Ukraine
Coat of arms of Ukraine
Anthem: Державний Гімн України
Derzhavnyi Himn Ukrainy
"State Anthem of Ukraine"
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Ukraine (orthographic projection).png
Location of Ukraine (green)
Russian-occupied territories prior to the 2022 invasion (light green)
Capital
and largest city
Kyiv
49°N 32°ECoordinates: 49°N 32°E
Official language
and national language Ukrainian[1]
Indigenous languages[2]
Crimean TatarKaraimKrymchak
Ethnic groups (2001)[3]
77.8% Ukrainians
17.3% Russians
4.9% Others
Religion (2018)[4]
87.3% Christianity
11.0% Irreligion
0.8% Others
0.9% Unanswered
Demonym(s) Ukrainian
Government Unitary semi-presidential republic
• President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
• Prime Minister
Denys Shmyhal
• Chairman of the
Verkhovna Rada
Ruslan Stefanchuk
Legislature Verkhovna Rada
Formation
• Kievan Rus'
879
• Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia
1199
• Cossack Hetmanate
18 August 1649
• Ukrainian People's Republic
10 June 1917
• Declaration of independence of the Ukrainian People's Republic
22 January 1918
• West Ukrainian People's Republic
1 November 1918
• Act of Unity
22 January 1919
• Declaration of independence from Soviet Union
24 August 1991
• Independence referendum
1 December 1991
• Current constitution
28 June 1996
• Revolution of Dignity[5]
18–23 February 2014
Area
• Total
603,628[6] km2 (233,062 sq mi) (45th)
• Water (%)
3.8 [7]
Population
• January 2022 estimate
Decrease 41,167,336[8]
(excluding Crimea) (36th)
• 2001 census
48,457,102[3]
• Density
73.8/km2 (191.1/sq mi) (115th)
GDP (PPP) 2021 estimate
• Total
Increase $584 billion[9] (48th)
• Per capita
Increase $14,150[9] (108th)
GDP (nominal) 2021 estimate
• Total
Increase $181 billion[9] (56th)
• Per capita
Increase $4,380[9] (119th)
Gini (2019) Negative increase 26.6[10]
low
HDI (2019) Increase 0.779[11]
high · 74th
Currency Hryvnia (₴) (UAH)
Time zone UTC+2[12] (EET)
• Summer (DST)
UTC+3 (EEST)
Driving side right
Calling code +380
ISO 3166 code UA
Internet TLD
.ua
.укр
Ukraine (Ukrainian: Україна, romanized: Ukraïna, pronounced [ʊkrɐˈjinɐ] (audio speaker iconlisten)) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second largest country in Europe after Russia,[13] which it borders to the east and north-east.[a] Ukraine also shares borders with Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova[b] to the south; and has a coastline along the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. It covers about 600,000 km2 (230,000 sq mi),[c] with a population of about 40 million.[14][15][d] The nation's capital and largest city is Kyiv.
The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC. During the Middle Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture under Kievan Rus', which was ultimately destroyed by the Mongol invasion in the 13th century. Over the next 600 years, the area was contested, divided, and ruled by external powers, including the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austrian Empire, Austria-Hungary, 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, and ultimately completely absorbed by the Russian Empire. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution a Ukrainian national movement re-emerged, and the Ukrainian People's Republic was formed in 1917. This short-lived state was forcibly reconstituted into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which became a founding member of the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1922. From 1932 to 1933 the Holodomor killed millions of Ukrainians. In 1939, Western Ukraine was annexed from Poland by the USSR. Ukraine was the most populous and industrialised republic after the Russian Soviet Republic. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union Ukraine regained its independence in 1991.
