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{{Infobox Country or territory|native_name = УкраїнаUkrayina|conventional_long_name = Ukraine|common_name = Ukraine|image_flag = Flag of Ukraine.svg|image_coat = Lesser Coat of Arms of Ukraine.svg|image_map = Europe location UKR.png|map_caption = |national_anthem = Ще не вмерла України ні слава, ні воля(Ukrainian language)Shche ne vmerla Ukrainy(transliteration)Ukraine's glory has not yet perished, nor her freedom]|demonym = Ukrainian (Kyiv)|latd=50 |latm=27 |latNS=N |longd=30 |longm=30 |longEW=E|largest_city = capital|government_type = [Semi-presidential system|leader_name1 = [Viktor Yushchenko|leader_name2 = [Viktor Yanukovych|sovereignty_note = from the [Soviet Union|established_date1 = [August 24 1991|established_date2 = [December 1 1991 [1991-->|percent_water = 7%|population_estimate = 46,490,400|population_estimate_year = 2007|population_estimate_rank = 27th|population_census = 48,457,102|population_census_year = 2001|population_density_km2 = 78|population_density_sq_mi = 199 |currency_code = UAH|country_code = UKR|time_zone = Eastern European Time|utc_offset = +2|time_zone_DST = Eastern European Summer Time|utc_offset_DST = +3|cctld = .ua in [Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the east, Belarus to the north, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Republic of Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The historic city of Kiev (Kyiv) is the country's capital.

From at least the 9th century, the territory of present-day Ukraine was a centre of medieval Early East Slavs forming the state of Kievan Rus', and for the following several centuries the territory was divided among a number of regional powers. After a Ukraine after the Russian Revolution (1917–1921) following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Ukraine became one of the founding Republics of the Soviet Unions in 1922. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic's territory was enlarged westward after the World War II, and again in 1954 with the Crimea#Soviet Union. In 1945, Ukrainian SSR became one of the co-founder members of the United Nations. It became independent again after the History of the Soviet Union (1985-1991) in 1991.

History Human settlement in the territory of Ukraine has been documented into distant prehistory. The late Neolithic Cucuteni culture flourished from about 4500 BC to 3000 BC.

Early history (800 BC–AD 700) In antiquity, the south and east of modern Ukraine was populated by nomads called Scythians (Ancient Iranian peoples).

The Scythian Kingdom existed here from 700 BC to 200 BC. In the 3rd century AD, the Goths settled and called the country Oium. They formed the Chernyakhov culture before moving on.

In the 7th century, the territory of modern Ukraine was the core of the state of the Bulgars (often referred to as Old Great Bulgaria) with capital city Phanagoria. At the end of the 7th century, most Bulgar tribes migrated in several directions and the remains of their state were absorbed by the Khazars, a semi-nomad from Central Asia.

The Khazars founded the independent Khazars in the southeastern part of today's Europe, near the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus (geographic region). The kingdom included western Kazakhstan, and parts of modern eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, southern Russia, and Crimea.

Golden Age of Kiev (800–1100) , 11th century. During the Golden Age of Kiev the lands of Kievan Rus' covered much of present day Ukraine, as well as Western Russia and Belarus.

During the 10th century and 11th century the territory of Ukraine became the centre of a powerful and prestigious state in Europe, the Kievan Rus', laying the foundation for the national identity of Ukrainians, as well as other Early East Slavs, through subsequent centuries. Its capital was Kiev, which later became the capital of modern Ukraine, wrested from Khazars by Askold and Dir in about 860. According to the Primary Chronicle, the Kievan Rus' elite initially consisted of Varangians from Scandinavia. The Varangians later became assimilated into the local Slavic population and became part of the Rus' first dynasty, the Rurik Dynasty.

