Ukraine" in its official name was proclaimed, the Ukrainian People's
Republic.
The etymology of the word "Ukraine" is not known for
sure. According to the theory followed by most Ukrainian researchers,
"Ukraine" comes from the words "country" or "land", that is, "y" means
"native", "own". Thus, "Ukraine" is an antonym of the word "foreigner".
According to one of the other theories, which was formed under the
influence of Polish and Russian historiography, it means "neighbourhood"
(Russian: окрайну) or "borderland".
Location
Ukraine is located in the southeastern part of Europe. It
shares land borders with Belarus to the north, Poland to the west,
Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and Russia to
the east. The south of Ukraine is washed by the Black and Azov seas. It
has sea borders with Romania and Russia.
The total area of
Ukraine is 603,700 km², which is 5.7% of the territory of Europe and
0.44% of the world. According to this indicator, it is the second
largest among European countries after Russia (or the largest country
that lies entirely in Europe). The area of the exclusive maritime
economic zone of Ukraine is 72,658 km². The ISO 3166-1-alpha-2 country
code is UA. The territory of Ukraine stretches from west to east for
1316 km and from north to south for 893 km, lies approximately between
52° 20′ and 44° 23′ north latitude and 22° 5′ and 41° 15′ east
longitude.
The extreme northern point is the village of Gremyach
(Petrivske tract) of the Chernihiv region.
The southernmost point is
the village of Foros of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
The
westernmost point is the village of Solomonovo, Zakarpattia region.
The extreme eastern point is the village of Rannia Zorya, Luhansk
region.
The geographic center of Ukraine is located on the northern
outskirts of the village of Maryanivka, Zvenygorod district, Cherkasy
region.
According to one of the measurement methods, the geographical
center of Europe is located on the territory of Ukraine, near the city
of Rakhiv, Transcarpathian region.
The largest Black Sea ports
are Odesa, Chornomorsk, Kherson, Sevastopol, Azov ports — Mariupol,
Berdyansk, Kerch.
The total length of the borders is 6,993 km, of
which 5,638 km are land. The length of the maritime section of the
border: 1,355 km (the Black Sea — 1,056.5 km; the Sea of Azov — 249.5
km; the Kerch Strait — 49 km).
Relief
The terrain of Ukraine
is dominated by plains (95% of the entire area), which belong to the
southwestern edge of the East European Plain. They connect the Polis,
Dnipro, and Black Sea lowlands, which occupy 70% of the surface of
Ukraine, as well as the Volyn, Podil, Dnipro, Donetsk, and other
highlands. The average absolute height of the plains is 175 m. In
Ukraine, there is the highest point of the East European plain — Mount
Berda, 515 m above sea level.
Mountain massifs in Ukraine are
represented by a part of the Carpathian Mountains - the Ukrainian
Carpathians, where the highest peak of Ukraine is located - Mount
Hoverla (2061 m above sea level), and the Crimean Mountains, the highest
peak of which is Mount Roman-Kosh (1545 m).
Seismicity of Ukraine
is manifested in the western, southwestern and southern regions, which
are located near the powerful Mediterranean-Alpine-Trans-Asian
seismogenic belt of the planet, and where two main seismic regions stand
out: Carpathian and Crimean-Black Sea. A large part of the territory is
exposed to the effects of its own (local) earthquakes and strong
subcortical earthquakes of the Vranca zone (Romania).
Climate
The territory of Ukraine lies mainly in the temperate-continental region
of the temperate climate zone with increasing continentality from the
northwest to the southeast. The southern coast of Crimea is separated
into a separate region of subtropical Mediterranean climate. In the
Ukrainian Carpathians and the Crimean Mountains, the height of the area
and the exposure of the slopes determine the vertical zonation of the
climate.
The average annual air temperature in Ukraine ranges
from +11...+13 °C in the south to +5...+7 °C in the north. The average
average temperature of the coldest month (January) varies from −7...−8
°C in the northeast to 0 °C in steppe Crimea and +2...+4 °C on the
southern coast of Crimea. In the warmest month (July), the average
monthly temperature varies from +17...+19 °C in the north and northwest
of the country to +22...+23 °C in the southern regions and +25 °C on the
Southern coast of Crimea.
The lowest air temperature in Ukraine
was recorded on January 8, 1935 in Luhansk. As a result of the invasion
of air currents from the Arctic, the temperature here dropped to −42 °C.
The main regularity in the distribution of precipitation on the
territory of Ukraine is its decrease from the north and northwest to the
south and southeast. The highest annual amounts of precipitation were
observed in the Ukrainian Carpathians — 1,500 mm (the Plai plain — 1,663
mm) and the Crimean Mountains (1,000—1,200 mm), the lowest — on the
Black Sea coast and in the Prysyvashsha (from 450—400 to 300 mm). In
most of the territory, the average amount of precipitation varies from
650-600 mm in the west to 450-400 mm in the south and southeast. The
main mass of them occurs in the warm period of the year, with the
exception of the Southern coast of Crimea. In winter, precipitation
occurs in the form of snow, almost on the entire territory of the
country; the height of the snow cover is 10-30 cm, and in the mountains
it reaches 40 cm.
It is assumed that in 50-100 years, the climate
of Ukraine will become more arid, similar to Australia.
Watercourses and reservoirs
There are 63,119 rivers and streams with
a total length of more than 206,000 km flowing on the territory of
Ukraine, of which 3,302 are 10 km or more in length. Most of the rivers
belong to the basin of the Black and Azov Seas, and only 2% of the
territory of the water has a flow to the Baltic basin (Sian and the
Western Bug with their tributaries). The main rivers are the Dnipro, the
Siverskyi Donets, the Southern Bug, the Dniester, and the Danube.
There are about 20,000 lakes in the country, of which only 43 have
an area of 10 km² or more. The largest lake of Ukrainian Polissia —
Svityaz has an area of 27.5 km². Larger areas are brackish lakes of
estuarine origin - Danube lakes (Yalpug - 149 km²), Black Sea lakes
(artificially desalinated Kunduk (Sasyk) - 204.8 km²), Crimean lakes
(Sasyk-Syvash salt lake - 71 km²). 1,157 reservoirs and 28,800 ponds
were built in Ukraine. The largest reservoirs are on the Dnieper
(Kremenchutsk, Kakhovske, Kyivske, Kanivske). The largest estuary is the
Dniester estuary - 360 km². The saltiest is the Kuyalnytsky estuary —
157-227 ‰.
Landscapes and physical-geographical zoning
Within
the borders of Ukraine, two classes of landscape complexes are
distinguished based on the commonality of morphostructural features —
plain, which occupies more than 93% of the territory, and mountainous.
The main features of the landscape structure of the country are
determined by its location mainly in the temperate zone. Elements of
subtropical landscapes of the Mediterranean type are found only on the
southern coast of Crimea.
The territory of Ukraine occupies the
southwestern part of the Eastern European physiographic country with a
clearly defined bioclimatic and landscape latitudinal zonation, parts of
the Carpathian and Crimean mountainous physiographic countries. Plain
Ukraine is covered by four natural zones: the zone of mixed forests
(Polyssia), the zone of broad-leaved forests, the forest-steppe zone and
the steppe zone.
Protected areas
In Ukraine, all protected
areas are united in the Nature Reserve Fund of Ukraine, which includes
more than 8,600 objects, which make up about 6.8% of the country's area.
The nature reserve fund of Ukraine includes territories or water
areas that have a special nature conservation, scientific, aesthetic,
recreational and other value and are allocated for the purpose of
preserving the natural diversity of landscapes, the gene pool of animal
and plant life, maintaining the general ecological balance and providing
background monitoring of the natural environment. The objects of the
nature reserve fund are protected by the legislation of Ukraine as
national property with the establishment of special protection regimes.
The natural objects of the Nature Reserve Fund of Ukraine are
divided into biosphere reserves, nature reserves, national nature parks,
regional landscape parks, sanctuaries of various types, natural
monuments and protected tracts. Reserves and national natural parks have
the highest status and, in most cases, the largest area. There are 5
biosphere reserves in Ukraine (Ascania-Nova, Carpathian, Black Sea,
Danube, Chornobyl), 19 natural reserves (the oldest Kaniv, Crimean,
Ukrainian steppe, Polisky, Luhansk, Mys Martyan, Yalta mountain-forest,
Karadaz) and 55 national natural parks (the oldest are Karpatskyi,
Shatskyi, Synevyr).
Ukraine is one of the leading mineral-raw countries in the world. The
combination of structural elements of different ages (from the Archean
to the Cenozoic), which were formed as a result of the manifestation of
all the processes inherent in the formation of the earth's crust, caused
a wide range of minerals that make up the country's mineral and raw
material base. Ukraine, which occupies only 0.4% of the Earth's landmass
and is home to 0.8% of the planet's population, has 5% of the world's
mineral and raw material potential in its bowels.
