Portal:Ukraine
(Redirected from P:UKR)
The Ukraine Portal - Портал України
Ukraine | |
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| ISO 3166 code | UA |
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the north; Poland and Slovakia to the west; Hungary, Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to the south and southeast. Kyiv is Ukraine's capital and largest city, followed by Kharkiv, Odesa, and Dnipro. The official language of the country is Ukrainian. Ukraine covers an area of 603,628 km2 (233,062 sq mi) with an estimated total population of 32.3 million in 2026.
Humans have inhabited Ukraine since at least 32,000 BC. During the Middle Ages, it was the site of early Slavic expansion and later became a key centre of East Slavic culture under the state of Kievan Rus', which emerged in the 9th century. Kievan Rus' became the largest and most powerful realm in Europe in the 10th and 11th centuries, but gradually disintegrated into rival regional powers before being destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century. For the next 600 years the area was contested, divided, and ruled by a variety of external powers, including the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Kingdom of Poland, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austrian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Tsardom of Russia.
The Cossack Hetmanate emerged in central Ukraine in the 17th century but was partitioned between Russia and Poland before being gradually absorbed by the Russian Empire in the 18th century. Ukrainian nationalism developed and, following the Russian Revolution in 1917, the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic was formed. The Bolsheviks consolidated control over much of the former empire and established the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922. In the early 1930s, millions of Ukrainians died in the Holodomor, a human-made famine. During World War II, Ukraine was occupied by Germany and endured major battles and atrocities, resulting in 7 million civilians killed, including most Ukrainian Jews.
Ukraine gained independence in 1991 as the Soviet Union dissolved, declaring itself neutral. A new constitution was adopted in 1996 as the country transitioned to a free market liberal democracy amid endemic corruption and a legacy of state control. The Orange Revolution of 2004–2005 ushered electoral and constitutional reforms. Resurgent political crises prompted a series of mass demonstrations in 2014 known as the Euromaidan, leading to a revolution, at the end of which Russia unilaterally occupied and annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, and pro-Russian unrest culminated in a war in Donbas with Russia and Russian-backed separatists. The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine began a new phase of the war. (Full article...)
In the news
- 25 September 2026 – Russo-Ukrainian war
- Kyiv strikes, Russian attacks on civilians in the Russo-Ukrainian war
- Russian drone and missile strikes on residential buildings and other civilian sites in Kyiv, Ukraine, kill seven people, including a 14-year-old boy, and injure 46 others. (AFP via News.com.au)
- 24 September 2026 – Croatia–Germany relations, Nord Stream pipelines sabotage
- A Croatian court approves Ukrainian national Volodymyr Zhuravlov's extradition to Germany over his alleged involvement in sabotaging the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines in 2022. (AP)
- 24 September 2026 –
- A priest is killed and four other people are injured in a mass stabbing by a Ukrainian national at a Benedictine abbey in Jarosław, Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Poland. (AP) (Reuters)
- 23 September 2026 – Russo-Ukrainian war
- Kharkiv strikes, Kyiv strikes, Odesa strikes
- Russian drone and missile attacks across Ukraine kill at least eight civilians, including six agricultural workers in Kharkiv Oblast and two people in Kyiv, while strikes also hit Odesa. Ukraine says it intercepts or suppresses 119 of 161 drones. (AP)
- Violations of non-combatant airspace during the Russo-Ukrainian war
- Poland deploys fighter jets into its airspace after a Russian helicopter intruded near Braniewo, Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship. (Chronicle Live)
- 23 September 2026 – North Korean involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian war, South Korea–Ukraine relations
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Ukraine transferred two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea after capturing them in Kursk Oblast, Russia, in January 2025. (UPI)
- 21 September 2026 – International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian war, Russia–European Union relations
- European Union ambassadors agree in principle to remove Russian oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Alisher Usmanov from sanctions imposed over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while renewing restrictions on about 3,000 other Russian-linked individuals and entities for three years. However, Latvia later blocks the deal. (Billionaires.Africa) (Reuters)
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The Battle of Kostiuchnówka was a World War I battle that took place July 4–7, 1916, near the village of Kostiuchnówka (Kostyukhnivka) and the Styr River in the Volhynia region of modern Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire. It was a major clash between the Russian Army and the Polish Legions (part of the Austro-Hungarian Army) during the opening phase of the Brusilov Offensive.