Kievan Rus' comprised several principality, ruled by the interrelated Rurikid Kniaz. The seat of Kiev, the most prestigious and influential of all principalities, became a subject of many rivalries between Rurikids as the most valuable prize in their quest for power, sometimes through intrigue but often through bloody conflicts. The Golden Age of Kievan Rus' began with the reign of Vladimir the Great (Volodymyr, 980–1015) who Baptism of Kievan Rus'. During the reign of his son, Yaroslav the Wise (1019–1054), Kievan Rus' reached the zenith of its cultural development and military power. This was followed by the state's increasing fragmentation as the relative importance of regions rose again. After a final resurgence under the rule of Vladimir Monomakh (1113–1125) and his son Mstislav of Kiev (1125–1132), the Kievan Rus' finally disintegrated into separate principalities following Mstislav's death. The 13th century Mongol invasion of Rus' devastated Kievan Rus'. Kiev was totally destroyed in 1240.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth much of Ukraine was controlled by Lithuania (from the 14th century on) and since the Union of Lublin (1569) by Poland as seen at this outline of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as of 1619

On the Ukrainian territory, the state of Kievan Rus' was succeeded by the principalities of Halych and Volhynia, which were merged into the state of Halych-Volynia. In the mid 14th century, it was subjugated by Casimir III of Poland while the Battle on the Irpen' River under the Gediminids of Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Following the 1386 marriage of Lithuania's Ladislaus II of Poland to Poland's Jadwiga of Poland, most of Ukraine's territory was controlled by the increasingly Ruthenia Lithuanian rulers as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At this time, the term Ruthenia and Ruthenians as the Latinized versions of "Rus'", became widely applied to the land and its people, respectively.

By the 1569 Union of Lublin that formed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a significant part of Ukrainian territory was moved from largely Ruthenized Lithuanian rule to the Polish administration, as it was transferred to the Crown of the Polish Kingdom. Under the cultural pressure of Polonization much of the Ruthenian upper class converted to Catholicism (such transitions were beneficial for achieving political influence within the state), for example, King Michael of Poland, who reigned from 1669 to 1673, was of the Polonized Ruthenian Vishnevetsky (Wiśniowiecki) family. At the same time, the common people, especially the peasants, retained their old ways and their allegiance to their historic Eastern Orthodox Church. This led to increasing social tension, visible in events such as the 1596 Union of Brest, created by Sigismund III Vasa, who attempted to bring the Orthodox population under the Catholicism through creation of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. This controversial move failed to achieve its goals. Resisted even by some Ruthenian magnates, otherwise loyal to the Polish kings (Ostrogskis being the most notable example), the new "intermediate" religion was unnecessary for most of the upper class, much of which increasingly turned toward Catholicism with each subsequent generation. Thus, the Ukrainian commoners, deprived of their native protectors among Ruthenian nobility, turned for protection to the Cossacks who remained fiercely Orthodox at all times.

From 1569 the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth suffered a series of Tatar invasions, the goal of which was to loot, pillage and capture slavery into jasyr. The borderland area to the southeast was in a state of semi-permanent warfare until the 18th century. Some researchers estimate that more than three-million people, predominantly Ukrainians but also Circassians, Russians, Belarusians and Poles, were captured and enslaved during the time of the Crimean Khanate. Bakhchisaray, Ukraine

Rise of the Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of Turkey. Painted by Ilya Repin from 1880 to 1891.

In the mid 17th century, a Cossack state, the Zaporozhian Sich, was established by the Dnipro cossacks and the Ruthenian peasants fleeing Polish serfdom. Poland had little real control of this land in what is now central Ukraine, which became an autonomous military state, at times allied with the Commonwealth in the military campaigns. However, the enserfment of peasantry by the Polish nobility, overall emphasis of the Commonwealth's plantation economy, and, perhaps most importantly, the suppression of the Orthodox church pushed the allegiances of Cossacks away from Poland. Their aspiration was to have a representation in Polish Sejm#Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, recognition of Orthodox traditions and the gradual expansion of the Registered Cossacks, all being vehemently denied by the Polish kings. The cossacks turned toward Orthodox Russia, which was one reason for the later downfall of the Polish-Lithuanian state.

