) crosses the territory from north to south and divides it into Pravoberezhnaya And Levoberezhnaya .; other rivers - Seversky Donets , South Bug, Dniester , Danube . Many lakes; on the rivers of the reservoir (the largest cascade on the Dnieper). The climate is temperate continental, South coast of Crimea- subtropical. In the north, mixed forests and swamps; forest-steppes in the center; steppes in the south, almost completely plowed; in the mountains - vertical zonality. The main reserves and nat. parks - Black Sea, Polessky, Carpathian, Askania-Nova , Shatsky, Yalta; botanical gardens. After the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986, sowing. h. Kyiv region was in the zone of radioactive contamination.
Population 48.6 million people (2001), 63% urban; Ukrainians 73%, Russians 22%, Jews 1%, Belarusians 0.9%, Moldovans 0.6%, Bulgarians 0.45%, Poles 0.42%, Hungarians, Romanians, Crimean Tatars, Greeks, Gypsies (1989). Orthodox Christians predominate; in the west, Greek Catholics. Stone mining. and brown coal, peat, oil, nature. gas, iron ores, manganese, mercury, ozocerite, graphite, sulfur, potassium salts, table salt, kaolin. 5 nuclear power plants. Ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy; machine-building, woodworking, cello-paper, cement, construction, glass, porcelain, light, food prom. Main rural-farm. crops: wheat, corn, barley, buckwheat, sugar. beets, sunflower, fiber flax, potatoes, vegetables, fruits, grapes, gourds, tobacco, hops. Breeding large horn. livestock, pigs, sheep, birds, fish; walk-in and beekeeping. Artistic crafts; ceramics, embroidery; weaving, woodcarving. Intern. airports in Kyiv, Odessa, Simferopol; seaports: Odessa, Ilyichevsk , Feodosia , Mariupol , Kerch . Resorts on the sea coast and in the Carpathians. Cash unit - hryvnia.

Dictionary of modern geographical names. - Yekaterinburg: U-Factoria. Under the general editorship of Acad. V. M. Kotlyakova. 2006 .