In Ukraine,
20,000 deposits and manifestations of 111 types of minerals have been
explored (according to UNIAN, there are 200 types of minerals, 120 of
which are used by mankind today). Of them, 7,807 deposits of 94 types of
minerals are of industrial importance and are taken into account in the
State Balance of Reserves. Coal, oil and gas, iron and manganese ores,
native sulfur, rock and potassium salts, non-mineral construction
materials, mineral waters are of the greatest economic importance. Their
deposits are in various geological regions of Ukraine. Ukraine is ahead
of the Russian Federation, the USA, Great Britain, France, Germany,
Canada and other countries in terms of explored reserves of some
minerals. In particular, in terms of reserves and production of iron,
manganese, titanium-zirconium ores, and many types of non-metallic raw
materials, Ukraine at the end of the 20th century. took a leading place
among the countries of Europe and the world.
The diversity of Ukraine's natural conditions, its location in
several natural zones with two seas, leads to a rather rich and unevenly
distributed biodiversity with a significant number of endemics,
primarily in the Crimean Mountains and the Carpathians.
More than
60,000 species of living creatures are common in Ukraine, including:
more than 6,500 species of fungi and lichens, more than 4,900 species of
algae, more than 760 species of bryophytes, more than 6,000 species of
vascular plants, more than 1,200 species of protozoa, 33 species of
sponges, 40 species of cnidarians, 3 species fins, 33 species of
nemertines, about 30 species of bryozoans, 1 species of phoronids, 2
species of intrapods, about 1,300 species of flatworms, about 50 species
of gastropods, about 600 species of rotifers, about 60 species of
scrapers, 2 species of bristle-jaw worms, more than 400 species of
annelids, more than 400 species of molluscs, more than 800 species of
nematodes, 111 species of taropods, about 1,000 species of crustaceans,
about 3,300 species of arachnids, about 140 species of centipedes, more
than 500 species of gastropods, more than 35,000 species of insects, 14
species of echinoderms, 1 species of lanceolates, 9 species tunicates,
more than 250 species of fish, about 20 species of amphibians, about 25
species of reptiles, more than 400 species of birds and about 120
species of mammals.
Natural vegetation covers about 30% of
Ukraine, while the vast majority of it has been secondarily transformed
by human activity. In particular, forests occupy about 14% of the
country (15.6% together with forest belts), despite the fact that this
indicator is 41% for Europe as a whole. Meadows, which mainly arose in
Ukraine instead of forests as a result of cattle grazing and mowing and
are used as pastures and hayfields, occupy about 9% of the country. The
steppes, which naturally occupied about 40% of Ukrainian lands, were
preserved on only 0.6% of the country's territory, mostly in protected
areas. The area of swamps occupies about 1%, floodplains - about 1.6%,
salt marshes - about 1%.
There are many endemics in Ukraine,
mostly invertebrate animals and plants. Among the vertebrate animals of
Ukraine, there are only 12 endemic species, in particular, the sand
slyak and Podilsky slyak, common in the Black Sea and Podil steppes, as
well as Lindholm's lizard, common in the Crimean mountains.
Many
species have inhabited the natural territories of Ukraine as a result of
human activity and are invasive. Some of them were deliberately
acclimatized by man, for example, hunting species such as raccoon dog,
American mink, muskrat, spotted deer, mouflon, common pheasant, etc. At
the same time, much more species were introduced to Ukraine
unintentionally, or spread independently as a result of climatic
changes. Many of these species, in particular those introduced
intentionally, are pests of the economy and are capable of harming
natural ecosystems and in some places displacing local rare species.
Among the most harmful invasive species of Ukraine are the gray rat, the
Colorado potato beetle, the chestnut passing moth, the varroa mite, the
Spanish slug, the rapana, the mnemiopsis ribwort, the ragweed, the
common robinia, the narrow-leaved olive tree, etc.
A significant
number of species disappeared in Ukraine during the last centuries due
to the destruction of their habitat by humans. One of the most striking
examples is the saiga steppe antelope, which was one of the most
widespread species of ungulates in Ukraine, but completely disappeared
here at the end of the 19th century due to the destruction of the
steppes and hunting. Also among the most notable species that have
completely disappeared in Ukraine during the last centuries are tarpan,
wolverine, monk seal, common flying fox, alpine marmot, yellow gopher,
steppe shrew, etc. The bison was exterminated in Ukraine in the 17th
century, but since 1965 it has been reintroduced in the Carpathians and
Polissia.
In Ukraine, the main document on the protection of
biodiversity is the Red Book of Ukraine, which contains a list of rare,
vulnerable and endangered species of animal and plant life within the
country, as well as general information about the current state of these
species and measures for their preservation. Species listed in the Red
Book of Ukraine are subject to protection throughout the territory of
Ukraine, within its continental shelf and exclusive marine economic
zone. It is regulated by the Law of Ukraine "On the Red Book of
Ukraine". Since 2021, 1,544 species have been listed in the Red Book of
Ukraine, of which 687 are animals and 857 are flora. State management,
regulation and control of conservation of species listed in the Red Book
of Ukraine is carried out by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and
subordinate structures. Scientific maintenance of the Red Book of
Ukraine is carried out by the National Commission on the Red Book of
Ukraine, which is established on the basis of the Institute of Zoology
and the Institute of Botany of the National Academy of Sciences of
Ukraine, which are leading centers for the study of biodiversity of
Ukraine.
Antiquity
The first archaeoanthropists appeared on the territory
of modern Ukraine in the early Paleolithic era, more than 900-800
thousand years ago. People of the modern type — Homo sapiens
(Cro-Magnons) were formed in the Upper Paleolithic period, more than
40,000-35,000 years ago. They were representatives of the Caucasian
race, hunter-gatherers, who had a tribal organization. One of the cult
centers of the Cro-Magnons was the natural remnant of the Stone Tomb.
More than 10,000 years ago, the glacier melted, which contributed to the
increase in population. The landscape division of Ukraine into forest,
forest-steppe and steppe zones was stabilized, and a soil cover close to
the modern one was formed. The crisis of appropriating economy gradually
forced people to start reproductive forms: agriculture and cattle
breeding. With the appearance of ceramics came the Neolithic period,
which lasted from the 7th to the 5th and 3rd millennia BC on the
territory of modern Ukraine. is.
From the end of the 5th to the
beginning of the 3rd millennium BC the Eneolithic period lasted in
Ukraine. Economic specialization by natural and climatic zones became
more pronounced: pastoralism in the steppe, agriculture in the
forest-steppe, and hunting in the forest belt. The central
archaeological culture on the territory of Ukraine of the Eneolithic
period was the Trypil culture (4000-2100 BC), the bearers of which were
the first to achieve significant success in the development of the
economy, technology, and development of new lands on the lands of modern
Ukraine — they created settlements proto-cities, examples of monumental
architecture and applied art, symbolic systems, mythology engraved in
material monuments, complex social structures. The decline of the Trypil
culture was marked by the consolidation of pastoralists and the
appearance of the Yamna culture (2800-2300 BC) of the Bronze Age, the
bearers of which scientists see as Aryans-Indo-Europeans. They covered
the territory from Crimea to Kyiv Polissia. On the basis of this
culture, the Catacomb culture (2300-1300 BC) appears in South-Eastern
Ukraine, whose carriers were in contact with the farming culture of lace
ceramics (2300-1700 BC), which occupied the territory of North-Western
Ukraine. The catacomb culture was replaced by the Zrubna culture
(1700-1300 BC), which is associated with Iranian-speaking tribes of
herders, and the culture of lace ceramics on the territory of Ukraine
was replaced by the Tshinets culture (1700-1200 BC), which was developed
are associated with the Proto-Slavic-Baltic community of farmers. In the
XII-X centuries BC the territory of Ukraine remained divided between
different cultural communities. Northern forests in the west were
occupied by Proto-Slavs, and in the east by Proto-Ugric people;
Thracian-Illyrian tribes lived in the forest-steppe, and North Iranian
tribes lived in the steppe.
In the 10th century to n. e. nomadic
tribes of Cimmerians appear on the territory of Ukraine. They were
displaced by the Scythians (VII-III centuries BC), who created one of
the most powerful states of that time. In the III century to n. e. the
Scythians were replaced by the Sarmatians. This union of related tribes
lasted until the IV century. N. e, when they were displaced by the Huns,
who later gave impetus to the great resettlement of peoples. In parallel
with these tribes, starting from the VII century the Greeks found their
city-colonies in the Northern Black Sea: Tyre, Olbia, Panticapae,
Chersonesos, and later the Bosporus state.
Middle Ages
Rus
Starting from the 9th century, the Ukrainian lands became the center of
the Russian land, led by Kyiv Polyana. In 882, Kyiv was captured by the
Varangian prince Oleg (882-912), who proclaimed it the "mother of
Russian cities" and established the power of the Varangian Rurik
dynasty. During the reign of Princess Olga (945-965), her son Svyatoslav
the Brave (965-972), grandson of Volodymyr the Great (980-1015) and
great-grandson of Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054), the territory of the
Russian state expanded through the conquest by Kyiv of the neighboring
East Slavic, Baltic and Finno-Ugric tribes.
