Ukraine is a sovereign state; its independence was proclaimed in 1991. Ukraine is situated in the east of Europe. The territory of Ukraine is 603 700 square kilometres. Ukraine borders on Russia, Belarus, Poland, Moldova, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. It’s washed by the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov and has very important ports. Ukraine is larger than France and Great Britain but considerably smaller than Russia. 5% of Ukraine’s territory is mountainous; the rest part of the Ukrainian area is flat. Ukraine has the Carpathians and the Crimean Mountains. The Carpathians is the natural mountainous boundary of Ukraine. They are covered with mixed forests of pine, fir, beech and oak trees. There are the thickest forests in Volyn, which are part of the famous Byelovezhskaya Puscha.
The Dnieper is the main river of the country; moreover, it’s the third longest river in Europe. Such rivers as the Dniester, the Danube, the Southern Bug and the Seversky Donets are also important.
The population of our country is about 46 million people. Besides Ukrainians the representatives of many other nationalities live there: Russians, Jews, Belarusians, Moldavians, Romanians, Greeks, Tatars, Poles, Armenians, Germans, Gypsies and other ethnic minorities. They contributed to Ukraine’s culture and history.
The biggest cities of Ukraine are Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, Donetsk, Odessa, Mykolaiv and others.
Ukraine is developed industrial and agricultural country. It’s rich in iron ore, coal, natural gas, oil, salt and other mineral resources. Ukraine has such branches of industry as metallurgy, machine-building, power industry, chemical industry and agriculture. Scientists of Ukraine make their contributions of important discoveries and inventions to the world science.
Ukraine has a rich historical and cultural heritage. There are many higher educational establishments, theatres, libraries, museums, art galleries in Ukraine. It’s also famous for many outstanding writers, poets and musicians.
Ukraine is a member of the United Nation Organization and takes part in the work of many international organizations.