Republic of Ukraine, a state in Eastern Europe. In the south it is washed by the waters of the Black and Azov Seas; in the east and northeast it borders on the Russian Federation, in the north - on Belarus, in the west - on Poland, Slovakia and Hungary, in the southwest - on Romania and Moldova.
Historical predecessors of Ukraine: Kievan Rus (an East Slavic state that existed from the 9th to the 13th century), the Galicia-Volyn principality (13th–14th centuries), the Cossack states of the 16th–18th centuries, the Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–1920), Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1917–1991) August 24, 1991 Ukraine withdrew from the USSR and declared independence. It has been a member of the UN since 1945. Culture, language, religion and history closely connect Ukrainians with two other East Slavic peoples - Russians and Belarusians.
The capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, was founded in the 6th century. East Slavic tribe of glades. It became the capital of Rus' in 882 and remained the leading political, economic, religious and cultural center of Eastern Europe until its destruction by the Mongol-Tatars in 1240.
NATURE
Relief. Most of the territory of Ukraine is occupied by lowlands (Polesskaya, Pridneprovskaya, Black Sea) and individual slightly hilly uplands up to 300–500 m high (Podolskaya, Prydniprovskaya, Donetsk Ridge, etc.). The mountains are located in the west (Carpathian) and in the south (Crimean). The highest peak in the country is Hoverla in the Carpathians (2061 m above sea level).
Water resources. The main rivers of Ukraine are the Dnieper, the Southern Bug and the Danube, which flow into the Black Sea. There are more than 7,000 lakes (in the floodplains, as well as in the north-west, in Polesie - the most swampy area). The largest reservoirs are Kremenchugskoe, Kakhovskoe, Dneprodzerzhinskoe, Kyiv and Kanevskoe.
Climate temperate continental. Seasonal differences are characteristic, winters are moderately cold, summers are long, warm or hot, the average temperature in July is 18–24 ° C, in January from -8 ° C to 2–4 ° C (on the southern coast of Crimea). The total annual precipitation for most of Ukraine is 600 mm, in the Carpathians - up to 1600 mm, in the south and southeast 400-300 mm. The southern coast of Crimea is characterized by a subtropical climate of the Mediterranean type.
Soils. Soil-vegetation zonality is well expressed in Ukraine. 2/3 of the country's territory (forest-steppe and steppe) is occupied by black soil. To the north of the chernozem belt, gray forest and soddy-podzolic soils under mixed forests are common; to the south, dark chestnut and chestnut soils under dry steppes.
Vegetable world. Soil belts correspond to three natural zones - forest, forest-steppe and steppe. The forest zone includes a variety of mixed and deciduous forests with white (European) fir, pine, beech and oak. In the forest-steppe zone, the forests consist mostly of oak; often islands of the forest are surrounded by arable land. The steppe zone is characterized by grasses and belt plantations. Until the 18th century the steppes were not mastered, but now the natural vegetation has been preserved only in reserves. The slopes of the Carpathians are covered with mixed and coniferous forests of oak, beech, spruce and fir. On the slopes of the Crimean mountains - forests of beech, oak, pine. The southern coast of Crimea has significant park plantings of various types of Mediterranean flora, orchards and vineyards are common here.
Animal world. Due to its predominantly flat terrain and lack of forests, there are few endemic animal species in Ukraine. In total, 28 thousand species are represented, including 101 species of mammals, 350 species of birds, 21 species of reptiles, 19 species of amphibians and more than 200 species of fish. Bears, hares, wild boars, foxes, elk, lynx, black grouse, hazel grouse, eagles, hawks and owls still live in the northwest - in the Carpathians and Polissya. Deer, wild boars, wolves, rodents (hamster, ferret), partridges, magpies, orioles are common in the forest-steppe. For the steppe belt, rodents, field birds and insects are most typical. The developing system of reserves, national parks, natural reserves makes it possible to partially preserve and even breed new species of wild animals.
POPULATION
Demography. According to censuses and estimates of the Soviet period, the population of Ukraine was 26.9 million in 1937, 47.1 million in 1970, 49.6 million in 1979, and 51.7 million in 1989. In 1993, the population country was 52.2 million people, in 1996 - 51.3 million people. By January 1998, the population of Ukraine had fallen to 50.5 million people, and by mid-2007 it had reached 46.3 million people. In 1997, the number of newborns per 10 thousand people was 87, the number of deaths was 149, the rate of natural population growth in 2007 was minus 6.75 per thousand people (in 1940 - 13, 1950 - 14.3, 3.4, 1980 - 2.9, 1990 - 0.6, 1991 - minus 0.7, 1993 - minus 3.5, 1995 - minus 5.8). The most densely populated are the industrial regions of the Dnieper region and the east (Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Kiev, Kharkov and Luhansk); less - agrarian western regions (Volyn, Transcarpathian, Rivne and Ternopil).
In recent decades, the natural increase in the population of Ukraine has been declining and turned into depopulation due to the deterioration of living conditions in general, as well as an increase in mortality among men. In 1989 the average life expectancy for men was 65 and for women 75 years, but since the 1990s there has been a downward trend. Previously, the population declined sharply in the 1930s (because of the mass famine of 1932–1933 and repression, from 3 to 7 million people died), as well as during World War II (6 million people died). World War I and the civil war of 1917–1921 also cost Ukraine several million lives.
Ethnic composition, languages ​​and religion. In 1959, Ukrainians made up 76% of the total population of the country, Russians - 17%, Jews - 2%, Poles - less than 1%. According to the 1989 census, 37,419 thousand ethnic Ukrainians (72.4% of the total population of the country) and 11,358 thousand ethnic Russians (22.0%) lived in the country. Other large ethnic groups included Jews (486 thousand people, or about 1%), Belarusians (440 thousand - 0.9%), Moldovans (325 thousand - 0.6%), Bulgarians (234 thousand - 0.5%), Poles (219 thousand - 0.4%), Hungarians (163 thousand - 0.3%), Romanians (135 thousand - 0.2%). In rural areas, the share of Ukrainians reaches 80–90%, in cities it decreases to 50–60%. The share of Russians and Jews, on the contrary, is increasing in the cities.
The main languages ​​are Ukrainian and Russian. Yiddish and Polish were common in the cities of the west and southwest before World War II. Most of the Ukrainian population of cities, especially in the east and south, speaks Russian. Due to the proximity of Russian and Ukrainian languages, most Russians in Ukraine read and understand Ukrainian.
The main religions are Orthodoxy (divided into the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church), Catholicism (with Greek and Latin rites), Protestantism, Judaism, Islam. Orthodoxy is the most widespread faith, Catholicism is practiced in Western Ukraine. Since 1989, relations have aggravated between the branches of the Orthodox Church (those who advocate maintaining relations with the Russian Orthodox Church or for the autonomy of the church within Ukraine), as well as between Orthodox and Greek Catholics (the activities of the latter were banned, and their property was transferred in 1946 to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to which property and other claims were made in the 1990s).
Cities. By the end of the 1990s, 68% of the population lived in cities; in 1926 the proportion of the urban population was 20%. Urbanization developed rapidly in the 1930s, when the Bolshevik Party waged a campaign of industrialization and the simultaneous destruction of individual peasant farms. At the end of the 19th century the largest cities were Odessa, Kyiv, Kharkov, Yekaterinoslav (Dnepropetrovsk), Lvov (part of Austria-Hungary) and Nikolaev. At the beginning of the 21st century, the largest cities were: Kiev (2629.3 thousand people), Kharkov (1521 thousand), Dnepropetrovsk (1122 thousand), Odessa (1027 thousand), Donetsk (1065 thousand). 46 cities had a population of more than 100 thousand people. Kyiv is the capital of the state. Kharkiv, Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye, Lugansk and Krivoy Rog are industrial, scientific and mining centers. Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk are the centers of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine. Odessa, Kherson and Nikolaev are port cities with a shipbuilding industry. Sevastopol is the main base of the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet. Western Ukrainian Lviv and Chernivtsi were part of Austria-Hungary for a long time, so their culture is unique, and the architecture resembles the architecture of Vienna, Krakow and Bucharest.
STATE AND POLITICS
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was formed on December 12 (25), 1917; from 1922 to 1991 it was a union republic within the USSR. Although Ukraine formally had legislative power and a council of ministers, the country's policy was determined in Moscow by the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and implemented in Ukraine by the Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU). Of the Ukrainian authorities, only the KPU - primarily its first secretary and the Politburo - had some influence on Moscow's political decisions and actions.
During the relative liberalism of the 1920s and 1950s, Ukrainian communists sought to deal independently with the political, economic, and cultural problems of their republic. They appointed predominantly Ukrainians to the party leadership and administrative bodies, created a large number of Ukrainian-language schools, Ukrainianized the media, and increased local control over the implementation of economic policy and planning. During the time of Moscow's harsh dictates, such a policy was called "national communism" and was forbidden. The "national communists" were the chairman of the State Planning Committee of the Ukrainian SSR N.A. Skrypnik (1872–1933), who committed suicide to escape persecution, and the first secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine P.E. Shelest (1908–1996), who was forced to go to resignation in 1972. During the period of perestroika under M.S. Gorbachev, especially in 1988–1991, the Ukrainian communists again activated the national idea.
State device. The statehood of independent Ukraine at first retained many Soviet attributes, incl. the unicameral Supreme Soviet (Verkhovna Rada) and the provisions of the former Soviet constitution. An innovation was the post of president, which in December 1991 was taken by L.M. Kravchuk, the former secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, and in 1994 by L.D. Kuchma, the former secretary of the party committee of one of the largest factories in Dnepropetrovsk. Later, on June 28, 1996, a new constitution was adopted, which defined the functions and powers of the various branches of government, as well as other issues of the state structure of the country. Ukraine is a unitary democratic legal state based on the principle of separation of powers - legislative, executive and judicial. The head of state is the president, who appoints, with the consent of the parliament - called the Verkhovna Rada and which is the only body of legislative power - the prime minister and, on his recommendation, members of the cabinet of ministers.
Local government. The system of local government inherits the features of the former Soviet system, according to which the republic was divided into 25 regions and 479 districts. After the declaration of independence in 1991, local governments, still dominated by Soviet-era leaders, tried to obstruct the policies of the central government. In order to weaken the power of local leaders, in 1992 President Kravchuk appointed his plenipotentiaries to the places. In August 1994, the new President Kuchma tightened centralized control over local councils and executive committees. Laws on local self-government became the subject of dispute between the parliament and the president. In 1992 the Crimean region was granted the status of an autonomous republic; Kyiv and Sevastopol also have the status of cities of republican subordination. Local self-government is exercised by the territorial executive bodies of a village (several villages) or a city (except for Kyiv and Sevastopol); regional and district councils (rady) approve development programs (and budgets) and control their implementation.
Political parties. Until August 26, 1991, the CPU remained the main political force. Professional party leaders occupied all important positions in politics, economics and culture. The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine had unlimited influence in the republic and was a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
After 1988, numerous parties emerged in Ukraine. Among them: the Party of Democratic Revival of Ukraine, the Democratic Party of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Republican Party, the Green Party, the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine, the Peasant (Peasant) Party of Ukraine. A strong political organization was the People's Movement - "Rukh", which united the democratic and nationalist organizations of the West of Ukraine. At the end of 1991, former communists organized the Socialist Party of Ukraine, and in 1993 the activities of the Communist Party itself were resumed. In 1995, the pro-presidential People's Democratic Party (PDP) appeared, and in 1997 - the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine (national orientation). In March 1999, the NDP initiated the creation of the All-Ukrainian Association of Democratic Forces "Consent" ("Zlagoda") and proposed the "Ukraine-2010" program. The bloc's goal was to support Kuchma's candidacy in the presidential elections.
political processes. Due to the lack of nationwide political goals and vaguely defined powers of authority, the Ukrainian Republic found itself in a political impasse in the first years of independence. The Verkhovna Rada and its chairman opposed the president, who, for his part, complicated the work of the chairman of the cabinet of ministers (prime minister); representatives of the central government in Kyiv were ignored by local authorities, which for the most part were in the hands of former functionaries of the Communist Party. The Verkhovna Rada of the first convocation was divided into reformists, reactionaries - opponents of reforms and radical nationalists. Following the results of the 1994 elections, a new parliament was formed, divided into communists and their allies, nationalists and pro-presidential centrists. The Rukh collapsed after achieving its main goal - independence, and the revived CPU within a short time became the largest party in the country. In 1999, the SDPU collapsed when one of its leaders E.K. On May 15, Marchuk was nominated as a candidate for the presidency. Elections to the Verkhovna Rada in 1998 led to the formation of a parliament in which the left (communists and socialists) won the majority, pushing aside the People's Democratic Party and its right-wing allies. In the October-November 1999 elections, the leader of the right, L.D. Kuchma, won. In 2004, Viktor Yushchenko became president of Ukraine.
Judicial system. Although formally independent, the courts of Soviet Ukraine were in fact subject to the political dictates of the Communist Party. Civil and criminal cases were considered taking into account the priority of the interests of the state; the political trials of dissidents were always closed, and their scripts were compiled by the KGB. Voluntary "people's guards" helped the regular police; comrades' courts dealt with petty incidents and offenses.
The Supreme Court of Ukraine is the highest judicial authority. The republican prosecutor's office with branches in cities, regions and districts monitors violations of the law. During the 1992 constitutional debate, a new judicial system was developed, enshrined in the 1996 constitution. Justice in Ukraine, according to the constitution, is administered exclusively by the courts (Article 124); the system of courts is built on the principle of territoriality and specialization (Article 125), the independence and immunity of judges is guaranteed (Article 126), professional judges cannot belong to political parties (Article 127). The Constitutional Court of Ukraine decides on the compliance of laws and other legal acts, as well as international treaties with the constitution (Articles 147, 151); it consists of 18 judges appointed in equal shares by the President, the Verkhovna Rada and the Congress of Judges of Ukraine (Article 148).
Police and armed forces. Independent Ukraine inherited from the Soviet era a militia, a ministry of internal affairs, and a political police force. After declaring independence in 1991, the republic began to create a national armed forces. It was assumed that they would have a number of 250-400 thousand people. Ukraine demanded that Moscow transfer part of the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet to it, which led to an aggravation of relations with the Russian Federation. In 1992, Ukraine announced its decision to clear its territory of nuclear weapons and become a non-nuclear power. In accordance with agreements between the United States, Russia and Ukraine, in subsequent years, first tactical and then strategic nuclear weapons were removed from the territory of the country to Russia. The final dismantling of the last nuclear installations was completed in mid-1996. The size of the armed forces in the second half of the 1990s was constantly reduced. By 2001, it was planned to bring the list of soldiers and sergeants of military service to 100 thousand people with an increase in the number of employees under the contract (as of January 1999, there were 30 thousand). A course has been set for the creation of a professional army.
Foreign policy. In the period 1918-1922 Ukraine had diplomatic relations with Poland, Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia. In 1944, the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs was established in the government of Ukraine, in 1945 she became a member of the UN, and later of such organizations as UNESCO, the International Labor Organization, and others. Missions of Soviet Ukraine to the UN were established in Vienna, Paris, Geneva, New York . Until 1991 Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Canada, Germany, USA had consulates in Kyiv; Bulgaria, Cuba, India and Egypt - consulates in Odessa.
Together with the Russian Federation and Belarus, Ukraine became the founder of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), although it further distanced itself from its activities. On May 31, 1997, the presidents of the Russian Federation and Ukraine signed the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership, which was ratified by the Verkhovna Rada and the State Duma. On May 14–15, 1999, at a meeting of the presidents of Central European states in Lvov, Kuchma announced that Ukraine would follow the “European path” and would establish close ties with the EU. Having condemned the bombing of Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999, Ukrainian diplomacy offered its mediating role in resolving the conflict in the Balkans. Ukraine also sent its troops to the international occupation forces in Iraq after the 2003 war, during the two years of their stay in this country, Ukrainian losses amounted to about 20 people killed and over thirty wounded.
ECONOMY
Economic history. The heyday of Kievan Rus in the 9th-11th centuries. contributed to its favorable position at the crossroads of trade routes and the creation of a single economic and cultural space. In the 12th century, after the nomads blocked the trade route along the Dnieper "from the Varangians to the Greeks", Kievan Rus disintegrated into independent principalities. Exhausted by civil strife, attacks by the Polovtsy, Mongol-Tatars, Poles and Lithuanians, they became the outlying lands of other, more powerful states. The ruined economy was restored only in the 15th-16th centuries. as part of the agricultural economy of the Kingdom of Poland, and then the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After integration with the Russian Empire in the 17–18 centuries. Ukraine has become the main granary of Russia. At the end of the 19th century The Donetsk basin (Donbass) has become one of the main mining and metallurgical centers of Russia, and Odessa has become one of its main seaports. Under the Soviet rule, Ukraine became stronger as one of the most developed regions of the USSR. In addition to the agricultural and mining sectors of the economy, the manufacturing industry, transport and the service sector developed. Despite significant destruction during World War II, Ukraine remained one of the most developed republics of the USSR until the end of the Soviet era.