It was the largest
state in Europe, the area of which reached 1.5 million km2. The borders
of Kyivan Rus in the north lay in the areas of Chudsky Lake, the Gulf of
Finland of the Baltic Sea, Ladoga and Onega Lakes; in the west — in the
area of the headwaters of the Dniester, Carpathians, Western Bug, Niman
and Western Dvina; in the south - Sula, Don, Rosi and Southern Bug; in
the east - the Volga and its tributaries the Oka. Lands and ethnic
principalities, where local princes used to rule, were handed over to
the Rurikovs. In 988, during the reign of Volodymyr, the Ruthenians
adopted Christianity from Byzantium, which determined the civilizational
affiliation of the Ukrainian lands for the following millennia, and
European monarchies began to reckon with it. But the process of feudal
fragmentation in the 11th and 13th centuries led to the weakening of
Russia, the main centers of power from Kyiv moved to the northeast, to
the Oka, to the Volodymyr principality, where in the future the
Muscovite principality arose, and then the Muscovite kingdom, and also
to the west, to the cities Halych and Volodymyr.
Also, on the
territory of modern Ukraine, such great principalities as Chernihivske
(on the Desna), Pereyaslavske (modern Poltava region), Turovo-Pinske (on
Polissia) existed for a certain time.
In the 1240s, Russia was
devastated by the Mongol Empire, and most of the Russian principalities
became dependent on it.
After the decline of Kyivan Rus, the political, economic and cultural
center of the Ukrainian lands moved to the Galicia-Volyn state. It
included Volyn, Halychyna, Beresteyshchyna, Kholmshchyna, Pidlyashsia,
Belzhshchyna, Turovo-Pinshchyna, Black Rus, Western Kyivshchyna, and
Transcarpathia. Independent principalities in Galicia, where the
Rostislavichs ruled, arose starting from 1084 with centers in Przemyśl,
Terebovl and Zvenyhorod. In 1141, Volodymyrko Volodarovich united them
into a single Galician principality, which reached its peak during the
reign of Yaroslav Osmomysl.
In 1199, Roman the Great united
Galicia and Volhynia into a single Galicia-Volhynia state. In 1245, his
son and heir Danylo, during whose reign the Tatar-Mongol invasion
occurred, recognized his dependence on the Golden Horde, but hoping for
the help of Catholic Europe in the struggle for independence, concluded
secret alliances with Poland, Hungary, Mazovia and the Teutonic Order,
and In 1253, he accepted the sign of the autocrat - the crown of the
King of Russia from Pope Innocent IV.
Around 1256, after the
victories over the Kuremsa Mongols, Danylo founded the city of Lviv. In
1259, due to the lack of military assistance from the West, the king
re-acknowledged the supremacy of the Horde. His successor, Leo I,
constantly took part in the campaigns of the Hordes in Poland and
Lithuania. In 1303, Danilov's grandson, King Yuriy I, achieved the
establishment of the Galician Metropolis. In 1308, the state passed to
his sons Andriy and Leo II, who started the fight against the Golden
Horde in alliance with the Teutonic knights and Mazovian princes.
However, after their death, the last monarch Yuri II again recognized
himself as a vassal of the Golden Horde. In 1340, his murder gave Poland
and Lithuania, neighbors who had dynastic rights to the Russian throne,
a reason to start a war for the Galician-Volhynian inheritance. In 1392,
Halychyna with Belz land and Kholm region finally entered the Polish
kingdom, and Volhynia - into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which even
earlier had mastered the lands of the Kyiv and Chernihiv principalities.
At the same time, the southern Ukrainian lands were part of the Golden
Horde and later the Crimean Khanate, formed in 1447, and Transcarpathia
was part of Hungary.
As part of the Lithuanian-Russian and Polish
states
In the 14th century, the Lithuanian princes from the
Gediminovich dynasty successfully took advantage of the beginning of the
decline of the Golden Horde and began the collection and redistribution
of the Russian lands devastated in the middle of the 13th century by the
invasion of Batia. The ratio of Slavic and actually Lithuanian lands
within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1341 was 2.5 to 1, and in 1430 it
was already 12 to 1. Prince Gedimin began the annexation of Russian
lands to Lithuania, in particular by capturing Kyiv in 1322 after the
victory in the Battle of Irpin river. In 1340, Prince Lubart annexed
Volhynia to Lithuania. The main mass of Ukrainian lands was annexed to
Lithuania during the reign of Olgerd, who annexed Chernihiv-Siversky
(1357-1358), Podilsky (1363) and Kyiv lands (1362-1363). New lands were
annexed both through conquest and through peaceful initiatives
(agreements, marriage and family alliances), with the predominance of
the latter.
Since 1398, the Lithuanian state has been called the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Russia and Zhemaitia.
Although the
state was ruled by Lithuanian princely dynasties, powerful positions in
the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were occupied by numerous Russian
(Ukrainian) princely families, which were more numerous than Lithuanian
ones, and also a large part of the army at all levels was occupied by
Russian soldiers and commanders. Russian soldiers occupied prominent
positions in the army of the Polish kingdom, which since 1392 included
Galicia and some other western Ukrainian lands. In particular, for
example, in the Battle of Grunwald (1410), where Polish and Lithuanian
troops together defeated the Teutonic Order, the Russian knight Ivanko
Sushik from the city of Romaniv near Lviv won fame and lands from King
Jagail for his exploits. Among the Russian (Ukrainian) princely families
of the Lithuanian state, the Volyn families of Ostrozki and Vyshnevetski
were especially famous, influential and wealthy. Prince Konstantin
Ostrozky (1460-1530) was one of the most successful commanders of the
Lithuanian state, the first to win the title of Great Hetman of
Lithuania for the victory over the Tatar army near Ochakov in 1497. In
1514, in the Battle of Orsha, the Lithuanian-Russian army led by
Konstantin Ostrozky defeated the Muscovite army of Basil III, stopping
the capture of Russian lands by Muscovy.
It was within the Grand
Duchy of Lithuania, under the influence of Lithuanian military
traditions, that the Ukrainian Cossacks first arose. Although Cossacks
were generally supported by the Lithuanian elite in the first stages of
their emergence, these were arbitrary processes for the sake of defense
against nomads, and not a purposeful organization by the state. The
growing number of Cossack warbands and their raids on the lands of the
Crimean Khanate created constant tension in the relations between the
Lithuanian princes and the Khan. In 1556, Volyn prince Dmytro
Vyshnevetskyi founded a fortress on the island of Mala Khortytsia to
fight against nomads. This became the forerunner of the subsequent
creation of the first Cossack sich.
In 1569, the Lithuanian and
Polish states were united into a single Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth,
and the Russian princely families of the Lithuanian state mostly
retained their influence at that time. In 1576, Prince Konstantin Vasyl
of Ostrozka, mainly with the patronage of his noble princess Halshka
Ostrozka, founded the Ostrozka Academy, the oldest higher educational
institution in Ukraine.
New time
Cossacks
In the 15th
century, in the southeast of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in the
Dnieper region, communities arose that began to call themselves
Cossacks. Their separation was connected with the formation of groups of
soldiers who defended these lands in the "wild steppes" of Zaporozhye
from the attacks of the steppe peoples. Since the 16th century,
Zaporozhye Sich became a military center of the Cossacks. The Cossacks
of the Zaporizhzhya Army formed a separate social class that
participated in wars on the side of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth:
the Livonian War of 1558-1583, the Polish-Moscow War of 1605-1618, the
Khotyn War of 1620-1621, and the Smolensk War of 1632-1634. In addition,
the Cossacks independently went on marauding expeditions to Moldova,
Muscovy, the Crimean Khanate, the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria and Asia
Minor, and were also actively engaged in mercenary activities,
especially during the Thirty Years' War of 1618-1648. The most
successful Cossack commander of the mentioned wars and campaigns was the
hetman of the registered Cossacks Petro Konashevich-Sagaidachny. Due to
legal and social oppression by the nobility, the Cossacks repeatedly
raised uprisings, the largest of which were the Kosynsky Uprising of
1591-1593, the Nalyvaiko Uprising of 1594-1596, the Zhmail Uprising of
1625, the Fedorovych Uprising of 1630, the Sulima Uprising of 1635, the
Pavlyuk Uprising of 1637 and Ostryanin uprising in 1638. Cossacks
repeatedly defended the rights of the Ukrainian population, which was
subjected to religious and national oppression in the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth.
Since 1615, there was a fraternal school in Kyiv,
which in 1632 was reorganized by Metropolitan Pyotr Mohyla into the
Kyiv-Brother College and which in 1658 received the status of an
academy. The Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, and earlier the collegium, was the
leading educational institution of Ukraine in the 17th and 18th
centuries, had the support of the Zaporizhzhya Army, and from the first
half of the 17th century, a large part of the Cossack elders studied
there, in particular a number of hetmans and their closest entourage.
In the years 1648-1657, the Cossacks under the leadership of Hetman
Bohdan Khmelnytskyi raised a great uprising in the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth, the result of which was the creation of a self-governing
Ukrainian state in the Transdnieper region - the Zaporizhzhya Army, or
the Hetmanship. In 1654, in order to continue the war with the Poles,
Cossack Ukraine accepted the protectorate of the Moscow tsar, and in
1656, due to the signing of a separate peace by the Muscovites, it
concluded an alliance with Sweden and Transylvania. In 1657, after the
election of Ivan Vyhovskyi as the new hetman, an anti-hetman uprising
broke out in Ukraine, which developed into the Cossack-Muscovite war.
Despite the Hetman's victory at Konotop in 1659, he lost the support of
the Cossack elders due to the alliance with the Poles.
The period
of Cossack strife began - the ruins, as a result of which the Cossack
state split along the Dnieper into Left Bank, Right Bank and Zaporozhye.
