Ukraine

Ukrainian Republic
Ukrainian Republic; Українська Республіка (uk); Украинская Республика (ru); Ukrán Köztársaság (hu); Ukrayna Cumhuriyeti (ch)
	Flag Coat of arms
	Anthem: Живи, Україно; "Live, Ukraine"
Capital; and largest city	Kyiv
Official languages	Ukrainian · Russian · Hungarian · Crimean Tatar
Demonym(s)	Ukrainian
Government	Federal parliamentary republic
Legislature	Verkhovna Rada
Establishment
• Kievan Rus' formed	879
• Kingdom of Ruthenia	1199
• Grand Duchy of Lithuania	1362
• Ukrainian National Republic	1923–1924
• Independence from Russia	July 1, 1959
Population
• Estimate	51,527,205
Currency	Ukrainian hryvna (₴‎) (UAH)
Time zone	UTC+3
Date format	dd/mm/yyy
Driving side	right
ISO 3166 code	UA

Ukraine, officially the Ukrainian Republic (Ukrainian: Українська Республіка, Ukrajinśka Respublika; Russian: Украинская Республика, Ukrainskaja Respublika; Hungarian: Ukrán Köztársaság, Crimean Tatar: Ukrayna Cumhuriyeti) is a country in the Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the east, Belarus to the north, Poland to the northwest, Romania and Hungary to the southwest, and the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to the south. Ukraine has a population of about 51.5 million as of 2021, with the largest and capital city being Kyiv.

The country is a federal parliamentary republic with a unique system of administrative organization, consisting primarily of four highly autonomous regions: the Western Ukraine Region, the Eastern Ukraine Region, the Crimea Region, and the Kiev Capital Region. Crimea is the smallest region, while Kiev is the most densely populated and also has the highest per capita GDP. The Prime Minister is the head of government and chief executive, while the President of Ukraine is the head of state and serves as the ceremonial symbol of the nation, while having some reserve powers in the event of political instability.

There are also four constitutional linguistic communities that exist in Ukraine, as legal entities that also have geographic boundaries: the Ukrainian-speaking Community in Western Ukraine, making up about 52% of the population, and the Russian-speaking Community in Eastern Ukraine that makes up about 48%. There is also a Hungarian-speaking Community in the Carpathian-Hungarian Districts of Western Ukraine and the Crimean Tatar Community in the Crimea, both being less than 1% of Ukraine's total population. The Kiev Capital Region includes both Ukrainian and Russian as its official languages, Crimea has Russian and Crimean Tatar as official languages, while all four languages are official on the federal level. The complex administrative system exists to address the linguistic and cultural difference among the Ukrainian population, as well as to prevent antagonism between the Ukrainian-speaking and Russian-speaking groups, and includes six levels of government (federal, communal, regional, provincial, district, and municipal).

The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC. During the Bronze Age around 4,000 to 3,000 BC, Ukraine and southern Russia were the homeland of the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) language speakers, who migrated out of the Pontic-Caspian Steppes going west into Europe and to the east into Central and South Asia, with their descendants in those regions eventually developing different languages which are all today part of the Indo-European language family. Archeological cultures dating back to the Indo-European steppe nomads on the territory of modern Ukraine notably include the Sredny Stog culture.

During the Middle Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture, with the powerful state of Kievan Rus' forming the basis of Ukrainian identity. Following its fragmentation in the 13th century, the territory was contested, ruled, and divided by a variety of powers, including the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia. A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries, but its territory was eventually split between Poland and the Russian Empire. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution in 1923, a Ukrainian national movement for self-determination emerged and a Ukrainian National Republic was created, but it was invaded by the Russian White Army in 1924. Ukraine would remain part of Russia until the partition in the aftermath of the Second Great War. The modern Ukrainian Republic became an independent country in 1959 with the recognition of the Allied powers and the modern postwar Russian state, the Russian Democratic Republic. Its current administrative system, including regions, linguistic communities, and language areas, was developed during the 1970s and 1980s, being codified into the constitution during that time.

Ukraine has a high-income mixed economy with an extensive social welfare system that includes free higher education and healthcare. The country's main economic industries include electric power generation (using coal, nuclear, and natural gas), manufacturing, shipbuilding, and agriculture. Ukraine is one of the largest agricultural producers in Europe and in the world, famous for its rich soil. It is a member of the League of Nations, the European Community, the Northern Treaty Organization, IMF, and WTO, among other international organizations.

Etymology

There are different hypotheses to the origins of the name of Ukraine, the most widespread of which theorizes that the name of Ukraine originates form the old Slavic word for "borderland".

During the 20th century, the region and country was commonly referred to as The Ukraine in the English-speaking world as the word "ukraina" means borderland and was translated as if "the borderlands" – the Ukraine – now like how Nederlanden, meaning "low lands" or "neder lands", is translated as "the Netherlands". Since the nation has become independent however, the term is used more rarely and the country is commonly referred simply as Ukraine.

Geography

Provinces

History

Politics

Ukraine is a federal parliamentary republic, in which the federal parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, consists of 500 deputies elected in single-member districts by the first-past-the-post voting method. The governing party or coalition of parties in the Verkhovna Rada appoints one of their members to be the Prime Minister of Ukraine, who is the de facto leader of the executive branch and is therefore is the head of government. The Prime Minister is tasked with forming a cabinet and then implementing the government agreement signed by the coalition or the governing platform if there is a single party in control of the Rada. Cabinet minister posts are divided equally between Ukrainian speakers and Russian speakers, while one ministerial post occasionally goes to a Hungarian speaker and a Crimean Tatar, the two largest minority groups in the country. The "inner cabinet" consisting of the Prime Minister and several Deputy Prime Ministers, each usually responsible for a larger sphere that relates to multiple ministerial positions, is the main decision-making body in the federal government. The Prime Minister is also a member of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, which includes certain ministers and deputy prime ministers, military and intelligence chiefs, and other key officials, and has some influence over foreign and defense policy.