Polish forces, numbering 5,500–7,300, faced Russian forces numbering over half of the 46th Army Corps of 26,000. The Polish forces were eventually forced to retreat, but delayed the Russians long enough for the other Austro-Hungarian units in the area to retreat in an organized manner. Polish casualties were approximately 2,000 fatalities and wounded. The battle is considered one of the largest and most vicious of those involving the Polish Legions in World War I. (Full article...)
Anna Olehivna Muzychuk (Ukrainian: Анн́а Оле́гівна Музичу́к; Slovene: Ana Olehivna Muzičuk; born 28 February 1990) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster (GM). She is the fourth woman in chess history to attain a FIDE rating of at least 2600. She has been ranked as high as No. 197 in the world, and No. 2 among women. Muzychuk is a three-time world champion in fast chess, having won the Women's World Rapid Chess Championship once in 2016 and the Women's World Blitz Chess Championship twice in 2014 and 2016. In classical chess, she was the 2017 Women's World Championship runner-up.
Muzychuk grew up in a chess family where her younger sister Mariya (the 2015 Women's World Champion in classical chess) also became a Grandmaster. Her parents work as chess coaches, having taught her the game from when she was two years old. She soon established herself as a chess prodigy, first winning the European Youth Chess Championships at age six in the under-8 girls' category and later winning the under-10, under-12, and under-14 girls' divisions as well. She also won the World Youth Championship in the under-16 girls' category and the World Junior Championship for under-20 girls. She earned the International Master (IM) title at age 17 and the Grandmaster title at age 21. (Full article...)
Triangulopteris (from Latin triangulus 'triangular' and Greek πτερόν 'wing') is a genus of centrohelids, single-celled amoebae that are generally covered with scales or spicules. It contains one species, Triangulopteris lacunata (from Latin lacuna 'hole'), which was described in 2021 from soil samples obtained across geographically distant Ukrainian and Russian territories. This species is one of the few representatives of centrohelids in poorly studied soil microbial ecosystems. The type strain, HF-25, was isolated from permafrost.
Triangulopteris lacunata cells are usually covered by two kinds of silica scales: plates cales and spine scales. The organism is distinguished from other centrohelids by the appearance of its spine scales, which are composed of a basal plate from which a thin shaft emerges, surrounded by two lateral wings. Their unique characteristic consists of two 'pockets' formed between the wings and the basal plate, which has not been observed in any other centrohelid. After several years, the type strain was reported to lose its normal scales and developed thin organic spicules instead, a phenomenon reported in a few other centrohelids. (Full article...)
Artemy Lukyanovich Vedel (13 April [O.S. 2 April] 1767 – 26 July [O.S. 14 July] 1808), born Artemy Lukyanovich Vedelsky, was a Ukrainian-born Russian composer of military and liturgical music. He produced works based on Ukrainian folk melodies, and made an important contribution in the music history of Ukraine. Together with Maxim Berezovsky and Dmitry Bortniansky, Vedel is recognised by musicologists as one of the "Golden Three" composers of 18th century Ukrainian classical music, and one of Russia's greatest choral composers.
Vedel was born in Kyiv, the son of a wealthy wood carver. He studied at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy until 1787, after which he was appointed to conduct the academy's choir and orchestra. In 1788, he was sent to Moscow to work for the regional governor, but he returned home in 1791 and resumed his career at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. General Andrei Levanidov recruited him to lead Kyiv's regimental chapel and choir—under Levanidov's patronage, Vedel reached the peak of his creativity as a composer. He moved with Levanidov to the Kharkov Governorate, where he organised a new choir and orchestra, and taught at the Kharkiv Collegium. (Full article...)- "Shipment" is a multiplayer map in the Call of Duty series of first-person shooter video games published by Activision. Originally set in a shipping yard outside of Chernobyl, the maps design is a small, compact square with numerous shipping containers inside, some of which the player can traverse through. This creates a design consisting of an intersection, and no other elements are present beyond this basic layout. As a result of its small design, the map is notorious for fast paced combat, as well as being a popular place for players to have duels.
