Ukraine (Listeni/ju?'kre?n/; Ukrainian: ???????, tr. Ukrayina [ukr?'jin?

]) is a
sovereign state in Eastern Europe,[8] bordered by Russia to the east and northea
st, Belarus to the northwest, Poland and Slovakia to the west, Hungary, Romania,
and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south an
d southeast, respectively. Ukraine is currently in territorial dispute with Russ
ia over the Crimean Peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014[9] but which Ukraine
and most of the international community recognise as Ukrainian. Including Crimea
, Ukraine has an area of 603,628 km2 (233,062 sq mi),[10] making it the largest
country entirely within Europe and the 46th largest country in the world. It has
a population of about 42.5 million, making it the 32nd most populous country in
the world.
The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC. During the M
iddle Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture, with the powerful
state of Kievan Rus' forming the basis of Ukrainian identity. Following its frag
mentation in the 13th century, the territory was contested, ruled and divided by
a variety of powers, including Lithuania, Poland, the Ottoman Empire, Austria-H
ungary, and Russia. A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and
18th centuries, but its territory was eventually split between Poland and the R
ussian Empire, and later merged fully into Russia. Two brief periods of independ
ence occurred during the 20th century, once near the end of World War I and anot
her during World War II. However, both occasions would ultimately see Ukraine's
territories consolidated into a Soviet republic, a situation that persisted unti
l 1991, when Ukraine gained its independence from the Soviet Union in the afterm
ath of its dissolution at the end of the Cold War. Before its independence, Ukra
ine was typically referred to in English as "The Ukraine", but sources since the
n have moved to drop "the" from the name of Ukraine in all uses.[11]
Following independence, Ukraine declared itself a neutral state.[12] Nonetheless
it formed a limited military partnership with the Russian Federation and other
CIS countries and a partnership with NATO in 1994. In the 2000s, the government
began leaning towards NATO, and a deeper cooperation with the alliance was set b
y the NATO-Ukraine Action Plan signed in 2002. It was later agreed that the ques
tion of joining NATO should be answered by a national referendum at some point i
n the future.[13] Former President Viktor Yanukovych considered the current leve
l of co-operation between Ukraine and NATO sufficient,[14] and was against Ukrai
ne joining NATO.[15] In 2013, protests against the government of President Yanuk
ovych broke out in downtown Kiev after the government had decided to suspend the
Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement and seek closer economic ties with
Russia. After this began a several-months-long wave of demonstrations and prote
sts known as the Euromaidan, which later escalated into the 2014 Ukrainian revol
ution that led to the overthrow of President Yanukovych and his cabinet and the
establishment of a new government. These events formed the background for the an
nexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014, and the War in Donbass in April 2014
. On 1 January 2016, Ukraine applied the economic part of the Deep and Comprehen
sive Free Trade Area with the European Union.[16]
Ukraine has long been a global breadbasket because of its extensive, fertile far
mlands and is one of the world's largest grain exporters.[17][18] The diversifie
d economy of Ukraine includes a large heavy industry sector, particularly in aer
ospace and industrial equipment.
Ukraine is a unitary republic under a semi-presidential system with separate pow
ers: legislative, executive and judicial branches. Its capital and largest city
is Kiev. Taking into account reserves and paramilitary personnel,[19] Ukraine ma
intains the second-largest military in Europe after that of Russia. The country
is home to 42.5 million people (excluding Crimea),[3] 77.8 percent of whom are U
krainians "by ethnicity", followed by a sizeable minority of Russians (17.3 perc
ent) as well as Romanians/Moldovans, Belarusians, Crimean Tatars, Bulgarians and
Hungarians. Ukrainian is the official language and its alphabet is Cyrillic. Th
e dominant religion in the country is Eastern Orthodoxy, which has strongly infl
uenced Ukrainian architecture, literature and music.