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Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second largest country in Europe after Russia, which it borders to the east and north-east. Ukraine also shares borders with Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the south; and has a coastline along the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. It spans an area of 603,628 km2 (233,062 sq mi), with a population of about 40 million. The nation's capital and largest city is Kyiv.
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Ukraine, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union from the Union's inception in 1922 until its breakup in 1991. In the anthem of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, the republic was referred to simply as Ukraine. The republic was governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union through its republican branch, the Communist Party of Ukraine, as a union republic of the Soviet Union, which existed as a highly centralized one-party state. The first Bolshevik Ukrainian republic was founded in December 1917, as Ukrainian Soviet Republic, after the Bolshevik Revolution started in Russia. The Ukrainian civil war was fought among the different Ukrainian republics founded by Ukrainian nationalists, Ukrainian anarchists, and Ukrainian Bolsheviks, with the help or against neighboring states. The Ukrainian SSR was established by the Bolsheviks following the defeat of the Ukrainian People's Republic in the Soviet–Ukrainian War during the Russian Civil War. As a Soviet proto-state, the Ukrainian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations along with the Byelorussian SSR, even though they were legally represented by the All-Union state in its affairs with countries outside of the Soviet Union. Upon the Soviet Union's dissolution, the Ukrainian SSR was transformed into the independent state of Ukraine, although the constitution remained in use until the adoption of the new constitution in June 1996.
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian statesman and former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was removed from office in the Maidan Revolution in 2014, after a long series of European Union supported protests by diverse civil-society groups. From 2006 to 2007 he was the prime minister of Ukraine; he also served in this post from November 2002 to January 2005, with a short interruption in December 2004.
The West Ukrainian People's Republic (WUPR) or West Ukrainian National Republic (WUNR), known for part of its existence as the Western Oblast of the Ukrainian People's Republic, was a short-lived polity that controlled most of Eastern Galicia from November 1918 to July 1919. It included the cities of Lviv, Ternopil, Kolomyia, Drohobych, Boryslav, Stanislaviv and right-bank Przemyśl, and claimed parts of Bukovina and Carpathian Ruthenia. Politically, the Ukrainian National Democratic Party dominated the legislative assembly, guided by varying degrees of Greek Catholic, liberal and socialist ideology. Other parties represented included the Ukrainian Radical Party and the Christian Social Party.
The Donbas or Donbass is a historical, cultural, and economic region in south-eastern Ukraine. Parts of Donbas are controlled by separatist groups as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War: the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic. The word Donbas is a portmanteau formed from Donets Basin, an abbreviation of "Donets Coal Basin". The name of the coal basin is a reference to the Donets Ridge; the latter is associated with the River Donets.
Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko is a Ukrainian politician, people's Deputy of Ukraine, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine for the fuel and energy complex (1999–2001), Prime Minister of Ukraine from February to September 2005 and from December 2007 to March 2010. She was first and so far the only woman to serve as prime minister in the history of Ukraine.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, commonly referred to as the Government of Ukraine, is the highest body of state executive power in Ukraine. As Cabinet of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR, it was formed on 18 April 1991, by the Law of Ukrainian SSR No.980-XII. Vitold Fokin was approved as the first Prime Minister of Ukraine.
The president of Ukraine is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties. The president is directly elected by the citizens of Ukraine for a five-year term of office, limited to two terms consecutively.
The National News Agency of Ukraine or Ukrinform is a state information and news agency of Ukraine. It was founded in 1918 during the Ukrainian War of Independence as the Bureau of Ukrainian Press (BUP). The first director of the agency was Dmytro Dontsov.
The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR), or Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), was a country in Eastern Europe that existed between 1917 and 1920. It was declared following the February Revolution in Russia by the First Universal. In March 1917, the National Congress in Kyiv elected the Central Council composed of socialist parties on the same principles as throughout the rest of the Russian Republic. The republic's autonomy was recognized by the Russian Provisional Government. Following the October Revolution, it proclaimed its independence from the Russian Republic on 22 January 1918 by the Fourth Universal.
The Soviet–Ukrainian War or Ukrainian Civil War is the term commonly used in post-Soviet Ukraine for the events taking place between 1917–21, nowadays regarded essentially as a war between the Ukrainian People's Republic and the Bolsheviks. The war ensued soon after the October Revolution when Lenin dispatched the Antonov's expeditionary group to Ukraine and Southern Russia.
Euromaidan, or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv. The protests were sparked by the Ukrainian government's sudden decision not to sign the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement, instead choosing closer ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union. Ukraine's parliament had overwhelmingly approved of concluding the Agreement with the EU, while Russia had put pressure on Ukraine to reject it. The scope of the protests widened, with calls for the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovych and the Azarov Government. The protesters opposed what they saw as widespread government corruption, the influence of oligarchs, abuse of power, and violation of human rights in Ukraine. Transparency International named Yanukovych as the top example of corruption in the world. The violent dispersal of protesters on 30 November caused further anger. The Euromaidan led to the 2014 Revolution of Dignity.
The Revolution of Dignity, also known as the Maidan Revolution, took place in Ukraine in February 2014 at the end of the Euromaidan protests, when deadly clashes between protesters and the security forces in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv culminated in the ousting of elected President Viktor Yanukovych and the overthrow of the Ukrainian government.
The Russo-Ukrainian War is an ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. It began in February 2014 following the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity, and initially focused on the status of Crimea and parts of the Donbas, internationally recognised as part of Ukraine. The first eight years of the conflict included the Russian annexation of Crimea (2014) and the war in Donbas (2014–present) between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists, as well as naval incidents, cyberwarfare, and political tensions. Following a Russian military build-up on the Russia–Ukraine border from late 2021, the conflict expanded significantly when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.
In February and March 2014, Russia invaded and subsequently annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. This event took place in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity and is part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War.
The Donetsk People's Republic is a self-proclaimed breakaway state located in Ukraine, formed on 7 April 2014. The capital city and largest city within the DPR is Donetsk. Denis Pushilin has served as the DPR head of state since 2018.
The war in Donbas, or the Donbas War, is an armed conflict in the Donbas region of Ukraine, part of the broader Russo-Ukrainian War. In March 2014, immediately following the Euromaidan protest movement and subsequent Revolution of Dignity, protests by pro-Russian, anti-government separatist groups took place in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine, collectively called the Donbas. These demonstrations began around the same time as Russia's annexation of Crimea, and were part of wider pro-Russian protests across southern and eastern Ukraine. Declaring the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, armed Russian-backed separatist groups seized government buildings throughout the Donbas, leading to armed conflict with the Ukrainian government forces.
The Luhansk People's Republic, also known as the Lugansk People's Republic, is a self-proclaimed breakaway state located within Ukraine, designated as a terrorist organisation in Ukraine. It is located in Luhansk Oblast in the Donbas region, a territory internationally recognised, with the exception of the Russian Federation, to be a part of Ukraine. Luhansk, the territory's largest city, serves as its capital. The population of the republic is approximately 1.5 million people. The current head of state is Leonid Pasechnik.
Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy is a Ukrainian politician, former actor and comedian, who is the sixth and incumbent president of Ukraine.
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The attack is internationally considered a war of aggression. It has triggered Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II, with over 3.8 million Ukrainians leaving the country, and millions more being internally displaced.
References
- ↑ Hand-me-down cabinet, Policy Documentation Center (June 4, 2001)