The map was first introduced in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007), where it was designed by that game's multiplayer design director as a developer test map. During development, the map was accidentally placed into the game's main multiplayer map selection, with its creator since referring to the map as an accident. "Shipment" has subsequently appeared in numerous other games in the Call of Duty series, with some versions making minor layout differences or changing the setting. "Shipment" has been met with a mostly positive response from critics, with praise towards its fast-paced action and simple layout, though others have criticized it for the same reasons. It has been considered one of the most iconic maps in the Call of Duty series, as well as one of its best. (Full article...) - Ukrainian Sheriffs (Ukrainian: «Українські шерифи», romanized: Ukrainski sheryfy) is a 2015 Ukrainian documentary film directed by Roman Bondarchuk. The film begins as a portrait of a small town which tries to meet its own policing needs but shifts when the Russo-Ukrainian War begins, depicting the war's effects in microcosm. Bondarchuk's first feature-length film, it was workshopped and developed at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam IDFAcademy and the Dok.incubator program.
The film won the IDFA Special Jury Award and the Docs Against Gravity Mayor of Gdynia Award, and was chosen by the Ukrainian Association of Cinematographers as the best domestic non-fiction film of 2016. It ranked 56th on the Ukraine film archives' list of the best films of Ukrainian cinema, and was Ukraine's official selection for foreign-language film at the US 89th Academy Awards. (Full article...)
Olha Illivna Taratuta (Ukrainian: О́льга Іллівна Тарату́та; 1876–1938) was a Ukrainian Jewish anarchist and a founder of the Anarchist Black Cross (ABC).
Taratuta joined the Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) during its founding in 1898, but within a few years moved towards more radical anarchist positions. She became a leading figure in the Odesa anarchist communist movement, organising a terrorist campaign against Russian imperial officials. After a number of years she was finally caught and imprisoned by the Tsarist authorities. (Full article...)
Verteba Cave (Ukrainian: Печера Вертеба, romanized: Pechera Verteba) is a karstic cave near the village of Bilche-Zolote, Chortkiv Raion, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine. It sits near the Seret river, on a high plateau known as the Podolian Upland, and is one of several such gypsum caves in the region; however, Verteba is the only cave in this cluster to show signs of prehistoric occupation. In Copper Age Europe, the cave was inhabited periodically by members of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture. Thousands of artefacts, including ceramic vessels, clay figurines, bones, and tools, have been found inside. Human remains—which mainly consist of disembodied skulls—have been found bearing injuries consistent with having been intentionally killed.
Between October 1942 and April 1943, 28 Jews from Bilche-Zolote and Korolivka hid in the cave to escape the Holocaust. When the Gestapo stormed the cave, the group was forced to relocate to Priest's Grotto; most survived the war, having hidden underground for nearly two years. Their ordeal was the subject of a 2007 book, The Secret of Priest's Grotto: A Holocaust Survival Story; and a 2012 documentary, No Place on Earth. (Full article...)- Since Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union on 24 August 1991, many populated places and administrative divisions in the country have had their names changed as part of the derussification of toponyms (place names) in Ukraine. These changes have involved the removal of placenames connected to people, places, events, and organizations associated with Russia and Russian imperialism as well as the restoration of historical placenames that had been changed earlier in Ukraine's history by the Russian or Soviet government with the intention of removing local heritage. Derussification has also included the respellings or rewordings of names to match standard spelling and word usages in the Ukrainian language. The official names of populated places and raions (districts) in the country are determined through legislation passed by the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, typically at the request of local authorities; urban districts are named by each city's municipal council or the oblast (regional) administration. During the Soviet period, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s, officials engaged in a significant renaming campaign to promote Bolshevism, replacing thousands of historical placenames in the country of both Russian and Ukrainian origin with generic propaganda toponyms based on prominent communist symbols and figures. In the 1980s, following the Soviet adoption of the liberalizing policies of glasnost and perestroika, Soviet Ukrainian and local governments carried out amongst the first limited derussification as they gained greater autonomy, returning some historical placenames and modifying others, notably with the renaming of the city and oblast of Rovno to Rivne on 11 June 1991 to bring it in line with Ukrainian language standards. After independence, derussification efforts were sporadic, with most name changes in the initial decades post-independence resulting from the restoration of pre-Soviet names through local efforts. Following the months-long Euromaidan protests and beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014, hundreds of placenames dedicated to communist figures and the Soviet Union were changed as major decommunization legislation was enacted in 2016. However, most Russian names not directly associated with communism or included in the decommunization legislation continued to stay in place as derussification remained less popular than decommunization.
