Ukraine
Stone tools discovered in Korolevo, western Ukraine, date back 1.4 million years, marking the earliest securely dated hominin presence in Europe. Modern human settlement in the region stretches to 32,000 BC, evidenced by Gravettian culture remains found within the Crimean Mountains. By 4,500 BC, the Cucuteni, Trypillia culture flourished across wide areas including Trypillia and the entire Dnieper-Dniester region. This land likely hosted the first domestication of the horse, a pivotal moment for Eurasian history. The Kurgan hypothesis places the Volga-Dnieper region as the linguistic homeland of Proto-Indo-Europeans. During the 3rd millennium BC, Indo-European migrations from the Pontic steppes spread Yamnaya Steppe pastoralist ancestry and languages across large parts of Europe. Iron Age inhabitants included Iranian-speaking Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians who controlled the area between 700 BC and 200 BC. Greek colonies like Tyras, Olbia, and Chersonesus thrived on the north-eastern shore of the Black Sea until the 6th century AD. Goths settled the area but came under Hunnic sway from the 370s onward. In the 7th century, eastern Ukraine served as the center of Old Great Bulgaria before Bulgar tribes migrated away and Khazars took over much of the land.
Prince Oleg conquered Kyiv from Askold and Dir in 882, proclaiming it the new capital of the Rus'. The state included much of present-day Ukraine, Belarus, and western European Russia. According to the Primary Chronicle, the Rus' people initially consisted of Varangians from Scandinavia. Anti-Normanist historians argue that East Slavic tribes along the southern Dnieper River were forming a state independently. The ruling Rurik dynasty later assimilated into the Slavic population. Kievan Rus' became the largest and most powerful state in Europe during the 10th and 11th centuries. Vladimir the Great reigned from 980 to 1015 and introduced Christianity to the realm. His son Yaroslav the Wise ruled from 1019 to 1054, bringing cultural development and military power to their zenith. After Mstislav's death in 1132, the state disintegrated into separate principalities though ownership of Kyiv retained prestige for decades. In the 11th and 12th centuries, Turkic-speaking Cumans and Kipchaks dominated the Pontic steppe north of the Black Sea. Mongol invasions in the mid-13th century devastated Kievan Rus', destroying Kyiv after the Siege of 1240. Daniel of Galicia reunited south-western Rus' including Volhynia and Galicia, becoming the first king of Galicia, Volhynia in 1253.
In 1349, following the Galicia, Volhynia Wars, the region was partitioned between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Republic of Genoa founded colonies on the northern coast of the Black Sea from the mid-13th century until the late 1400s. Genghisid prince Haci I Giray founded the Crimean Khanate in 1441, orchestrating Tatar slave raids that enslaved an estimated two million people over three centuries. The Union of Lublin in 1569 transferred most Ukrainian lands from Lithuania to the Crown of Poland. Under Polonisation pressures, many Ruthenian landed gentry converted to Catholicism or joined the Ruthenian Uniate Church. Deprived of native protectors, peasants turned to the Zaporozhian Cossacks for protection. In 1648, Bohdan Khmelnytsky led a massive uprising against the Commonwealth and Polish king, enjoying wide local support. He founded the Cossack Hetmanate which existed until 1764. After suffering defeat at the Battle of Berestechko in 1651, Khmelnytsky sought help from the Russian tsar. The Pereiaslav Agreement of 1654 formed a military alliance acknowledging loyalty to the Russian monarch. A devastating thirty-year war known as The Ruin followed between Russia, Poland, the Crimean Khanate, Ottoman Empire, and Cossacks. Catherine the Great incorporated much of Central Ukraine into the Russian Empire between 1764 and 1781, abolishing the Cossack Hetmanate. Tsarist autocracy enforced Russification policies suppressing the Ukrainian language and national identity.
During the inter-war period, Soviet Ukraine became one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union in July 1922. Joseph Stalin ended the New Economic Policy starting in the late 1920s with what became known as the Great Break. Collectivisation of agricultural crops was enforced by regular troops and the secret police known as Cheka. Those who resisted were arrested and deported to gulags and work camps. Millions starved to death in a famine known as the Holodomor or the Great Famine, recognized by some countries as genocide perpetrated by Stalin. Following collectivisation, the Great Purge killed a new generation of Ukrainian intelligentsia known today as the Executed Renaissance. German armies invaded the Soviet Union on the 22nd of June 1941 initiating nearly four years of total war. More than 600,000 Soviet soldiers were killed or taken captive during the Battle of Kyiv alone. The total losses inflicted upon the Ukrainian population during World War II are estimated at 6 million including an estimated one and a half million Jews killed by Einsatzgruppen. Over 700 cities and towns and 28,000 villages were destroyed by the war. A famine in 1946, 1947 caused by drought and wartime destruction killed at least tens of thousands more people. On the 26th of April 1986, a reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded resulting in the worst nuclear reactor accident in history.