Russian Empire In 1648, Bohdan Khmelnytsky led the Khmelnytsky Uprising against the Commonwealth and the Polish king John II Casimir. This uprising finally led to a partition of Ukraine between Poland and Russia. Left-bank Ukraine was eventually integrated into Russia as the Cossack Hetmanate, following the 1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav and the ensuing Russo-Polish War (1654-1667). After the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century by Prussia, Habsburg Monarchy, and Russian Empire, Western Ukrainian (Galicia (Central Europe)) was taken over by Austria, while the rest of Ukraine was progressively incorporated into the Russian Empire. Despite the promises of Ukrainian autonomy given by the treaty of Pereyaslav, Ukrainians never received the freedoms they were hoping for from Imperial Russia. The Ukrainians played an important role in the frequent wars between East European monarchies and the Ottoman Empire. As a result of Russian successes in the Russo-Turkish wars of 1768–74 and 1787–1792, the territories along the Black Sea coast were annexed to the Russian Empire as well. Within the Empire Ukrainians frequently rose to the highest offices of Russian state (e.g., Aleksey Razumovsky, Alexander Bezborodko, Ivan Paskevich), and the Russian Orthodox Church (e.g., Stephen Yavorsky, Feofan Prokopovich, Dimitry of Rostov). At a later period, the tsar regime was implementing a harsh policy of Russification, Ems Ukaz the use of the Ukrainian language in print, and in public.

World War I and Austro-Hungarian rule During World War I Austria-Hungary authorities established the Ukrainian Legion, along with the Polish Legion, to fight against the repression of the Czar. Thousands of young men from both oppressed regions flocked to their respective standards and were armed, equipped and trained by the Austrian Hungarian Army. These legions were the foundations of the successful Polish Army and the abortive Ukrainian Army that fought against the Bolsheviks, in eastern Europe in the post World War 1 period (1919-1923)

Possibly up to 20-thousand supporters of Russia from Galicia were detained and placed in an Austrian internment camp in Talerhof, Styria (state), and in a fortress at Terezín (now in the Czech Republic).

Division and early Soviet years With the collapse of the Russian and Austrian empires following World War I and the Russian Revolution of 1917, a Ukrainian national movement for self-determination reemerged. During 1917–20, several separate Ukrainian states briefly emerged: the Tsentralna Rada, the Hetmanate, the Directorate, the Ukrainian People's Republic and the West Ukrainian People's Republic. However, with the defeat of the latter in the Polish-Ukrainian War and the failure of the Polish Kiev Offensive (1920) of the Polish-Soviet War, the Peace of Riga concluded in March 1921 between Second Polish Republic and the Bolshevist Russia left Ukraine divided again. The western part of Ukraine had been incorporated into the newly-organized Second Polish Republic. The larger central and eastern part, established as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in March of 1919, later became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union in December 1922.

The Ukrainian national identity lived on during the early Soviet years and the Culture of Ukraine and Ukrainian language even enjoyed a revival as the Ukrainization became a local implementation of the Soviet-wide Korenization (indigenization) policy whose gains were sharply reversed by the early-1930s policy changes.

Ukraine saw its share of the History of the Soviet Union (1927-1953)#Industrialization in practice starting from the late 1920s and the republic's industrial output quadrupled in the 1930s. However, the industrialization had a heavy cost for the peasantry, demographically a backbone of the Ukrainian nation. To satisfy the state's need for increased food supplies and finance industrialization, Stalin instituted a Collectivisation in the USSR of agriculture as the state combined the peasants' lands and animals into collective farms and enforcing the policies by the regular troops and secret police. Those who resisted were Population transfer in the Soviet Union and the increased production quotas were placed on the peasantry. The collectivization had a devastating effect on agricultural productivity. As the members of the collective farms were not allowed to receive any grain until the unachievable quotas were met, starvation became widespread. Millions starved to death in a famine known as the Holodomor.Available data are inconclusive as the Soviet government denied the existence of the famine. Therefore, calculations and estimates vary.

The times also coincided with the Soviet assault on the national political and cultural elite often accused in "nationalist deviations" as the Ukrainization. These policies were reversed at the turn of the decade. Two waves of Great Purge (1929–1934 and 1936–1938) resulted in the elimination of four-fifths of the Ukrainian cultural elite.