After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, derussification gained widespread public support for the first time – even among Russian speakers and residents who had previously disapproved of decommunization – and became part of the Ukrainian government's announced decolonization policies. On 14 March 2023, multiple non-governmental organizations and other groups signed a petition calling for the adoption of derussification laws. In response, the Ukrainian parliament passed on 21 March the law On the Condemnation and Prohibition of Propaganda of Russian Imperial Policy in Ukraine and the Decolonization of Toponymy, the country's first comprehensive derussification legislation, officially prohibiting placenames considered to promote Russian imperialism or the Russification of Ukraine. An official list of placenames not conforming to the Ukrainian language was published on 30 June 2023 by the National Commission on State Language Standards, followed on 3 August by a separate list from the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory of placenames associated with Russian imperialism. Local authorities of affected places were given six months from the publication of each list to submit new name proposals to parliament; localities that did not submit name proposals were renamed directly by parliament based on the Institute's or Commission's recommendations. For certain localities that have placenames that are potentially applicable to renaming, such as the village of Krasnopil in Zhytomyr Oblast, whose name is derived from the color red (a symbol of the Soviet Union) but also dates as early as 1601, name changes are not required. (Full article...)
House with Chimaeras (Ukrainian: Будинок з химерами, romanized: Budynok z khymeramy) or Horodetsky House (named for Władysław Horodecki) is an Art Nouveau building located in the historic Lypky neighborhood of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Situated across the street from the President of Ukraine's office at No. 10, Bankova Street, the building has been used as a presidential residence for official and diplomatic ceremonies since 2005. The street in front of the building is closed off to all automobile traffic, and is now a patrolled pedestrian zone due to its proximity to the Presidential Administration building.
The Polish architect Władysław Horodecki originally constructed the House with Chimaeras for use as his own upmarket apartment building during 1901–1902. However, as the years went by, Horodecki eventually had to sell the building due to financial troubles, after which it changed ownership numerous times before finally being occupied by an official Communist Party polyclinic until the early 2000s. When the building was vacated, its interior and exterior decor were fully reconstructed and restored according to Horodecki's original plans. (Full article...)- There are 14 populated places in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine, that have been officially granted city status (Ukrainian: місто, romanized: misto) by the Verkhovna Rada, the country's parliament. Settlements with more than 10,000 people are eligible for city status, although the status is typically also granted to settlements of historical or regional importance. As of 5 December 2001, the date of the first and only official census in the country since independence, the most populous city in the oblast was the regional capital, Zaporizhzhia, with a population of 817,882 people, while the least populous city was Molochansk, with 7,964 people. The most recent settlement to receive city status is Enerhodar, which was granted the status by the Verkhovna Rada in 1985.
From independence in 1991 to 2020, five cities in the oblast were designated as cities of regional significance (municipalities), which had self-government under city councils, while the oblast's remaining nine cities were located amongst twenty raions (districts) as cities of district significance, which are subordinated to the governments of the raions. On 18 July 2020, an administrative reform abolished and merged the oblast's raions and cities of regional significance into five new, expanded raions. The five raions that make up the oblast are Berdiansk, Melitopol, Polohy, Vasylivka, and Zaporizhzhia. (Full article...) 
