Portal:Ukraine
The Ukraine Portal - Портал України
Ukraine Україна (Ukrainian) | |
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ISO 3166 code | UA |
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the north; Poland and Slovakia to the west; Hungary, Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to the south and southeast. Kyiv is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Kharkiv, Dnipro, and Odesa. Ukraine's official language is Ukrainian.
Humans have inhabited Ukraine since 32,000 BC. During the Middle Ages, it was the site of early Slavic expansion and later became a key centre of East Slavic culture under the state of Kievan Rus', which emerged in the 9th century. Kievan Rus' became the largest and most powerful realm in Europe in the 10th and 11th centuries, but gradually disintegrated into rival regional powers before being destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century. For the next 600 years the area was contested, divided, and ruled by a variety of external powers including the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Kingdom of Poland, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austrian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Tsardom of Russia.
The Cossack Hetmanate emerged in central Ukraine in the 17th century but was partitioned between Russia and Poland before being absorbed by the Russian Empire in the late 19th century. Ukrainian nationalism developed and, following the Russian Revolution in 1917, the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic was formed. The Bolsheviks consolidated control over much of the former empire and established the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922. In the early 1930s, millions of Ukrainians died in the Holodomor, a human-made famine. During World War II, Ukraine was occupied by Germany and endured major battles and atrocities, resulting in 7 million civilians killed, including most Ukrainian Jews.
Ukraine gained independence in 1991 as the Soviet Union dissolved and declared itself neutral. A new constitution was adopted in 1996 as the country transitioned to a free market liberal democracy amid endemic corruption and a legacy of state control. The Orange Revolution of 2004–2005 ushered electoral and constitutional reforms. Resurgent political crises prompted a series of mass demonstrations in 2014 known as the Euromaidan, leading to a revolution, at the end of which Russia unilaterally occupied and annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, and pro-Russian unrest culminated in a war in Donbas with Russian-backed separatists and Russia. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. (Full article...)
In the news
- 12 April 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- A Ukrainian Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon is downed during combat operations against Russian forces, with the 26-year-old pilot killed in action. (Ukrinform)
- 11 April 2025 – Russia–United States relations
- The U.S. president's special envoy Steve Witkoff meets with Russian president Vladimir Putin to discuss settlement options for the Russo-Ukrainian war and a potential meeting between Donald Trump and Putin. (CBS News)
- 10 April 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- War crimes in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- A video leaked by Ukrainian officials and verified by the Associated Press shows Russian soldiers summarily executing four Ukrainian prisoners of war last month in Piatykhatky, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. (AP)
- 9 April 2025 – Russo-Ukrainian war
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- 2025 Russian spring offensive
- Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi reports that Russia has commenced a new spring offensive, launching intensified attacks across multiple sections of the frontline. (Kyiv Independent)
- 8 April 2025 – Russo-Ukrainian War
- 2025 Belgorod Oblast incursion
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirms the presence of Ukrainian troops in Russia's Belgorod Oblast. (BBC News)
- 6 April 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- 2025 Sumy Oblast incursion
Featured pictures
Did you know (auto-generated)

- ... that in 2020, Ukrainian association football referee Maryna Striletska was part of the first all-woman officiating team for a men's international football match?
- ... that 24-year-old Mahasweta Chakraborty of Operation Ganga helped around 800 students return to India during the Russian invasion of Ukraine?
- ... that Serhiy Kot was the editor of Ukrainian Question, a collection of articles on the status of Ukraine in the 1930s?
- ... that following the energy price shock caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Turkish government intervened to have the country's renewable energy subsidise coal and gas?
- ... that the Dvorichna settlement hromada has remained divided between Russia and Ukraine since the 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive?
- ... that Andrei Demurenko, the first Russian officer to be a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, served alongside the Wagner Group in Ukraine?
More did you know -
- ... that Vasyl Avramenko is often referred as "The father of the Ukrainian dance"?
- ... that the Khreschatyk is the main street of Ukrainian capital Kyiv on which Orange Revolution and other historical events mainly took place?
- ... that Ukrainian naturalist, lecturer, artist and author John Lhotsky was credited as the first discoverer of gold in New South Wales?
- ... that at its first years Kiev Zoo had to move its animals into the food storage of the main Kiev railway station for the winter?
- ... that journalist Savik Shuster who used to work for Russian TV channels now prefers to work for the Ukrainian TV because he felt the Russian Government was limiting his journalistic freedom?
- ... that the neo-classical Verkhovna Rada building in Kyiv features a hundred-tonne glass dome over the chamber where the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine convenes to enact legislation?
Selected article -
The official language of Ukraine is Ukrainian, an East Slavic language of the Indo-European languages family. It is spoken regularly by 88% of Ukraine's population at home in their personal life, and as high as 87% at work or study. It is followed by Russian which is spoken by 34% in their personal life. (Full article...)
In the news
- 12 April 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- A Ukrainian Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon is downed during combat operations against Russian forces, with the 26-year-old pilot killed in action. (Ukrinform)
- 11 April 2025 – Russia–United States relations
- The U.S. president's special envoy Steve Witkoff meets with Russian president Vladimir Putin to discuss settlement options for the Russo-Ukrainian war and a potential meeting between Donald Trump and Putin. (CBS News)
- 10 April 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- War crimes in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- A video leaked by Ukrainian officials and verified by the Associated Press shows Russian soldiers summarily executing four Ukrainian prisoners of war last month in Piatykhatky, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. (AP)
- 9 April 2025 – Russo-Ukrainian war
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- 2025 Russian spring offensive
- Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi reports that Russia has commenced a new spring offensive, launching intensified attacks across multiple sections of the frontline. (Kyiv Independent)
- 8 April 2025 – Russo-Ukrainian War
- 2025 Belgorod Oblast incursion
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirms the presence of Ukrainian troops in Russia's Belgorod Oblast. (BBC News)
- 6 April 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- 2025 Sumy Oblast incursion
Selected anniversaries for April

- April 16, 2000 — Ukraine's national referendum takes place on the issue of reformation the governing system of Ukraine.
- April 22, 2006 — Two homemade bombs exploded in different supermarkets in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
- April 26, 1986 — Reactor No. 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded at 01:23 A.M.
- April 29, 1918 — Constitution of the Ukrainian People's Republic, a constitutional document, was approved by the Central Rada, but never announced.
- April 29, 1918 — The Holiday of Ukrainian Sea. On this day the main parts of Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol hoisted ukrainian flags.
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Religions in Ukraine
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