Ukraine

Ukrainian Studies at SSEES | Ukrainian Language | More about Ukraine

Ukraine (Україна) declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, shortly before its dissolution. It is located at the boundary between Central and Eastern Europe, roughly between Poland and Russia, on the north side of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. With a territory slightly larger than that of France, it is the largest country contained wholly within Europe.

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• In the 11th century, Kyiv, the present-day capital of Ukraine, was the centre of the largest political entity in mediaeval Europe and one of the world's most impressive cities.



• In the 17th century the Kyiv Mohyla Academy was the leading intellectual centre of the Eastern Slavic world.



• The lunar orbit rendezvous technique used by NASA to land astronauts on the Moon in 1968 was first proposed in 1919 by the Ukrainian Yuriy Kondratiuk.



• The earliest digital electronic computer in continental Europe was built in 1950 in Ukraine by a team led by Serhiy Lebedev.



• "Borshch" (beetroot soup), although it is popular in many Eastern European countries, almost certainly originated in Ukraine. There are said to be over 40 different Ukrainian varieties, including "Kyiv borshch", "Poltava borshch" and even "green borshch".

Links relating to Ukraine

• Ukraine info: www.ukraineinfo.org
• Government Portal: www.kmu.gov.ua/control/en
• Embassy of Ukraine in the UK: www.ukremb.org.uk
• Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine
• CIA World Factbook: www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/up.html
• SSEES Internet Resources on Ukraine

This page last modified Thursday 16 December 2010.