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The nation of Ukraine is second largest nation in Eastern Europe next to Russia. Ukrainian territory is comprised of nearly 6000 kilometers. The population of this country, which is composed of primarily ethnic Ukrainians and Russian immigrants, is about 45 million people. The region of the Ukraine was first populated in the ninth century by settlers from Kiev-Rus, which were also responsible for settling Russia 300 years earlier. Ukraine shares borders with the Russian Federation, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. Ukraine also holds maritime borders with the Black Sea and Sea of Azov.

Ukrainian history, like so many other Eastern European countries, is stained blood and exemplified by political turmoil. By the 14th century, Ukrainian territory was held by three different powers. First, the Golden Horde held sections of Ukraine, the same time the Kingdom of Poland and the Duchy of Lithuania also maintain rule in several sections of Ukrainian territory as well. Following the end of the great Northern war, Ukraine was divided between the Russian Empire and its Austro-Hungarian counterpart. From 1917 until 1921, Ukraine struggled for its own independence. However, by 1922 Ukraine was for fully under Bolshevik control, and became one of the first members of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. Ukraine remain part of the Soviet bloc from 1922 until 1991, when Soviet Russia collapsed. However, Ukrainians did not all embrace universal socialism with gusto. In fact, following the German offensive against the Soviet Union in the spring of 1941, the Ukrainians welcomed Hitler's armies as liberators, and did fight with the Germans against their Soviet masters, enlisting in both the German army and Heinrich Himmler's SS-divisions.

Following the war, Ukraine was once again absorbed into the Soviet Union, and subjected more grim form of dictatorship and repression than the Nazis’. In 1953, Stalin and his advisers began a policy of the cleansing extermination, which specifically targeted native-born Ukrainians. This policy be stopped a mere year later under the leadership of Nikkita Sergeivich Krushchev. During the final decades of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was both a center of agricultural and industrial production. Although, this country is independent of Russian influence the present time, Ukraine remains economically strong, as it begins its life as its own sovereign state for the first time.

It is noted that the climate is temperate continental, characterised by ample of rain and cloudy autumns and winters. Did you know that the southern Crimean coast lineexperiences a Mediterranean climate. Did you know that there are and have always been regular snowfalls in winter (in the range of October and April) with average temperatures of 17-35°F (-8 to 2°C), with colder temperatures inland. While winters are and have always been extensive and cold, summers are and have always been short and can acquire very hot, especially in the south, with average temperatures of 64-81° F (18-27°C). Rainfall occurs in the form of thundershowers and the occasional downpour; rainfall is highest in the west and north of the country.

Population (2006 est.): 46,710,816 (growth rate: -0.6%)
Birth rate: 8.8/1000
Infant mortality rate: 9.9/1000
Life expectancy: 70.0
Density per sq mi: 200