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Ukraine (English pronunciation /juːˈkreɪn/; Ukrainian: Україна, Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/) is a country in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the east, Belarus to the north, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev (Kyiv) is Ukraine's capital.
The nation's history began with that of the East Slavs. From at least the 9th century, the territory of Ukraine was a center of the medieval East Slavic civilization forming the state of Kievan Rus', which disintegrated in the 12th century. From the 14th century on, the territory of Ukraine was divided among a number of regional powers and by the 19th century the largest part of Ukraine was integrated into the Russian Empire with the rest under Austro-Hungarian control. After a chaotic period of incessant warfare and several attempts at independence (1917–1921) following the Russian Revolution and the Great War, Ukraine emerged in 1922 as one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic's territory was enlarged westward shortly before and after the Second World War, and again in 1954 with the Crimea transfer. In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the co-founding members of the United Nations.[2] Ukraine became independent again after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. This began a transition period to a market economy, in which Ukraine was stricken with eight straight years of economic decline.[3] But since about the turn of the century, the economy has been experiencing a stable increase, with real GDP growth averaging about seven percent annually.[3]
Ukraine is a unitary state composed of 24 oblasts (provinces), one autonomous republic (Crimea), and two cities with special status: Kiev, its capital, and Sevastopol, which houses the Russian Black Sea Fleet under a leasing agreement.[4] Ukraine is a republic under a semi-presidential system with separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches. At the end of 2004, the country underwent an extensive constitutional reform that has changed the balance of power among the parliament, the prime minister, and the cabinet, as well as their relationship with the president.
Etymology
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The Ukrainian word Ukrayina is from Old East Slavic ukraina "borderland", from u "by, at" and the Slavic root kraj "edge; region". In the Ukrainian language krayina simply means "country." In English, the country is referred to without the definite article, conforming to the usual English grammar rules for names of countries. Before the country's independence in 1991, the country was often referred to as "The Ukraine." The term 'Ukraine' rather than 'The Ukraine' is now predominant in diplomacy and journalism.
History
Early history
Human settlement on the territory of Ukraine dates back to at least 4500 BC, when the Neolithic Tripillian culture flourished. During the Iron Age, the land was inhabited by Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians.
Colonies of Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and Byzantine Empire were founded starting from the 6th century BC on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea, and thriving well into the 6th century AD. Tyras, Olbia, and Hermonassa are examples of these settlements.
Golden Age of Kiev
During the 10th and 11th centuries, the territory of Ukraine became the center of a European state, the Kievan Rus'. It laid the foundation for the national identity of Ukrainians, as well as other East Slavic nations, through subsequent centuries.[15] This nation's capital was Kiev, which later became the capital of modern Ukraine, wrested from Khazars by Askold and Dir in about 860 AD. 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.[15]
Kievan Rus' was composed of several principalities ruled by the interrelated Rurikid Princes. The seat of Kiev, the most prestigious and influential of all principalities, became the subject of many rivalries among Rurikids as the most valuable prize in their quest for power. These were sometimes contested through intrigue, but more often through bloody conflicts. The Golden Age of Kievan Rus' began with the reign of Vladimir the Great (Volodymyr, 980–1015), who turned Rus' toward Byzantine Christianity. 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 (1125–1132), Kievan Rus' finally disintegrated into separate principalities following Mstislav's death. The 13th century Mongol invasion devastated Kievan Rus'. Kiev was totally destroyed in 1240.[16][15][17]
On the Ukrainian territory, the state of Kievan Rus' was succeeded by the principalities of Halych and Volodymyr-Volynskyi, which were merged into the state of Halych-Volynia.
Under foreign domination
In the mid-14th century, Halych-Volhynia was subjugated by Casimir the Great of Poland, while the heartland of Rus', including Kiev, fell under the Gediminids of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Following the 1386 Union of Krevo, a dynastic union between Poland and Lithuania, most of Ukraine's territory was controlled by the local as well as increasingly Ruthenized Lithuanian nobles 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 1569 the Union of Lublin formed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and a significant part of Ukrainian territory was moved from largely Ruthenized Lithuanian rule to the Polish administration, as it was transferred to the Polish Crown. Under the cultural and political pressure of Polonization much of the Ruthenian upper class converted to Catholicism and became indistinguishable from the Polish nobility. 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 and tended to turn to violence against those they perceived as enemies, particularly the Polish state and its representatives.
In the mid-17th century, a Cossack quasi state, the Zaporozhian Sich, was established by the Dnieper 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 emphasized the Commonwealth's fierce exploitation of the workforce. Also, and perhaps most importantly, the suppression of the Orthodox Church pushed the allegiances of Cossacks away from Poland. Their aspiration was to have representation in Polish Sejm, recognition of Orthodox traditions and the gradual expansion of the Cossack Registry, all being vehemently denied by the Polish kings. The Cossacks eventually turned to Orthodox Russia, a decision, which would later lead towards the downfall of the Polish-Lithuanian state.