World War II

During World War II, some elements of the Ukrainian nationalist underground fought both Nazi Germany and Soviet forces, forming the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in 1942, while other Ukrainians initially collaborated with the Nazis, having been ignored by all other powers. In 1941 the German invaders and their Axis Powers allies initially advanced against desperate but unsuccessful efforts of the Red Army. In the encirclement battle of Kiev, the city was acclaimed by the Soviets as a "Hero City", for the fierce resistance of the Red Army and of the local population. More than 650,000 Soviet males between the ages of 15-50 were taken captive.

Initially, the Germans were received as liberators by many Ukrainians, especially in western Ukraine, which had been occupied by the Soviets only in 1939. However, German misrule in the occupied territories eventually aided the Soviet cause. Nazi administrators of conquered Soviet territories made little attempt to exploit the population of Ukrainian territories' dissatisfaction with Soviet political and economic policies. Instead, the Nazis preserved the collective-farm system, systematically carried out genocidal policies against History of the Jews in Ukraine, deported others (mainly Ukrainians) to work in Germany, and began a systematic depopulation of Ukraine to prepare it for German colonization, which included a food blockade on Kiev. Under these circumstances, most people living in the occupied territory either passively or actively opposed the Nazis.

Total civilian losses during the war and German occupation in Ukraine are estimated between five and eight million, including over half a million Jews killed by the Einsatzgruppen, sometimes with the help of local collaborators. Of the estimated 8.6 million Soviet troops who fell in battle against the Nazis, about a quarter (2.7 million) were ethnic Ukrainians. Ukraine is distinguished as one of the first nations to fight the Axis powers in Carpatho-Ukraine, and one that saw some of the greatest bloodshed during the war.

Postwar development The republic was heavily damaged by the war, and it required significant efforts to recover. More than 700 cities and towns and 28,000 villages were destroyed. Ukraine :: World War II and its aftermath The situation was worsened by a man-made famine in 1946–47, when the Soviet authorities were forcibly confiscating grain crops in accordance with a plan, ignoring drought conditions of 1946. Collected grain was distributed to the other regions of the Soviet Union, and 2.5 million tonnes were exported. In Ukraine, about one million people, predominantly in rural areas, died from the famine.

In western Ukraine, Ukrainians continued to resist Soviet rule. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army, formed in World War II to fight both Soviets and Nazis, continued to fight the USSR into the 1950s. Using guerilla war tactics, the insurgents were assassinating Soviet party leaders, NKVD and military officers. In particular, due to the resistance, the 1946-47 famine was much less severe in West Ukraine than in other Ukrainian regions.

Following the death of Stalin in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev became the new leader of the USSR. Being the First Secretary of Communist Party of Ukrainian SSR in 1938-49, Khrushchev played a role in Stalin's repressions, the liberation of Ukraine from the Nazis, organization of the man-made famine in 1946-47, and suppression of resistance in West Ukraine. But after taking power, he found it best to propagandize the friendship between the Ukrainian and Russian nations. In 1954, the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Pereyaslav was widely celebrated, and in particular, the Crimea was transferred from the RSFSR to the USSR.

In the times of Khrushchev Thaw of 1960s, there were dissident movements in Ukraine by prominent figures such as Vyacheslav Chornovil, Vasyl Stus, Levko Lukyanenko. As in the other regions of USSR, the movements were quickly suppressed.

In the 1970s, the new Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev, was gradually concentrating power. In 1972, the First Secretary of Communist Party of Ukraine Petro Shelest lost his position, as he was seen as being "too independent" by the government in Moscow and was replaced by Volodymyr Shcherbytsky.

The rule of Shcherbytsky was characterized by the expanded policies of Russification. He used his influence as the First Secretary of CPU, and a CPSU Politburo member for over 25 years, to advocate economic interests of Ukraine within the USSR.

