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Big, diverse and largely undiscovered, Ukraine is one of Europes last genuine travel frontiers, a poor nation rich in colour-splashed tradition, warm-hearted people and off-the-map travel experiences

The word Ukraine means land on the edge, an apt title for this vast slab of Eurasia in more ways than one. This is the Slavic hinterland on Europes periphery, European Russias underbelly on the doorstep of Central Asia and the fringe of the Black Sea, but its also a country creeping slowly towards the edge of change and modernity. The 2004 Orange Revolution lit a bitterly disappointing false dawn, the world economic slowdown walloped this country hard and recent political changes have been labelled Ukraines great leap backwards, but things are, nonetheless, shifting forward little by little in Europes biggest country. One look at the renovated city centres, well-dressed townsfolk, resurfaced roads and all the glistening infrastructure bolted in place for the 2012 European Soccer Championships (the worlds third-largest sporting event) is enough to see that after two decades of independence, Ukraine is edging long-term toward where it aspires to be, despite its squabbling politicians and meddlesome neighbours.

A trip to what is, for many, an unfamiliar destination can seem slightly daunting, but fear not Ukraine is currently taking a soccer-inspired crash course in how to look after travellers. Long gone are the days when, visa in hand, you were group-herded around approved sights by the state travel agency, though some Ukrainians, particularly the elderly, are still shocked to learn Westerners dare travel independently or solo. Visas have (hopefully) gone forever, getting around the country has never been easier, frayed Soviet hotels are renovating, imaginative restaurants are being created in big cities and even (drum roll) bona fide tourist information centres are springing up, at least in the countrys west. Whether you come for lazy beach holidays in Crimea, hire a mountain bike in the Carpathians, stay in European-style luxury in Kyiv or camp out at an ethno rock festival, youll be doing something that was barely possible a decade and a half ago.

Travel may be simpler and more entertaining than it once was, but the whiff of Soviet hospitality does remain. Ukraine still specialises in blind waiters, dumbstruck receptionists, nail-filing ticket sellers and devious policemen. Very few people outside Kyiv and Lviv speak English and facilities are often shoddy, antiquated or just not up to the job. But embrace the post-Soviet disarray, select your itinerary carefully and engage with Ukraines wonderfully kind and generous people, and we guarantee your time in Ukraine will be well spent.

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Ukraine - Lonely Planet

Ukraine is situated in the south-eastern part of Central Europe and has its own territory, government, national emblem, flag and anthem. It borders on Russia, Byelorussia, Moldova, Slovakia, Roumania, Hungary and Poland on land and Russia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Roumania and Turkey on sea.

The territory of Ukraine is mostly a level, treeless plain, calls "steppe". There are the Crimean Mountains in the Crimean peninsula and the Carpathians in the west, but they are not very high. Mixed forests of pine and fir-trees, beeches, limes, oaks and elms cover the mountains, but the thickest woods can still be found in the northern part of the republic, in Volyn. Kiev and Cherkassy lie in the midst of Ukrainian southernmost pine forest. The main Ukrainian river is the Dnieper. It is one of the longest European rivers and one of the republic's main source of hydroelectric power. The Dnieper and its tributary the Ross had been the cradle of the Ukrainian and Russian people in time immemorial.

The climate of the country is moderate. Winter is rather mild, with no severe frosts but with regular snowfalls everywhere except the south. The rivers and lakes freeze in winter. The average winter temperature varies -20 Centigrade in the north to -3-5 in the south. Summer is quite hot and dry, with occasional showers and thunderstorms. The fertile black soil is well watered in spring and autumn and gets plenty of sunshine in summer.

Due to favorable climatic conditions, Ukraine is traditionally an agricultural area. It grows wheat, maize, buckwheat and other corn, red and green vegetables, all kinds of fruit, melons and berries.

Ukraine is one of the world's main centers of sugar production. It produces sugar both for her own needs and for export.

The country is rich in natural resources, such as iron ore, coal, color metal, oil, gas, mineral salts, clay and potential water power. It has developed a varied industry, concentrated mostly in and around big cities, such as Kiev, Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, Dnyeprodzerzhinsk, Odessa, Kharkov, Lviv, Nickolayev and other. It produces planes and ships, lorries and buses, motorcars and locomotives, computer and electronic equipment, precision instruments and agricultural machines, TV and radioset, chemicals and textiles and various consumer goods. Odessa, Sebastopol, Nickolayev, Kherson and Kerch are main ukrainian ports.