Cultural heritage plaque of the Armenian Church in Chernivtsi
There are 110 monuments of national significance in Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukraine's smallest oblast by area and population. The State Register of Immovable Monuments of Ukraine classifies cultural heritage monuments as either of local or national signficance. To be classified as nationally significant, a monument must have had a substantial impact on the country's culture, be associated with major historical events or individuals who shaped national culture, represent a masterpiece of creative genius, or embody a disappeared civilisation or a disappeared artistic style. Monuments of national significance are inscribed on the register by the Cabinet of Ministers, and are protected and maintained by the Ministry of Culture. All listed monuments fall into at least one of the following categories: archaeology, history, monumental art, architecture, urban planning, garden and park art, landscape, or science and technology.
The first attempts to establish registers of protected buildings were undertaken in 1917 and 1918 by the Ukrainian People's Republic. These efforts continued in the 1920s in Soviet Ukraine but were halted in the 1930s with the dissolution of relevant institutions and the active destruction of cultural—particularly religious—heritage. The listing of cultural heritage monuments in the region was renewed in 1956. A list of architectural monuments was approved in 1963, followed by a separate list of artistic, historic, and archaeological monuments in 1965. Both lists remained in use after Ukraine declared independence in 1991. On 8 June 2000, with the adoption of the law "On the Protection of Cultural Heritage", the State Register of Immovable Monuments was established. All entries from the Soviet-era list of artistic, historic, and archaeological monuments were transferred to the new register on 14 September 2009. The transfer of monuments from the Soviet architectural register, however, has proceeded more slowly and remains incomplete as of 2026, although the process has accelerated in recent years. At the same time, a number of sites have been stripped of their protected status to comply with the decommunisation and derussification laws in effect since 2015 and 2023, respectively. (Full article...)
World War II, or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945), was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many engaging in total war on an unprecedented scale. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the deaths of 60 to 75 million people, a majority of whom were civilians. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.
The causes of World War II included unresolved tensions in the aftermath of World War I and the rise of fascism in Europe and militarism in Japan. Key events preceding the war included Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the Spanish Civil War, the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, and Germany's annexations of Austria and the Sudetenland. World War II is generally considered to have begun on 1 September 1939, when Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland, after which the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany. Poland was also invaded by the Soviet Union in mid-September, and was partitioned between the two states under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In 1940, the Soviet Union annexed the Baltic states and parts of Finland and Romania, while Germany conquered Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. After the fall of France in June 1940, the war continued, mainly between Germany, now assisted by Fascist Italy, and the British Empire and British Commonwealth, with fighting in the Balkans, Mediterranean, Middle East, East Africa, the aerial Battle of Britain, the Blitz, and the naval Battle of the Atlantic. By mid-1941, Yugoslavia and Greece had also been defeated by Axis countries. In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, opening the Eastern Front. (Full article...)
Cultural heritage plaque of the medieval hillfort in Putyvl
There are 81 monuments of national significance in Sumy Oblast, Ukraine. The State Register of Immovable Monuments of Ukraine classifies cultural heritage monuments as either of local or national signficance. To be classified as nationally significant, a monument must have had a substantial impact on the country's culture, be associated with major historical events or individuals who shaped national culture, represent a masterpiece of creative genius, or embody a disappeared civilisation or disappeared artistic style. Monuments of national significance are inscribed on the register by the Cabinet of Ministers, and are protected and maintained by the Ministry of Culture. All listed monuments fall into at least one of the following categories: archaeology, history, monumental art, architecture, urban planning, garden and park art, landscape, or science and technology.