national income. According to various estimates, Ukraine's per capita national income in the 1970s was higher than that of Italy. In the late 1970s, its growth stopped, in the 1980s it began to decline, and after 1990 an economic crisis erupted. The decline in national income was 11-15% per year for the period from 1991 to 1994; in 1995 the gross national product was $2,400 per capita. The result of hyperinflation was the almost complete destruction of the country's economy in 1993-1994, most of the inhabitants of Ukraine were forced to grow food in their own gardens and work at several jobs. By 1997, inflation had been brought to a halt, but the average monthly income of citizens was $90, and continued to decline in 1998-1999. The growth of the gross domestic product in Ukraine in 2004 amounted to 12%. Earlier, the government of Ukraine predicted GDP growth at a level above 12%. Nevertheless, the growth of this indicator in 2004 was the highest since independence. In 2003 Ukraine's GDP grew by 9.4%. In 2000-2003, the average annual GDP growth rate was about 7.5%, in 2006 - 7%.
Economical geography. There are three economic regions in Ukraine: Donetsk-Pridneprovsky, Central-Western and Southern. In the first, enterprises of the mining, metallurgical, chemical and heavy industries are concentrated. In the second - manufacturing, light and food industries. The Southern Region is dominated by shipbuilding, port facilities and the leisure industry. The most attractive regions for tourism are the Crimea and the Carpathians. Conditions for agriculture are favorable everywhere. The western and central regions of Ukraine specialize in industrial and food crops (sugar beet, hops, corn, potatoes), grain farming and horticulture prevail in southern Ukraine, vegetable growing is developed near large cities.
Labor resources. In 2006, the labor force was 22.3 million people. The sectoral structure of employment is dominated by the service sector - 49%. 30% are employed in industry and construction, 21% in agriculture, forestry and fisheries. The total number of unemployed in 1998-1999 reached 2 million people. The proportion of women among the unemployed is 66%, young people (under the age of 30) - 36%. In search of work, many residents of the republic travel to the Russian Federation, Eastern European and Mediterranean countries.
Energy. Ukraine has significant reserves of coal (Donetsk and Lvov-Volyn basins) and brown coal (Dnieper basin); small deposits of oil and natural gas are located in the Carpathian region and in the north-east of the republic. These energy resources are used at large thermal power plants (Uglegorskaya, Krivorozhskaya, Burshtynskaya, Zmievskaya, etc.). A cascade of hydroelectric power stations was built on the Dnieper (Kakhovskaya, Dneprovskaya, Kanevskaya, Kyiv, etc.). More than a quarter of the electricity generated in Ukraine is provided by nuclear power plants (Rivne, Zaporozhye, South-Ukrainian, etc.). The safety of their work was called into question after the explosion of the reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April 1986, which led to radioactive contamination of northern Ukraine, parts of western Russia and much of Belarus. Since its own fuel resources provide only 58% of Ukraine's needs, the rest comes from Russia and Turkmenistan. In recent years, with the rapid growth of world fuel prices, the fuel and energy sector of the Ukrainian economy has become extremely inefficient and caused a general decline in production.
Transport. Communication lines are well developed in the country. There are 169.5 thousand km of roads, including 90% with a hard surface, and 22.7 thousand km of railways, 2.25 thousand km of waterways. The volume of freight and passenger traffic in the 1990s was constantly declining. An important source of income is the transfer of Russian oil and gas to central and western Europe through transit pipelines. In Kyiv, Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk there is a subway. Developed sea and river (along the Dnieper) water transport, as well as a system of air communications (499 airports, 193 of them with concrete lanes). Among others, there are new airlines (Ukrainian International Airlines, Kievavia, Aerosvit, etc.).
Organization and planning of production. During the existence of the USSR, the economy of Ukraine was subordinated to the State Planning Committee of the USSR, which, together with the Ukrainian State Planning Committee, developed five-year plans for its development as an integral part of the Soviet economy. Ukrainian enterprises were subordinated to the union ministries in Moscow or the republican ministries in Kyiv. After 1991, the enterprises, despite their formal state ownership, fell under the control of their directors. By 1996, about 6 thousand medium and large enterprises became joint-stock companies, and by 1998 45 thousand small enterprises and almost 99% of retail stores, trade and service enterprises were privatized.
Agriculture. Private peasant farms in Ukraine, as well as other republics of the USSR, were subjected to forced collectivization in the early 1930s. As a result of the creation of collective farms and state farms, the most enterprising part of the peasantry was repressed and deprived of an incentive to produce. Subsequently, the development of industry ensured a higher level of mechanization of agricultural production and a certain increase in labor productivity. However, collective farms and state farms were mainly guided by plans for state deliveries, which held back production. In the 1960s, peasants were allowed to own small plots of land of their own, which provided up to a third of the country's total agricultural production. The privatization of farmland has become one of the main goals set by the Ukrainian state after 1991. The obstacles to land privatization are significant: an aging rural population (mostly women), a lack of capital among the peasantry, and a lack of government assistance. By January 1998, there were almost 36,000 private peasant farms and 8,000 large collective farms in Ukraine.
Favorable climatic conditions and soils of Ukraine ensured relatively high yields in the USSR. In 1985, the Ukrainian SSR produced 46% of all wheat, 56% of corn, 60% of sugar beets, and 50% of sunflower seeds in the USSR. Beef production accounted for 24% of the all-Union. In subsequent years, Ukrainian agricultural production began to decline: in 1991 (1997) Ukraine produced 38.7 (35.4) million tons of grain, 36.3 (17.5) million tons of sugar beet, 4.1 (1.9 ) million tons of meat and 22.7 (13.7) million tons of milk. The reduction in production is associated with the disorganization of the economy, the reduction of the market for agricultural products and the growth of competition from foreign producers.
Fishing and fish processing industry. Despite the depletion of fish stocks, in the Black and Azov Seas, as well as on the lower Dnieper, commercial fishing is still carried out in Ukraine, mainly sturgeon, anchovy, horse mackerel, mackerel, flounder and carp. In 1976, the catch of fish in Ukraine amounted to 1.1 million tons (12% of the all-Union), in 1991 - 816 thousand tons. The largest fish canning plants are located in Mariupol, Kerch, Berdyansk, Odessa and Vilkovo.
Forestry and timber industry. In the 1890s, 18% of the territory of Ukraine was covered with forests. The destruction of forests during the two world wars, predatory exploitation during the tsarist period, under the Habsburgs and under the Soviet regime, led to a reduction in the forested area by up to 13% in the early 1990s. Legislative measures were taken in 1957 to regulate logging and reforestation, but they were not carried out. Ukraine has a developed timber industry, especially in the Carpathians. There are pulp and paper mills in the north and northwest. Several plants and factories are engaged in wood processing and furniture production. In 1991 (1997) 8 (5) million cubic meters of timber, 353 (88) thousand tons of paper, 463 thousand tons of cardboard were produced.
Mining and processing industry. Along with coal, Ukraine has rich deposits of iron ore (about 46% of all reserves of the former USSR), manganese, potassium, titanium, mercury, magnesium, uranium, graphite, mineral salts, gypsum and alabaster. Large metallurgical plants have been built in Zaporozhye, Mariupol, Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, oil refineries are located in Kherson, Odessa, Drogobych, Kremenchug, Lisichansk. In 1991 (1997) 136 (76) million tons of coal, 5 (4.1) million tons of crude oil, 37 million tons of pig iron, 45 (26) million tons of steel, 33 (20) million tons of rolled products were produced . The chemical industry is developed in the Donbass and the Dnieper region, producing soda, sulfuric acid, fertilizers, synthetic resins, plastics, fibers, tires and various chemicals.
Engineering. Ukraine produces equipment for heavy industry, energy (electric motors, turbines, powerful transformers), railway transport (locomotives, freight cars), mining industry (excavators, bulldozers, coal combines), vehicles (trucks, buses, cars), civil aviation ( passenger aircraft, aircraft engines) and agriculture (tractors, agricultural machinery). In addition, the entire range of household and computer equipment is produced. Space technologies and weapons are an important direction in the development of machine building in Ukraine. The military-industrial complex in the early 1990s accounted for about 1/4 of Ukraine's industrial output.
Construction. The building materials industry produces cement (5 million tons in 1997), reinforced concrete structures, binders and insulators, facing and wall materials, asbestos-cement products and slate, silicate glass, ceramics and faience. During the period from 1918 to 1980, about 62% of all capital investments were directed to construction, which made it possible to put into operation 656 million square meters. m of living space and 26.4 thousand schools. In 1981-1990, another 200 million square meters were built. meters of living space. However, since 1991 investment in construction has declined. The greatest decline was noted in the construction of secondary schools and hospitals. In 1997, 5.8% of the able-bodied population was employed in construction.
Domestic trade and services. The liquidation of the market in the late 1920s forced enterprises to receive semi-finished products and supply manufactured goods through the state supply and trade system in accordance with the rules and regulations developed by Gosplan and Gossnab. Collective farms sent the planned amount of agricultural products to food industry enterprises; peasants retained the opportunity to sell vegetables and fruits grown on personal plots at collective farm markets. Private cooperatives began to appear in 1989, and in 1990 there were already 34,823 of them. In 1990, there were 120,000 shops, 1,576 collective farm markets, and 421,000 trade stalls in Ukraine. The lack of goods and services of good quality, taxes and state control stimulated the development of the shadow economy and the black market. The hyperinflation of 1993-1994 led to natural (barter) exchange and the use of the US dollar as the main currency. The introduction of the hryvnia in 1996 became a sign of economic stabilization and an additional way to reduce inflation, however, in the late 1990s, delays in the payment of wages and social benefits (especially in rural areas) did not stop.
Foreign trade and payments. During the Soviet period, 98% of Ukraine's foreign trade was with socialist countries, incl. to the RSFSR (50% of all exports and 75% of all imports), Belarus (more than 10% of exports and about 2% of imports), the countries of Eastern Europe (about 12% of exports and imports) and the Baltic states (9% of exports and 2% of imports). Only 2% of Ukraine's trade was with the developed capitalist countries. The collapse of the USSR and the countries of the socialist bloc led to a sharp reduction in the export of machine-building products of Ukraine, but the import of fuel and raw materials, mainly from Russia, continued. As a result, there was a huge trade deficit ($3.5-4 billion annually). Ukraine's main exports are metals, machinery and agricultural products; imports are oil, natural gas, automobiles, textiles, clothing, timber and paper. In 1997, Ukraine's exports to the CIS countries amounted to 5 billion dollars (67% of them to Russia), imports - 8.8 billion dollars (80% from Russia). Over the same period, exports to other countries reached 7.8 billion dollars, and imports 6.4 billion dollars. Thus, Ukraine's export-import operations with the outside world already exceed the volume of trade with the CIS countries, and this trend increases year by year.
Monetary system and banks. From 1921 to 1991, Ukraine used the Soviet currency - the ruble. In 1992, the ruble was replaced by karbovans (“coupons”). In September 1996, the karbovanets was replaced by a new national currency - the hryvnia (hryvnia = 100 thousand karbovanets). The National Bank of Ukraine during the first two years of circulation of the hryvnia managed to keep the exchange rate stable, but after the financial crisis in Russia in the summer of 1998, the rate still fell. Until 1991, Ukraine had only branches of allied banks - the State Bank of the USSR, Vneshtorgbank and Stroybank. In March 1991, its own central bank, the National Bank of Ukraine, was created. In March 1998, the Ukrainian Association of Banks consisted of 113 banks with a total asset of $5.9 billion.
Public finances. Under the Soviet regime, the budget of Ukraine depended entirely on the transfer of transfers from Moscow, which collected taxes from enterprises, collective farms, and also from citizens of the USSR. The main part of the industry, agriculture and trade of Ukraine was financed from the budget of the Soviet Union. Although the share of the population of Ukraine and the contribution of its economy to the all-Union reached 20%, the budget of the republic was only 10.3% of the budget of the USSR in 1960, 9.8% - in 1965, 8.5% - in 1970 and 1975, 8.6% - in 1979. Until 1991 the budget had a positive balance, then it became a deficit. In 1993, the budget deficit was 17% of GDP. In 1995, the government adopted a financial stabilization plan that brought down inflation and increased tax collection. By 1998, the budget deficit had fallen to 6.8% of GDP, although 18.3% was spent on state support, and 13% on subsidies to enterprises and payments to individuals.
SOCIETY AND CULTURE
Before the revolution of 1917, the majority of the rural population of Ukraine were illiterate peasants. In the cities in the east and south, mostly Russians lived, in the west - Poles and Jews. The Russians formed the backbone of the working class, the intelligentsia, and the landowners; Jews predominated in banking, commerce and cottage industries. During the 1930s and 1940s, Ukraine experienced a dramatic transformation in the social structure. As a result of the policy of collectivization of agriculture, the Ukrainian peasantry was reduced in number, the dissatisfied were sent to Siberia, and the youth left for the cities. The Ukrainian working class and intelligentsia were gradually created. During the Second World War, the Nazis destroyed the Jewish community, the Poles returned to their historical homeland. Now Ukrainian society is characterized by a relatively modern structure with a high level of education, almost completed with urbanization and professionalization of the population.
social structure. In 1970, about 52% of the population were workers, employees - 16%, collective farm peasants - 25%. In 1997 the urban population was 67.8%.
In 1990, the share of peasants fell to 21%, and the share of workers in industry, construction and transport - up to 45%. In the early 1990s, income disparities between different groups of the population increased. A class of entrepreneurs appeared, enriched by privatization and financial speculation, and a vast social stratum of poor people, including pensioners, the unemployed, families with many children. In 1994, 43.5% of able-bodied residents were employed in social production; 78% of them worked in material production, 22% in the service sector.
Lifestyle. Despite the desire of the communist regime to create a Soviet person and a homogeneous socialist way of life, there were historically significant regional differences in Ukraine. Western Ukraine preserves the cultural traditions acquired during the period of Polish and Austro-Hungarian domination. In eastern and southern Ukraine, the influence of Russian traditions is strong. Large cities - especially Kyiv, Kharkov and Odessa - are the focus of many cultures. Lviv was the center of Ukrainian and Polish culture.
Religious institutions. Kievan Rus adopted Christianity in 988–989. After the collapse of Kievan Rus, Galician-Volyn Lesser Rus was captured by Poland and in 1596 (unia at the Brest-Litovsk Cathedral) adopted Greek Catholicism. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church enjoyed great influence during the Polish and Austro-Hungarian rule, becoming one of the bastions of Ukrainian national identity (especially under Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky, 1865–1944). In 1946 it was banned. The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church was established in 1920 (it was liquidated in 1930). After 1946, only the Russian Orthodox Church had permission to operate. In 1988–1991, the activities of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic and Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Churches resumed. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate appeared, and the Russian Orthodox Church from 1990 became known as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This gave rise to conflicts between different branches of Orthodoxy, as well as between Orthodox and Catholics. In addition to Orthodoxy and Catholicism, there are Judaism and various Protestant sects in Ukraine (Baptists, Pentecostals, Seventh-day Adventists); With the migration of Crimean Tatars in the 1990s, the number of Muslims increased sharply, and adherents of Eastern religions (Krishnaites, etc.) appeared.
trade union movement. Until 1917, the cities and industrial regions of the east and south of Ukraine served as one of the main bases of the all-Russian Social Democratic movement. State unions appeared in the 1920s; they included all those working in the given sector of the economy. In 1984, there were 26 million trade union members in the Ukraine; almost everyone who works. In the period 1988–1991, the official trade union movement collapsed, and independent unions emerged, including the Ukrainian Workers' Solidarity Association and other workers' organizations. Donbass miners were the most active. In the summer of 1996, they went on strike and blocked the movement of trains on the railways, paralyzing the region's economy. In 1992, the Independent National Federation of Labor had 4 million members. In April 1996, the Union of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine was dissolved, and state trade unions came to the fore again. As of January 1, 1998, the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine had 138.2 thousand primary organizations and 17.7 million members in 41 branch and 26 regional associations.
Organizations of business and farmers. Until 1917, the cooperative movement was widespread both in the west and in the east of Ukraine, but during the Soviet period it practically collapsed. The revival of cooperatives began after 1988 and covered many areas of activity - from agriculture to industry and the service sector.
Collective farms (collective farms) were the main form of peasant organization; in fact, rural residents were forced into collective farms in the 1930s. For workdays, which measured the work of the collective farmer, a part of the crop was allocated, which remained after the mandatory deliveries to the state. "Soviet" farms (state farms) were state-owned agricultural enterprises and handed over all products to the state, and received wage funds from state financial organizations. Gradually, the number of collective farms decreased and the number of more powerful and better equipped state farms increased. Since 1991 peasants began to form independent associations.
Other public organizations and movements. The diverse social and cultural life in Ukraine, as it was under the Romanovs and the Habsburgs, became strictly regulated in the 1930s. The same fate befell Galicia and Bukovina after World War II. Independent public associations were replaced by state public organizations. The most important were the Communist Youth Union (Komsomol); pioneer organizations; organizations of young schoolchildren - October; creative unions of writers, architects, composers, artists, journalists and filmmakers; Ukrainian Committee for the Defense of Peace; Society of Atheists; Ukrainian Red Cross; Academy of Sciences; Voluntary Society for Assistance to the Army, Aviation and Navy (DOSAAF). In 1988–1989, thanks to glasnost and perestroika, numerous independent public organizations and associations arose. The most famous national-political movement "Rukh" (the original name of the Ukrainian People's Front in support of perestroika). New political parties were created, the Shevchenko Ukrainian Language Society, the Republican Association of Ukrainian Studies, the Ukrainian Women's League and many other public associations. At the end of 1997, there were more than 4 thousand registered non-governmental organizations in Ukraine in the field of culture, sports, environmental protection, assistance to victims of Chernobyl, etc.
