BASIC
INFORMATION
Full
Name: UKRAIN
Capital
Kiev
Largest city Kiev
Official language
Ukrainian
Government
Parliamentary democracy
Area 603,700 km²
Population
46,481,000
Currency Hryvnia
(UAH)
Time
zone EET (UTC+2)
Internet
TLD .ua
Calling
code +380
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GEOGRAPHY
& BACKGROUND
Ukraine
(Ukrainian: 'Ukrayina', /ukra'jina/) is
a country in Eastern Europe. It borders
Russia to the northeast, Belarus to the
north, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the
west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest
and the Black Sea to the south. The historic
city of Kiev ('Kyiv') is the country's capital.
From
at least the ninth century the territory
of present-day Ukraine was a centre of medieval
East Slavic civilization that formed the
state that became known as Kievan Rus and
for the following several centuries the
territory was divided between a number of
regional powers. After a brief period of
independence (1917-1921) following the Russian
Revolution of 1917, Ukraine became one of
the founding Soviet Republics in 1922. The
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic's territory
was enlarged westward after the Second World
War, and again in 1954 with the Crimea transfer.
Ukraine became independent again after the
Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.
At
233,074 mi² (603,700 km²), Ukraine
is the world's 44th-largest country (after
the Central African Republic). It is comparable
in size to Botswana, and is somewhat smaller
than the US state of Texas.
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 Buh as
they flow south into the Black Sea and the
smaller Sea of Azov. To the southwest the
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 metres (6,762 ft), and those in the
Crimean peninsula, in the extreme south
along the coast.
Ukraine
has a mostly temperate continental climate,
though a more mediterranean climate is found
on the southern Crimean coast. Precipitation
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.
For
more information please visit
http://www.fco.gov.uk/