Right-bank Ukraine came under the rule of the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth, and Left-bank and Zaporozhye — under the influence of
Muscovy. In 1667, this division was approved by the Peace of Andrusiv.
In 1672, the Buchach Treaty stated the existence of Ukraine and
Ukrainian statehood in Polish and Turkish.
Cossack attempts to
unify Ukraine under the leadership of Hetman Petro Doroshenko with the
help of the Ottoman Empire in 1672-1676 ended in defeat and
consolidation of the previous division. In 1689, Muscovy and the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth finally divided the Hetmanship. At the
end of the 17th century, the Poles eliminated the remnants of Cossack
sovereignty on the Right Bank, and the Muscovites gradually abolished it
on the Left Bank.
In 1709, during the Great Northern War, the
Cossacks, led by Hetman Ivan Mazepa, entered into an alliance with
Sweden, trying to free themselves from Moscow's rule, but were defeated
at Poltava. In 1710, the defeated Cossacks led by Hetman Pylyp Orlyk
adopted the first Cossack Constitution in exile. After Mazepa's
uprising, the Muscovite state, transformed into the Russian Empire, set
a course for the complete elimination of Cossack autonomy in Ukraine. In
1754, the Russians eliminated the Ukrainian-Russian customs border, and
in 1764 they abolished the hetmanship, giving the last hetman, Kyril
Razumovsky, the decorative title of field marshal. In 1775, the
Zaporizhzhya Sich was destroyed, in 1781, the Cossack system in Ukraine
was abolished, and in 1783, Ukrainian free peasants were enshrined.
Crimean Khanate
The state of the Crimean Tatars, one of the
indigenous peoples of Ukraine, was the Crimean Khanate, or the Crimean
throne, which existed in the southern Ukrainian lands in 1441-1783
during the reign of the Girei dynasty.
The state had a
state-representative system, the main religion was Islam.
It
occupied the territory of the Crimea, the steppes of the Northern Black
Sea region between the Dniester and Don rivers, as well as the lands of
the northern Kuban.
It was founded by Haji I Gerai in 1441 as a
result of the political disintegration of the Golden Horde. In 1478,
during the reign of his son Mengli I, it recognized the Ottoman Sultan
as the caliph of Sunni Muslims. It held in vassal dependence the nomads
of the Nogai, Budzhak, Yedisan, Perekop hordes, the small Nogais of the
Kuban, and the Circassians of the North Caucasus.
In 1659, Mehmed
IV Geray supported Hetman Ivan Vyhovsky in the battle of Konotop, 40
thousand Crimean Tatar horsemen together with 20 thousand Cossacks and 4
thousand Polish mercenaries won a decisive victory over 100 thousand
Muscovites led by Oleksiy Trubetsky.
It was severely damaged
during the Russian-Ottoman war of 1735-1739. In 1774, it gained full
independence from both the Ottoman Empire and Russia as a result of
another defeat of the Ottoman Empire against Russia, which was confirmed
in writing by a peace treaty.
In 1783, the Russian Empire
violated the treaty and annexed the Crimean Khanate as a result of
Potemkin's military campaign. Of the great powers, only France came out
with an open protest against this act.
Imperial age
After the
last division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, Ukrainian
lands were divided between Austria-Hungary and Russia. The first
received Galicia, Bukovyna and Transcarpathia, and the second received
the rest of Ukraine.
From the end of the 18th century, under the
influence of European romanticism and nationalism, the Ukrainian
national movement gained new development in Ukrainian lands. In 1798,
Ivan Kotlyarevskyi published the burlesque poem "Aeneid", the main theme
of which was the restoration of the Cossack state. This work was the
first work of Ukrainian literature written in colloquial Ukrainian, and
served as a stimulus for the revival of Ukrainian national traditions.
In 1806, Kharkiv University was founded, which became the center of
Ukrainian studies. In 1825, the "History of the Rus" was written, which
had an impact on the formation of the Ukrainian humanitarian
intelligentsia. In 1834, Kyiv University was founded, which, like
Kharkiv University, became one of the centers of Ukrainian studies. In
the 1840s, Taras Shevchenko became a wake-up call for Ukrainian national
consciousness, whose poetry gained popularity among broad strata of
Ukrainian society — from Volyn to the Kuban. Among the most famous
figures of Ukrainian culture of the imperial period were Hryhoriy
Kvitka-Osnovyanenko, Mykola Kostomarov, Panteleimon Kulish, Marko
Vovchok, Ivan Franko, Olga Kobylyanska, Mykhailo Kotsyubynskyi, Lesya
Ukrainka, Vasyl Stefanyk, etc.
The Ukrainian national revival was
perceived as hostile by the imperial leadership of Russia. The Russian
government took a course for the complete linguistic and cultural
assimilation of the non-Russian peoples of the European part of the
empire, the instrument of which was the policy of Russification of the
Ukrainian people. For this purpose, the Russian authorities issued
official bans on the use of the Ukrainian language, in particular the
Valuev circular of 1863 and the Ems decree of 1873.
New time
Liberation competitions
In 1917, the February Revolution in Russia
overthrew the monarchy and gave rise to the republican Provisional
Government. An echo of these events was the formation of the Central
Rada in Kyiv on March 17, headed by Professor Mykhailo Hrushevskyi. On
November 20, after the Bolshevik coup in Russia, the Central Rada, as a
representative body of Ukraine, proclaimed the creation of the
autonomous Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR), and on January 22, 1918,
due to the outbreak of the Ukrainian-Bolshevik war, it proclaimed its
independence. Within a month, the Ukrainian government signed a treaty
in Brest-Litovsk with the German and Austro-Hungarian empires, with
their help, it freed Ukraine from the Bolsheviks. However, on April 29,
as a result of a coup d'état by Ukrainian monarchist forces, the Central
Rada government was replaced by Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi. The republic
was renamed "Ukrainian State"
Skoropadsky's regime lasted until
November, when his main allies, the Germans, capitulated in the First
World War. On December 14, the uprising of the Directory led by Simon
Petliura and Volodymyr Vynnychenko overthrew the Hetmanate and restored
the Republic. However, the retreat of the Germans allowed the Russian
Bolsheviks to resume hostilities. On January 6, 1919, they created a
puppet state in Kharkiv - the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic, on
whose behalf they started the war. During 1919-1920, Ukrainian
republicans, Bolsheviks, Russian nationalists with the support of Great
Britain, France and Poland, Ukrainian anarchists led by Nestor Makhn,
and Ukrainian partisans fought for control over Ukraine. The struggle
ended with the victory of the Bolshevik forces and the establishment of
Soviet control in Central, Eastern and Southern Ukraine.
In
parallel with this, in connection with the disintegration of
Austria-Hungary, on October 19, 1918, the Ukrainians of Halychyna,
Bukovyna and Transcarpathia proclaimed the creation of the Western
Ukrainian People's Republic (ZUNR) with the capital in Lviv. However, on
November 1 of the same year, it was attacked by Poland, starting the
Ukrainian-Polish war. The attacker was supported by the Entente
countries — Great Britain, France, the Kingdom of Romania and Hungary,
while Western Ukrainians were in international isolation. In search of
an ally, the ZUNR government turned to the UNR for help and on January
22, 1919, united with it into a single state. However, the Directory was
busy with the war with the Bolsheviks and could not send troops. As a
result, by mid-July 1919, the Poles occupied Galicia, the Romanians
occupied Bukovyna, and the Czechs occupied Transcarpathia. In April
1920, the Soviet-Polish war broke out over the possession of Western
Ukraine. It ended on March 18, 1921 with the Peace of Riga, which
secured Poland's right to Ukrainian Galicia and Volhynia.
Ukraine
under Soviet rule (1920s–1930s)
On December 30, 1922, the Ukrainian
Soviet Socialist Republic concluded an agreement on the formation of the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) together with the Bolshevik
republics of Russia, Belarus, and Transcaucasia. According to this
treaty, all the national republics of the new Union were equal, but
after the adoption of the Constitution of the USSR in 1936, a
centralized management system was chosen, in which the national states
were transformed into autonomies within Russia.
During the years
1923-1933, the government of the USSR and the Communist Party conducted
a course of Ukrainization in the Ukrainian SSR, aimed at strengthening
the position of the Bolsheviks. By expanding the sphere of application
of the Ukrainian language in education, science, mass media, the army
and the party, the Bolsheviks tried to reduce the degree of hostility of
Ukrainians to the Soviet government. But already in 1930, on the
initiative of the Bolshevik governor in Ukraine Lazar Kaganovych, a
campaign of sharp criticism of Ukrainization and its supporters began.
In 1933, the Bolsheviks branded the course as a "nationalist bend",
began mass repressions against the Ukrainian intelligentsia and renewed
the Russification course. As a result of Stalin's repressions,
especially during the Great Terror, millions of Ukrainians, including
thousands of figures of Ukrainian culture and science, were executed or
sent to labor camps for political reasons. The destruction by the Soviet
authorities in the 1930s of more than 200 Ukrainian writers and artists,
mostly people whose activity peaked in the 1920s and early 1930s, made
this generation of Ukrainian culture known as the Shot Renaissance.