Social Security. Ukraine inherited from the Soviet period an extensive system of hospitals, outpatient clinics, treatment and preventive dispensaries, sanatoriums and resorts. By the number of doctors per 1000 inhabitants (4.4), Ukraine occupies one of the first places in the world. The quality of health care varies greatly by city, region, and social status of patients. Hygienic standards and requirements are often not met; medical equipment for serving the population is not enough or it is outdated; although health care is officially free, you have to pay extra for quality medical care. As a result of the economic crisis of 1992–1994, the situation deteriorated sharply.
Ukraine has more than 5 thousand maternity hospitals and children's hospitals and more than 22 thousand kindergartens and nurseries. There are pensions for the elderly and the disabled, as well as disability, sickness and maternity benefits. Benefits for large families were abolished in 1998.
Since 1985 there has been an alarming increase in crime. The number of those arrested increased from 249.6 thousand in 1985 to 405.5 thousand in 1992, and the number of thefts increased from 46 thousand in 1985 to 154.8 thousand in 1991. In the first half of 1998, 295 thousand crimes were registered.
CULTURE
Ukrainian culture inherits many religious and cultural traditions of Kievan Rus and the Byzantine Empire. The cultures of neighboring countries, especially Russia, Poland, Austria and Turkey, had a certain influence. Polish and Austrian influence is more pronounced in western Ukraine, while Russian influence is more pronounced in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Education. From 1897 to 1950 the proportion of literates increased from 28% to 98%. In 1989, 93% of the employed had a secondary or higher education. There are 21,825 general education schools in Ukraine. After the introduction of the Ukrainian language as the state language, 63% of schoolchildren study in Ukrainian and 36% in Russian. There are 149 higher educational institutions and universities with 900,000 students. The most famous universities are in Kyiv, Odessa, Lvov and Kharkov; Mohyla Academy in Kyiv is a leading private university. 70 thousand scientists work in 80 research institutes of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Due to restrictions on some types of research that were introduced by the Communist Party, the humanities, especially economics, philosophy, sociology and law, fell far behind the global level.
Literature and art. Ukrainian literature began with historical chronicles and religious literature of Kievan Rus. 16th–18th centuries were rich in folk poetry, epics, theological treatises and sermons. National literature appeared at the end of the 18th century. with the release of the satirical epic poem by Ivan Kotlyarevsky (1769–1838) Aeneid. Outstanding writers and poets of Ukraine in the 19th–20th centuries. there were the romantics Taras Shevchenko (1814–1861), Panteleimon Kulish (1819–1897) and Markiyan Shashkevich (1811–1843); realists Ivan Franko (1856–1916) and Marko Vovchok (1834–1907); modernists Lesya Ukrainka (1871–1913), Mykhailo Kotsiubinsky (1864–1913), Volodymyr Vynnichenko (1880–1951); Soviet Ukrainian writers and poets Mykola Khvylyovy (1893–1933), Pavlo Tychyna (1891–1967), Maxim Rylsky (1895–1964), Ivan Drach (b.1936), Vasyl Simonenko (1935–1963), Oles Gonchar (b. 1918); dissident Vasyl Stus (1938–1985). Among other important figures of Ukrainian culture of the 20th century. we can name the experimental playwright Mykola Kulish (1892–1942); film director Alexander Dovzhenko (1894–1956), creator of the world-famous film Earth(1930); theater director Les Kurbas (1885–1942), founder of the avant-garde theater "Berezil" in the 1920s; modernist sculptor Alexander Archipenko (1887–1963), who emigrated to the West; artist Mykolu Boychuk (1882–1939), founder of the school of muralists.
Ukraine experienced a literary and artistic renaissance in the 1920s, but most of the writers and artists associated with it either died or ceased writing during the Stalinist terror of the 1930s. After that, Ukrainian writers and artists could only create works in the style of socialist realism. National literature and art began to revive thanks to the Khrushchev "thaw" and the "generation of the sixties" that appeared during this period. The next cultural revival followed after 1987 as a result of glasnost, perestroika and independence.
Museums and libraries. There are 173 museums and more than 65 thousand libraries in Ukraine with funds of 133.2 million copies. books and magazines in Ukrainian and 222.1 million copies. - in Russian. In the 1990s, most of them fell into disrepair due to insufficient funding.
Mass media. Under the Soviet regime, the media, represented by a small number of centralized and government-controlled bodies and institutions, were funded by the state and provided support for the official party line. In the 1960s-1980s, the only alternative was the so-called "samizdat" - the unofficial publication of the works of dissidents in the form of typewritten manuscripts and photocopies. After 1991, the media became independent and diverse; their number has increased significantly. Ukrainian radio and television is still state-owned, with 15 television centers and over 250 relay stations. The country has a large number of publishing houses - public and private - and national film production (in Kyiv, Odessa, Yalta).
Sport. All sports activities in Soviet Ukraine were under the control of the Ukrainian Association of Athletic Societies and Organizations. Ukrainian athletes - sprinter Valery Borzov, pole vaulter Serhiy Bubka, speed skater Viktor Petrenko - have set world records or won Olympic medals. Kiev football team "Dynamo" is one of the best football clubs in Europe. The national team of Ukraine took part in the 1994 Winter Olympics, where Oksana Baiul won the gold medal in the women's figure skating competition. At the 1996 Summer Olympics, Ukraine received 23 medals, including 9 gold medals, placing 10th overall.
Traditions and holidays. Most pre-revolutionary traditions and holidays were religious. In the Soviet years, special traditions and holidays appeared associated with the heroism of the revolutionary masses, military victories, dates of birth and death of Bolshevik leaders. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, many former national and religious traditions and holidays were revived in Ukraine. The most popular are Christmas and Easter. The national holiday is Independence Day, celebrated on August 24, and some holidays of the Soviet era have been preserved.
STORY
In the I millennium BC. The steppes of Ukraine were inhabited, replacing each other, by the Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Goths and other nomadic peoples. Ancient Greek colonists lived in several city-states on the Black Sea coast in the 7th-3rd centuries. BC. In the 6th c. AD the northern part of the territory of modern Ukraine was settled by the tribes of Slavs displaced by nomads from the Danube. Kyiv was founded in the 6th century. clearings and captured in 882 by the Novgorod prince Oleg. Thanks to its convenient location on important trade routes "from the Varangians to the Greeks", Kyiv has become the center of a powerful state. During the period of its highest prosperity during the reign of the Grand Dukes Vladimir I (980–1015) and Yaroslav I the Wise (1019–1054), Kievan Rus was one of the largest states in Europe. In 988-989 Vladimir I abandoned paganism and adopted Orthodox Christianity. Yaroslav the Wise put the laws of the state in order; his daughters married the kings of France, Hungary and Norway.
Due to the blocking of the trade route along the Dnieper by nomads and internal intrigues, Kievan Rus by the middle of the 12th century. fell into disrepair. In 1169, Grand Duke Andrei Bogolyubsky transferred the capital of Rus' to Vladimir. In 1240, Kyiv was destroyed to the ground by the Mongol-Tatars under the leadership of Batu Khan, and then captured by Lithuania. Vladimir-Suzdal principality in the interfluve of the Oka and Volga in the middle of the 13th century. was conquered by the Mongol-Tatars. The Carpathian principality of Galicia-Volyn continued to exist independently until joining Poland and Lithuania in the 14th century.
National, social and religious oppression in Catholic Poland caused a mass exodus of peasants to the south of Ukraine in the 15th-16th centuries. and contributed to the emergence of the Cossacks. Zaporizhzhya Sich - an independent community located beyond the thresholds of the lower reaches of the Dnieper - became the stronghold of the Cossacks. Poland's attempts to suppress the Cossacks led to mass uprisings, especially during the liberation war of 1648–1654. The uprising was led by the Cossack hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky (1595–1657). The victorious war of Khmelnytsky against the Poles led to the creation of the Ukrainian Cossack state. In 1654 Khmelnytsky signed the Treaty of Pereyaslav on the creation of a military and political union with Russia. As Russian influence grew, the Cossacks began to lose autonomy and repeatedly initiated new uprisings and rebellions. In 1709 Hetman Ivan Mazepa (1687–1709) took the side of Sweden against Russia in the Northern War (1700–1721), but the Cossacks and Swedes were defeated in the Battle of Poltava (1709). The Hetmanate and the Zaporizhian Sich were abolished - the first in 1764, and the second in 1775 - after Russia ousted the Turks from the Black Sea region. During the partitions of Poland in 1772, 1793 and 1795, Ukrainian lands west of the Dnieper were divided between Russia and Austria.
In the first half of the 19th century Ukrainian lands remained part of Russia and Austria. The development of the Black Sea and Donbass, the opening of universities in Kharkov (1805), Kiev (1834) and Odessa (1865) stimulated the growth of national culture, the rise of the national economy, but also the rise of the national consciousness of the Ukrainian intelligentsia. The people's poet Taras Shevchenko (1814–1861) and the political publicist Mikhailo Drahomanov (1841–1895) contributed to the further growth of nationalist sentiment. At the end of the 19th century Nationalist and socialist parties emerged in Ukraine. The Russian state responded to nationalism with persecution and restrictions on the use of the Ukrainian language. Austrian Galicia, which had much greater political freedom, became the center of national culture.
The First World War and the revolution in Russia destroyed the empires of the Habsburgs and the Romanovs. On November 20, 1917, the Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed in Kyiv, on December 12, 1917, the Ukrainian Soviet Republic was proclaimed in Kharkov, and on November 1, 1918, the West Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed in Lvov. On January 22, 1919, the people's republics united. However, the military position of the new state became hopeless under the blows of the Polish troops from the west and the Red Army from the east (1920). The southeastern part of Ukraine was for some time controlled by anarchist peasants led by Nestor Makhno. The war in Ukraine continued until 1921. As a result, Galicia and Volyn were included in Poland, while eastern Ukraine remained a Soviet republic.
Between the First and Second World Wars, there was a powerful Ukrainian nationalist movement in Poland. It was led by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Military Organization. Legal Ukrainian parties, the Greek Catholic Church, the Ukrainian press and entrepreneurship have found opportunities for their development in Poland. In the 1920s in Ukraine, thanks to the policy of Ukrainization, there was a national revival in literature and art, carried out by the republican communist leadership. When the leadership of the CPSU(b) changed its general political course in the late 1920s, the Communist Party of Ukraine was purged for its "nationalist bias." As a result of the terror of the 1930s, many Ukrainian writers, artists, and intellectuals were destroyed; the peasantry suffered from collectivization and the massive famine of 1932–1933. After Germany and the USSR divided Poland in August-September 1939, Galicia and Volhynia were annexed to Soviet Ukraine. Northern Bukovina, which ended up in Romania after 1917, was included in Ukraine in 1940, and the Transcarpathian region, which had previously been part of Czechoslovakia, in 1945.
The German attack on the USSR in 1941 was welcomed by many Western Ukrainians; The OUN even tried to create a Ukrainian state under German auspices. However, Nazi policies alienated most Ukrainians. The OUN created nationalist partisan detachments - the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA); many eastern Ukrainians joined the Soviet partisans or fought in the Red Army against the Germans. After the Second World War, the OUN and the UPA continued their partisan struggle against Soviet power in Western Ukraine until 1953.
The war devastated the country. Its entire territory was occupied by Germany. 714 cities and 28 thousand villages were destroyed, which were restored in the late 1940s and early 1950s. After the war, in response to the actions of the nationalist underground, political repression intensified in Western Ukraine. With the death of I.V. Stalin in 1953 the situation changed. Under N.S. Khrushchev (who headed the Communist Party of Ukraine in 1938-1949), a whole galaxy of writers, artists, intellectuals, the so-called. "Generation of the Sixties". He also transferred to Ukraine in 1954 the territory of the Crimea, which had previously been part of the RSFSR.
The coming to power in the Kremlin of MS Gorbachev in 1985 led to political changes in Ukraine. The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April 1986 caused radioactive contamination of vast areas and undermined the credibility of the country's leadership, which was trying to hide the accident. Glasnost made it possible to fill in the "blank spots" in the history of Ukraine, and the growing political freedom activated dissident groups and cultural organizations with a national orientation. The turning point in public life was the formation of Rukh at the end of 1989 and the removal of V.V. Shcherbitsky from power. In 1990, the former secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, L.M. Kravchuk, was appointed chairman of the presidium of the cosmetically updated Supreme Council, which included 25% of deputies from national and democratic movements elected in semi-free elections in 1990. On July 16, 1990, Ukraine declared its sovereignty. This term meant independence for the nationalists, and autonomy for the communists. November 21, 1990 Ukraine and the RSFSR signed an agreement on sovereignty and non-interference in each other's internal affairs.
While the union government continued to disintegrate, Ukraine, the RSFSR and other republics were engaged in negotiations with Gorbachev about the form of the future union. After the failed coup on August 24, 1991, Ukraine declared independence. A few days later, the Communist Party of Ukraine was banned and its property confiscated by the new authorities. On December 1, 1991, a referendum on independence was held in Ukraine; about 90% of those who voted supported the declaration of independence. Most countries recognized Ukraine over the next few months. The Ukrainian Republic became a member of the Council for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the International Monetary Fund, the NATO Advisory Council and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
December 8, 1991 Ukraine created the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) with the Russian Federation and Belarus. However, immediately after that, tensions arose between Ukraine and Russia. The Russian Federation took upon itself the obligation to pay all the debts of the union state, but in response, left behind almost all the property of the USSR abroad. The Ukrainian government has taken stepsto create its own army and navy. After the signing of a tripartite agreement between the presidents of Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the United States (1994), Ukraine began to transfer nuclear weapons to Russia. As a result, Ukraine's relations with the US and Western European countries have improved. Ukraine has established closer economic and political ties with Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.
On December 1, 1991, L.M. Kravchuk was elected President of Ukraine (60% of the votes were cast for him). When the presidential re-elections were held in June 1994, they were won by former Prime Minister L.D. Kuchma, who proposed a moderate political program (52% of the vote).
Kuchma began his tenure as president with promises to embark on economic and political reforms, create a market economy, and strengthen democratic institutions. Although the beginning of reforms was announced in the fall of 1994, progress in their implementation turned out to be insignificant due to the lack of a legislative framework and corruption at all levels of government. Elections to a new parliament in March 1998 did little to change the political situation. Out of 450 seats, left-wing radicals and left-centrists (122 communists, socialists, the Peasant Party, the Union bloc) took more than 200 seats, centrists and right-centrists - about 130 (including the presidential People's Democratic Party and Rukh), right - 6 and independent - more than 110 seats. On April 19, 1999, the composition of deputies from the main parties was as follows (indicating the number of those who left): KPU - 122 (1), NDP - 53 (39), "Rukh" (Kostenko) - 30 (18), "Rukh" (Chornovil) - 16 (0), SDPU - 27 (5), Revival of regions - 27 (1), SPU - 24 (13), Gromada - 28 (17). In July 1997, Ukraine signed a charter that defined "special" relations between Ukraine and NATO. Relations with Russia improved in 1997 thanks to new economic agreements and the achievement of an acceptable solution for the division of the Black Sea Fleet. In November 1999, Leonid Kuchma was re-elected President of Ukraine.
On October 31, 1999, L. Kuchma again won the presidential election, receiving more than 36% (communist P. Simonenko received 22%).
In 1999, during the NATO operation against Yugoslavia, Ukraine adhered to the pro-Western orientation and refused to provide space for the transfer of Russian contingents before the agreement between Russia and NATO. Then on July 4, during Kuchma's visit, Yeltsin raised the issue of Ukraine's debts to Russia for energy resources. In April 2000, during Putin's visit to Kyiv, Kuchma was forced to admit that Ukrainian organizations were stealing Russian gas, which is transiting through its territory to Europe. The culprit of this was the former Deputy Prime Minister Yu. Timashenko, who was arrested, but released under pressure from the political opposition, which then allowed her to become one of the leaders of the opposition.
Since February 2001, the opposition launched a campaign of civil disobedience "Ukraine without Kuchma", accompanied by numerous rallies. The murder of journalist V. Gongadze was used as a pretext, in which the opposition began to blame the president. Under these conditions, Kuchma began to lean towards closer relations with Russia. In conditions of political instability, on April 26, 2001, Kuchma dismissed Prime Minister V. Yushchenko, who soon became the leader of the liberal-nationalist opposition. In the parliamentary elections in March 2002, 6 parties passed to the Verkhovna Rada (in descending order of votes): Our Ukraine (leader Yushchenko), the pro-presidential bloc "For Unity" ("For Food"), the Communist Party of Ukraine, the Yu. Tymoshenko Bloc "Batkivshchyna", the Socialist party of Ukraine (leader A.Moroz), Social Democratic Party (united). The elections showed a growing distance between the eastern and western parts of the country, each of which has developed a separate range of political preferences.
LITERATURE
and Moldova : A guidebook. M. - Leipzig, 1987
Ukrainian SSR. Encyclopedic reference. Kyiv, 1987
Geographic Encyclopedia of Ukraine(in Ukrainian), vols. 1–3. Kyiv, 1989–1993
History of the Ukrainian SSR. Chronological directory. Kyiv, 1990
Mikhailovskaya E. . Political parties and organizations. M., 1992
: vector of change. M., 1994
Subtelny O. . Story. Kyiv, 1994
Mikhalchenko N., Andrushchenko V. Belovezhye. L. Kravchuk. Ukraine. 1991–1995. Kyiv, 1995
Socio-economic geography of Ukraine. Lvov, 1995
and Russia: societies and states. M., 1997

