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Portal:Ukraine

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The Ukraine Portal - Портал України

Ukraine
Україна (Ukrainian)
ISO 3166 codeUA

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 is Ukrainian. Ukraine covers about 600,000 km2 (230,000 sq mi), with around 32 million people.

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

3 October 2026 – Russo-Ukrainian war
Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko reports that Russian forces have struck the Pivnichnyi Bridge in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Kyiv Independent)
3 October 2026 – 2026 Latvian parliamentary election
Latvians vote to elect 100 seats of the Saeima amid an uptick of airspace incursions and hybrid warfare during the Russo-Ukrainian war. Preliminary results indicate that the centrist United List, led by incumbent prime minister Andris Kulbergs, won the most seats. (Reuters)
2 October 2026 – Russo-Ukrainian war
Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
A Russian drone strikes Pivdennyi Bridge in Kyiv, Ukraine, for the fourth time in two days. (The Kyiv Independent)
1 October 2026 – Russo-Ukrainian war
Aviation shootdowns and accidents during the Russo-Ukrainian war
A Russian Su-35 fighter jet shoots down a Russian Mi-8 helicopter over Voronezh Oblast, Russia, in a friendly fire incident. All three crew members are killed. (Kyiv Independent)
28 September 2026 – Russo-Ukrainian war
Kyiv strikes, Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
At least three people are killed and 24 others, including the former secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, Volodymyr Horbulin, are injured by Russian drone strikes on the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine building, a health clinic, and a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine. (The Guardian) (Ukrainska Pravda)
Polish military jets are scrambled in response to Russian airstrikes on Ukraine. Individuals in Lublin Voivodeship, Poland, are briefly urged to seek shelter before an alert is lifted. (Reuters)
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Sevastopol (/ˌsɛvəˈstoʊpəl, səˈvæstəpoʊl/ SEV-ə-STOH-pəl, sə-VAS-tə-pohl), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base throughout its history. Since the city's founding by Catherine the Great in 1783, it has been a major base for Russia's Black Sea Fleet. During the Cold War of the 20th century, it was a closed city. The total administrative area is 864 square kilometres (334 sq mi) and includes a significant amount of rural land. The urban population, largely concentrated around Sevastopol Bay, is 479,394, and the total population is 547,820.

Sevastopol, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, and under the Ukrainian legal framework, it is administratively one of two cities with special status (the other being Kyiv). However, it has been occupied by Russia since 27 February 2014, before Russia annexed Crimea on 18 March 2014 and gave it the status of a federal city of Russia. Both Ukraine and Russia consider the city administratively separate from the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the Republic of Crimea, respectively. The city's population has an ethnic Russian majority and a substantial minority of Ukrainians. (Full article...)

In the news

3 October 2026 – Russo-Ukrainian war
Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko reports that Russian forces have struck the Pivnichnyi Bridge in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Kyiv Independent)
3 October 2026 – 2026 Latvian parliamentary election
Latvians vote to elect 100 seats of the Saeima amid an uptick of airspace incursions and hybrid warfare during the Russo-Ukrainian war. Preliminary results indicate that the centrist United List, led by incumbent prime minister Andris Kulbergs, won the most seats. (Reuters)
2 October 2026 – Russo-Ukrainian war
Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
A Russian drone strikes Pivdennyi Bridge in Kyiv, Ukraine, for the fourth time in two days. (The Kyiv Independent)
1 October 2026 – Russo-Ukrainian war
Aviation shootdowns and accidents during the Russo-Ukrainian war
A Russian Su-35 fighter jet shoots down a Russian Mi-8 helicopter over Voronezh Oblast, Russia, in a friendly fire incident. All three crew members are killed. (Kyiv Independent)
28 September 2026 – Russo-Ukrainian war
Kyiv strikes, Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
At least three people are killed and 24 others, including the former secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, Volodymyr Horbulin, are injured by Russian drone strikes on the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine building, a health clinic, and a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine. (The Guardian) (Ukrainska Pravda)
Polish military jets are scrambled in response to Russian airstrikes on Ukraine. Individuals in Lublin Voivodeship, Poland, are briefly urged to seek shelter before an alert is lifted. (Reuters)

Selected anniversaries for October

Army camp at Balaklava in the Crimean War, 1855.
Army camp at Balaklava in the Crimean War, 1855.

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