Since its independence, Ukraine has been governed as a unitary republic under a semi-presidential system. It declared itself a neutral state,[16] forming a limited military partnership with Russia and other CIS countries while also establishing a partnership with NATO in 1994. In 2013, after President Viktor Yanukovych suspended the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement in favor of closer economic ties with Russia, mass protests and demonstrations known as the Euromaidan erupted, escalating into the Revolution of Dignity that led to the overthrow of Yanukovych and the establishment of a new government. These events formed the background to Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and the War in Donbas the following month. The latter was a protracted conflict with Russian-backed separatists that culminated in a Russian invasion in February 2022. Ukraine has continued seeking closer economic, political, and military ties with the West amid ongoing war with Russia.[17]
Ukraine is among the poorest countries in Europe and suffers from low life expectancy and widespread corruption.[18][19] However, due to its extensive fertile land, pre-war Ukraine was one of the largest grain exporters in the world.[20][21] It is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the GUAM organization, the Association Trio, and the Lublin Triangle.
History
Main article: History of Ukraine
Early history
A gold Scythian neckpiece, from a royal kurgan in Pokrov (4th century BC).
Settlement by modern humans in Ukraine and its vicinity dates back to 32,000 BC, with evidence of the Gravettian culture in the Crimean Mountains.[30][31] By 4,500 BC, the Neolithic Cucuteni–Trypillia culture was flourishing in wide areas of modern Ukraine, including Trypillia and the entire Dnieper-Dniester region. Ukraine is also considered to be the likely location for the domestication of the horse.[32][33][34][35] During the Iron Age, the land was inhabited by Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians.[36] Between 700 BC and 200 BC it was part of the Scythian kingdom.[37]
From the 6th century BC, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine colonies were established on the north-eastern shore of the Black Sea, such as at Tyras, Olbia, and Chersonesus. These thrived into the 6th century AD. The Goths stayed in the area, but came under the sway of the Huns from the 370s. In the 7th century, the territory that is now eastern Ukraine was the centre of Old Great Bulgaria. At the end of the century, the majority of Bulgar tribes migrated in different directions, and the Khazars took over much of the land.[38]
In the 5th and 6th centuries, the Early Slavic, Antes people lived in Ukraine. The Antes were the ancestors of Ukrainians: White Croats, Severians, Eastern Polans, Drevlyans, Dulebes, Ulichians, and Tiverians. Migrations from the territories of present-day Ukraine throughout the Balkans established many South Slavic nations. Northern migrations, reaching almost to Lake Ilmen, led to the emergence of the Ilmen Slavs, Krivichs, and Radimichs, the groups ancestral to the Russians. Following an Avar raid in 602 and the collapse of the Antes Union, most of these peoples survived as separate tribes until the beginning of the second millennium.[39][need quotation to verify]
Golden Age of Kyiv
Main articles: Kievan Rus' and Kingdom of Ruthenia
The furthest extent of Kievan Rus', 1054–1132.
The establishment of the Kievan Rus' remains obscure and uncertain; there are at least three versions depending on interpretations of the chronicles.[40] In general, the state included much of present-day Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.[41] According to the Primary Chronicle the Rus' elite and rulers initially consisted of Varangians from Scandinavia.[42] In 882, the pagan Prince Oleg (Oleh) conquered Kyiv from Askold and Dir and proclaimed it as the capital of the Rus'.[43] However, it also believed that the East Slavic tribes along the southern parts of the Dnieper River were already in the process of forming a state independently.[44]
During the 10th and 11th centuries, Kievan Rus' became the largest and most powerful state in Europe.[45] The Varangians later assimilated into the Slavic population and became part of the first Rus' dynasty, the Rurik dynasty.[41] Kievan Rus' was composed of several principalities ruled by the interrelated Rurikid kniazes ("princes"), who often fought each other for possession of Kyiv.[46]
The Golden Age of Kievan Rus' began with the reign of Vladimir the Great (980–1015), who turned Rus' toward Byzantine Christianity. During the reign of his son, Yaroslav the Wise (1019–1054), Kievan Rus' reached the zenith of its cultural development and military power.[41] The state soon fragmented as the relative importance of regional powers rose again. After a final resurgence under the rule of Vladimir II Monomakh (1113–1125) and his son Mstislav (1125–1132), Kievan Rus' finally disintegrated into separate principalities following Mstislav's death.[47]
The 13th-century Mongol invasion devastated Kievan Rus' and Kyiv was completely destroyed in 1240.[48] On today's Ukrainian territory, the principalities of Halych and Volodymyr-Volynskyi arose, and were merged into the state of Galicia–Volhynia.[49] Daniel of Galicia, son of Roman the Great, re-united much of south-western Rus', including Volhynia, Galicia and the ancient capital of Kyiv. He was subsequently crowned by the papal archbishop as the first king of the newly created Kingdom of Ruthenia in 1253.[50]
19th and early 20th century
Main articles: Southwestern Krai, Kharkov Governorate, and Chernigov Governorate
Further information: Ukraine during World War I, Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, Ukrainian War of Independence, and Soviet–Ukrainian War
Polish troops enter Kyiv in May 1920 during the Polish–Soviet War. Following the Peace of Riga signed on 18 March 1921, Poland took control of modern-day western Ukraine while Soviets took control of eastern and central Ukraine.
