| History of Ukraine |
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This is a list of historical regions in present-day Ukraine.
| Coat of arms | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Black Sea Littoral | Other names: Yedisan, Ochakov Oblast, Khanschyna, Ottoman Ukraine. | |
 | Budjak | name originated from Turkish, meaning "borderland” |
 | Bukovyna | Other names: Shypyntsi Land. |
 | Donbas | Other names: Donechchyna |
 | Halychyna | Other names: Galicia, Cis–Carpathian (east of the ridge). |
 | Kyiv land | Other names: Duchy of Ruthenia, Ruthenia proper. |
 | Siveria [1] | Other names: Chernihiv land, Chernihiv-Siveria. |
 | Podolia | Podolia means "Lower Land". |
 | Sloboda Ukraine | |
| Taurida | Now Crimea | |
 | Trans– Carpathia | Carpathian region beyond the main Carpathian ridge (west of the ridge). Other names: Carpathian Ruthenia, Carpathian Ukraine, Carpatho-Ukraine, Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia, Sub-Carpathia, Trans-Carpathian Ukraine, Zakarpattia. |
 | Volhynia | Other names: Vladimir, Volyn, Lodomeria. |
 | Zaporizhian Sich |
The traditional names of the regions of Ukraine are important geographic, historical, and ethnographic identifiers.
Over-Dnieper Ukraine, Great Ukraine 
Land of Kyiv 
Land of Chernihiv (predominantly Chernihiv Oblast, west of Bryansk Oblast, east of Gomel Oblast), northern part of Left-bank Ukraine, Little Russia, Northern Ukraine
Ruthenia, Kingdom of Rus, Western Ukraine, Western Oblast, Lesser Poland 
Volhynia (Volyn Oblast, Rivne Oblast, west of Zhytomyr Oblast, north of Ternopil Oblast, north of Khmelnytsky Oblast), former principality
Galicia (Lviv Oblast, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ternopil Oblast) 
Podolia (Khmelnytsky Oblast, Vinnytsia Oblast, north of Odesa Oblast, west of Kirovohrad Oblast), Lesser Poland
Zaporizhzhia (Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, east of Kirovohrad Oblast), New Serbia, Central Ukraine
Transcarpathia / Carpathian Ruthenia, Subcarpathian Rus, Carpatho-Ukraine and many others 
Geopolitical, historical, and cultural factors play a role in assigning different areas of Ukraine to semi-official regions. The map on the right shows the approximate locations of some broad-brush regions. The terms "Central Ukraine", "Eastern Ukraine", "Southern Ukraine", and "Western Ukraine" occur in common usage. There is no clear definition of the boundaries of such regions, but rather a general reference. Lists of what may constitute such regions might include:
Other terms are rarely used – such as "South-western Ukraine", which can denote either Transcarpathia, or Budjak. Sometimes the term "South-eastern Ukraine" is used to define both regions of the Southern and Eastern Ukraine. Due to the shape of the country, in narrow definition, term "Northern Ukraine" is often used to denote either the bulge of Chernihiv/Sumy oblasts or, in broader terms, the whole of Polesia. "North-western Ukraine" almost exclusively refers to the historic region of Volhynia. This makes the term "North-eastern Ukraine" rarest of them all – it is either used as synonym for the narrow definition of Northern Ukraine, or as synonym for Sloboda Ukraine (particularly Sumy Oblast).
Ruthenia is an exonym, originally used in Medieval Latin, as one of several terms for Kievan Rus'. Originally, the term Rus' land referred to a triangular area, which mainly corresponds to the tribe of Polans in Dnieper Ukraine. Ruthenia was used to refer to the East Slavic and Eastern Orthodox people of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland, and later the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Austria-Hungary, mainly to Ukrainians and sometimes Belarusians, corresponding to the territories of modern Belarus, Ukraine, Eastern Poland and some of western Russia.
Ukraine used to attract more than 20 million foreign citizens every year. But since 2014 this has lowered to about 10 million. Visitors primarily come from Eastern Europe, but also from Western Europe, as well as Turkey and Israel.
Ruthenian and Ruthene are exonyms of Latin origin, formerly used in Eastern and Central Europe as common ethnonyms for Ukrainians and partially Belarusians, particularly during the late medieval and early modern periods. The Latin term Rutheni was used in medieval sources to describe Eastern Slavs of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as an exonym for people of the former Kievan Rus', thus including ancestors of the modern Belarusians, Rusyns and Ukrainians. The use of Ruthenian and related exonyms continued through the early modern period, developing several distinctive meanings, both in terms of their regional scopes and additional religious connotations.
Polesia, also called Polissia, Polesie, or Polesye, is a natural (geographic) and historical region in Eastern Europe within the bigger East European Plain, including part of eastern Poland and the Belarus–Ukraine border region. This region should not be confused with parts of Russia also traditionally called "Polesie".