The President of Ukraine is the ceremonial head of state and mainly has a symbolic role. Although the president is the de jure head of the executive branch, the president is not expected to actively participate in the political decision-making process but to allow the ministers of the cabinet and Prime Minister to do so. However, the president does have political "reserve powers" to act if a government is dissolved and a new election has not yet been held, if something happens to the Prime Minister, and during certain state functions. A candidate for the presidency is directly elected by popular vote for a five-year term. The judicial branch is headed by the Supreme Council of Justice, a panel which nominates judges for the Supreme Court of Ukraine and various lower courts, who then have to be approved by the Rada and then be formally appointed by the President.

The authority of the Federal Government (Ukrainian: Федеральний уряд, Russian: Федеральное правительство, Hungarian: Szövetségi Kormány, Crimean Tatar: Federal Hükümet) extends to matters that are considered to be a common policy among all regions and linguistic communities of Ukraine. This includes foreign and defense policy, nuclear energy, public debt and finance, and state-owned corporations. In many domestic matters, the highly autonomous regional and community governments are left to form policy for their particular jurisdictions. Because of this, the Ukrainian political system has been described as a three-tiered federation, in which the key institutions of the state are the communities, regions, and the federal government.

Political culture

Mariinskyi Palace, the working residence of the Cabinet, the prime minister, and the president.

The relations between Ukraine's political institutions are complex, with political parties since 1970 having represented different ethnic, cultural, and linguistic communities. Political parties in each region usually belong to one of four main broad descriptors: Christian Democrats, Liberals, Socialists, or Nationalists, and the first three are the most influential historically. Soon after gaining independence, a series of Christian Democratic governments dominated the federal parliament, but this was broken in the 1990s when their parties could no longer win the majority of seats, creating a Liberal-Socialist coalition in 1996. The Christian Democrats supported integration with the European Community and NTO, opposed the wars in Vietnam and the Andes, and promoted social conservatism, mainly based around the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but also with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the West Ukraine Region. After coming to power, the Liberal-Socialist government supported integrating former Landonist bloc countries in Europe into the EC following the Revolutions of 2000 and opposed the invasion of Syria. Although there are Nationalist parties that exist to represent specific groups, they have remained marginal in their influence over the state. The West Ukraine Region and Ukrainian-speaking Community have historically had the most significant nationalist movement.

Law enforcement

Foreign relations

The leaders of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia signing the Chernigov Treaty to establish closer military cooperation within Eurocorps, 2002.

Military

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) consist of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, Ukrainian Navy, and Ukrainian Air Force, which together have about 128,000 active personnel.

Emerging from Great War II made collective defense a priority for Ukrainian foreign policy, with the country joining both the EC and NTO, including the military command structures that were developed by each organization. The AFU was integrated with other European armies and was subordinated to the NTO Supreme Allied Commander Europe since the late 1960s. Ukraine has also participated in League of Nations peacekeeping missions around the world. Currently, Ukraine cooperates closely with Belarus and Russia in the Eastern Battle Group of Eurocorps.

Administrative divisions

Ukraine has a complex system of administrative organization that includes four regions, four linguistic communities, 25 provinces (oblasts), and four language areas. All of these entities have geographic borders, but among them parliaments only exist on the regional, community, and provincial level. The federal parliament (Verkhovna Rada) and government retains power over certain common policies, including foreign and defense policy, finance and debt, nuclear energy, and state-owned corporations (such as Ukrainian Railways and Energoatom). In essence, the federal government controls most of foreign policy and a substantial part of domestic policy.

Community governments have legal competence over matters directly related to the culture of their linguistic group: education, media, and other cultural issues. They also have some competence in other matters that are an extension of those fields. The Ukrainian Constitution states that Communities do not refer to an ethnic group but to all speakers of their language. Regional governments have control over broad policies that pertain to their territory, including matters related to the economy, social welfare, energy, transportation, the environment, and housing. Provincial and district (raion) governments are under the authority of regions. Language areas have no government or political offices, they mostly exist on paper to designate the official language status in their relevant subdivisions.

The Ukrainian Constitution divides state power in the federal system between three primary levels: the Federal government in Kiev, the Regional governments in Western Ukraine Region, Eastern Ukraine Region, Crimea Region, and the Kiev Capital Region, and the Communities, which are the Ukrainian-speaking Community, Russian-speaking Community, Crimean Tatar Community, and the Hungarian-speaking Community. The main difference in the boundaries of Communities and Regions is that the Kiev Capital Region is considered to be part of both the Ukrainian-speaking and Russian-speaking Communities, the Crimean Region is part of both the Russian-speaking and Crimean Tatar Communities, and the territory of the Hungarian-speaking Community is entirely in Western Ukraine.

Federal state	1	Ukraine
Language areas	4	Hungarian	Ukrainian	bilingual		Russian	bilingual
Communities	4	Hungarian- speaking Com.	Ukrainian-speaking Community		Russian-speaking Community			Crimean Tatar Community
Regions	4	Western Ukraine Region		Kiev Capital Region		Eastern Ukraine Region	Crimea Region
Oblasts	25	15		–		10	–
Raions	154	4	78	7		57	9

Ukraine

Contents

Etymology