Beginning in the 19th century, there was migration from Ukraine to distant areas of the Russian Empire. According to the 1897 census, there were 223,000 ethnic Ukrainians in Siberia and 102,000 in Central Asia.[69] An additional 1.6 million emigrated to the east in the ten years after the opening of the Trans-Siberian Railway in 1906.[70] Far Eastern areas with an ethnic Ukrainian population became known as Green Ukraine.[71]
The 19th century saw the rise of Ukrainian nationalism, particularly in Austrian Galicia under the relatively lenient rule of the Habsburgs.[72] With growing urbanization and modernization, and a cultural trend toward romantic nationalism, a Ukrainian intelligentsia committed to national rebirth and social justice emerged. The serf-turned-national-poet Taras Shevchenko (1814–1861) and the political theorist Mykhailo Drahomanov (1841–1895) led the growing nationalist movement.[73][74]
Ukrainians entered World War I on the side of both the Central Powers, under Austria, and the Triple Entente, under Russia. Around 3.5 million Ukrainians fought with the Imperial Russian Army, while 250,000 fought for the Austro-Hungarian Army.[75] During the Russian Revolution and War of Independence, the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed on 23 June 1917. The Bolshevik Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (or Soviet Ukraine) successively established territories in the former Russian Empire; while the West Ukrainian People's Republic and the Hutsul Republic emerged briefly in the Ukrainian lands of former Austro-Hungarian territory.[76]
Following the Polish–Ukrainian War and the Polish–Soviet War, western Ukraine was incorporated into Poland and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was formed in lands annexed by the Bolsheviks (1921 Peace of Riga). Modern-day Bukovina was occupied by Romania and Carpathian Ruthenia was admitted to Czechoslovakia as an autonomy.[77] In Poland, the Polish government openly propagated anti-Ukrainian sentiment and restricted rights of people who declared Ukrainian nationality and belonged to the Eastern Orthodox Church.[78][79] In consequence, an underground Ukrainian nationalist and militant movement arose in the 1920s and 1930s, which gradually transformed into the Ukrainian Military Organization and later the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).
Inter-war Soviet Ukraine
See also: Holodomor
A starved man on the streets of Kharkiv, 1933. Collectivization of crops and their confiscation by Soviet authorities led to a major famine in Soviet Ukraine known as the Holodomor.
The Russian Civil War devastated the whole Russian Empire including eastern and central Ukraine. It left over 1.5 million people dead and hundreds of thousands homeless in the former Russian Empire territory. Soviet Ukraine also faced the Russian famine of 1921 (primarily affecting the Russian Volga-Ural region).[80][81] During the 1920s,[82] under the Ukrainisation policy pursued by the national Communist leadership of Mykola Skrypnyk, Soviet leadership encouraged a national renaissance in Ukrainian culture and language. Ukrainisation was part of the Soviet-wide policy of Korenisation (literally indigenisation). Starting from the late 1920s with a centrally planned economy, Soviet Ukraine took part in an industrialisation scheme which quadrupled its industrial output during the 1930s.