Encyclopedia Around the World. 2008 .

UKRAINE

State in Eastern Europe. In the north it borders with Belarus and Russia, in the east - with Russia, in the southwest - with Romania and Moldova, in the west - with Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. In the south it is washed by the Sea of ​​Azov and the Black Sea. Until 1991 - the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic within the USSR. The area of ​​the country is about 603,700 km2. Ukraine includes the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, because of which Ukraine has some disagreements with Russia. Almost the entire territory of the country is a vast plain with separate hills, the height of which usually does not exceed 300 m above sea level. These are the Volyn, Podolsk and Dnieper uplands - in the west. The Donetsk Ridge and the Azov Upland are in the east. In the west of Ukraine are the Carpathian Mountains, where the highest point of the country is located - Mount Hoverla (2061 m). On the southern coast of Crimea are the Crimean Mountains, up to 1545 m high. Almost all the main rivers of Ukraine flow south and empty into the Black Sea. The Dnieper is in the center of the country. Southern Bug and Dniester - in the west. Donets - in the east, Danube - in the south. The Western Bug flows to the north and flows into the Vistula in Poland. There are no large natural lakes in Ukraine, and among the artificial reservoirs, Kyiv, Kanevskoe, Kremenchugskoe and Kakhovskoe (all on the Dnieper River) stand out.
The population of the country (estimated for 1998) is about 50,125,100 people, the average population density is about 83 people per km2. Ethnic groups: Ukrainians - 73%, Russians - 22%, Belarusians - 5%, Moldovans, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Poles, Crimean Tatars. Language: Ukrainian (state), Russian, Tatar, Polish. Religion: Orthodox - 76%, Uniates - 13.5%, Muslims - 8.2%, Catholics, Protestants, Jews. The capital is Kyiv. The largest cities: Kiev (2809000 people), Kharkov (1680000 people), Dnepropetrovsk (1230000 people), Donetsk (1149000 people), Odessa (1122000 people), Lvov (852000 people), Mariupol (520000 people). The state structure is a republic. The head of state is President Leonid Kuchma (in office since July 1994). The head of government is the prime minister. Monetary unit - karbovanets (transitional currency). Average life expectancy (for 1998): 64 years - men, 74 years - women. The birth rate (per 1,000 people) is 9.5. Mortality rate (per 1000 people) - 16.3.
The history of Ukraine is also an important page in the history of Russia. In the 11th and 12th centuries Kyiv was the center of the Russian principality and is still called the "Mother of Russian Cities". Kievan Rus arose in the 9th century and became one of the most powerful European states of that time. The principality reached its peak during the reign of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054). In the 13th century, the principality, like many other Russian principalities, was ravaged by the Tatar-Mongols. The Principality of Galicia (modern Western Ukraine) suffered less and became part of Poland in the 14th century. The northern lands became dependent on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, while the lands east of the Dnieper River gravitated towards Russia and in 1667 were annexed to Russia. The rest of the territory was annexed by Russia as a result of the second partition of Poland in 1793. Galicia was part of the Austrian Empire until 1919. After the 1917 revolution, Ukraine declared independence, but as a result of the civil war, it became part of the USSR, being one of the founders of this state. From 1922 to 1939, the country experienced a series of tragedies that devastated many villages and cities: the famine of 1932-1933, forced collectivization and expulsion, the struggle against "enemies of the people." In 1939, Galicia (Western Ukraine) joined Ukraine. In 1941, Ukraine was occupied by German troops and divided into two protectorates. In 1944 Ukraine was liberated, and in 1945 the territories of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and Ruthenia were annexed to it. In 1954, the Crimean region, which belonged to Russia, was donated to Ukraine by the then Soviet leader Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev. One of the most sinister disasters of the 20th century occurred on the territory of Ukraine - the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (April 26, 1986), the consequences of the accident affected not only Ukraine, but and Russia and Belarus. In December 1991, Ukraine declared independence. The country is a member of the UN, IMF, WHO, UNESCO, OSCE, CIS.
The climate in most of the country is temperate continental, only in the south of the Crimean peninsula a mild maritime climate prevails. The average January temperature in the country is from -8° C to 2° C, the average July temperature is from 17° C to 25° C. The amount of precipitation gradually decreases from north to south: in the Carpathians about 1500 mm per year, on the Black Sea coast - less 300 mm per year. Forests grow mainly in the northern third of the country, coniferous forests in the mountainous regions, mixed and deciduous forests in the rest. Wild animals are preserved mainly in reserves and reserves, the most famous of which is the Askania-Nova steppe reserve in the south of the country, formed back in 1898 and covering an area of ​​11,000 hectares. It is inhabited by both local animals and species uncharacteristic for Ukraine: wolf, jackal, Przewalski's horse, zebra, wildebeest, ostrich, steppe eagle, black vulture; more than 150 species of trees and shrubs grow in the arboretum of the reserve. In the forests in the north of the country there are deer, hare, wolf, marten, wild boar. In Crimea, there is the Nikitsky Botanical Garden with a huge number of different plant species from different parts of the world.
Among the natural attractions of Ukraine, it is necessary to note the numerous resorts of the Crimea and the Sea of ​​Azov with beautiful sandy beaches. In the Carpathians, skiing is widespread and there are a fairly large number of camp sites. As for historical and other sights, in Kyiv this is the Cathedral of St. Sophia of the 11th century (significantly rebuilt in the 17th and 18th centuries), famous for its frescoes and mosaics; Caves Monastery or Kiev-Pechersk Lavra - a monastery complex with several temples and catacombs, which contain the relics of some Orthodox saints, on the territory of the Lavra there is a gold museum with a rich collection of jewelry, including products of Scythian masters; church of st. Andrew in the Baroque style (1744-1753); cathedral of st. Vladimir (XIX century); remains of the Golden Gate (XI century); gallery of Russian art; a large number of museums. In Lviv - the old city with baroque architecture; Lviv Art Gallery with a rich collection of paintings by European masters; several museums. In Kharkov - Intercession Cathedral (XVII century); Assumption Cathedral (late 18th century); Patriarchal Church (XIX century); bell tower erected in honor of the victory over Napoleon's army. In Odessa - the building of the Opera House (XIX century); Historical Museum; monument to the Duke of Richelieu; The Potemkin Stairs. In Sevastopol - an archaeological excavation of ancient Chersonesus, on the territory of the excavation - a rich archaeological museum; monument to the lost ships.

Encyclopedia: cities and countries. 2008., cities of republican subordination Kyiv and Sevastopol. In Ukraine, there are three economic zones (Western, Eastern, Southern) and nine regions (Carpathian, Podolsk, Volyn Capital, Central Ukrainian, North-Eastern, Prydniprovsky, Donetsk, Black Sea). Geographers distinguish recreational areas: Crimea, the Northern Black Sea region, the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, the Carpathians, Podolia, the Dnieper region, suburban recreational systems of large cities, cities - centers of tourism. The boundaries of recreational areas do not coincide with administrative ones.
The population is 46.4 million people. The population consists predominantly of Ukrainians (77%) and Russians (17%). The state language is Ukrainian. The capital is Kyiv, the largest cities are Kharkiv, Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye, Krivoy Rog, Lviv.
Most believers belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate. The Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic churches are also represented in Ukraine. On August 24, 1991, the independence of Ukraine was proclaimed. The head of state is the president, who appoints the prime minister and members of the cabinet. The only body of legislative power is the Verkhovna Rada, which consists of 450 deputies. The country is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
Ukraine is an industrial-agrarian country. Ferrous metallurgy, fuel industry, electric power industry, mechanical engineering, chemical and petrochemical, and food industries occupy the largest share in the industrial structure. Agriculture specializes in the cultivation of cereals, sunflower, sugar beets. Monetary unit - hryvnia. There are 100 kopecks in one hryvnia. Public holidays of Ukraine: January 7 - Christmas, March 8 - International Women's Day, April-May - Easter, May 1-2 - Labor Day, May 9 - Victory Day, June - Trinity, June 28 - Constitution Day, August 24 - Day independence.
Most of the territory of Ukraine is located on the southwestern outskirts of the East European Plain, which consists of elevated areas (Volyn, Podolsk, Prydniprovska, Azov Uplands, Donetsk Ridge) and lowlands (Polesskaya, Prydniprovska, Black Sea). In the extreme south - on the Crimean peninsula - the Crimean Mountains rise (the highest point is Mount Roman-Kosh, 1545 m), in the west - the Ukrainian Carpathians (up to 2061 m high, Mount Hoverla). The main rivers flow into the Black and Azov Seas: the Dnieper with tributaries (dividing the country into the Right-bank and Left-bank Ukraine), the Seversky Donets, the Southern Bug, the Dniester, and the Danube. A cascade of reservoirs has been created on the Dnieper - Kyiv, Kanevskoe, Kremenchugskoe, Dneprodzerzhinskoe, Kakhovskoe. Natural vegetation and wildlife are protected in the reserves, the largest of which are the Black Sea, Polessky, Yalta, Carpathian, Askania-Nova.

Story
In the first millennium BC, the Bosporan and Scythian kingdoms existed in the Northern Black Sea region. In the 9th-12th centuries, most of the territory of Ukraine was part of the state of the Eastern Slavs - Kievan Rus. For the first time the name "Ukraine" is found in the Kyiv Chronicle under 1187. It extended to Pereyaslav, Kyiv and Chernihiv lands. After being devastated by the Mongol-Tatars in the 13th century, from the middle of the 14th century the southern Russian principalities came under the rule of Lithuania and Poland. In these territories in the 15-16 centuries, the Ukrainian nationality was formed. An important role in the formation of national identity was played by the organization of the Cossacks - the Zaporizhzhya Sich (16-18 centuries). She fought with the Crimean Tatars and Turks, Polish feudal lords. As a result of the Liberation War of the Ukrainian people of 1648-1654, the Left-bank Ukraine was reunited with Russia, having received autonomy. After the victorious Russian-Turkish wars in the second half of the 18th century, the Northern Black Sea region and Crimea were annexed to the Russian Empire. According to the second (1793) and third (1795) partitions of Poland, Volhynia and Podolia were ceded to Russia. Under the rule of the Austrian Empire were Galicia, Bukovina, Transcarpathia.
The reform of 1861 accelerated the formation of an industrial society in Ukraine. Industrial coal mining, iron smelting, sugar production began here, and railways were built. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Donbass and the Dnieper region reached a significant level of industrial development. The October Revolution of 1917 was mainly supported by the workers of Donbass. The Ukrainian Central Rada, the headquarters of the Kyiv district and the troops subordinate to it were hostile to the Bolshevik coup. In November 1917 in Kyiv, the Central Rada declared the independence of Ukraine. At the same time, in Kharkov, the All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets proclaimed the creation of a Soviet Ukraine. During January-February 1918, the Bolshevik units overthrew the power of the Central Rada on the territory of the Left-Bank and Right-Bank Ukraine. But under the terms of the Brest Peace, Ukraine was occupied by Austro-German troops. The occupiers formed a puppet government of Ukraine in Kyiv, headed by Hetman Skoropadsky. After the defeat of Germany in the First World War, the Red Army re-established Soviet power in Ukraine. In 1919-1920, the enemy of the Bolsheviks in Ukraine were the White Guard armies of Generals Denikin and Wrangel. Poland also made claims to the Ukrainian lands. Under the terms of the Treaty of Riga, Volhynia and Galicia became part of Poland. Bukovina was occupied by Romania in 1918, Transcarpathia became part of Czechoslovakia. The civil war in Ukraine ended in 1921 with the defeat of the rebel army of Nestor Makhno.
After the occupation of Poland in 1939 by German troops, Western Ukraine was annexed to the Ukrainian SSR as part of the USSR. In 1940, Romania returned Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia to the USSR. The southern, coastal part of Bessarabia became part of the Odessa region of Ukraine. After the end of World War II, Transcarpathia also became part of Ukraine. The Great Patriotic War brought enormous destruction and human casualties to the Ukrainian people. Ukraine was occupied by German troops in 1941-1944.
In 1954, Crimea was transferred to Ukraine. On April 26, 1986, the worst man-made disaster of the 20th century occurred on the territory of Ukraine - the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the negative consequences of which also affected Russia and Belarus. After an attempted coup d'état in the USSR in August 1991, the Supreme Council of the Republic adopted the Act on the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine. In December 1991, the leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine signed an agreement on the liquidation of the USSR and the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. In 1996, a new Constitution of Ukraine was adopted, and a national monetary unit, the hryvnia, was introduced.

culture
Traces of many cultural and historical eras have been preserved on the territory of Ukraine. From the time of the primitive communal system, the remains of dwellings made of bones, petroglyphs of Kamennaya Mohyla (near the village of Terpenye in the Zaporozhye region), ancient stone sculptures have come down; from the culture of the Scythians and Sarmatians - numerous burial mounds and settlements. The ruins of Greek settlements remained on the Crimean peninsula. Old Russian culture is reflected in the architectural monuments of Kyiv and Chernigov.
Among the masterpieces of national architecture are buildings of the second half of the 17th - early 18th centuries in the Ukrainian baroque style: St. which are characterized by bright decorativeness, plasticity and dynamism of images. Many buildings of the 18th-19th centuries, created by the architects I. G. Grigorovich-Barsky, S. D. Kovnir, I. F. Michurin, V. V. Rastrelli, J. G. Shedel, A. V. Kvasov, have survived. The architectural styles of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries are also presented: modern (the house of V. Gorodetsky in Kiev, a hotel in Odessa), neoclassicism (bank buildings on Khreshchatyk, residential buildings on Bankova Street in Kiev, residential and administrative buildings in Odessa), neo-Ukrainian style ( building of the Poltava Zemstvo, art school in Kharkov). The most famous example of industrial architecture of the 1920s-1930s in Ukraine is the building and dam of the Dneproges.
Monuments of culture are the palace and park ensembles in Kachanovka, Sokirintsy. Museums of folk architecture and life in Kyiv, Lvov, Uzhgorod, Pereyaslav-Khmelnytsky introduce the peculiarities of Ukrainian folk architecture. They represent complexes of estates, windmills, huts, churches. It also contains products of traditional Ukrainian crafts: embroidered towels and clothes, ceramics (each part of the country has its own characteristic types of pottery), tiles for stoves, household items. The traditions of musical and dance folk art are being developed today by professional groups. The most famous of them are the Bandura Chapel of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Folk Choir named after G. G. Verevka, the Dance Ensemble named after P. P. Virsky, the Hutsul Song and Dance Ensemble.

National cuisine
The originality of the Ukrainian is in the predominant use of pork, lard, beets, wheat flour, as well as in the peculiarities of cooking - combined heat treatment of a large number of dish components. For example, twenty different products are used to make borscht, which explains its high taste and nutritional value.
The favorite and most used product is lard, fried, so-called cracklings, and as a seasoning and fat base for a wide variety of dishes. Widely used in Ukraine are cereals (millet, buckwheat, pumpkin), dumplings stuffed with cottage cheese, potatoes, stewed cabbage, and in summer - from berries. Also popular are stew with potatoes, Ukrainian meatballs stuffed with garlic and lard, boiled pork stewed with cabbage and lard, kruzhiki. Ukrainian cuisine is characterized by a wide range of dressing first courses. Among them, the first place is occupied by borscht. There are up to 30 species of them (Poltava, Chernihiv, Kiev, Volyn, Lvov).
A significant place in Ukrainian cuisine is also occupied by fish dishes: crucian carp baked in sour cream, fish rolls, carp stuffed with mushrooms and buckwheat porridge, carp stewed with onions or sour cream - 1. UKRAINE and Ukraine, Ukraine, women. (old.). An area on the edge of the state, outskirts. The steppe Ukraine of the Muscovite state began beyond Ryazan. 2. UKRAINE (Ukraine), and Ukraine (U capital), Ukraine, women. the name of the union republic (Ukrainian SSR), ... ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

On June 24, 1934, the capital of the Ukrainian SSR was moved from Kharkov to Kyiv. Kharkiv became the capital by and large by accident, although Kharkiv residents, of course, do not think so and continue to call their city "the first capital." At the end of 1917, after the well-known events, Kyiv was outside the zone of control of the Red Army, but Soviet power was strengthened in Kharkov, and Ukraine was proclaimed Soviet there. Officially, Kharkov became the capital of the Ukrainian SSR in 1919. From here, the Red Army set out on a campaign against the whole of Ukraine. After collectivization, the Holodomor, the eradication of "enemies of the people" and the transformation of Ukraine into a "Soviet paradise", the question arose of Kyiv as a historical capital. The question of transferring the government of Ukraine from Kharkov to Kyiv was decided in the Kremlin and personally by Comrade Stalin. At the same time, the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR decided to liquidate some higher educational institutions in Kyiv, and transfer some to other cities in connection with the relocation of the central party, state organizations to the new capital and the need to provide them with premises.