The first attempts to establish registers of protected buildings were undertaken in 1917 and 1918 by the Ukrainian People's Republic. These efforts continued in the 1920s in Soviet Ukraine but were halted in the 1930s with the dissolution of relevant institutions and the active destruction of cultural—particularly religious—heritage. The listing of cultural heritage monuments in the region was renewed in 1956. A list of architectural monuments was approved in 1963, followed by a separate list of artistic, historic, and archaeological monuments in 1965. Both lists remained in use after Ukraine declared independence in 1991. On 8 June 2000, with the adoption of the law "On the Protection of Cultural Heritage", the State Register of Immovable Monuments was established. All entries from the Soviet-era list of artistic, historic, and archaeological monuments were transferred to the new register on 14 September 2009. The transfer of monuments from the Soviet architectural register, however, has proceeded more slowly and remains incomplete as of 2026, although the process has accelerated in recent years. At the same time, a number of sites have been stripped of their protected status to comply with the decommunisation and derussification laws in effect since 2015 and 2023, respectively. (Full article...)- Metro Exodus is a first-person shooter video game developed by 4A Games and published by Deep Silver in 2019. The game is the third installment in the Metro video game series, which is based on Dmitry Glukhovsky's novels. It is a sequel to Metro: Last Light and the book Metro 2035, and follows protagonist Artyom and his allies as they flee the Moscow Metro and set off on an intercontinental journey through Russia and parts of Kazakhstan on a locomotive called Aurora. The story takes place over a year, during which Artyom visits locations such as the Volga River and the Caspian Sea. The game improves on the gameplay mechanics of Last Light; it includes both several miniature open world locations and more linear levels like earlier games in the series.
Starting in 2014, the game was developed by a team of around 150 based in Kyiv and Malta. The Exodus studio's main objective was to combine the core gameplay pillars of the Metro series with elements from S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (2007), which prioritizes emergent gameplay and features a large, explorable space. The team experimented with open-world gameplay and excluded mission markers so that players can explore naturally. To keep the game immersive, the game had a minimalistic head-up display, as in-game information was physicalized through Artyom's gears and equipment. 4A collaborated with Glukhovsky on the game's story, which focuses more on Artyom's personal story and relationships, forgoing some of the supernatural elements found in previous games for a more grounded story. (Full article...)
Featured pictures
These are Featured pictures that the Wikimedia Commons community has chosen as the highest quality on the site.
Photograph: George ChernilevskyThe ChS8 is an electric mainline passenger locomotive used in Russia and Ukraine. Built between 1983 and 1989, it was developed for pulling long passenger trains (28–32 carriages) at speeds of 100 kilometres per hour (60 mph) or faster. Since 2010 Russia has switched to more energy-efficient designs, such as the EP10 and EP20.
Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin sitting together at the Yalta Conference, which took place February 4–11, 1945. The so-called "Big Three" met to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of Europe following World War II. Although a number of agreements were reached, Stalin broke his promises regarding Poland, and the Soviet Union annexed the regions of Eastern Europe it controlled, or converted them to satellite states.
A map showing caesium-137 contamination in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine (in curies per square kilometer) in 1996, ten years after the Chernobyl disaster struck the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The disaster contaminated 162,160 square kilometres (62,610 sq mi) of land and is widely considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history.
Photo: Noodle snacksMushrooms of Armillaria hinnulea, a species of honey fungus (or "pidpenky", from Ukrainian). Honey fungi are parasitic fungi that live on trees and woody shrubs. As a forest pathogen, it can be very destructive because unlike most parasites, it does not need to moderate its growth in order to avoid killing its host, since it will continue to thrive on the dead material. Honey fungi are long lived and form some of the largest living organisms in the world, including one that covers more than 3.4 sq mi (8.8 km2) and is thousands of years old. The mushrooms are edible, but can be easily confused with poisonous Galerina species, which can grow side-by-side with Armillaria.
Photo credit: Peter DuhonUkrainian fashion model Nataliya Gotsiy modeling for Cynthia Rowley, Spring 2007 New York Fashion Week. She was the winner of the Ford Supermodel of the World 2004 search. She has appeared on the cover of French Elle and Italian Marie Claire and modeled for Behnaz Sarafpour, Christian Lacroix, Diane von Furstenberg, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Dries van Noten, Gucci, Oscar de la Renta, Valentino, and Vivienne Westwood, among others.