During the early Soviet period, the Ukrainian peasantry suffered from the programme of collectivization of agricultural crops. Collectivization was part of the first five-year plan and was enforced by regular troops and the secret police known as Cheka. Those who resisted were arrested and deported to gulags and work camps. As members of the collective farms were sometimes not allowed to receive any grain until unrealistic quotas were met, millions starved to death in a famine known as the Holodomor or the "Great Famine", which was recognized by some countries as an act of genocide perpetrated by Joseph Stalin and other Soviet notables.[83] Largely the same groups were responsible for the mass killing operations during the civil war, collectivization, and the Great Terror.[84]
World War II
See also: Eastern Front (World War II), Reichskommissariat Ukraine, and The Holocaust in Ukraine
The territorial evolution of the Ukrainian SSR, 1922–1954
Following the Invasion of Poland in September 1939, German and Soviet troops divided the territory of Poland. Thus, Eastern Galicia and Volhynia with their Ukrainian population became part of Ukraine. For the first time in history, the nation was united.[85][86]
In 1940, the Soviets annexed Bessarabia and northern Bukovina. The Ukrainian SSR incorporated the northern and southern districts of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and the Hertsa region. But it ceded the western part of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to the newly created Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. These territorial gains of the USSR were internationally recognized by the Paris peace treaties of 1947.[citation needed]
Marshal Timoshenko (born in the Budjak region) commanded numerous fronts throughout the war, including the Southwestern Front east of Kyiv in 1941.
German armies invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, initiating nearly four years of total war. The Axis initially advanced against desperate but unsuccessful efforts of the Red Army. In the encirclement battle of Kyiv, the city was acclaimed as a "Hero City", because of its fierce resistance. More than 600,000 Soviet soldiers (or one-quarter of the Soviet Western Front) were killed or taken captive there, with many suffering severe mistreatment.[87][88]
Although the majority of Ukrainians fought in or alongside the Red Army and Soviet resistance,[89] in Western Ukraine an independent Ukrainian Insurgent Army movement arose (UPA, 1942). It was created as the armed forces of the underground Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).[90][91]
Kyiv suffered significant damage during World War II, and was occupied by the Germans from 19 September 1941 until 6 November 1943.
In total, the number of ethnic Ukrainians who fought in the ranks of the Soviet Army is estimated from 4.5 million[89] to 7 million.[97][c] The pro-Soviet partisan guerrilla resistance in Ukraine is estimated at 47,800 from the start of occupation to 500,000 at its peak in 1944, with about 50% being ethnic Ukrainians.[98] Generally, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army's figures are unreliable, with figures ranging anywhere from 15,000 to as many as 100,000 fighters.[99][100]
The vast majority of the fighting in World War II took place on the Eastern Front.[103] By some estimates, 93% of all German casualties took place there.[104] The total losses inflicted upon the Ukrainian population during the war are estimated at 6 million,[105][106] including an estimated one and a half million Jews killed by the Einsatzgruppen,[107] sometimes with the help of local collaborators. Of the estimated 8.6 million Soviet troop losses,[108][109][110] 1.4 million were ethnic Ukrainians.[108][110][c][d] Victory Day is celebrated as one of ten Ukrainian national holidays.[111] The losses of the Ukrainian people in the war amounted to 40–44% of the total losses of the USSR.[112]
Post–World War II
Further information: Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, History of the Soviet Union (1953–1964), History of the Soviet Union (1964–1982), and History of the Soviet Union (1982–1991)
Two future leaders of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev (left, pre-war CPSU chief in Ukraine) and Leonid Brezhnev (an engineer from Kamianske)
The republic was heavily damaged by the war, and it required significant efforts to recover. More than 700 cities and towns and 28,000 villages were destroyed.[113] The situation was worsened by a famine in 1946–1947, which was caused by a drought and the wartime destruction of infrastructure. The death toll of this famine varies, with even the lowest estimate in the tens of thousands.[106] In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the founding members of the United Nations organization,[114] part of a special agreement at the Yalta Conference.[115]
Post-war ethnic cleansing occurred in the newly expanded Soviet Union. As of 1 January 1953, Ukrainians were second only to Russians among adult "special deportees", comprising 20% of the total.[116] In addition, over 450,000 ethnic Germans from Ukraine and more than 200,000 Crimean Tatars were victims of forced deportations.[116]
Following the death of Stalin in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev became the new leader of the USSR. Having served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukrainian SSR in 1938–1949, Khrushchev was intimately familiar with the republic; after taking power union-wide, he began to emphasize "the friendship" between the Ukrainian and Russian nations. In 1954, the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Pereyaslav was widely celebrated. Crimea was transferred from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR.[117]
By 1950, the republic had fully surpassed pre-war levels of industry and production.[118] Soviet Ukraine soon became a European leader in industrial production[119] and an important centre of the Soviet arms industry and high-tech research. Such an important role resulted in a major influence of the local elite. Many members of the Soviet leadership came from Ukraine, most notably Leonid Brezhnev. He later ousted Khrushchev and became the Soviet leader from 1964 to 1982.