The Chernobyl Incident On April 26, 1986, a reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, resulting in the Chernobyl disaster, the worst nuclear reactor accident in history. The disaster was the result of a flawed Soviet reactor design, lack of a containment vessel, and serious mistakes by inadequately-trained plant operators. The disaster contaminated a large area of Belarus and Ukraine to such an extent that a Zone of alienation was established around the plant. Other parts of Europe were contaminated in varying degrees.

After the accident, a new city, Slavutych, was built outside the exclusion zone to house and support the employees of the plant, which was decommissioned in 2000. Around 150,000 people were evacuated from the Zone of alienation, and 300,000–600,000 took part in the cleanup. As of 2000, about 4000 Ukrainian children have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer caused by radiation released by this incident.

Independence The wave of Gorbachev's perestroika arrived in Ukraine only in 1988–89. It was hindered initially by Shcherbytsky and party nomenklatura. Also, the economic slowdown and product shortages were initially not as severe in Ukraine as in the other regions of the USSR.

In 1989, the national movement "People's Movement of Ukraine", known in short as Rukh was formed. In the elections to the parliament of republic, which were held in March of 1990, Rukh obtained overwhelming support in western Ukraine, as well as in the cities of Kiev and Kharkiv.

On January 21, 1990, over 300,000 Ukrainians organized a human chain for Ukrainian independence in the Act Zluky of the Ukrainian People's Republic and the West Ukrainian National Republic. Citizens came out to the streets and highways, forming live chains by holding hands in support of unity. On July 16, 1990 the new parliament adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine. The declaration established the principles of the self-determination of the Ukrainian nation, democracy, political and economic independence, and the priority of Ukrainian law on the Ukrainian territory over Soviet law. A month earlier, a similar declaration was adopted by the parliament of the Russian SFSR. It started a period of confrontation between the central Soviet, and new republican authorities.

In March 1991, a referendum was organized by Soviet authorities, asking people whether they wanted to live in a "renewed" Soviet Union. The Ukrainian parliament added a second question, asking Ukrainian citizens whether they wished to live in the Soviet Union on the principles established in the Declaration of State Sovereignty. The citizens of Ukraine responded positively to both questions.

In August 1991, the conservative Communist leaders of the Soviet Union Soviet coup attempt of 1991 to remove Gorbachev and to restore the Communist party's power. After the attempt failed, on August 22, 1991 the Ukrainian parliament adopted the Act of Independence of Ukraine in which the parliament declared Ukraine as an independent democratic state.

A Ukrainian referendum, 1991 and the Ukrainian presidential election, 1991 took place on December 1, 1991. That day, more than 90 percent of the Ukrainian people expressed their support for the Act of Independence, and they elected the chairman of the parliament, Leonid Kravchuk to serve as the first President of Ukraine of the country.

At the Belavezha Accords on December 8, followed by Alma Ata meeting on December 21 the leaders of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, formally dissolved the Soviet Union and formed the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Modern history Ukraine was initially viewed as a republic with favorable economic conditions in comparison to the other regions of the Soviet Union. However, the country experienced deeper economic slowdown than the other republics. During the recession, Ukraine lost 60 percent of its Gross domestic product from 1991 to 1999, and suffered five-digit inflation rates. Dissatisfied with the economic conditions, as well as crime and corruption, Ukrainians protested and organized strikes. In 1994, President Kravchuk agreed to hold Ukrainian presidential election, 1994, in which he lost the presidential post to former Prime Minister of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma.

Under Kuchma, who served two terms as president, the Ukrainian economy stabilized by the end of 1990s, and since 2000 has enjoyed steady economic growth averaging approximately seven percent annually, which is one of the highest growth rates in Europe and the world. A new Constitution of Ukraine was adopted in 1996, which turned Ukraine into a semi-presidential republic and established a stable political system. Kuchma was, however, criticized by opponents for concentrating too much of power in his office, corruption, transferring public property into hands of loyal oligarchs, discouraging free speech, and electoral fraud.