Among the most famous victims were Les Kurbas, Mykola Kulish, Mykola
Zerov, Hnat Khotkevich, Mykhailo Semenko, Mike Johansen, Valerian
Pidmohylnyi, Mykhailo Boychuk, Sofia Nalepynska-Boichuk.
In the
economic sphere of Ukraine, the communists carried out the so-called
"collectivization" of agriculture and intensified "industrialization",
which was accompanied by the forced transfer of large masses of the
population from villages to cities.
In 1932-1933, in order to
"collectivize" the economy and suppress the Ukrainian liberation
movement, the center of which was a Ukrainian village, the Soviet
authorities organized an artificial famine on the territory of the USSR.
It also affected regions of other Soviet republics where Ukrainians
lived compactly, particularly the Kuban. According to various estimates,
as a result of the Holodomor, the Ukrainian population lost from 4
million to 12 million people. He destroyed the Ukrainian village and, as
a result, the traditional value system in the Dnipro region, Slobozhan
region, Zaporozhye and Kuban. The Holodomor is recognized as genocide
and a crime against humanity at the international level.
Ukrainian lands included in Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia
The
1920s and 1930s in the western Ukrainian lands became the time of
formation of the anti-Polish liberation movement, which later took shape
in the organizational structure of the OUN.
Second World War
On August 23, 1939, the USSR and Germany concluded a non-aggression pact
and the distribution of spheres of influence in Eastern Europe. On
September 1, the Germans attacked Poland from the west, and on September
17, the Soviet Union attacked from the east. As a result of this
operation, Western Volhynia and Halychyna, populated mainly by
Ukrainians, were annexed to the Ukrainian SSR. After the German
occupation of France, on June 28, 1940, the USSR carried out an
operation against Romania. Thanks to this, Northern Bukovina and Bujak
were returned to the Ukrainian SSR, but part of Transnistria, which
became part of the Moldavian SSR, was rejected. On July 14, 1940, Red
Army troops occupied the Baltic states, and on June 1, 1941, the Germans
captured the Balkans. Germany and the USSR got common borders.
On
December 18, 1940, Germany approved the Barbarossa plan and on June 22,
1941, attacked the USSR. The war between these states lasted four years
and was fought largely on the territory of Ukraine. Italy, Hungary,
Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Finland took part in the
conflict on the side of Germany.
On June 30, 1941, Yaroslav
Stetsko proclaimed the Act of Restoration of the Ukrainian State in Lviv
occupied by Nazi troops. Soon he and Stepan Bandera ended up in
Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
On September 19, 1941, the
attackers captured Kyiv and the Right Bank, on October 24, Kharkiv and
the Left Bank, and in June-July 1942, Crimea and the Kuban. In February
1943, the USSR was able to stop the onslaught of the enemy near
Stalingrad, and in August of the same year, it intercepted the offensive
initiative after the victory on the Kursk arc. On November 6, 1943,
Soviet troops captured Kyiv, and in April-May 1944, they established
Soviet control over the Right Bank and Crimea. At the end of August
1944, the USSR occupied Western Ukraine and began an offensive against
the German-occupied countries of Central Europe. On May 2, Soviet troops
captured the German capital Berlin. On May 8, the war ended with the
surrender of Germany. As a result of the victory of the USSR, its role
in the international arena increased. A number of pro-Soviet regimes
were created in the countries of Central Europe.
The
German-Soviet confrontation was accompanied by cruelty, large-scale
destruction of settlements, destruction of large groups of the
population, deportations, removal of the population. From 8 to 10
million residents of Ukraine became victims of this war. In this war,
Ukrainians fought mainly on the side of the USSR in the Red Army,
certain formations, such as the Galicia division, on the side of
Germany. Some Ukrainians fought as part of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army
(UPA), which fought for Ukraine independent from Soviet and Nazi rule.
Thaw. Stagnation. Reconstruction
In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR
became one of the founding members of the United Nations. The first
computer of the Soviet MESM was built at the Kyiv Institute of
Electrical Engineering and began functioning in 1950.
Post-war
ethnic cleansing occurred with the new expansion of the Soviet Union.
According to statistics, as of January 1, 1953, Ukrainians were second
in the list among adult "special immigrants", which includes 20% of the
total. In addition to Ukrainians, over 450,000 ethnic Germans from the
Ukrainian SSR and over 200,000 Crimean Tatars became victims of forced
deportation.
The Ukrainian SSR was heavily destroyed during the
war, more than 700 cities and 28,000 villages were destroyed, so
reconstruction required significant efforts. The situation was
complicated by the post-war famine of 1946-1947, which was caused by
drought and military destruction of infrastructure. He took tens of
thousands of lives.
After Stalin's death in 1953, Nikita
Khrushchev became the first secretary of the Central Committee of the
CPSU. As the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Ukrainian SSR
in 1938-1949, Khrushchev was deeply familiar with the republic, and
after coming to all-Union power, he began to emphasize the friendship
between the Ukrainian and Russian peoples. In 1954, the 300th
anniversary of the Pereyaslav Rada was widely celebrated and, in
particular, Crimea was transferred from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR.
Already by 1950, the republic completely surpassed the pre-war level
of industry and production. In 1946-1950, almost 20% of the Soviet
budget of the five-year plan was invested in Soviet Ukraine. As a
result, the Ukrainian labor force increased by 33.2% from 1940 to 1955,
while the volume of industrial production increased by 2.2 times during
the same period. Soviet Ukraine soon became a European leader in the
field of industrial production, an important center of Soviet military
industry and high-tech research. Such an important role was determined
and supplemented by the significant influence of the local elite.
As a result of the temporary easing of Soviet repressions during the
Khrushchev thaw from the late 1950s to the 1970s, a literary, artistic
and socio-political trend among the intelligentsia was formed in
Ukraine, which was called the Sixties. The sixties were an internal
moral opposition to the Soviet totalitarian state regime. At the core of
the worldview principles of the sixties were recognition of freedom,
ideas of humanism and anthropocentrism. Among the most famous
representatives of the sixties were the writers Lina Kostenko, Grihir
Tyutyunnyk, Vasyl Simonenko, Ivan Drach, Vasyl Stus, literary critics
Ivan Svitlichnyi, Ivan Dzyuba, artists Alla Gorska, Galina Sevruk, film
artists Yuriy Illenko, Ivan Mykolaichuk, publicists Vyacheslav
Chornovil, Valery Marchenko and others. After the resumption of pressure
and repression by the Soviet regime, part of the sixties made a partial
compromise with the authorities, others chose the path of open
opposition to the totalitarian regime and became part of the dissident
movement, whose representatives openly criticized the Soviet government
and were in fact in opposition to it. A significant event of the
dissident movement in the Ukrainian SSR was the creation of the human
rights Ukrainian Helsinki group in 1976, among the most famous founders
of which were Mykola Rudenko and Levko Lukyanenko. Dissidents were
subjected to political repression by the Soviet authorities, many were
imprisoned for long periods. Subsequently, in 1991, dissidents Levko
Lukyanenko, Vyacheslav Chornovil and Mykhailo Horyn became the authors
of the Act of Proclamation of Independence of Ukraine.
Declaration of independence, presidencies of Kravchuk and Kuchma
On July 16, 1990, the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR adopted the
Declaration on State Sovereignty, which marked the beginning of the
confrontation between the governments of the USSR and the Ukrainian SSR.
On August 19, 1991, in Moscow, communist-conservatives made an
unsuccessful coup d'état attempt to restore the power of the party.
After the failure of the putschists, on August 24, 1991, the Verkhovna
Rada of the Ukrainian SSR adopted the Act of Proclamation of
Independence of Ukraine. This act was supported by 90.32% of Ukrainians
at the All-Ukrainian referendum on December 1, 1991. This marked the
emergence of the independent state of Ukraine. On the same day, the
first presidential elections were held, in which the chairman of the
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, head of the ideological department, secretary
of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, Leonid
Kravchuk, won in 1988-1990. On December 8 in Bialowieza Pushcha and on
December 21 in Alma-Ata, the leaders of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia
confirmed the dissolution of the USSR and formed the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS). Although the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine never
ratified the accession, that is, Ukraine was never a member of the CIS.
Ukraine was initially viewed as a republic with favorable economic
conditions, however, the country experienced a deeper economic downturn
than some of the other former Soviet republics. During the recession,
Ukraine lost 60% of its GDP from 1991 to 1999 and suffered from
five-digit inflation rates. Dissatisfied with economic conditions, as
well as the number of crimes and the level of corruption, Ukrainians
protested and organized strikes.
In 1996, the Constitution of
Ukraine was adopted, which contributed to the stabilization of the
political system and at the same time concentrated most of the power in
the hands of the then President Leonid Kuchma. In September of the same
year, a monetary reform was carried out and a new currency, the hryvnia,
was introduced. The Ukrainian economy stabilized by the end of the
1990s, and since 2000 it has started to grow, on average by 7% annually.
The Orange Revolution, the presidencies of Yushchenko and Yanukovych
In 2004, the second round of the presidential elections took place with
massive systematic falsifications in favor of the pro-government
candidate Viktor Yanukovych. This led to the beginning of the
all-Ukrainian protest, which was called the "Orange Revolution". The
Supreme Court of Ukraine annulled the decision of the Central Election
Commission on Viktor Yanukovych's election victory and ordered a
re-vote, as a result of which Viktor Yushchenko was elected president.