In 1648, Bohdan Khmelnytsky led the largest of the Cossack uprisings against the Commonwealth and the Polish king John II Casimir.[21] This uprising finally led to a partition of Ukraine between Poland and Russia.[22] Left-bank Ukraine was eventually integrated into Russia as the Cossack Hetmanate, following the 1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav and the ensuing Russo-Polish War. After the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century by Prussia, Habsburg Austria, and Russia, Western Ukrainian Galicia 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 expecting from Imperial Russia. Because of its geographic location, Ukraine played an important role in the frequent wars between East European monarchies and the Ottoman Empire. As a result of Russian successes in the wars against Ottoman Empire and Crimean Khanate 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 tsarist regime began implementing a harsh policy of Russification, suppressing the use of the Ukrainian language in print, and in public.
World War I and revolution
During World War I Austro-Hungarian authorities established the Ukrainian Legion, along with the Polish Legion, to fight against the Russian Empire. These legions were the foundations of the successful Polish Army and the abortive Ukrainian Galician Army that fought against the Bolsheviks and Poles in the post World War I period (1919-1923).
Those suspected of the Russophile sentiments were treaty harshly. Up to 20,000 supporters of Russia from Galicia were detained and placed in an Austrian internment camp in
Talerhof,
Styria, and in a fortress at
Terezín (now in the
Czech Republic).
[24]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 Ukrainian People's Republic, the Hetmanate and the Directorate successively established territories in the former Russian Empire, while the West Ukrainian People's Republic emerged briefly in the former Austro-Hungarian territory. In the midst of the civil war, a Ukrainian anarchist movement called the Black Army led by Nestor Makhno, also developed. It maintained control of Crimea until early 1921.[25] However with the latter defeat in the Polish-Ukrainian War and the failure of the Polish Kiev Offensive (1920), Ukraine lost its initial independence. The Peace of Riga, was concluded in March 1921. It split up Ukraine between Poland, and the newly formed Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. 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 1919, later became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union in December 1922.
Interwar Soviet Ukraine
In the early Soviet years, the Bolsheviks introduced free universal health care, education and social-security benefits, as well as the right to work and housing. Women's rights were greatly increased through new laws aimed to wipe away centuries-old inequalities.[26] The Ukrainian culture and language also enjoyed a revival, as Ukrainization became a local implementation of the Soviet-wide Korenization (literally indigenization) policy.[27] These cultural policies were sharply reversed by the early-1930s.
Starting from the late 1920s, Ukraine was involved in the
Soviet industrialization and the republic's industrial output quadrupled in the 1930s.
[28] 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 to finance industrialization, Stalin instituted a
program of collectivization 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
arrested and deported 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. In 1932-33, millions starved to death in a man-made famine known as
Holodomor.
[a] Scholars are divided as to whether this famine fits the definition of
genocide, but 15 governments and the
Ukrainian parliament recognize it as the genocide of the Ukrainian people.
[29]The times of industrialization and Holodomor also coincided with the Soviet assault on the national political and cultural elite often accused in "nationalist deviations". These policies of Ukrainization were reversed at the turn of the decade. Two waves of purges (1929–1934 and 1936–1938) resulted in the elimination of four-fifths of the Ukrainian cultural elite.[28]
World War II
German armies invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, thereby initiating four straight years of incessant total war. The Axis 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 by the Red Army and by the local population. More than 600,000 Soviet soldiers (or one quarter of the Western Front) were killed or taken captive.[30][31] Although the wide majority of Ukrainians fought alongside the Red Army,[32] some elements of the Ukrainian nationalist underground fought both Nazi 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 total, about 4.5 million ethnic Ukrainians fought in the ranks of the Soviet Army.[32][b] Ukrainians also fought as pro-Soviet partisan guerrilla units. At their peak in 1944, partisan numbers in Ukraine alone are estimated anywhere from 47,800 to 500,000, only 48% of them being ethnic Ukrainians.[33][34] Similar to the Soviet partisans, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army's figures are very inaccurate, ranging anywhere from 25,000 to 200,000 Ukrainians.[35]
Initially, the Germans were received as liberators by some Ukrainians, especially in western Ukraine, which had only joined the Soviet Union in 1939. However, brutal German rule in the occupied territories eventually turned many of its supporters against the occupation. Nazi administrators of conquered Soviet territories made little attempt to exploit the population of Ukrainian territories' dissatisfaction with Soviet political and economic policies.