The first National Space Agency of Ukraine astronaut to enter space under the Ukrainian flag was Leonid Kadenyuk on May 13, 1997. Ukraine became an active participant in scientific space exploration and remote sensing missions. Between 1992 and 2007, Ukraine has launched six self made satellites and 97 launch vehicles, and continues to design spacecraft.

in Kiev on 22 November, 2004

In 2004, Viktor Yanukovych, then Prime Minister of Ukraine, was declared the winner of the Ukrainian presidential election, 2004, which had been rigged, as many observers agreed. The results caused a public outcry in support of the opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, who challenged the results and led the peaceful Orange Revolution. The revolution brought Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko to power, while casting Viktor Yanukovych in opposition. The same year, Ukrainian pop-folk singer Ruslana won Eurovision Song Contest 2004, which allowed Ukraine to host Eurovision Song Contest 2005 in Kiev.

In March 2006, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2006 took place and three months later the official government was formed by the "Anti-Crisis Coalition" among the Party of Regions, Communist Party of Ukraine, and Socialist Party of Ukraine parties. The latter party switched from the "Orange Coalition" with Our Ukraine, and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. The new coalition nominated Viktor Yanukovych for the post of Prime Minister. Yanukovych once again became Prime Minister, while the leader of Socialist Party, Oleksander Moroz, managed to secure the position of chairman of parliament, which is believed by many to have been the reason for his leaving the Orange Coalition, where he had not been considered for this position. On April 2, 2007, President Yushchenko dissolved the Verkhovna Rada with a bill that had to be revised three times because of the uncertainties in the legal basis for the early parliamentary elections. As a result of protracted negotiations among the parties to the conflict, the elections were set to take place in September 2007.

On April 18, 2007 in Cardiff, Wales, Ukraine won a joint bid with Poland to host the UEFA Euro 2012 football championship, which is the third-largest sporting event in the world after the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics. This is the first time in Ukrainian history that the country got a chance to host such a major international event. Experts and politicians have noted that it will boost Ukrainian infrastructure development, tourist attractiveness and overall investments into the country. Among the most significant developments that will take place in the process of preparation are the road infrastructure improvement, expanding hotel networks in at least six major cities, in particular Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Odessa and Lviv, modernization of airports and construction of modern football stadiums. One of the stadiums (under construction) is the Shakhtar Stadium (future) in Donetsk, which received a five-star FIFA rating as one of the best in the world.

Government and politics , the Parliament of Ukraine.

Ukraine is a republic under a mixed semi-parliamentary semi-presidential system with separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The President of Ukraine is elected by popular vote and is the formal head of state.

The 450-seat unicameral parliament, Verkhovna Rada, is primarily responsible for the formation of the executive branch, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is headed by the Prime Minister of Ukraine.

Laws, acts of the parliament and the cabinet, presidential decrees, and acts of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea parliament may be abrogated by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, should they be found to violate the Constitution of Ukraine. Other normative acts are subject to judicial review. The Supreme Court of Ukraine is the main body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction.

Local self-government is officially guaranteed. Local councils and city mayors are popularly elected and exercise control over local budgets. The heads of regional and district administrations are appointed by the president.

Ukraine has a large number of political parties, many of which have tiny memberships and are unknown to the general public. Small parties often join in multi-party coalitions (electoral blocks) for the purpose of participating in parliamentary elections.

Current political situation

Ukraine is currently a transition state after a substantial constitutional reform was introduced at the beginning of 2006. The amendments to the Constitution were meant to transform the Ukrainian state from a presidential system to a mixed parliamentary system-presidential republic. However, the amendments happened to be far from perfect and created a great opportunity for potential conflicts between the president on one side and the parliamentary coalition on the other. The political life of Ukraine during this time could be characterized as a constant struggle between the President and the Prime Minister for power. This has been aggravated by the fact that the President and the Prime Minister represent opposite poles of the political spectrum and have significant differences concerning foreign and internal policy. The conflict has been accompanied by accusations from both sides. President Viktor Yushchenko accuses the coalition of trying to usurp power and take away even those powers that he preserved after the reform. On the other hand, the coalition accuses the president of unwillingness to accept the consequences of constitutional reform and trying to regain his former powers by all means possible.