Photograph: Anatoly ShcherbakThe Royal Kurgan is a 4th century BC kurgan (burial barrow) located near present-day Kerch, Crimea. The mound is almost 20 metres high and its base perimeter is about 250 metres. It holds a burial chamber with a square floor plan which gradually merges into the circular shape of a corbelled dome ("false vault"). It is assumed that the Royal Kurgan was the final resting place of a ruler of the Bosporan Kingdom.
Photograph: AmakuhaThe burning of the Trade Unions Building—used as the headquarters of the Euromaidan movement—during the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, following a failed attempt by the Ukrainian police to capture the building. After the fire, the damaged building was covered with large canvas screens on two sides with the words "Glory to Ukraine" printed on them in large letters.
Artist: William Simpson; Restoration: NativeForeignerThe 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons and 5th Dragoon Guards engage the Russians in this lithograph of the "Charge of the Heavy Brigade", a short engagement during the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. Russian cavalry had attacked the British camp, but in roughly ten minutes of fighting, they suffered 40 to 50 killed and more than 200 wounded and were forced to retreat.
Artist: William Simpson; Lithographer: Edmond Morin; Restoration: NativeForeignerA tinted lithograph, titled "Embarkation of the sick at Balaklava", shows injured and ill soldiers in the Crimean War boarding boats to take them to hospital facilities. Modern nursing had its roots in the war, as war correspondents for newspapers reported the scandalous treatment of wounded soldiers in the first desperate winter, prompting the pioneering work of women such as Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole, Frances Margaret Taylor and others.
Painting: UnknownThe Adoration of the Shepherds is a common subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art. The scene, based on the Biblical account in Luke 2, depicts shepherds as near witnesses to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, arriving soon after the actual birth. It is often combined in art with the Adoration of the Magi, in which case it is typically just referred to by the latter title. The example here comes from 17th-century Ukraine and is currently held at the Ivan Honchar Museum.
Map credit: Nicolas de FerA 1691 French map of Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine, depicting the city's old town neighborhood and castle, surrounded by the winding Smotrych River. It was originally part of Kievan Rus' and annexed into the First Polish Republic, but at the time of the map's creation, the city was part of the Ottoman Empire. It shortly returned to Poland and later became part of the Russian Empire with the Second Partition of Poland in 1793.
Photograph credit: Max AlpertKombat (Russian for 'battalion commander') is a black-and-white photograph by Soviet photographer Max Alpert. It depicts a Soviet military officer, armed with a TT pistol, raising his unit for an attack during World War II. This work is regarded as one of the most iconic Soviet World War II photographs, yet neither the date nor the subject is known with certainty. According to the most widely accepted version, it depicts junior politruk Aleksei Gordeyevich Yeryomenko, minutes before his death on 12 July 1942, in Voroshilovgrad Oblast, now part of Ukraine. The photograph is in the archives of RIA Novosti, a Russian state-owned news agency.
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Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that Brave Bunnies was among the children's series streamed ad-free on Sunflower TV for Ukrainian refugees?
- ... that the Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1925, gave a solidarity concert with Ukraine soon after the Russian invasion?
- ... that Panas Saksahansky's production of Othello served as the basis for later performances in Ukraine and throughout the Soviet Union?
- ... that Chernobyl and Pripyat have not lost their city status even though they are abandoned?
- ... that Oksana Lyniv founded the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine in 2016 and conducted them in thirty concerts across ten music festivals in 2022?
- ... that the diary of Erich Lassota von Steblau is an important primary source on the 16th-century Zaporozhian Cossacks of Ukraine?
More did you know -
- ... that the Kryvbas economic region in Ukraine is one of the largest iron ore and steel industry centers in Europe?
- ... that Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych (pictured), known for the "Carol of the Bells", was nicknamed "Ukrainian Bach" in France?
- ... that at its first years Kiev Zoo had to move its animals into the food storage of the main Kiev railway station for the winter?
- ... that Ukrainian naturalist, lecturer, artist and author John Lhotsky was credited as the first discoverer of gold in New South Wales?