[36] Instead, the Nazis preserved the collective-farm system, systematically carried out genocidal policies against
Jews, deported others (mainly Ukrainians) to work in Germany, and began a systematic depopulation of Ukraine to prepare it for German colonization,
[37] which included a food blockade on Kiev. Under these circumstances, most people living in the occupied territory either passively or actively opposed the Nazis.
The total losses inflicted upon the Ukrainian population during the war are estimated between five and eight million,[38][39][40] including over half a million Jews killed by the Einsatzgruppen, sometimes with the help of local collaborators. Of the estimated 8.7 million Soviet troops who fell in battle against the Nazis,[41][42][43] 1.4 million were ethnic Ukrainians .[43][41][b][c] 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.[28] The situation was worsened by a 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.[44][45]
In western Ukraine, some 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 less severe in Western Ukraine than in other Ukrainian regions.[44]
Following the death of Stalin in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev became the new leader of the USSR. Being the First Secretary of the 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 Western Ukraine. But after taking power, he began forming the friendship between the Ukrainian and Russian nations. In 1954, the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Pereyaslav was widely celebrated, and in particular, Crimea was transferred from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR.[46]
In the times of the Khrushchev Thaw of the 1960s, there were many 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. During the 1960s, it is estimated that over fifty percent of all political prisoners in the USSR were Ukrainians.
Already by the 1950s, the republic fully surpassed pre-war levels of industry and production.[48] It also became the center of the Soviet arms industry and high-tech research. Such an important role resulted in a major influence of the local elite. Many members of the Soviet leadership came from Ukraine, most notably Leonid Brezhnev who would later oust Khrushchev and become the Soviet leader from 1964 to 1982, as well as many prominent Soviet sportsmen, scientists and artists.
The rule of Shcherbytsky, leader of the Communist Party of Ukraine, was characterized by the expanded policies of Russification. He used his influence as the First Secretary of CPU, and a Politburo member for over 25 years, to advocate economic interests of Ukraine within the USSR.
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.[49][50] The disaster was the result of a flawed reactor design, and serious mistakes by plant operators. The explosions and the resulting fire sent a plume of highly radioactive fallout into the atmosphere and over an extensive geographical area, resulting in mandatory evacuation or voluntary resettlement of about 350,000 people. At the time of the accident seven million people lived in the contaminated territories, including 2.2 million in Ukraine.[51]
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 contaminated area, and 300,000–600,000 took part in the cleanup. As of 2000, about 4,000 Ukrainian children have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer caused by radiation released by this incident.
Independence
On July 16, 1990 the new parliament adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine.[53] 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. This 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 attempted a coup to remove Gorbachev and to restore the Communist party's power. After the attempt failed, on August 24, 1991 the Ukrainian parliament adopted the Act of Independence in which the parliament declared Ukraine as an independent democratic state.[54] A referendum and the first presidential elections 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 the country. At the meeting in Brest, Belarus 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.[55]
Ukraine was initially viewed as a republic with favorable economic conditions in comparison to the other regions of the Soviet Union.[56] However, the country experienced deeper economic slowdown than some of the other former Soviet Republics. During the recession, Ukraine lost 60 percent of its GDP from 1991 to 1999,[57][58] and suffered five-digit inflation rates.[59] Dissatisfied with the economic conditions, as well as crime and corruption, Ukrainians protested and organized strikes.[60]
In 1994, President Kravchuk agreed to hold presidential elections ahead of schedule, in which he lost the presidential post to former Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma who served two terms as the president.
The Ukrainian economy stabilized by the end of 1990s. A new currency, the hryvnia, was introduced in 1996. Since 2000 the country has enjoyed steady economic growth averaging about seven percent annually,[61][3] 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.[62][63]
The first astronaut of the National Space Agency of Ukraine 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 1991 and 2007, Ukraine has launched six self made satellites and 101 launch vehicles, and continues to design spacecraft.
In 2004, Viktor Yanukovych, then Prime Minister, was declared the winner of the presidential elections, which had been largely 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.[65] In late March and early April 2007, Ukraine dealt with yet another constitutional crisis. President Viktor Yushchenko dissolved the Ukrainian parliament and ordered an early election to be held May 27, 2007. This decision rallied widespread support from the 'Orange' opposition, and wide spread denial from Yanukovych's fraction, the Party of Regions.[66] Eventually, a compromise between Yushchenko and Yanukovych was reached to hold early parliamentary elections.[67] The early elections were held on September 30, 2007. In the elections, the combined parties of Yulia Tymoshenko and 'Our Ukraine' emerged victorious. On December 18, 2007, Yulia Tymoshenko once again became the prime minister of Ukraine.[68]
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, tourism 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 in Donetsk, which received a five-star FIFA rating as one of the best in the world.
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