In late March and early April 2007, the Ukrainian political system dealt with another constitutional crisis. President Viktor Yushchenko dissolved the Ukrainian parliament and ordered an early election to be held May 27, 2007. Crowds of about 70,000 gathered on Maidan Nezalezhnosti, the central square of Kiev, and supported the dismissal of parliament, with 20,000 supporting Yanukovych's plan to keep the parliament together. On April 3, 2007, President Yushchenko signed the bill into existence. Two hours later on Kiev's Maidan Nezalezhnosti, it was announced to the crowds that Parliament no longer existed.

The Verkhovna Rada immediately called an emergency session and voted against Yuschenko's decree (255 votes in favor; opposition didn't participate). A group of members of the parliament took the case to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, challenging the validity of the president's decree, but the court closed the case without opinion. A political struggle ensued between the parliamentary coalition and the opposition. Later, a compromise between Yushchenko and Yanukovych was reached to hold early parliamentary elections. Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2007 were held on September 30, 2007 and the coalition of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc gained the majority of votes.

The legal status of the previous parliament is unclear. Formally, the parliament has been dismissed, because more than a third of its members have resigned, and their parties cleared the reserve deputies lists. According to the constitution, this rendered the parliament inoperative. On the other hand, the Constitution states that the existing parliament is valid until the new parliament is sworn in.

Administrative divisions The system of Ukrainian subdivisions reflects the country's status as a unitary state (as stated in the country's constitution) with unified legal and Local government regime for each unit.

Ukraine is subdivided into twenty-four oblasts (provinces) and one autonomous republic (avtonomna respublika), Crimea. Additionally, two cities (misto), Kiev and Sevastopol, have a special legal status. The oblasts are subdivided into 494 raions (districts).



{] !!width="80px"| CapitalWhile the term capital may be used for the Crimea, the term capital is applied for oblasts. !!width="80px"] !!width="80px"| Demographics of UkraineThe population is as of the Ukrainian Census (2001).|-| Cherkasy Oblast ] || style="text-align:right"|20,900 km²|| style="text-align:right"|1,402,900|-| Chernihiv Oblast ] || style="text-align:right"|31,900 km²|| style="text-align:right"|1,245,300|-| Chernivtsi Oblast ] ||style="text-align:right"|8,100 km²|| style="text-align:right"|922,800|-| Crimea || Simferopol ] || Dnipropetrovsk ] || Donetsk ] || Ivano-Frankivsk ] || Kharkiv ] || Kherson ] || Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine || style="text-align:right"|20,600 km²|| style="text-align:right"|1,430,800|-| Kirovohrad Oblast ] || style="text-align:right"|24,600 km²|| style="text-align:right"|1,133,100|-| Kiev Oblast ] || style="text-align:right"|28,100 km²|| style="text-align:right"|1,827,900|-| Kiev || KievThe City of Kiev (Kyiv) is administrativly separate from the surrounding Kiev Oblast (oblast). Kiev is one of two "cities with special status," the other one being Sevastopol in Crimea. ] || Luhansk ] || Lviv ] || Mykolaiv ] || Odessa ] || Poltava ] || Rivne ] || Sevastopol ] || Sumy ] || Ternopil ] || Vinnytsia ] || Lutsk ] || Uzhhorod ] || Zaporizhia ] || Zhytomyr || style="text-align:right"|29,900 km²|| style="text-align:right"|1,389,500|}|}

Geography

At 603,700 square kilometre (233,074 square miles) and with a coastline of 2,782 km (1,729 sq mi) , Ukraine is the world's List of countries and outlying territories by area (after the Central African Republic, before Madagascar). It is the Europe#Territories and regions in Europe (after European part of Russia, before metropolitan France).

According to some, the geographical center of Europe lies in Ukraine, perhaps near the western town of Rakhiv. The question of Europe's geographical center is subject to ongoing debate, however.