- ... that the married Western Ukrainian Clergy became a hereditary caste that dominated western Ukrainian society?
- ... that according to legend, a tunnel leads from the Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle to the Khotyn Fortress which is 20 kilometres (12 mi) away?
Selected article -
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A Hero of Ukraine (abbr. HOU; Ukrainian: Герой України, romanized: Heroi Ukrainy) is the highest national decoration that can be conferred upon an individual citizen by the president of Ukraine.
The decoration was created in 1998 by President Leonid Kuchma. As of July 26, 2026, the total number of recipients was no less than 1,328 (of which decrees awarding 1,282 individuals were published, and for at least 46 individuals, the decrees were not made public). (Full article...)
In the news
- 25 September 2026 – Russo-Ukrainian war
- Kyiv strikes, Russian attacks on civilians in the Russo-Ukrainian war
- Russian drone and missile strikes on residential buildings and other civilian sites in Kyiv, Ukraine, kill seven people, including a 14-year-old boy, and injure 46 others. (AFP via News.com.au)
- 24 September 2026 – Croatia–Germany relations, Nord Stream pipelines sabotage
- A Croatian court approves Ukrainian national Volodymyr Zhuravlov's extradition to Germany over his alleged involvement in sabotaging the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines in 2022. (AP)
- 24 September 2026 –
- A priest is killed and four other people are injured in a mass stabbing by a Ukrainian national at a Benedictine abbey in Jarosław, Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Poland. (AP) (Reuters)
- 23 September 2026 – Russo-Ukrainian war
- Kharkiv strikes, Kyiv strikes, Odesa strikes
- Russian drone and missile attacks across Ukraine kill at least eight civilians, including six agricultural workers in Kharkiv Oblast and two people in Kyiv, while strikes also hit Odesa. Ukraine says it intercepts or suppresses 119 of 161 drones. (AP)
- Violations of non-combatant airspace during the Russo-Ukrainian war
- Poland deploys fighter jets into its airspace after a Russian helicopter intruded near Braniewo, Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship. (Chronicle Live)
- 23 September 2026 – North Korean involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian war, South Korea–Ukraine relations
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Ukraine transferred two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea after capturing them in Kursk Oblast, Russia, in January 2025. (UPI)
- 21 September 2026 – International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian war, Russia–European Union relations
- European Union ambassadors agree in principle to remove Russian oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Alisher Usmanov from sanctions imposed over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while renewing restrictions on about 3,000 other Russian-linked individuals and entities for three years. However, Latvia later blocks the deal. (Billionaires.Africa) (Reuters)
Selected anniversaries for September
- September 4, 1985 — Vasyl Stus died of beating in a Soviet forced labor camp for political prisoners near the village of Kuchino, Perm Oblast, Russian SFSR.
- September 14, 1911 — Dmitry Bogrov shot and killed the Russian Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin in the Kiev Opera theater in front of Tsar Nicholas II.
Photo gallery
The Swallow's Nest is one of the Neo-Gothic châteaux fantastiques near Yalta; it was built in 1912.
- An 1691 French map of the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi, located in western Ukraine.
View on the lower fortress of the Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle
Streets of Mukacheve in the old part of town
The square in front of the theater in Chernivtsi.
Trinity Church and Monastery in Chernihiv, Ukraine
St Andrew's Church of Kyiv (1749–1854)
Potemkin Stairs in Odesa, Ukraine. The higher perspective allows a person to see both the stairs and landings.
Zbarazh (Ukrainian: Збараж, Polish: Zbaraż, Yiddish: Zbarj) is a small city in the Ternopil Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Zbarazh Raion (district), and is located in the historic region of Galicia. The major attraction of the city is the Zbarazh Castle that played a key role during the Khmelnytsky Uprising, the heroic defense of which eventually led to change of momentum and extinguishing the Cossack revolt.
Interiour view of the Pochayiv Lavra in Ukraine.
A wooden bridge leads to the entrance to the Khomutovska Steppe in Donetsk Oblast.
A view of Lviv Old Town from the High Castle.
A view of Lviv
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