In the hot summer of 1934, a special train with the resettling Ukrainian government arrived at the Kiev railway station from Kharkov. The newspapers of that time enthusiastically wrote that the festively decorated train was joyfully greeted by the workers. After a short rally, the party and Soviet leaders Postyshev, Kosior, Petrovsky, Lyubchenko, Yakir, Zatonsky, Schlichter and others went to the government podium, installed near the opera house, where they received a military parade and saw thousands of columns of jubilant residents of the new capital. They say that at the same time one of the leaders, pointing to the golden-domed churches, exclaimed with pathos: "We will turn this monastic city into a socialist one!"

In the first year of Kiev's status as a capital, all free sections of the central streets were built up, and since 1936, with the beginning of the general reconstruction of the city, its central quarters were compacted and new areas began to be developed. And in 1935, the first trolleybus was launched. In 1937, a new zoning was carried out: instead of five, eight administrative regions were created, and a ninth one a year later. In 1939, 847 thousand inhabitants lived in the city. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the borders of Kyiv had expanded to 68,000 hectares.

Reference

Kyiv is an ancient center of Slavism, the capital of the mighty Kievan Rus. According to legend, at the end of the 5th - beginning of the 6th centuries AD, the three brothers Kyi, Shchek, Khoriv and their sister Lybid founded a city on the steep right bank of the Dnieper River and named it Kiev in honor of their elder brother. The first mention of Kiev, contained in the ancient Russian chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years”, refers to 862. However, archaeological research has established dwellings and outbuildings of the “town of Kiya” on Starokievsky Hill, dated to the 5th - 6th centuries. (Based on this discovery, the 1500th anniversary of the city was solemnly celebrated in May 1982). In the IX - XII centuries. Kyiv is the capital of one of the largest and most powerful states in Europe. After the death of Vladimir Monomakh in 1125, the process of disintegration of the united state of Kievan Rus began. In 1240, Kyiv was destroyed and devastated by the hordes of the Mongol-Tatar Khan Batu. The Mongol-Tatar invasion delayed the development of the city for almost a century.

In the 15th century Kyiv was granted the Magdeburg Law. According to the Union of Lublin in 1569, Polish feudal lords began to manage most of the Ukrainian lands, including Kiev. At the end of the 16th century - the first half of the 17th century, the uprisings of the Ukrainian people against enslavement began. On December 23, 1648, Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky at the head of the Cossack army solemnly entered Kiev through the Golden Gate. In 1654, an alliance with Russia was concluded in Pereyaslavl, which resulted in the reunification of Ukraine with Russia.

From December 1919 to June 1934 Kharkov was the capital of the country. On June 24, 1934, the Ukrainian government and all republican organizations moved to Kyiv. The city was severely destroyed during the Great Patriotic War and completely restored in the post-war years. Since 1991 Kyiv has been the capital of independent Ukraine.

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Kyiv is the capital of Ukraine, a hero city. Located on the Dnieper River.

Story

Archaeological excavations show that settlements on the territory of the Kyiv region already existed 15,000-20,000 years ago.

For the period of the Bronze Age, the territories of the southwestern part are characterized by the Belogrudov culture. The Eneolithic (Copper Age) and Neolithic period is represented by the Trypillia culture, the monuments and periods of which researchers divide into three stages: early (4500 - 3500), middle (3500-2750) and late (2750 - 2000 BC). . e.).

Zarubinets culture is typical for the north-west of the Kiev region in the second half of the 1st millennium BC. e. - the first half of the 1st millennium AD e.

The Iron Age on the territory of modern Kyiv and the Kyiv region is represented by the Chernyakhov archaeological culture, which is also called the "Kyiv culture" and which existed at the turn of the 2nd-3rd centuries. - turn of IV-V centuries. in the forest-steppe and steppe from the Lower Danube in the west to the left bank of the Dnieper and Chernihiv region in the east.

In Kievan Rus, and for the first time after its disintegration into separate principalities, the possession of the Kyiv grand-princely table provided the prince with seniority in the family. In 1240 it was destroyed by the Mongol-Tatars. Since 1362 it has been part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Commonwealth; after the Union of Lublin in 1569, the Kiev region was not part of the ON, but of the Polish crown lands.

Since 1654 (Pereyaslav Rada) Kyiv has been part of the Russian state; unlike the rest of the Left-Bank Ukraine, Kyiv was ceded by Poland initially temporarily, then, according to the "Eternal Peace" of 1686 with the Commonwealth - permanently; since 1721 as part of the Russian Empire, the center of the Kyiv province. From January 1918 to April 1919 - the capital of independent Ukraine (Central Rada, Hetmanate of Skoropadsky, Directory of Petliura). At the same time, since 1918, Kharkov was the capital of the Soviet Ukrainian SSR. In 1934, the capital of the Ukrainian SSR was moved to Kyiv from Kharkov by decision of the Council of People's Commissars of Ukraine. During the Great Patriotic War, Kiev was occupied by the Germans from September 19, 1941 to November 6, 1943. In August - September 1941, one of the largest battles of the initial period of the Great Patriotic War, known in world historiography as the Battle for Kiev 1941, took place in the Kiev region.

For the heroism shown during the defense, Kyiv was awarded the title of Hero City (Decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 21, 1961; approved by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, May 8, 1965). Since December 1991 Kyiv has been the capital of the independent state of Ukraine.

Administrative division

The city consists of 10 districts on the right and left banks of the Dnieper.

Right bank of the Dnieper:

• Shevchenko district - 200 thousand inhabitants
• Pechersky district - 170 thousand people
• Podolsky district - 210 thousand people
• Obolonsky district - 290 thousand people
• Svyatoshinsky district - 360 thousand people
• Solomensky district - 280 thousand people
• Goloseevsky district - 200 thousand people

Left bank of the Dnieper:

• Desnyansky district - 320 thousand people
• Dneprovsky district - 360 thousand people
• Darnitsky district - 250 thousand people

The “General Plan for the Development of Kyiv until 2020” approved by the Kyiv City Council provides for the expansion of the city, which will include districts of the Kyiv region: Baryshevsky, Borodyansky, Brovarsky, Vasilkovsky, Vyshgorodsky, Kiev-Svyatoshinsky, Makarovsky, Fastovsky, as well as a number of satellite cities, including Berezan, Borispol, Brovary, Vasilkov, Cherry, Irpen, Fastov.

natural conditions

Kyiv is located on the picturesque banks of the Dnieper River, at the beginning of its middle course. The city is located in the central part of Ukraine, on steep hilly slopes, and is surrounded by a ring of dense vegetation: in the warm season, the streets of the capital and its environs are literally buried in greenery. It is noteworthy that Kyiv is located on the border of various physical and geographical zones - forest and forest-steppe. Most of the area of ​​the city is occupied by the right bank, which is quite high and furrowed with deep ravines, forming separate heights. They received the name of the Kyiv mountains. The highest points of the area are located in the eastern part of the city. To the west, the territory of the city becomes more flat (here are the wide valleys of Lybid, Khreshchatyk and Skomorokh), and towards Batyeva Gora, the terrain rises again.

Among urban green spaces, chestnut trees predominate; maple, walnut, linden, willow, pine, spruce, birch, etc. also grow in park areas, on streets and squares. The relatively mild climate in this natural area contributes to the good development of various ornamental crops intended for decorating gardens and parks. Today there are 67 parks and 200 squares in the city. In general, green spaces in the capital of Ukraine occupy an area of ​​more than 49 thousand hectares. and the area of ​​water spaces located within the city is about 5.5 thousand hectares.

The climate is temperate continental; in winter, frosts are noted in the city, at times - snowfalls, but, as a rule, small ones. The average air temperature in January is -5°C. In the summer months, the number of clear, sunny days most often exceeds the number of days with high cloudiness and precipitation in the form of rain or hail. The average July air temperature in the capital is +19.5° C. Strong, exhausting heat is an unusual phenomenon for Kyiv; cases of prolonged summer heat were observed within the city quite rarely, the last time - in late July - early August 2002, when the thermometer was kept at +39 ° C. The average annual precipitation usually does not exceed 300 mm.

Population, language, religion

There are over 2.7 million inhabitants in Kyiv. The population in the agglomeration of the capital reaches more than 2 million people (this includes the cities of Borispol, Brovary, Boyarka, Vyshgorod, Vasilkov, Irpen, Fastov and several small villages adjacent to Kiev within a radius of 80 km).

The bulk of the population of the city are Ukrainians. A significant part of the inhabitants of the capital are Russians, Poles and Belarusians, the national composition of the population of Kyiv is also formed by Moldovans, Jews, Crimean Tatars. The state language is Ukrainian, but the vast majority of the indigenous people are equally fluent in both Ukrainian and Russian. Many printed publications in the city are published in Russian.

The main religion is Orthodoxy, which is largely due to the historical development of the city (Ancient Kiev was the center of the Orthodox faith of the Eastern Slavs). A number of residents of Kyiv (as a rule, Poles and people from the regions of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus) profess Catholicism.

History of development

The capital of Ukraine has an interesting and very ancient history. The time of the appearance of the first ancient settlements on the territory of modern Kyiv, discovered during archaeological excavations, dates back to the late Paleolithic era (XV-XX millennium BC). A large ancient site in the area of ​​the current Kirillovsky Spusk in Kyiv is one of the most important finds of archaeologists at the end of the 19th century.

According to many historical sources, the foundation of Kyiv dates back to the 5th-6th centuries. n. e. According to legend, the city was founded by three brothers - Kiy, Shchek and Khoriv - and their sister Lybid. According to an ancient Ukrainian legend, a mighty blacksmith named Kiy entered into a duel with a snake that terrified the entire surrounding population and forced people to pay an incredible tribute. Having won the battle, the blacksmith harnessed the snake he had defeated to a huge plow and plowed the land in the place where the city is now located, named after the glorious hero. From the furrows from the plow and earth embankments, according to legend, the Dnieper River, its rapids and ramparts along the river coast, which were called Serpentine ramparts, subsequently arose.

This is how folk legend tells about the history of the foundation of the city, but there are also real historical sources containing information that after its foundation, Kiev became known as the center of the ancient settlements of the East Slavic tribe of the Polyans. On the steep right bank of the Dnieper River, the settlers erected quite powerful fortifications that served the inhabitants of the city to protect against the invasion of nomadic tribes. Later, for several centuries, Kiev withstood the raids of countless hordes of Pechenegs, Polovtsy, Khazars, Mongolotatars.

In Russian chronicles, the first mention of Kyiv dates back to 860. The events that took place in this city are inextricably linked with the historical development of the ancient feudal state - Kievan Rus. The history of Kyiv as the capital of Kievan Rus begins in the 9th century, when the city became a major political and cultural center of the Eastern Slavs as a result of the unification of several disparate Slavic tribes under the rule of the Kievan princes.

The rapid development of the city was facilitated by its very advantageous location. It was through Kyiv that roads of great trade and economic importance were laid. Trade routes led to Constantinople, called Tsargrad in those days, to Asia, as well as to Novgorod and the Don lands. In 882, Prince Oleg began to rule in Kyiv, and from this period until 1132 the city was considered the center of the united lands of Kievan Rus. Thanks to its convenient geographical location, Kiev has maintained stable political, trade and economic relations with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe for a long time.

The Kyiv princes who ruled in the city, using the experience of older settlers who built fortifications on elevated places, built palaces and temples on the rather high Starokievsky Hill. As for the representatives of the urban merchants and artisans, they set up their settlements in the lower reaches, for example, on Podil.

In IX-XI centuries, in Kyiv there was a rapid development of crafts, culture (in particular, Slavic writing), many new buildings were erected, including Christian churches. The most famous architectural and historical monuments of Ancient Rus' built in Kyiv include the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and St. Sophia Cathedral, which played a significant role in the development of Russian Christianity.

A noticeable trace in the historical and political development of the city was left by the reign of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich in Kyiv (980-1015). The baptism of Rus' also dates back to this time - an event that contributed to the strengthening of the international influence of the Russian state and the spread of the Christian faith. In the 9th-10th centuries, during the period of early feudalism, Christianity acquired the status of the official religion of the ancient Slavs, thanks to which the political and cultural ties of Russia with Byzantium and Bulgaria began to develop rapidly.

In the XI century. Kyiv won high prestige in the political and religious circles of Christian states. By the beginning of the XII century. about 400 Christian churches and temples, 8 trade markets were built in the city. Handicraft production and trade with other cities and countries reached a high level of development. In Kyiv, the first code of laws in Ancient Rus' called "Russian Truth" was adopted. In the XI century. in Kyiv, there were over 50 thousand inhabitants, and the population grew quite quickly. For comparison, as an example, we can cite the fact that Novgorod, famous in the ancient chronicles, at that time occupied only the second place among Russian cities in terms of the number of inhabitants (about 30 thousand people lived in it) and the territory occupied.

Nevertheless, among the artisans and artisans, dissatisfaction with the Kiev princes and boyars was ripening. In the second half of the XI century. class contradictions between the ruling elite and the working population of the city sharply escalated, which led to popular uprisings in 1068 and 1113.

After the death of the Kyiv prince Vladimir Monomakh, the united Kievan Rus began to be split into specific principalities. By the middle of the XII century. many such independent states-principalities arose, which led to the loss of the former power of the Russian princes and the disintegration of Kievan Rus. In 1242, a major invasion of the Mongol-Tatar troops against Kyiv was carried out. The city failed to cope with the countless hordes of the enemy, and as a result of a bloody struggle that ended in complete defeat for the people of Kiev, Kiev was destroyed almost to the ground.