On 26 April 1986, a reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, resulting in the Chernobyl disaster, the worst nuclear reactor accident in history.[120] At the time of the accident, 7 million people lived in the contaminated territories, including 2.2 million in Ukraine.[121]
After the accident, the new city of Slavutych was built outside the exclusion zone to house and support the employees of the plant, which was decommissioned in 2000. A report prepared by the International Atomic Energy Agency and World Health Organization attributed 56 direct deaths to the accident and estimated that there may have been 4,000 extra cancer deaths.[122]
Independence
See also: Modern history of Ukraine
On 21 January 1990, over 300,000 Ukrainians[123] organised a human chain for Ukrainian independence between Kyiv and Lviv, in memory of the 1919 unification of the Ukrainian People's Republic and the West Ukrainian National Republic. Citizens came out to the streets and highways, forming live chains by holding hands in support of unity.
On 16 July 1990, the new parliament adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine.[124] This established the principles of the self-determination, democracy, independence, and the priority of Ukrainian law over Soviet law. A month earlier, a similar declaration was adopted by the parliament of the Russian SFSR. This started a period of confrontation with the central Soviet authorities. On 2–17 October 1990, the Revolution on Granite took place in Ukraine, the main purpose of the action being to prevent the signing of a new union treaty of the USSR. The demands of the students were satisfied by signing a resolution of the Verkhovna Rada, which guaranteed their implementation.[125]
In August 1991, a faction among the Communist leaders of the Soviet Union attempted a coup to remove Mikhail Gorbachev and to restore the Communist party's power. After it failed, the Ukrainian parliament adopted the Act of Independence on 24 August 1991.[126]
Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk and President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin signed the Belavezha Accords, dissolving the Soviet Union, on 8 December 1991.
A referendum and the first presidential elections took place on 1 December 1991. More than 92%[127] of the electorate expressed their support for the Act of Independence, and they elected the chairman of the parliament, Leonid Kravchuk, as the first president of Ukraine. At the meeting in Brest, Belarus on 8 December, followed by the Alma Ata meeting on 21 December, the leaders of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine formally dissolved the Soviet Union and formed the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).[128] On 26 December 1991 the Council of Republics of the USSR Supreme Council adopted the declaration "In regards to creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States" which de jure dissolved the Soviet Union, and the Soviet flag was lowered over the Kremlin.[129] The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine did not ratify the accession, so Ukraine has never been a member of the CIS.[130]
Ukraine was initially viewed as having favourable economic conditions in comparison to the other regions of the Soviet Union.[131] However, the country experienced deeper economic slowdown than some of the other former Soviet Republics. During the recession, between 1991 and 1999, Ukraine lost 60% of its GDP[132][133] and suffered five-digit inflation rates.[134] Dissatisfied with the economic conditions, as well as the amounts of crime and corruption in Ukraine, Ukrainians protested and organized strikes.[135]
The Ukrainian economy stabilized by the end of the 1990s. A new currency, the hryvnia, was introduced in 1996. After 2000, the country enjoyed steady real economic growth averaging about seven percent annually.[136][137] A new Constitution of Ukraine, under the second President Leonid Kuchma in 1996, turned Ukraine into a semi-presidential republic and established a stable political system. Kuchma was, however, criticised by opponents for corruption, electoral fraud, discouraging free speech and concentrating too much power in his office.[138] Ukraine also pursued full nuclear disarmament, giving up the third largest nuclear weapons stockpile in the world and dismantling or removing all strategic bombers on its territory in exchange for various assurances (main article: Nuclear weapons and Ukraine).[139]