Yanukovych returned to power in 2006 when he became prime minister under
the Anti-Crisis Coalition, which led to early parliamentary elections in
September 2007. In 2010, Yanukovych was elected president and formed a
new government headed by Mykola Azarov. On April 21, Viktor Yanukovych
signed an agreement with the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry
Medvedev to extend the stay of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian
Federation in Sevastopol until 2042. On October 11, 2011, the Pechersk
Court of Kyiv sentenced the former Prime Minister of Ukraine and
Yanukovych's main opponent in the presidential elections, Yulia
Tymoshenko, to seven years in prison.
The Revolution of Dignity,
the Russian-Ukrainian War and Poroshenko's Presidency
Dissatisfaction
with Yanukovych's rule resulted in numerous protests during 2010-2013,
including "Tax Maidan", "Ukraine against Yanukovych", protests in
Vradiivka, etc., and on November 21, 2013, the Cabinet of Ministers
refused to sign the agreement on the association of Ukraine with the EU,
previously planned for during the Eastern Partnership summit led to
thousands of protest actions, which were held by EU supporters on the
eve of the upcoming presidential elections, which were called Euromaidan
and the "Revolution of Dignity": after joining the protesters, who
fundamentally opposed the violent violation of the civil rights of
Ukrainians. The forceful dispersal of protesters (mainly students) in
Kyiv on the night of November 30 caused hundreds of thousands (according
to some estimates, about a million) to take to the streets on December
1, demanding the resignation of the Azarov government and the president
himself. The development of the conflict reached its climax on February
18-20, 2014, when as a result of the confrontation between security
forces and protesters in the center of Kyiv, more than a hundred people
died, 1500 were injured, and hundreds are considered missing. As a
result of those events, on February 22, the Verkhovna Rada suspended the
President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych from his duties and called early
presidential elections for May 25, 2014. From February 23, 2014, the
Verkhovna Rada appointed Oleksandr Turchynov to perform the duties of
the President of Ukraine temporarily, until the election of the
President (the day before, he was also elected Chairman of the Verkhovna
Rada of Ukraine instead of V. Rybak).
Taking advantage of the
political crisis, the Russian special services inspired numerous
anti-state demonstrations in the cities of Crimea (since February 23,
2014), and soon in the east of Ukraine. In Crimea, the so-called
"self-defense units" were instantly created (as it turned out later,
they consisted of mercenaries imported from Russia the day before),
which incited the capture of state institutions, and together with
Russian servicemen (who at that time were without insignia on their
clothes and equipment) began to block military units of the Armed Forces
of Ukraine on the peninsula. During the clashes, a number of servicemen
of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and public pro-Ukrainian activists died.
The Russians also blocked ships of the Ukrainian Navy in Crimea and the
land entrances to the peninsula. On March 16, an illegitimate referendum
was held, which, according to the Russian authorities, legalized the
seizure of Ukrainian territory.
After the annexation of Crimea,
Russian leaders led by Vladimir Putin tried to declare South-Eastern
Ukraine a Russian territory and since April 2014 they have been trying
to implement a Crimean scenario on these lands. At the beginning of
April, state institutions were seized in Donetsk and Luhansk, similar
attempts took place in some other cities, in particular, in Kharkiv
(April 7, 2014) and Odesa (April 22, 2014). And already on April 12, a
military unit of Russian fighters captured the cities of Sloviansk and
Kramatorsk. V. o. President Oleksandr Turchynov announced the beginning
of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO). In the captured territories,
pro-Russian terrorists declared Donetsk (04.06.2014) and Luhansk
(04.27.2014) people's republics, fully controlled by Moscow, which
financed all this and organized the supply of weapons, PMM and fighters
here. During May-August 2014, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, together with
volunteer battalions, managed to liberate a large area from the invaders
and almost surround Donetsk. However, the sudden direct invasion of the
armed forces of the Russian Federation near Ilovaisk allowed the Kremlin
to save the so-called "DPR" and "LPR" and freeze the conflict.
On
January 1, 2016, Ukraine joined the Free Trade Area with the EU.
Ukrainian citizens received visa-free travel to the Schengen area for up
to 90 days in any 180-day period on June 11, 2017, and the Association
Agreement officially entered into force on September 1, 2017.
The
Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce satisfied
Naftogaz's demands for reimbursement of gas supplies for transit that
were not supplied by Gazprom. According to the Stockholm arbitration,
Naftogaz was awarded $4.63 billion in compensation for Gazprom's failure
to supply agreed volumes of gas for transit. According to the results of
two arbitration proceedings in Stockholm, Gazprom had to pay (and later
paid) 2.56 billion dollars in favor of Naftogaz.
On November 25,
2018, the Kerch Strait Incident occurred, when the coast guard of the
Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB) fired on and seized three
vessels of the Navy of Ukraine that were trying to pass from the Black
Sea to the Sea of Azov through the Kerch Strait on their way to the port
of Mariupol.
In 2018, the process of granting autocephaly to the
Kyiv Metropolitanate from the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (Tomos)
began, which was received on January 6, 2019 at Fener, which was
preceded by the Unification Council, which formed the Orthodox Church of
Ukraine.
On February 21, 2019, amendments were made to the
Constitution of Ukraine, the rules on Ukraine's strategic course for
membership in the European Union and NATO were enshrined in the preamble
of the Basic Law, three articles and transitional provisions.
Zelenskyi's presidency (since 2019)
On March 2, 2020, the first case
of infection with COVID-19 was confirmed in Chernivtsi. Subsequently,
quarantine was introduced, 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 (against the background of Russia's ongoing war against
Ukraine, no statistics are kept since February 24, 2022). Due to
quarantine restrictions, the economic crisis in the country intensified,
the number of officially unemployed increased by 67%. On March 20, the
first patient was cured, by that time there were already patients in
several regions.
On February 23, 2021, 2 vaccines against
coronavirus were registered in Ukraine: AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech.
On February 24, the first person was vaccinated.
At the June 2021
summit in Brussels, NATO leaders reiterated the decision made at the
2008 Bucharest summit that Ukraine would become a member of the Alliance
with a Membership Action Plan (MAP) as an integral part of the process
and Ukraine's right to determine its future and foreign policy. of
course, without outside intervention.
On Thursday, February 24,
2022, after the address of the President of the Russian Federation V.
Putin, the full-scale aggression of the Russian army against Ukraine
began. In the morning, at 4:00 Kyiv time, the territory of Ukraine was
attacked by Kalibr and Iskander cruise missiles. The Russian military
launched an offensive from the territory of Belarus, along the
Russian-Ukrainian border and from the temporarily occupied Crimea.
On February 28, 2022, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi,
signed an application for Ukraine's immediate accession to the European
Union. On February 28, 2022, European Commission President Ursula von
der Leyen said that Ukraine belongs to the European Union and the bloc
wants Ukraine to join, but it will take time. On March 1, 2022, the
European Parliament recommended making Ukraine an official candidate for
membership, and on March 10, 2022, the Council of the European Union
asked the European Commission to give an opinion on the application. On
April 8, 2022, von der Leyen personally handed Zelensky a legislative
questionnaire.
On April 14, 2022, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
recognized the actions committed by the Russian Federation during the
last phase of the Russian Federation's armed aggression against Ukraine,
which began on February 24, 2022, as genocide of the Ukrainian people.
It is indicated that acts of genocide in the actions of Russia are
manifested, in particular, in the commission of mass atrocities in the
cities of Bucha, Borodyanka, Gostomel, Irpin and others.
The
genocide of Ukrainians perpetrated by Russian troops in Ukraine during
the Russo-Ukrainian war may become the largest in Europe since World War
II.
On June 23, 2022, the European Parliament adopted a
resolution calling for the immediate granting of candidate status for
membership in the European Union to Ukraine. On June 23, 2022, the
European Council granted Ukraine the status of a candidate for accession
to the European Union.
According to the results of the national census, as of December 5,
2001, the population of Ukraine was 48,240,902 permanent residents and
48,457,102 people in the present population, and according to estimates
derived from the current population growth rate, by July 2012 its number
decreased to 44 596,155 people; by January 1, 2017 - up to 42,414,900
permanent residents and 42,584,500 people in the present population. As
of January 1, 2018, according to the State Statistics Service of
Ukraine, the population decreased to 42,216,766 permanent residents and
42,386,403 people in the present population. These data do not include
Crimea and Sevastopol; with them, as of May 1, 2014 - about 45,363.3
thousand people of the present population and 45,182,900 permanent
residents. Ukraine, therefore, ranks 37th in the world in terms of the
number of inhabitants.
The average population density is about
77.3 people/km², while the population is unevenly distributed: the most
densely populated are the industrial eastern regions (Donetsk, Luhansk,
Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkiv) and the Carpathian regions (Lviv,
Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi). In particular, the population density of
Donetsk region is 172.9 people/km², Lvov region - 117.8, Dnepropetrovsk
region - 107.3. Certain areas of the Ukrainian Carpathians, Polissya and
southern regions are relatively sparsely populated (in the Volyn region
- 51.4 people / km², Zhytomyr - 44.1, Kherson - 39.2).