On the 16th of July 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine. Outright independence was proclaimed on the 24th of August 1991 after a failed coup in Moscow. It was approved by 92% of the Ukrainian electorate in a referendum held on the 1st of December. Leonid Kravchuk signed the Belavezha Accords making Ukraine a founding member of the Commonwealth of Independent States. During the transition to market economy between 1991 and 1999, Ukraine lost 60% of its GDP suffering from hyperinflation that peaked at 10,000% in 1993. The legacy included mass privatisation creating powerful oligarchs. The Orange Revolution occurred in 2004 when tens of thousands protested election rigging favoring Yanukovych. More gathered on Euromaidan during winter 2013/2014 to oppose Yanukovych's refusal to sign the European Union, Ukraine Association Agreement. By the 21st of February 2014, Yanukovych fled Ukraine and was removed by parliament in what is termed the Revolution of Dignity. Russia refused to recognize the interim pro-Western government calling it a junta. In late February and early March 2014, Russia annexed Crimea using its Navy in Sevastopol. Russian forces launched an open invasion in Donbas on the 24th of August 2014 pushing back Ukrainian troops to a frontline established in February 2015.
The first months of conflict with Russian-backed separatists were fluid until Russian forces started an open invasion in Donbas on the 24th of August 2014. It remained a frozen conflict until early hours of the 24th of February 2022 when Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A year later, Russian troops controlled about 17% of Ukraine's internationally recognised territory constituting 94% of Luhansk Oblast, 73% of Kherson Oblast, 72% of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and 54% of Donetsk Oblast. U.S. officials estimated in August 2023 that up to 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and between 100,000 to 120,000 wounded during the war. Candidate status for European Union membership was granted on the 23rd of June 2022 following requests by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In January 2019, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine gained independence from Moscow reversing the 1686 decision of the patriarch of Constantinople. The country signed the EU association agreement in June 2014 granting citizens visa-free travel three years later. Environmental damage caused by the 2022 Russian invasion has been described as ecocide with destruction of Kakhovka Dam costing over USD 50 billion to repair.
Ukraine covers an area spanning latitudes 44° to 53° N and longitudes 22° to 41° E mostly within the East European Plain. Its landscape consists mostly of fertile steppes crossed by rivers such as Dnieper, Seversky Donets, Dniester, and Southern Bug flowing into Black Sea and Sea of Azov. The Carpathian Mountains in the west reach a height of Hoverla at 2,061 meters while Crimean Mountains lie along the extreme south coast. Significant natural resources include lithium, natural gas, kaolin, timber, and abundant arable land. Average annual temperatures range from north to south with precipitation highest in west and lowest in east and southeast. Western Ukraine receives around 700 millimeters of precipitation annually while Crimea and coastal areas receive around 300 millimeters. Water availability from major river basins is expected to decrease due to climate change especially during summer months. Ukraine contains six terrestrial ecoregions including Central European mixed forests and Pontic steppe. There are 45,000 species of animals with approximately 385 endangered species listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine.
In 2021 agriculture was the biggest sector of the economy making Ukraine one of the world's largest wheat exporters. Despite improvements corruption remains an obstacle to joining EU rated 104th out of 180 in Corruption Perceptions Index for 2023. In 2021 GDP per capita by purchasing power parity stood just over $14,000. IMF expected economy to shrink considerably by 35% in 2022 due to Russo-Ukrainian war. One estimate suggested post-war reconstruction costs might reach half a trillion dollars. About 1% of Ukrainians lived below national poverty line in 2019 while unemployment was 4.5%. The average salary reached almost 14,300 hryvnia monthly which equaled US$525 at that time. Ukraine produces nearly all types of transportation vehicles and spacecraft contributing significantly to global trade. European Union serves as main trade partner while remittances from working abroad remain important. Before 2022 invasion population exceeded 41 million making it eighth-most populous country in Europe. Following dissolution peak hit roughly 52 million in 1993 before decreasing by 6.6 million or 12.8% to 2014. Over 4.1 million fled the country after 2022 Russian invasion causing Ukrainian refugee crisis.
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Common questions
When did the earliest hominin presence occur in Ukraine?
Stone tools discovered in Korolevo, western Ukraine, date back 1.4 million years, marking the earliest securely dated hominin presence in Europe.
Who founded the Kievan Rus state and when was Kyiv conquered?
Prince Oleg conquered Kyiv from Askold and Dir in 882, proclaiming it the new capital of the Rus'.
What caused the Holodomor famine in Soviet Ukraine during the late 1920s?
Collectivisation of agricultural crops enforced by regular troops and the secret police known as Cheka led to millions starving to death in a famine recognized by some countries as genocide perpetrated by Stalin.
On what date did Russia launch its full-scale invasion of Ukraine?
Russian forces launched an open invasion in Donbas on the 24th of August 2014, followed by a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the early hours of the 24th of February 2022.
How much territory does Russia control in Ukraine as of 2023?
A year after the 2022 invasion began, Russian troops controlled about 17% of Ukraine's internationally recognised territory constituting 94% of Luhansk Oblast, 73% of Kherson Oblast, 72% of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and 54% of Donetsk Oblast.