Orange Revolution
Main article: Orange Revolution
Protesters at Independence Square on the first day of the Orange Revolution
In 2004, Viktor Yanukovych, then prime minister, was declared the winner of the presidential elections, which the Supreme Court of Ukraine later ruled had been largely rigged.[140] The results caused a public outcry in support of the opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, who challenged the outcome. During the tumultuous months of the revolution, candidate Yushchenko suddenly became gravely ill, and was soon found by multiple independent physician groups to have been poisoned by TCDD dioxin.[141][142] Yushchenko strongly suspected Russian involvement in his poisoning.[143] All of this eventually resulted in the peaceful Orange Revolution, which brought Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko to power, while casting Yanukovych in opposition.[144]
Yanukovych returned to power in 2006 as prime minister in the Alliance of National Unity,[145] until snap elections in September 2007 made Tymoshenko prime minister again.[146] Amid the 2008–09 Ukrainian financial crisis the Ukrainian economy shrank by 15%.[147] Disputes with Russia briefly stopped all gas supplies to Ukraine in 2006 and again in 2009, leading to gas shortages in other countries.[148][149] Yanukovych was elected President in 2010 with 48% of the vote.[150]
Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity
Main articles: Euromaidan and Revolution of Dignity
Further information: Timeline of the Euromaidan
Pro-EU demonstration in Kyiv, 27 November 2013, during the Euromaidan protests
The Euromaidan (Ukrainian: Євромайдан, literally "Eurosquare") protests started in November 2013 after the president, Viktor Yanukovych, began moving away from an association agreement that had been in the works with the European Union and instead chose to establish closer ties with the Russian Federation.[151][152][153] Some Ukrainians took to the streets to show their support for closer ties with Europe.[154]
Meanwhile, in the predominantly Russian-speaking east, a large portion of the population opposed the Euromaidan protests, instead supporting the Yanukovych government.[155] Over time, Euromaidan came to describe a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine,[156] the scope of which evolved to include calls for the resignation of President Yanukovych and his government.[157]
Violence escalated after 16 January 2014 when the government accepted new Anti-Protest Laws. Violent anti-government demonstrators occupied buildings in the centre of Kyiv, including the Justice Ministry building, and riots from 18 to 20 February left 98 dead, with approximately fifteen thousand injured and 100 missing.[158][159][160][161][162][163] On 21 February, President Yanukovych signed a compromise deal with opposition leaders that promised constitutional changes to restore certain powers to Parliament and called for early elections to be held by December.[164]
However, Members of Parliament voted on 22 February to remove the president and set an election for 25 May to select his replacement, a move described by Russia and US academic John Mearsheimer as a coup.[165][166][167][168] The ousting[169] of Yanukovych prompted Vladimir Putin to begin preparations to annex Crimea on 23 February 2014.[170][171] Petro Poroshenko, running on a pro-European Union platform, won with over fifty percent of the vote, therefore not requiring a run-off election.[172][173][174] Upon his election, Poroshenko announced that his immediate priorities would be to take action on the civil unrest in Eastern Ukraine and mend ties with the Russian Federation.[172][173][174] In October 2014 Parliament elections, the party Petro Poroshenko Bloc won 132 of the 423 contested seats.[175]
2014 Russian armed interventions and invasion
For broader coverage of this topic, see Russia–Ukraine relations § Annexation of Crimea and war in eastern Ukraine.
Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, is shown in pink. Pink in the Donbas area represents areas held by the DPR/LPR separatists in September 2014 (cities in red).