The share
of the urban population is 69.2%. As of January 1, 2017, 3 cities had a
cash population of more than 1 million people: Kyiv (the capital of the
country) - 2,925,760 people; Kharkiv - 1,439,036 people; Odessa -
1,010,783 people.
Growth rates, age and gender structure
At
the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, on the territory of modern Ukraine,
there was a natural increase above the average for the Russian Empire
(14.9), the highest values were noted in the Yekaterinoslav, Tauride,
Volyn provinces and in the Don Army Region. Subsequent wars (World War
I, Civil War, World War II, during which Ukraine became a war zone) and
the famine of the 1920s, 1930s, late 1940s had the most negative impact
on the demographic situation, as a result of these events millions of
people died.
Among other things, the slowdown in population
growth, characteristic of industrialized countries, affected. So, if
from 1897 to 1913 (16 years) the population of Ukraine increased by 24%,
then from 1959 to 1976 (17 years) - by only 17%, and from 1976 to 1992
(16 years) - by 6%.
The maximum population of Ukraine was noted
in 1993, when it reached 52.2 million. Starting from this year, a
constant decrease in the population is recorded with an increase in
emigration abroad, a drop in the birth rate and an increase in
mortality.
A decrease in the population is noted in all regions
of Ukraine, including Kyiv. As of 2020, the smallest population decline
was observed in Chernivtsi, Rivne and Volyn regions.
In 2011, not
a single birth was recorded in 11 thousand settlements of Ukraine. In
the same 2011, the birth rate exceeded the death rate only in 5 out of
25 regions of Ukraine - Kyiv, Transcarpathian, Volyn, Chernivtsi and
Rivne regions. In 2012, Ukraine ranked 19th among countries in the world
in terms of mortality per 1,000 population.
In 2013, Ukraine was
in 23rd place in the world in terms of mortality per 1,000 population.
National composition
According to the latest all-Ukrainian census
conducted in 2001, Ukrainians make up 77.8% of the population and are
the majority in all regions, except for the Autonomous Republic of
Crimea and Sevastopol; Russians - 17.3%, make up a significant part of
the population in the eastern and southern regions, especially in the
Autonomous Republic of Crimea, as well as in large cities); Belarusians
also live - 0.6%, Moldovans - 0.5%, Crimean Tatars - 0.5%, Bulgarians -
0.4%, Hungarians - 0.3%, Romanians - 0.3%, Poles - 0.3 %, Jews - 0.2%,
Armenians - 0.2%, Greeks - 0.2%, Tatars - 0.2%, others - 1.2%.
In
Ukraine, for almost 20 years, a population census has not been carried
out, so it is difficult to assess the current ethnic composition of the
population. Nevertheless, the study of the statistics of the registry
offices, in the part where nationality is indicated in civil status
acts, allows us to speak about the presence of a tendency to identify
ethnicity and citizenship. So, in the registry office in 1993 in
Kharkov, 43.6% indicated their ethnicity as Russians, and in 2014 there
were only 7.3% of them; at the same time, the proportion of those who
indicated the nationality of the Ukrainians increased from 49.9% to
90.1%.
According to Art. 10 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the only state
language is Ukrainian. The state ensures the comprehensive development
and functioning of the Ukrainian language in all spheres of public life
throughout the territory of Ukraine, while guaranteeing the free
development, use and protection of Russian and other languages of
national minorities of Ukraine.
According to research conducted
by the Razumkov Center, in 2011, 61% of citizens of Ukraine considered
Ukrainian their native language (in 2016 - 69%), Russian - 36% (in 2016
- 27%), other languages - 2%.
In Ukraine, in addition to
Ukrainian, Russian is also widely spoken. Until August 10, 2012, the Law
of Ukraine “On Languages in the Ukrainian SSR” was in force, according
to which Russian was one of the languages of interethnic
communication, knowledge of which was required from officials along with
knowledge of Ukrainian.
According to a survey conducted in 2004
by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), it is easier to
communicate in Russian at home for 45% of the population of Ukraine,
while in Ukrainian - 42%, it is equally easy to communicate in both
languages - 13%. According to this KIIS survey, the absolute majority
of the population of the southern and eastern regions use the Russian
language for communication in the first place.
According to a
survey conducted by Research & Branding Group, 68% of Ukrainian citizens
are fluent in Russian (Ukrainian - 57%).
According to a 2008
study by the American Gallup Institute, 83% of the interviewed citizens
chose Russian to communicate with the interviewer.
According to
the All-Ukrainian census of 2001, 85.2% of the total population of
Ukraine named their national language as their mother tongue (88.5% in
1979). The majority of the population of the state (32.6 million
people), according to the census, called the Ukrainian language their
native language. The number of Ukrainians who named the language of
their nationality as their native language exceeds 85.2% (in 1979 -
93.5%).
Historically due to the wide distribution of other
languages (mainly neighboring states and peoples). The most common of
them is the Russian language, which, according to the 2001 census, was
called native by 29.6% of the inhabitants of Ukraine (in 1979 - 31.3%),
however, according to studies of the linguistic behavior of the
Ukrainian population of KIIS, it is used by more than half of the
population Ukraine (52.8%). The Ukrainian language is more common in the
central part, in the north and west of the country, Russian - in the
south and east. In large cities of the east and south of Ukraine, as
well as in Kyiv, the predominance of the Russian language in daily
communication is noticeable, despite a significant proportion of the
population that indicated Ukrainian as their native language.
Ukraine is a secular state, art. 35 of the Constitution guarantees
freedom of religion.
According to a study conducted in early
2015, the majority of respondents in Ukraine consider themselves
Christian believers: 74% of residents are Orthodox, 8% are Greek
Catholics, 1% are Roman Catholics and Protestants (evangelical
Christians); about 9% of respondents simply called themselves
Christians; do not consider themselves to any of the religious
denominations 6%, and another 1% of respondents found it difficult to
answer.
Since December 2018, 2 large jurisdictions have coexisted
in Ukraine, calling themselves Ukrainian Orthodox Churches: the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church (as part of the Russian Orthodox Church), the
Orthodox Church of Ukraine (autocephalous since January 2019); smaller
structures also exist.
The total number of Catholics (of all
rites) in Ukraine, according to the Annuario Pontificio for 2009, is
4,801,879 people in 4,293 communities.
The most influential
Protestant churches are the All-Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Christian
Baptist Churches, the All-Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Pentecostal
Christian Churches, and the Ukrainian Union Conference of the Seventh
Day Adventist Church.
As of the beginning of the 21st century,
the proportion of Muslims, according to one of the leaders of the Muslim
community, ranged from 1 to 4% of Ukrainians (mainly ethnic Crimean
Tatars). Muslims live in the Crimea, the most significant communities
are in Simferopol, Bakhchisarai and Stary Krym.
As of January 1,
2015, there were 87 registered religious centers and 292 religious
administrations (eparchies, dioceses, etc.) in the country (without
taking into account the data for Crimea), which represent more than 50
different confessional areas, there are 32,792 registered local
religious communities, 516 monasteries, 365 religious missions, 78
brotherhoods, 198 religious educational institutions, 12,406 Sunday
schools.
Ukraine is a unitary republic of a mixed type. The basic law of the
state is the constitution.
According to the Economist
Intelligence Unit, Ukraine was classified as a hybrid regime in 2018 on
the Democracy Index, ranking 17th out of 29 countries in Eastern Europe.
Executive power
The head of state is the president, who is also
the supreme commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and chairman of the
National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. The post of president
was established on July 5, 1991, the first president of Ukraine from
1991 to 1994 was Leonid Kravchuk. Volodymyr Zelensky has been in office
since May 20, 2019.
The president is elected for a term of 5
years by secret ballot in general direct equal elections, the same
person cannot hold the presidency for more than two consecutive terms.
Leonid Kravchuk became the first popularly elected president in the
country's history, having won the 1991 presidential election.
The
highest body of executive power in Ukraine is the Cabinet of Ministers,
headed by the Prime Minister and composed of the First Deputy Prime
Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers and ministers. Since March 4, 2020,
Denys Shmyhal has been the Prime Minister.
Legislature
The
only body of legislative power in the country is the Verkhovna Rada of
Ukraine. The current convocation of the Verkhovna Rada is the ninth. It
is a permanent structure and is convened at the session 2 times a year.
At its regular sessions, the Verkhovna Rada conducts the
inauguration of the elected president and approves the main directions
of the state course proposed by the president for a five-year term. The
President is responsible to the Verkhovna Rada, the Parliament can
impeach him in the manner prescribed by the Constitution.
The
constitutional composition of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is 450
deputies.
Within the competence of Parliament, according to Art.
84 of the Constitution, includes the development, adoption and control
over the implementation of laws, the approval of the state budget, the
ratification of international agreements, the appointment of an
all-Ukrainian referendum and other powers.
People's deputies of
Ukraine are elected for a 5-year term in the course of direct general
equal elections held according to a mixed system.
Judicial branch
Justice in Ukraine is administered exclusively by the courts. The
jurisdiction of the courts extends to all legal relations that arise in
the state. The system of courts of general jurisdiction in Ukraine is
based on the principles of territoriality and specialization.
In
the judicial system of Ukraine there are also economic (district,
appellate) and administrative (district, appellate) courts. The highest
judicial body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction is the
Supreme Court. Previously, there were the High Specialized Court for
Civil and Criminal Cases, the High Administrative Court and the High
Economic Court, which were liquidated in the course of judicial reform.
