Brief Introduction Capital: Kiev Area: total: 603,700 sq km National Flower: Sunflower The important Festival: National day: 24 August Population: 47,100,000 Language: Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian. Currency: UAH

Ukraine

Geography

Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Poland and Russia.

Administrative divisions

24 oblasti, 1 autonomous republic*, 2 municipalities (mista, singular - misto) with oblast status.

Economy – overview

The Ukrainian republic was far and away the most important economic component of the former Soviet Union, producing about four times the output of the next-ranking republic. Its fertile black soil generated more than one-fourth of Soviet agricultural output, and its farms provided substantial quantities of meat, milk, grain, and vegetables to other republics. Likewise, its diversified heavy industry supplied the unique equipment (for example, large diameter pipes) and raw materials to industrial and mining sites (vertical drilling apparatus) in other regions of the former USSR. Ukraine depends on imports of energy, especially natural gas, to meet some 85% of its annual energy requirements. Shortly after independence in December 1991, the Ukrainian Government liberalized most prices and erected a legal framework for privatization, but widespread resistance to reform within the government and the legislature soon stalled reform efforts and led to some backtracking.

Culture and media

Newspaper:

APK Inform , Argumenty i Fakty - Ukraina , Delovaya Stolitsa , Golosiïv-Inform , Kyivsky Vedomosti , Molod' Ukraïni , Sevodnya .

Broadcast: Radio Lyuks .

TV Stations:

Kanal 1+1