Using the Russian naval base at Sevastopol as cover, Putin directed Russian troops and intelligence agents to disarm Ukrainian forces and take control of Crimea.[176][177][178][179] After the troops entered Crimea,[180] a controversial referendum was held on 16 March 2014 and the official result was that 97 percent wished to join with Russia.[181]
On 18 March 2014, Russia and the self-proclaimed Republic of Crimea signed a treaty of accession of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol in the Russian Federation. The UN General Assembly immediately responded by passing resolution 68/262 declaring that the referendum was invalid and supporting the territorial integrity of Ukraine; only Russia voted against the resolution. However, it was not enforceable.[182][183][184][185] Attempts to pass enforceable resolutions in the U.N. Security Council were blocked by Russian vetoes.[184][185][186]
Separately, in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, armed men declaring themselves as local militia and supported by pro-Russian protesters[187] seized government buildings, police and special[clarification needed] police stations in several cities and held unrecognised status referendums.[188] The insurgency was led by Russian emissaries Igor Girkin[189] and Alexander Borodai[190] as well as militants from Russia, such as Arseny Pavlov.[191] They proclaimed the self styled Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic which have controlled about 1⁄3 of the oblasts since then.[192]
Talks in Geneva between the EU, Russia, Ukraine, and the United States yielded a Joint Diplomatic Statement referred to as the 2014 Geneva Pact[193] in which the parties requested that all unlawful militias lay down their arms and vacate seized government buildings, and also establish a political dialogue that could lead to more autonomy for Ukraine's regions. When Petro Poroshenko won the presidential election held on 25 May 2014, he vowed to continue the military operations by the Ukrainian government forces to end the armed insurgency.[194]
In August 2014, a bilateral commission of leading scholars from the United States and Russia issued the Boisto Agenda outlining a 24-step plan to resolve the crisis in Ukraine.[195] The Boisto Agenda was organized into five imperative categories for addressing the crisis requiring stabilization identified as: (1) Elements of an Enduring, Verifiable Ceasefire; (2) Economic Relations; (3) Social and Cultural Issues; (4) Crimea; and, (5) International Status of Ukraine.[195] In late 2014, Ukraine ratified the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement, which Poroshenko described as Ukraine's "first but most decisive step" towards EU membership.[196] Poroshenko also set 2020 as the target for EU membership application.[197]
OSCE SMM monitoring the movement of heavy weaponry in eastern Ukraine, 4 March 2015
In February 2015, after a summit hosted in Minsk, Belarus, Poroshenko negotiated a ceasefire with the separatist troops. The resulting agreements, known as the Minsk Protocol, included conditions such as the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the front line and decentralisation of rebel regions by the end of 2015.[198] They also included conditions such as Ukrainian control of the border with Russia in 2015 and the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Ukrainian territory. The ceasefire began on 15 February 2015. Participants in this ceasefire also agreed to attend regular meetings to ensure that the agreement was respected.[199]
On 1 January 2016, Ukraine joined the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with the European Union,[17] which aims to modernize and develop Ukraine's economy, governance and rule of law to EU standards and gradually increase integration with the EU Internal market.[200] In 2017 the European Union approved visa-free travel for Ukrainian citizens: entitling Ukrainians to travel to the Schengen area for tourism, family visits and business reasons, with the only document required being a valid biometric passport.[201]
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
Main articles: Prelude to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
In spring 2021, Russia began building up troop strengths along its border with Ukraine.[202][203] On 22 February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered military forces to enter the breakaway Ukrainian republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, calling the act a "peacekeeping mission". Putin also officially recognized Donetsk and Luhansk as sovereign states, fully independent from the Ukrainian government.[204][205]
In the early hours of 24 February 2022, Putin announced a "special military operation" to "demilitarize and de-Ny" Ukraine, and launched a large-scale invasion of the country.[206] Later in the day, the Ukrainian government announced that Russia had taken control of Chernobyl.[207] On 28 February 2022, Ukraine asked for immediate admission to the European Union in response to the invasion.[208]
One month after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it appeared that early Russian predictions for a quick victory in Ukraine were based on faulty Russian intelligence.[209] Russia had not yet achieved two primary initial objectives, the capture of Ukraine's two largest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, with Ukrainian counter-offensives pushing back Russian front lines around Kyiv.[210] Several newspapers reported a woefully