After the capture of the city by the Mongolotatars, it lost its former political significance and fell into vassal dependence on the government of the Golden Horde. The development of culture and economy on the territory of the Kiev Principality was suspended for a long time, however, despite the long decline, the city retained the rich cultural and craft traditions accumulated during its heyday. This allowed Kyiv to remain an important economic and political center of the Eastern Slavs.

In 1362, the territory of the Kyiv principality was attached to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

In 1471, Kyiv became part of the Kyiv province and became its center. In 1482, the Tatar-Mongolian troops led by Khan Mengli Giray made a devastating raid on the city, as a result of which it was almost completely plundered. By the end of the XV century. the government of the Principality of Lithuania began to pursue a new policy in Kyiv, aimed at attracting representatives of the rich and noble strata of the urban population to their side. As a result, Magdeburg law was introduced in Kyiv, and this event to a large extent contributed to overcoming the economic decline in the city and the growth of industrial production, which, in turn, led to an increase in the population.

In 1569, after the conclusion of the Union of Lublin, Kyiv was annexed to the territory of Poland. At the end of the XVI - beginning of the XVII century. in the city, the struggle of the Ukrainian people against the oppression of the Polish gentry intensified. In 1591-1593. there was a popular uprising led by K. Kosinsky, in 1594-1596. - an uprising led by S. Nalivaiko, as well as a number of peasant-Cossack uprisings in 1625.1630 and 1637-1638. Already in the first quarter of the XVII century. in Kyiv, a center of popular struggle was formed against the forcible establishment of Uniatism and the Catholic religion on the territory of Ukraine.

From the beginning of the 17th century there was a certain rise in the cultural life of Kyiv. So, on the territory of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, a printing house was opened, with which in 1616 they published the first printed book in the city - the Book of Hours. 1632 dates back to the founding of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy.

By the second half of the XVII century. in Ukraine, a powerful liberation popular struggle unfolded against the dominance of the Polish gentry, led by Bogdan Khmelnitsky. The inhabitants of Kyiv took an active part in this people's war, the purpose of which was the overthrow of the gentry oppression and the reunification of Ukraine with Russia.

The liberation struggle continued for several years, from 1648 to 1654. In the summer of 1648, the insurgent Cossack army, led by an associate of B. Khmelnitsky, Danila Nechay, cleared the territory of Kiev from detachments of the Polish gentry. In December 1648, the troops of B. Khmelnitsky, consisting of Cossacks and peasants, entered the city. The stubborn and bloody struggle for independence from Poland ended in 1654 with the signing of an agreement on the reunification of Ukraine with Russia, as a result of which Kyiv was annexed to the territory of the Russian state.

Since 1654, Kyiv acquired the status of the center of the Kyiv province, which became part of Russia. The unification of Russian and Ukrainian lands played a significant role in the further development of the culture and economy of Kiev. In 1708 the city became the center of the Kyiv province, and since 1781 - the Kyiv governorship. Since 1797 Kyiv has been known as the center of the Kyiv province.

Second half of the 17th century - the period of repeated armed invasions of Kyiv by the gentry of Poland and the Crimean Khanate. In order to resist the raids of enemy troops, the people of Kiev erected special fortifications, thanks to which reliable protection against attacks from outside was provided, and Kyiv became a fortress city. By the beginning of the XVIII century. life in Kyiv wandered more calm, peaceful character; at this time, there was a constant increase in the level of urban industrial production. So, already in the 1760s. in the city there were over 3 thousand artisans who worked in 18 production shops. The emergence of the first large enterprises dates back to the second half of the 18th century. The famous Arseal Arms Factory was built in 1764.

In the first half of the XIX century. In Kyiv, the activity of political organizations began to develop, directed against the tsarist autocracy. In the 1820s, the first meeting of the Southern Society of Decembrists took place in the city. In the 1840s, the Cyril and Methodius Society arose, the purpose of which was the socio-political struggle against the arbitrariness of the state power existing in the country. The well-known Ukrainian writer Taras Shevchenko was at the head of this organization. Among the political societies of the second half of the 19th century, which were part of the revolutionary-democratic movement in Russia, were the South Russian Workers' Union, the Kiev Commune, the Southwestern Group of the Narodnaya Volya party, and others operating in Kiev.

In the 19th century Kyiv became a very significant center of culture and industry in Russia; the highest development was acquired by food and machine-building production. In 1834, Kiev University was founded, and in 1878, the Higher Women's Courses. In 1898, Kyiv students began their studies at the city's new educational institution - the Polytechnic Institute, which trained specialists with an engineering education. After the railway was built in Kiev with the communication Moscow - Kursk - Kiev and Kiev - Odessa, the city also became one of the most important transport hubs of the country (late 1860s - early 1870s). In addition, in 1858, the movement of steamships along the Dnieper in the Kiev region was opened, which contributed to the rapid establishment of shipping links with other Russian cities. In 1892, on the streets of Kyiv (for the first time in Russia), a previously unknown miracle of technology appeared - a tram, which eventually became a familiar type of urban public transport for Kievans.

The intensive development of capitalist production in the second half of the XIX century. led to an increase in the number of representatives of the working class in Kyiv. In connection with this, the democratic labor movement intensified in the city, workers' and student political circles began to be created at educational institutions and workshops. At the end of the XIX century. A social-democratic society called the "Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class" was organized. This organization had a great influence on the activities of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP).

In 1903, a general political workers' strike took place in the southern regions of Russia, in which the working people of Kiev also took an active part. The city was the center of the revolutionary-democratic struggle and during the first Russian revolution of 1905-1907. At this time, one after another, thousands of uprisings of the townspeople broke out here, which, nevertheless, were suppressed by the authorities.

After the February Revolution of 1917 Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks seized power in Kyiv. Representatives of the bourgeois nationalist parties united and created a new city government body - the Central Rada, which after some time was opposed by members of the Bolshevik organization - the RSDLP (b), which switched from underground activity to an open struggle for the establishment of Soviet power.

In September 1917, the formation of the city headquarters of the Red Guard was completed in Kyiv. Almost immediately after the October events in St. Petersburg, at a meeting of the Kiev Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, as well as representatives of the garrison, factory and factory committees and trade unions, the Revkom (revolutionary committee) was elected, which was to lead the armed struggle to overthrow the power of the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries. On October 29 (November 11), 1917, an uprising began in the city, ending with the victory of workers and revolutionary-minded soldiers. But the members of the Central Rada, who came to power in Kiev immediately after the end of the uprising, took advantage of it to their advantage.

In January 1918, a new uprising of workers broke out in Kyiv, the purpose of which was to overthrow the power of the Central Rada. However, this mass action by workers' detachments was brutally suppressed. In February 1918, units of the Red Army entered the city and seized power in Kyiv, and a few days later the newly created Ukrainian Soviet government was transferred here from Kharkov. The work of the government in Kyiv did not last long: already on March 1, 1918, the city was occupied by German troops. At the same time, a government of bourgeois Ukrainian nationalists was created, headed by General P. Skoropadsky. The latter was soon proclaimed Hetman of Ukraine.

After the German troops were expelled from the territory of Ukraine at the end of 1918, power in Kyiv passed into the hands of representatives of the Ukrainian Directory, headed by ataman S. Petliura.

In early February 1919, armed detachments of the Red Army entered the city, which managed to defeat the troops of the Petliura Directory and seize power in Kyiv. However, Soviet power in the city was held only until the end of August 1919. From September to December 1919, Kyiv was occupied by units of the White Guard army led by General A. Denikin. At the end of 1919, bloody battles between the Red Army units and Denikin's troops took place on the streets, during which the latter were defeated and Soviet power was again established in Kyiv.

In early May 1920, the troops of bourgeois Poland entered Kyiv, but a few days later the Polish detachments were driven out of the city by units of the Red Army. The tense military-political situation in the city began to stabilize after the end of the Civil War. In the early 1920s, active economic restoration of the destroyed city economy was carried out in Kyiv.

During the period of 1920-1930s. Kyiv was rebuilt and became a major industrial and cultural center not only of the Ukrainian Republic, but of the entire Soviet state. Before World War II, such industries as chemical, metallurgical, machine-building, textile, etc. intensively developed in the city. In June 1934, the Decree of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Communist Party of Ukraine) was adopted to transfer the Ukrainian capital from Kharkov to Kiev. Thus, since 1934 Kyiv was the capital of Soviet Ukraine.

On June 22, 1941, Kyiv was subjected to air bombardment by the troops of neo-fascist Germany, which unleashed a war against the USSR. At the same time, in the wake of the Great Patriotic War, detachments of the people's militia began to form in Kiev, protecting the city from invaders until September 1941. With the completion of the Kiev defensive operation, the period of occupation of the city by German troops began, which lasted until November 1943. Underground organizations created for fight against Nazi Germany, in which the inhabitants of the city took an active part.

Kyiv was liberated from the invaders on November 6, 1943, when units of the 1st Ukrainian Front (commander - General N.F. Vatutin) broke through the German defenses during the famous Kiev offensive operation.

The damage done to the city during the years of occupation was enormous. More than 200,000 inhabitants of Kiev perished at the hands of the Nazi invaders, and more than 100,000 people were forcibly taken to Germany. More than 800 urban industrial enterprises were damaged or completely destroyed as a result of bombing and shelling, about 1000 institutions and public organizations, more than 5 residential buildings were also put out of action. After the end of the war, work began on the restoration of the economy and economy of Kyiv, which were successfully completed in the 1950s. In 1954 the city was presented for the first time for awarding the Order of Lenin; for the second time, Kyiv received the same award in 1961. Kyiv was also awarded the title of Hero City for the heroism and courage shown by its defenders during the Great Patriotic War. In 1965, the hero city of Kyiv was awarded another award - the Gold Star medal. Since 1990 Kyiv has been the capital of the sovereign state of Ukraine. In 1991, the post of president of the country was established in Kyiv.
cultural significance

A large number of architectural sights in Kyiv is associated with the rich history of the development of this city as a religious and cultural center of Kievan Rus. One of the most famous architectural monuments is the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, founded in 1051 as a monastery. In the XI-XIX centuries. Lavra was known as a major cultural and religious center of the Eastern Slavs: a school and a printing house were opened here, an icon-painting workshop worked, and in the XIII-XV centuries. The handwritten work "Kyiv-Pechersky Paterik" was published, which included the biography of the monks. The famous Russian chronicler Nestor lived in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

In the late 1920s The monastery was closed, and a museum-reserve was created on the territory of the Lavra. The structure of the architectural complex includes the Upper Lavra with a group of Near and Far Caves. The Dormition Cathedral, located on the territory of the Lavra, built in the second half of the 11th century, was destroyed during the Great Patriotic War, and at present only the ruins of this building have survived. Notable is the Trinity Gate Church, built at the beginning of the 12th century. and reconstructed in the 18th century; gate church. All Saints, built in the 17th century. Both of these churches, which are part of the architectural ensemble of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, form the so-called Kovnirovsky building. On the Near Caves is the Church of the Exaltation, and on the Far Caves - the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin (both were built in the late 17th - early 18th centuries). On the territory of the Lavra there is also a bell tower designed by the architect I. Shedel in the 18th century.

In 1988, the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersky Monastery was opened on the territory of the reserve, and in 1989 - a theological seminary.

The construction of Christian churches and cathedrals began in the 10th century; At that time, Kyiv was divided into two parts: the Upper (Old) City and the Lower City (Podol), in which there were craft settlements. At the end of the X century. the Church of the Tithes was erected in the Upper City; in addition, it was surrounded by strong stone walls (the ruins of the Golden Gate are still preserved here). The Gofia Cathedral was built in the center of the Upper City in the 11th century. (reconstructed in the 17th century). Now in this place there is an architectural ensemble of the Sofia Museum. Of particular interest are the frescoes and mosaics, which are elements of the interior decoration of the cathedral.

In addition to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and St. Sophia Cathedral, such works of ancient architecture as the Vydubetsky Monastery (XI century), the Church of the Savior on Berestov (XII century), St. Cyril's Church (XII century, reconstructed in the XVIII century) are of the greatest cultural and historical value. . architect I. Grigorovich-Barsky), as well as St. Andrew's Church, built according to the project of architect V. Rastrelli in the 18th century, and the majestic Vladimir Cathedral, built in the 19th century. designed by architects A. Beretti, V. Nikolaev and P. Sparro.

The inner walls of St. Andrew's Church are decorated with rococo paintings by the painter A. Antropov. The murals in the Vladimir Cathedral are the works of famous Russian artists V. Vasnetsov and M. Nesterov. In the XIII-XVI centuries. the development of the city experienced a significant decline, but in the XVII century. she resumed. It is to this period that the construction of such monumental structures as the Church of Nikola Pritiska and Ilyinsky Church belongs. The architectural forms inherent in these buildings were akin to Ukrainian wooden architecture.

In 1752-1755. according to the project of architects V. Rastrelli and A. Kvasov, the Mariinsky Palace was erected in Kyiv - a building that captivated the viewer at first sight with its beauty and sophistication. In 1819, this building was largely damaged by fire, but in 1870 it was restored by the architect K Maevsky. Another palace that has become an architectural decoration of the city is

Klovsky- built under the guidance of architects S. Kovnir and V. Neyelov

In 1754-1758. First half of the 19th century was marked by the construction of buildings in the style of classicism. Among the architectural monuments of this kind are the monument erected in honor of the Magdeburg law in 1802-1808, the rotunda on Askold's grave, built in 1809-1810. The author of both projects - both the monument and the rotunda - was the architect A. Melensky. An example of architecture in the style of classicism is the building of Kyiv University, built in 1843 according to the plan of the architect V. Beretti.

In the 19th century the central part of the city began to be intensively built up, in the frequency of its main street - Khreshchatyk. Construction work was carried out under the guidance of architect V. Beretti. At the beginning of the same century, the construction of buildings on Podil (the former Lower City) was systematically carried out. The design of structures in this area of ​​Kyiv was carried out by the architect V. Geste.