The Ukrainian landscape consists mostly of fertile plains (or steppes) and plateaus, crossed by rivers such as the Dnieper, Seversky Donets, Dniester and the Southern Bug as they flow south into the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. To the southwest, the Danube Delta of the Danube forms the border with Romania. The country's only mountains are the Carpathian Mountains in the west, of which the highest is the Hora Hoverla at 2,061 m (6,762 foot (unit of length), and Crimean Mountains on the Crimean peninsula, in the extreme south along the coast.

Ukraine has a mostly temperate climate continental climate, although a more mediterranean climate is found on the southern Crimean coast. precipitation (meteorology) is disproportionately distributed; it is highest in the west and north and lesser in the east and southeast. Winters vary from cool along the Black Sea to cold farther inland. Summers are warm across the greater part of the country, but generally hot in the south.

Economy banknote depicting the Ukrainian poet Ivan Franko... launch vehicle stationed at Sea Launch complex

Ukraine's 2006 GDP (Purchasing power parity) is ranked List of countries by GDP (PPP) and estimated at $355.8 billions.https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/up.html Nominal GDP (in U.S. dollars, calculated at market exchange rate) was $81.53 billions, ranked 53rd in the world.https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/up.html

In Soviet times, the economy of the republic was the second largest in the Soviet Union, being an important industry and agriculture component of the country's planned economy. With the collapse of the Soviet system, the country moved from a planned economy to a market economy. The transition process was painful for the majority of the population which plunged into poverty.Ukraine's economy contracted severely following the years after the Soviet collapse. Day to day life for the average person living in Ukraine became a struggle. A significant number of citizens in Ukraine survived by growing their own food, often working two or more jobs and buying the basic necessities through the barter economy.http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-30104/Ukraine

The services sector of the economy contributes to 39.8% of GDPhttps://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/up.html while the agriculture sector contributes to 17.5% of Ukraine's GDP.https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/up.html

In 1991, the government liberalized most prices to combat widespread product shortages, and was successful in overcoming the problem. At the same time, the government continued to subsidize government-owned industries and agriculture by uncovered monetary emission. The loose monetary policies of the early 1990s pushed inflation to hyperinflationary levels. For the year 1993, Ukraine holds the world record for inflation in one calendar year. Yuriy Skolotiany, The past and the future of Ukrainian national currency, Interview with Anatoliy Halchynsky, Mirror Weekly, #33(612), 2—8 September 2006Daily life in Ukraine was a struggle, particularly for those living on fixed incomes.http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-30104/Ukraine Prices stabilized only after the introduction of new currency, Ukrainian hryvnia, in 1996.

The country was also slow in implementing structural reforms. Following independence, the government formed a legal framework for privatization. However, widespread resistance to reforms within the government and from a significant part of the population soon stalled the reform efforts. A large number of governed-owned enterprises were exempt from the privatization process. In the meantime, by 1999, the output had fallen to less than 40 percent of the 1991 level, but recovered to slightly above the 100 percent mark by the end of 2006.

Since the late 1990s, the government has pledged to reduce the number of government agencies, streamline the regulatory process, create a legal environment to encourage entrepreneurs, and enact a comprehensive tax overhaul. Outside institutions — particularly the IMF — have encouraged Ukraine to quicken the pace and scope of reforms and have threatened to withdraw financial support. But reforms in some politically sensitive areas of structural reform and land privatizations are still lagging.

In the early 2000s, the economy showed strong export-based growth of 5 to 10 percent, with industrial production growing more than 10 percent per year. The growth was largely attributed to a surge in exports of metals and chemicals to China.

In 2005, economic growth temporarily slowed due to unfavorable changes in terms of trade, as world energy prices rose and metal prices fell. In 2006, the economy was again experiencing above growth above five percent supported by strong domestic demand and growing consumer and investor confidence.

in Kiev.

The current Ukrainian economy is a typical example of a post-Soviet developing economy. The World Bank classifies Ukraine as a lower middle-income state. Significant issues include underdeveloped infrastructure and transportation, corruption and bureaucracy, and a lack of modern-minded professionals - desp

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