The Goths stayed in the area, but came under the sway of the Huns from the 370s. įrom the 6th century BC, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine colonies were established on the north-eastern shore of the Black Sea, such as at Tyras, Olbia, and Chersonesus. Between 700 BC and 200 BC it was part of the Scythian kingdom. During the Iron Age, the land was inhabited by Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians. Ukraine is also considered to be the likely location for the domestication of the horse. By 4,500 BC, the Neolithic Cucuteni–Trypillia culture was flourishing in wide areas of modern Ukraine, including Trypillia and the entire Dnieper- Dniester region. Settlement by modern humans in Ukraine and its vicinity dates back to 32,000 BC, with evidence of the Gravettian culture in the Crimean Mountains.
Neanderthal settlement in Ukraine was excavated at the Molodova archaeological sites (43,000–45,000 BC), notable for a dwelling constructed from mammoth bones.
2.13 2014 Russian armed interventions and invasion.2.12 Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity.2.6 Western Ukraine, Carpathian Ruthenia and Bukovina.2.5 19th century, World War I and revolution.It is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the GUAM organization, the Association Trio, and the Lublin Triangle. However, due to its extensive fertile land, Ukraine is one of the largest grain exporters in the world. As of 2020 it suffers from low life expectancy and widespread corruption. Ukraine is among the poorest countries in Europe. Ukraine is a developing country with a lower-middle income economy, ranking 74th in the Human Development Index. Ukraine has continued seeking closer economic, political, and military ties with the West amid continuing war with Russia. The latter was a protracted conflict with Russian-backed separatists that culminated in a Russian invasion in February 2022. These events formed the background to Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and the War in Donbas the following month. In 2013, after President Viktor Yanukovych suspended the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement in favor of closer economic ties with Russia, mass protests and demonstrations known as the Euromaidan erupted, escalating into the Revolution of Dignity that led to the overthrow of Yanukovych and the establishment of a new government. It declared itself a neutral state, forming a limited military partnership with Russia and other CIS countries while also establishing a partnership with NATO in 1994. Ukraine was the most populous and industrialised republic after the Russian Soviet Republic, until regaining its independence in 1991 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.įollowing its independence, Ukraine formed a unitary republic under a semi-presidential system, with separation of powers into legislative, executive, and judicial branches. In 1939, following the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Western Ukraine was annexed by the USSR. From 1932 to 1933 the Holodomor killed millions of Ukrainians. The short-lived state was forcibly reconstituted into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which became a founding member of the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1922. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, a Ukrainian national movement re-surfaced and the Ukrainian People's Republic was formed in 1917. The Cossack Hetmanate emerged in Central Ukraine in the 17th century but was partitioned between Russia and Poland, and ultimately absorbed by the Russian Empire entirely. Over the next 600 years, the area was contested, divided, and ruled by external powers, including the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austrian Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Tsardom of Russia. During the Middle Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture under the Kyivan Rus', which was destroyed by the Mongol invasion in the 13th century. The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC. The nation's capital and largest city is Kyiv. With a population of 43 million, Ukraine is the eighth-most populous country in Europe. Ukraine also shares borders with Belarus to the north Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west Romania and Moldova to the south and has a coastline along the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. It is the second largest by area in Europe after Russia, which it borders to the east and north-east. Ukraine ( Ukrainian: Україна, romanized: Ukraïna, pronounced ( listen)) is a country in Eastern Europe.