In the second half of the XIX - early XX century. the striving of Kyiv architects for innovative finds was felt: the predominance of eclecticism was noted in the architecture of the city. The most remarkable monuments of urban architecture of this period include the buildings of the Museum of Ukrainian Fine Arts, erected according to the project of architects G. Boytsov and V. Gorodetsky in 1900, the Kiev Opera House (1901, architect V. Schreter), the State Bank in 1905, architects A. Verbitsky and V. Kobelev).

Among the sculptural attractions of Kiev are the majestic bronze monuments of Prince Vladimir (1853, sculptors V. Demut-Malinovsky and P. Klodt, architect K. Ton) and Bogdan Khmelnitsky (1888, sculptor M. Mikeshin).

In the 1930s in Kyiv, intensive building of the city began, radically transforming its appearance. The building of the railway station, designed by A. Verbitsky in 1933, is one of the most remarkable architectural works of the Soviet period. This grandiose building, the premises of which are decorated with luxurious crystal chandeliers, was reconstructed in the early 2000s.

During the years of the Great Patriotic War, the streets and squares of the city were seriously damaged, many buildings were almost completely destroyed. In the post-war period, work began on the revival of the architectural appearance of Kiev. Urban planners paid special attention to the restoration of Khreshchatyk. Despite the relatively small length of this central street (its length is 1 km), it is quite worthy to be called the face of the city. During the restoration work, the buildings of Khreshchatyk were faced with light brown ceramic tiles, which gave them a very original look and distinguished them from the general mass of city buildings. Currently, Khreshchatyk is one of the most beautiful and well-maintained streets in Kyiv. The project of a new architectural ensemble of this street was created in 1947-1954. architects A. Vlasov, A. Dobrovolsky, V. Elizarov, A. Malinovsky, B. Priymak.

The most interesting architectural works of the post-war period are the building of the Palace of Sports (1960, architects M. Grechina and A. Zavarov), the Palace of Pioneers (1965, architects A. Miletsky and E. Bilsky, sculptor V. Boroday), the terminal building in Boryspil (1966, architect A. Dobrovolsky), Palace of Culture "Ukraine" (1970, architects E. Marinchenko, I. Weiner and P. Zhylitsky).

In the 1930-1970s. in the city there were many monuments created in honor of the great cultural figures, as well as monuments that perpetuated the memory of the soldiers-liberators. The following sculptural works can be especially noted: the monument to T. Shevchenko (1938, sculptor M. Manizer, architect E. Levinson), the obelisk of Eternal Glory on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Park of Glory (1957, architects A. Miletsky, V. Baklanov and L. Novikov, sculptor I. Pershudchev), a monument to A. S. Pushkin (1962, sculptor A. Kovalev, architect V. Gnezdilov), a monument to Lesya Ukrainka (1973, sculptor G Kalchenko, architect A. Ignashchenko) , memorial complex "Ukrainian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" (1981, sculptor V. Boroday).

The Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and a number of its branches are located in Kyiv. Research institutions such as the L.V. Pisarzhevsky Institute of Physical Chemistry, the E.O. Paton Institute of Electric Welding, the Institute of Cybernetics, the Institute of Mechanics, the D.K. Zabolotny Institute of Microbiology and Virology, etc. are world famous. and research centers are also open at some higher educational institutions of the city.

Kyiv is one of the largest student cities in Ukraine; There are more than 20 universities in the city. The most popular among applicants are Kiev University, Trade and Economic, Pedagogical, Medical, Engineering and Construction, Art Institutes, Institute of Light Industry, Institute of National Economy, Agricultural Academy. In Kyiv there is also the Institute of Theatrical Art and the Conservatory, several higher military schools. There are more than 200 public libraries in the city, the largest of them are the Library of the Academy of Sciences and the State Library of Ukraine.

There are many museums in Kiev that are of particular interest primarily because most of the expositions are somehow connected with the history and culture of Kievan Rus, the historical past of Ukraine during the time of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, the life and work of prominent figures of culture and art. About 30 museums are open on the territory of the city; The most popular among tourists and guests of the city are the Historical Museum of Ukraine, the Taras Shevchenko Literary and Art Museum, the Museum of Ukrainian Fine Arts, the Museum of Russian Art, the Museum of Western and Eastern Art, the historical and cultural reserve Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, the architectural and historical ensemble Sofia Museum , Archaeological Museum, Museum of the History of Kiev, Museum of Folk Architecture and Life, Museum of Folk Decorative Arts, Museum of the History of Medicine, etc.

There are 15 theaters in the city, including the T. Shevchenko Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, the I. Franko Academic Ukrainian Drama Theatre, the L. Ukrainka Academic Russian Drama Theatre, the Young Spectator Theatre, the Operetta Theatre, the Puppet Theatre, the Variety Theatre. facial expressions and gestures. Many clubs, gyms, swimming pools, cinemas are open in Kyiv.

Several publishing houses, a telegraph agency, state and commercial radio and television channels operate in the capital of Ukraine, and a television center has been built.

Information for tourists

It is advisable to start exploring the historical center of the city from the legendary Khreshchatyk Street, which is the architectural symbol of the capital. In addition to unique buildings and structures, there are many shops on Khreshchatyk and the streets adjacent to it, where tourists will be offered a wide variety of goods: clothes, shoes, books, haberdashery, textiles and jewelry, paintings, panels, interior decoration items, etc.

Inexpensive bus tours are organized for guests of the capital in Kyiv, during which you can get acquainted with the main sights of the city. Tourists will also be able to admire the views of Kyiv by making a short but very exciting trip along the Dnieper on a pleasure boat departing from the river station.

The city has many cozy restaurants, cafes, bars, nightclubs, discos, casinos. In the concert halls of the capital there are performances of pop and rock stars, classical music concerts, and tickets are much cheaper than in Moscow.

Currency unit, which is in circulation in Kyiv, is the Ukrainian hryvnia. Currency exchange points are located everywhere: at the railway station, bus station, airport, banks, large branded and department stores, hotels, as well as on city streets.

The capital is a status that leaves an imprint on any city. When a settlement becomes the center of a state, whether it be a great empire or a city-country, it changes it forever. Capitals have always attracted people who never stopped going there and thus developing them.

But do we know how many capitals there were in Ukraine? What cities can boast the glory of capital cities? In fact, there were much more of them than we can imagine. Some were longer, like Kyiv or the Cossack capitals, some were only 2 days, like, for example, Transcarpathian Khust. But they still entered the history of our country, and we can see this with our own eyes.

Kyiv is the mother of Russian cities

This is how the chronicler wrote about Kyiv almost 1000 years ago in the well-known Tale of Bygone Years. Indeed, the history of the city has almost 1500 years, during which he managed to be the capital of one of the largest states of medieval Europe and a simple provincial town.

Sophia's Cathedral of the 11th century. Photo source: worlds.travel.

Kyiv is truly the first capital of Ukraine. Imagine, according to the chronicle, it became the capital of the Russian state back in 882 and stayed there until 1240, when it was destroyed by the Mongols. Then almost 700 years of decline awaited him, until in 1917 he became the capital of the UNR, which he stayed with varying success until 1919. Since 1991, as you know, it is the capital of Ukraine.

On the right is the building where the Central Rada of the UNR met. Photo source: gk-bank.livejournal.com.

Each era has left something on its own. You can see the greatness of ancient times in the example or. Not far from is the modern one, in which the independence of the UNR was proclaimed by the Central Rada at the end of 1917. The most monumental buildings were left behind by the Soviet government. This and, the modern Presidential Administration,. This is one of those highlights of the city that makes it unique among other cities in Ukraine.

House of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, built in 1936-1938. Photo source: nadiyaonoda.livejournal.com, author - Nadya Onoda.

Kharkov - the first capital?

Above, we have provided evidence that Kyiv is the first capital of Ukraine, although such a statement may offend Kharkovites, who are proud of the fact that their city is the first capital. We are forced to disappoint them, before that there were a dozen more capitals in the country, and Kharkov became the first capital of the Ukrainian SSR and stayed there until 1934, until the capital was transferred to Kyiv. Although the center of Slobozhanshchyna did not have the status of the capital for long, but to this day the city remains the second after Kyiv both in terms of population and importance, and in terms of the number of universities and students it can be called the student capital of Ukraine. The monumental Soviet building of the interwar period reminds of the glorious past of the capital, which gives the impression of a truly metropolitan one, so be sure to visit the building - the first skyscraper of the Soviet Union, which was supposed to become a symbol of the industrialization of the Ukrainian SSR.

Photo source: stejka.com.

Lviv or Ivano-Frankivsk?

On the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the West Ukrainian People's Republic appeared, with its capital in Lvov. Indeed, at all diplomatic meetings it was noted that Lviv is the capital. But he stayed with her for a very short time, 3 weeks, and was more of a battlefield. But today, not far away is the building of the People's House, where the independence of the ZUNR was proclaimed.

The building of the People's House on Teatralnaya Street, 1, 1860.

After the capture of Lvov by Polish troops, the government first moved to Ternopil and stayed there until January 1919, where it was based in the current secondary school No. army. In Ivano-Frankivsk, there are now buildings where the government of the ZUNR met - the former hotel "Austria", which is now called the "Dniester", and during the time of the ZUNR was renamed the hotel "Odessa". By the way, a historical document was adopted in this building - the Universal about the Reunification of the UNR and ZUNR.

Hotel "Dniester" in Ivano-Frankivsk. Photo source: stejka.com.

The mountain capital of Yasinya

Few people know, but in 1918 not only the ZUNR was proclaimed, but also a small Hutsul Republic within the Rakhiv district of the Transcarpathian region. The state did not last long, less than a year, but this time was forever imprinted in the history of the region. The capital was the rather large village of Yasinya. The leaders of the state were going to join the ZUNR, and consequently the UNR, and create a single country from Xiang to Don, but, unfortunately, failed.

Strukovsky Church, the oldest landmark of Yasin. Photo source: glazamiobektiva.com.ua, author - Olga.

This is the only city in Ukraine where you can easily meet people in bars who will brag to you that they are relatives or descendants of ministers and presidents. Don't be surprised, they are right. Whatever it was, but Yasinya is a village, and there everyone is relatives to everyone. The famous Ukrainian writer Ulas Samchuk wrote the novel "Mountains Speak" about those events, and the locals will even show you the room where he wrote it. The Ukrainian People's Rada, the governing body of the Hutsul Republic, was located in the building of the present hotel, which has been well preserved to this day.

Hotel Edelweiss. Photo source: karpaty.info.

Here's how it was.

Photo source: zak.depo.ua.

One day capital Khust

Transcarpathia is rich in capitals. In 1939, the Carpathian Ukraine was proclaimed with its capital in a small cozy Khust, which at that time was full of vibrant life. The state lasted only a few days, but went down in history. In fact, Khust was the capital for more than one day, as is often said, but it has been since October 1938, when Subcarpathian Rus received autonomy as part of Czechoslovakia. Why Khust? Because Uzhhorod and Mukachevo were annexed by Hungary at that time and Khust remained the largest city.

The building of the Soym of Carpathian Ukraine. Photo source: chas-z.com.ua.

Until today, there are many reminders of that glorious time. There is a building in the city where the Soym of Carpathian Ukraine was located - an analogue of the modern Verkhovna Rada. Now it is the building of the Khust City Council. Not far from the city, a memorial was erected in honor of the battle on the Red Field, where the Carpathian Sich fought with the Hungarian troops. Hungary, with the permission of Hitler, annexed the territory of Carpatho-Ukraine, and for our history, these events can be called the beginning of World War II.

Photo source: panoramio.com.

Chigirin - the Cossack capital

Didn't there exist capitals on our territory from the time of the destruction of Kyiv until the declaration of independence of the Ukrainian People's Republic in 1917? Of course, there were, and then a lot! Perhaps the most famous of them was Chigirin - the capital of the Cossack state of the times of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, who was buried in the neighboring village of Subotov. He stayed the capital from 1648 to 1676. But, unfortunately, it was repeatedly destroyed by either the Turks or the Muscovites. Already at the time of independence, a palace and partly a castle were built in the town, in which the hetmans lived. Today the city is part of and can tell a lot to tourists. The restored Chigirinsky castle reminds of the Cossack glory today.

Photo source: velovuyki.com.ua.

Baturin and Mazepa

Photo source: pizzatravel.com.ua.

Hlukhiv - the last capital of hetmans

After the destruction of Baturyn, the capital of the Hetmanate was moved to the town of Glukhov. Its name now may cause wrong associations, but at that time it was one of the centers of the entire Russian Empire. What is important, the town was indeed the capital. It housed all the bureaucratic and government institutions of that time, the hetman had his own residence. The city became the center of cultural life - the fame of the musical talents of local residents has gone far to the world. But after the abolition of the Hetmanate, Hlukhiv eventually turned into a familiar provincial town. The sights of Glukhov are grouped under . They will tell you about the times of the capital, and the most little-known attraction of the City is the ruins of the prison castle of the 17th century.

Kyiv gate. Photo source: mapio.net.

Bakhchisarai - the Muslim capital

Speaking about the capitals on the territory of Ukraine, one should not forget about the main city of the Crimean Tatars - Bakhchisaray. It was the capital of the Crimean Khanate for almost the entire period of its existence - almost 400 years. The city was built in the traditions of oriental architecture, which gives it an outstanding flavor. Moreover, the city has preserved the oldest educational institution on the territory of Ukraine - a madrasah, a Muslim school. He will tell you about the greatness of the Crimean Khan.

Photo source: usingpeople.net.

Anarchist Gulyaipole

Finally, we left the most exotic capital of Ukraine, which has no analogues in the whole world. Gulyaipole was the place where Nestor Makhno was most likely to be met. It became the center of his free state, the capital of anarchy, and was from 1919 to 1921. Now it is a provincial regional center of the Zaporozhye region, where they remember their native well. The modern city council of the town is the former headquarters of the Old Man, and almost every old building is connected in one way or another with him.

Photo source: segodnya.ua.

Of course, these are far from all the capitals of Ukraine. They can be counted in different ways, but one thing is certain: they entered the history of our country, and this will not be forgotten. Come and check it out!