Red Ruthenia, or Red Rus or Red Russia, is a term used since the Middle Ages for the south-western principalities of the Kievan Rus', namely the Principality of Peremyshl and the Principality of Belz. Nowadays the region comprises parts of western Ukraine and adjoining parts of south-eastern Poland. It has also sometimes included parts of Lesser Poland, Podolia, Right-bank Ukraine and Volhynia. Centred on Przemyśl and Belz, it has included major cities such as: Chełm, Zamość, Rzeszów, Krosno and Sanok, as well as Lviv and Ternopil.
Volhynia or Volynia is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between southeastern Poland, southwestern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, but in Ukraine it is roughly equivalent to Volyn and Rivne Oblasts; the territory that still carries the name is Volyn Oblast.
Transcarpathia is a historical region on the border between Central and Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast.
Zakarpattia Oblast, also referred to as simply Zakarpattia or Transcarpathia in English, is an oblast located in the Carpathian Mountains in west Ukraine, mostly coterminous with the historical region of Carpathian Ruthenia. Its administrative centre is the city of Uzhhorod. Other major cities within the oblast include Mukachevo, Khust, Berehove, and Chop, the last of which is home to railroad transport infrastructure.
An oblast in Ukraine, sometimes translated as region or province, is the main type of first-level administrative division of the country. Ukraine's territory is divided into 24 oblasts, as well as one autonomous republic and two cities with special status. Ukraine is a unitary state, thus the oblasts do not have much legal scope of competence other than that which is established in the Ukrainian Constitution and devolved by law. Articles 140–146 of Chapter XI of the constitution deal directly with local authorities and their competence.
Sumy Oblast, also known as Sumshchyna (Сумщина), is an oblast (province) in northeast Ukraine. The oblast was created in its most recent form, from the merging of raions from Kharkiv Oblast, Chernihiv Oblast, and Poltava Oblast in 1939 by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.
Western Ukraine or West Ukraine refers to the western territories of Ukraine. There is no universally accepted definition of the territory's boundaries, but the contemporary Ukrainian administrative regions (oblasts) of Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Ternopil and Zakarpattia are typically included. In addition, Volyn and Rivne oblasts are also usually included. In modern sources, Khmelnytskyi Oblast is often included because of its geographical, linguistic and cultural association with Western Ukraine, although this can not be confirmed from a historical and political point of view. It includes several historical regions such as Carpathian Ruthenia, Halychyna including Pokuttia, most of Volhynia, northern Bukovina and the Hertsa region, and Podolia. Western Ukraine is sometimes considered to include areas of eastern Volhynia, Podolia, and the small northern portion of Bessarabia.
Eastern Galicia is a geographical region in Western Ukraine, having also essential historic importance in Poland.
The Polish minority in Ukraine officially numbers about 144,130, of whom 21,094 (14.6%) speak Polish as their first language. The history of Polish settlement in current territory of Ukraine dates back to 1030–31. In Late Middle Ages, following the extinction of the Rurik dynasty in 1323, the Kingdom of Poland extended east in 1340 to include the lands of Przemyśl and in 1366, Kamianets-Podilskyi. The settlement of Poles became common there after the Polish–Lithuanian peace treaty signed in 1366 between Casimir III the Great of Poland, and Liubartas of Lithuania.
The Ukrainian Military Law-Enforcement Service (VSP) is the military police of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. It was formed on May 19, 2002.
Administrative divisions development in Ukraine reviews the history of changes in the administrative divisions of Ukraine, in chronological order.
During its existence from 1919 to 1991, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic consisted of many administrative divisions. Itself part of the highly centralized Soviet Union, sub-national divisions in the Ukrainian SSR were subordinate to higher executive authorities and derived their power from them. Throughout the Ukrainian SSR's history, other national subdivisions were established in the republic, including guberniyas and okrugs, before finally being reorganized into their present structure as oblasts. At the time of the Ukrainian SSR's independence from the Soviet Union, the country was composed of 25 oblasts (provinces) and two cities with special status, Kiev, the capital, and Sevastopol, respectively.
Censuses in Ukraine is a sporadic event that since 2001 has been conducted by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine under the jurisdiction of the Government of Ukraine.
The administrative division of Ukraine in 1918 was inherited from the Russian Empire, and based on the largest unit of the gubernia with smaller subdivisions county or district, and rural district.
The following gallery displays the historical and official coats of arms of Ukraine.
Regionalism in Ukraine has been a significant force during the building of an independent state after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. While most acutely this issue manifested itself during the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine, other ethnic minorities in Ukraine sought for greater political or economical autonomy during 1990s. These movements, while not being secessionist, were perceived by central government as a threat to the unity of the state.
