Official language: Ukrainian
Capital: Kyiv
Independence: August, 24, 1991
Location: Central-Eastern Europe
Area: 603 700 km2
Best time to visit Ukraine: summer
Population: 47 732 079 (25th in the world)
Currency: hryvnia (letter code UAH)
Time zone: GMT+2 (UTC+2)

It borders on Russia, Byelorussia, Moldova, Slovakia, Roumania, Hungary and Poland on land and Russia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Roumania and Turkey on sea.

The main Ukrainian river is the Dnieper. It is one of the longest European rivers.

The country is rich in natural resources, such as iron ore, coal, color metal, oil, gas, mineral salts, clay and potential water power.

The historic city of Kyiv is the country's capital. From at least the ninth century, the territory of present-day Ukraine was a centre of medieval East Slavic civilization forming the state of Kievan Rus.

After a brief period of independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Ukraine became one of the founding Soviet Republics in 1922. In 1945, Ukrainian SSR became one of the co-founder members of the United Nations.

It became independent again after the Soviet Union's collapse. After the attempt failed, on 22 August 1991 the parliament declared Ukraine as independent democratic state.

In 2004, Victor Yanukovich was declared the winner of the presidential elections, which had been rigged, as many observers agreed.

The results caused a public outcry in support of the opposition candidate, Victor Yuschenko, who challenged the results and lead the peaceful Orange Revolution.

Photo of Ukraine:
http://www.photoukraine.com/english/photos