Currently, the Supreme Court has a Grand Chamber, as well as cassation
administrative, civil, criminal and economic courts. Since December 1,
2021, Vsevolod Knyazev has been the Chairman of the Supreme Court.
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine is separate, independent from
the courts of general jurisdiction. It cannot be a cassation, appellate
or supervisory instance for courts of general jurisdiction. Since
September 17, 2019, Oleksandr Tupytsky has been the Chairman of the
Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
Political parties
Modern
Ukraine is characterized by a multi-party system. Previously, until
1991, the Communist Party remained the main political force, the modern
party system of Ukraine was formed in the early 1990s.
The
activities of political parties are regulated by the current
legislation. In 2001, the law "On Political Parties" was adopted,
according to which any 100 citizens of the country have the right to
form a party. The party is subject to registration with the Ministry of
Justice. All parties are obliged to recognize the principles of the
constitution of Ukraine as the fundamental law of Ukraine.
As of
2021, 365 political parties are officially registered in Ukraine. In the
parliamentary elections held on July 21, 2019, 22 of them took part, 5
parties overcame the threshold of 5% of the votes established by law.
Legal system
The legal system of Ukraine has a mixed character.
Most of the legal norms are established according to classical European
models, and belong to the Romano-Germanic legal family.
After the
collapse of the USSR, in the context of the process of democratic
reforms, a large-scale reform of the legal system takes place, the main
goal of which is proclaimed to ensure the rule of law and the
independence of the judiciary.
Provisions on ensuring fundamental
human rights and freedoms were originally laid down in the Ukrainian
constitution.
Measures to improve the human rights situation have become one of the
main directions of liberal reforms carried out in Ukraine since the
early 1990s. As part of these efforts, relevant legislation was adopted,
the work of the National Commission on Human Rights was activated, and
this direction in the work of the Ministry of Justice was strengthened.
A number of investigations have been carried out into cases of human
rights violations committed in the past.
State symbols
According to Art. 10 of the Constitution, Ukraine has 3 state symbols -
the flag, coat of arms and anthem.
On January 15, 1992, the music
of the national anthem of Ukraine was approved. On March 6, 2003, the
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved the words (text of the first verse
and chorus) of the anthem.
On January 28, 1992, the Verkhovna
Rada of Ukraine decided to approve the national flag as the State Flag
of Ukraine, which is a rectangular panel consisting of two horizontally
spaced stripes of equal width: the upper one is blue, the lower one is
yellow. The flag of Ukraine is a rectangular panel with an aspect ratio
of 2:3 and consisting of two equal stripes - blue and yellow.
On
February 19, 1992, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a resolution
"On the State Emblem of Ukraine", according to which it approved the
trident as a small coat of arms, considering it as the main element of
the large coat of arms. On June 28, 1996, Article 20 of the Constitution
of Ukraine approved the small coat of arms of the state - in an azure
shield with a gold border, a golden trident. The trident during the
times of Kievan Rus was the state emblem and the family seal of the
Rurik princes. The small coat of arms is the main part of the large coat
of arms, which was not adopted, which depicts a blue shield with a
yellow trident.
January 1 - New Year.
January 7th is Christmas Day according to
the Julian calendar.
March 8 is International Women's Day.
May 1-2
- Labor Day.
May 8 is the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation.
May 9 is Victory Day over Nazism in World War II.
June 28 -
Constitution Day of Ukraine.
August 24 - Independence Day.
October
14 is the Day of Defenders and Defenders of Ukraine.
December 25 is
Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar.
The passing date is
Easter.
The passing date is the Day of the Holy Trinity.
The national currency of Ukraine is hryvnia (UAH). In large cities,
at exchange offices, you can exchange it for rubles, dollars and euros,
however, it should be noted that the exchange for rubles is somewhat not
so popular, and you can not buy rubles for hryvnias at all exchange
offices (you can return rubles everywhere). In small towns, you can find
an exchanger in bank branches, but you should not exchange currency in
the markets. ATMs are quite widespread, including small towns. In most
shopping centers, shops, as a rule, bank cards are accepted for payment.
In small towns, the acquiring network is less developed.
Prices
In general, prices in Ukraine are much lower than in Russia, and for
some categories of goods/services they are 2-3 times lower
(purchase/rent of real estate, travel by public transport, etc.)
Standard prices:
fixed-route taxi within the region (up to 100 km) -
25-35 hryvnia (December 2008).
a reserved seat car in most of Ukraine
- up to 200 hryvnia ($ 7.5), a compartment car - up to 500 ($ 19) (for
2017).
taxi - 5-8 UAH per 1 km.
It is always worth remembering
that, as in other countries, in tourist-oriented places, prices for
goods / services can be unreasonably high. For example, taxi drivers
near the Kyiv railway station announce the price - 100-150 UAH in Kyiv.
It will be cheaper to order the services of a taxi company by phone
(50-70 UAH), advertising of which can be seen on billboards in the
station building.
Ukrainian cuisine is diverse and can please both with a wide
selection of meat and fish dishes, as well as with native Ukrainian
vegetable dishes, as well as confectionery and pastries.
The
national first course is borscht, a vegetable soup with meat, mostly
pork. In Ukraine, there are more than 50 types of cooking borscht, which
differ depending on the locality of preparation, but the most popular
serving of borscht is with donuts with garlic. Among meat products,
meatballs and cutlets (in Kiev, Poltava and others) are popular, as well
as lard, which goes into many dishes and is a popular snack for vodka.
Food prices are below the Russian average, especially in markets and
supermarkets. Practically in any settlement, and even more important for
tourism, there is a sufficient choice of catering establishments: from
small cafes to restaurants. In large or touristy cities, gourmets will
always find a restaurant that suits their taste. A network of national
cuisines is quite developed: from Eastern and European to traditional
Slavic. However, the prices may be too high.
Of particular
interest are restaurants of national Ukrainian cuisine, which are quite
numerous in the cities of Ukraine, and the prices are very democratic. A
good, tasty dinner for two with a glass of wine in such a restaurant
will not exceed fifty dollars.
Hotels oriented to European standards have appeared today in most of
the regional centers of Ukraine. The hotel industry is most developed in
million-plus cities and resort towns on the Southern Coast of Crimea.
Five-star hotels are only in a few cities of Ukraine: Kyiv, Donetsk,
Odessa, Kharkiv, Zaporozhye.
If for some reason the prospect of
staying in a five-star hotel does not captivate you, then in recent
years a large number of small private hotels have appeared in the
country. A decent, large by Russian standards room with all amenities in
such a hotel will cost between 1000-1200 Russian rubles (2010). In Kyiv
and Lvov prices will be higher. In addition, there are a lot of
companies (which may call themselves differently - “Private hotel” or
“Apartments in the center of Kyiv”) that rent apartments of any class
for any wallet - from 200 to 10,000 UAH / day (Kyiv).
Privatized
Soviet-era hotels are now being actively renovated, but visitors still
have a chance to get into nostalgic rooms with creaky antique Soviet-era
beds with trodden mattresses and samples of the Soviet wallpaper
industry of the 70s of the last century on the walls.
Many of the surviving customs are associated with religious celebrations. So, for Christmas in Western Ukraine, it is customary to set up nativity scenes and weave a traditional didukh amulet. The celebration of the cycle of New Year holidays from January 1 to January 19, the celebration of Easter, is also replete with traditions. There are also many traditions and superstitions preserved in wedding ceremonies.
Outside of Kyiv and large cities, payphone communications in Ukraine
have almost completely disappeared, but the remaining payphones on the
streets, in Ukrtelecom branches, hospitals and some government agencies
work for free when calling to city numbers. You can also purchase a SIM
card from a local operator (it will be more expensive to use your card
while roaming anyway), which are sold everywhere, including remote
villages. Presentation of a document for the purchase of a SIM card is
not required. Starter packs and scratch cards are sold at face value in
the operator's branded stores (of which there are enough in large
cities), in other places - with a small extra charge of 3-5 UAH. You
should beware of buying SIM cards from sellers on the street near
railway stations, in underground passages and other crowded places -
most often they sell "free" packages, which may require additional
top-up to use. Calls in the network of "their" operator are often free,
in addition, all operators provide favorable tariff plans for calls
abroad.
Mobile operators: GSM900/1800: Vodafone (former MTS),
Kyivstar, Life; 2100-UTEL. CDMA2000: PEOPLEnet, Intertelecom,
Cdma-Ukraine. UTEL is the only Ukrainian operator providing 3G video
communication services, however, it has WCDMA coverage only in regional
centers and large cities, in the rest of the country it operates in
Kyivstar (GSM) roaming.
Precautionary measures
You should not
openly wear symbols associated with Russia or the Soviet Union (Russian,
Soviet or imperial flag, the inscriptions "Russia", "Russia" or "USSR",
St. George's and Guards ribbons), as well as the symbols of separatist
formations and movements.
You can speak Russian as much as you like,
but avoid talking about the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians
(“we are brothers”, “one people”, etc.), even if it seems to you that
the interlocutor is an ethnic Russian.
State Emergency Service: 101
National Police: 102
ambulance:
103
gas network emergency service: 104
rescue service: 112