In Eastern Europe, Ukraine is still learning to deal with independence, since the 1991 dissolution of the USSR. Within the last 70 years the state has lost 7 to 8 million dead in famines and World War II, shifted its national boundaries westwards, and has struggled with the legacy of state control and corruption that has stalled efforts at economic reform, privatization, and expanding civil liberties. Ukraine also endured a peaceful mass protest "Orange Revolution" in 2004. Even today the Ukrainian population shows the effects of World War II with a glance at any gathering or festival: there are many women and very few men older than 65 years

Most of Ukraine consists of rich “black earth” fertile plains, but with the Carpathian mountains in the west, and a mountainous region in the Crimean Peninsula in the extreme south. It has a temperate continental climate, with a Mediterranean region on the southern Crimean coast, and is watered by the Dnieper and Dniester rivers.

Kiev, the capital, is an ancient city full of the unique onion-shaped domes of the Orthodox church. Unfortunately, today Ukraine is best known for the 1987 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Quick Info:

• Area: 603,700 sq km
• Population: 48 million
• Capital: Kiev
• Population: 3.35 million
• Language: Ukrainian and Russian
• Website: Kyiv Post

Source: Operation World 2001