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Welcome to Ukraine

Ukraine was the center of the first eastern Slavic state, Kyivan Rus, which during the 10th and 11th centuries was the largest and most powerful state in Europe. Weakened by internecine quarrels and Mongol invasions, Kyivan Rus was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and eventually into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The cultural and religious legacy of Kyivan Rus laid the foundation for Ukrainian nationalism through subsequent centuries. A new Ukrainian state, the Cossack Hetmanate, was established during the mid-17th century after an uprising against the Poles. Despite continuous Muscovite pressure, the Hetmanate managed to remain autonomous for well over 100 years. During the latter part of the 18th century, most Ukrainian ethnographic territory was absorbed by the Russian Empire. Following the collapse of czarist Russia in 1917, Ukraine was able to achieve a short-lived period of independence (1917-20), but was reconquered and forced to endure a brutal Soviet rule that engineered two forced famines (1921-22 and 1932-33) in which over 8 million died. In World War II, German and Soviet armies were responsible for some 7 to 8 million more deaths. Although final independence for Ukraine was achieved in 1991 with the dissolution of the USSR, democracy and prosperity remained elusive as the legacy of state control and endemic corruption stalled efforts at economic reform, privatization, and civil liberties. A peaceful mass protest "Orange Revolution" in the closing months of 2004 forced the authorities to overturn a rigged presidential election and to allow a new internationally monitored vote that swept into power a reformist slate under Viktor YUSHCHENKO. Subsequent internal squabbles in the YUSHCHENKO camp allowed his rival Viktor YANUKOVYCH to stage a comeback in parliamentary elections and become prime minister in August of 2006. An early legislative election, brought on by a political crisis in the spring of 2007, saw Yuliya TYMOSHENKO, as head of an "Orange" coalition, installed as a new prime minister in December 2007. Viktor YANUKOVYCH was elected president in a February 2010 run-off election that observers assessed as meeting most international standards. The following month, Ukraine's parliament, the Rada, approved a vote of no-confidence prompting Yuliya TYMOSHENKO to resign from her post as prime minister. In October 2012, Ukraine held Rada elections, widely criticized by Western observers as flawed due to use of government resources to favor ruling party candidates, interference with media access, and harassment of opposition candidates. President YANUKOVYCH's backtracking on a trade and cooperation agreement with the EU in November 2013 - in favor of closer economic ties with Russia - led to a three-month protest occupation of Kyiv's central square. The government's eventual use of force to break up the protest camp in February 2014 led to all out pitched battles, scores of deaths, international condemnation, and the president's abrupt ouster. An interim government under Acting President Oleksandr TURCHYNOV has scheduled new presidential elections for 25 May 2014. On 1 March 2014, one week after the overthrow in Kyiv, Russian President PUTIN ordered the military occupation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula claiming the action was to protect ethnic Russians living there.

Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Poland, Romania, and Moldova in the west and Russia in the east

49 00 N, 32 00 E

total: 603,550 sq km

land: 579,330 sq km

water: 24,220 sq km

total: 4,566 km

border countries: Belarus 891 km, Hungary 103 km, Moldova 940 km, Poland 428 km, Romania (south) 176 km, Romania (southwest) 362 km, Russia 1,576 km, Slovakia 90 km

2,782 km

territorial sea: 12 nm

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The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency

Photographer: Andrey Sinitsin/AFP/Getty Images

Valves of a gas pipeline are seen not far from Kiev.

Valves of a gas pipeline are seen not far from Kiev. Close

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Valves of a gas pipeline are seen not far from Kiev.

Ukraine faces a 37 percent increase in the price it pays for Russian natural gas after OAO Gazprom canceled a discount and threatened to cut supplies, Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan told reporters yesterday.

Ukraine will pay about $368.50 per 1,000 cubic meters of the fuel in the second quarter, Prodan said. Russia agreed last year to cut the price it charges Ukraine to $268.50. Gazprom rescinded the discount last week and said Ukraine risks a repeat of 2009, when the Moscow-based company reduced shipments during a pricing dispute.

Gazprom, which supplied more than half of Ukraines gas last year, agreed to the discount when the nation was governed by President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia in February after three months of street protests. Russian President Vladimir Putin has refused to acknowledge Kievs successor government. Pro-Russian forces have taken up positions in Ukraines Crimea region, which will hold a referendum on March 16 on joining Russia.

I will have talks on March 19 in Brussels with the EU commissioner and companies, Prodan said, referring to a planned meeting with European Union Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger on possible substitutions for Russian gas.Slovakia is likely to help with gas transit, Prodan said, citing a conversation with Oettinger.

Ukraine needs to import about 30 billion cubic meters of gas this year, of which a third may come from Slovakia, Prodan said March 5. Gazprom said March 7 in a statement its owed $1.89 billion by Ukrainian state gas company NAK Naftogaz Ukrainy for supplies already received.

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Ukraine Sees Gazprom Charging 37% More for Gas in Second Quarter

Ukraine began military drills as Russian forces tightened their hold on the Crimean peninsula and the Foreign Ministry in Moscow warned of lawlessness in the former Soviet republics eastern provinces.

Ukraines armed forces are testing the combat-readiness of troops, the Defense Ministry said today on its website, reiterating the governments desire for a peaceful end to the standoff in Crimea. Russia, which has vowed to defend the ethnic Russians that dominate Crimea after an uprising in Kiev, accused Ukraine of ignoring radicals in the nations east.

Russia is wresting control of Crimea, home to its Black Sea Fleet, from Ukraine following last months ouster of the former Soviet republics Moscow-backed president, Viktor Yanukovych. Ukraine says its neighbor has almost 19,000 soldiers in the region, which will vote on joining Russia on March 16. The crisis is the worst between Russia and the West since the Cold War, with the European Union and the U.S. imposing sanctions.

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In Europe we have spent the last 70 years working to keep the peace, and we know from history that turning a blind eye when nations are trampled over stores up greater problems for the longer term, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron told lawmakers in London today. We must stand up to aggression, uphold international law, and support the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian people who want the freedom to choose their own future.

Ukrainian soldiers peer out of the main entrance of barracks Ukrainian military base in... Read More

Ukrainian soldiers peer out of the main entrance of barracks Ukrainian military base in Eupatoria, taken under control by Russian army forces in Crimea on March 5, 2014. Close

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Ukrainian soldiers peer out of the main entrance of barracks Ukrainian military base in Eupatoria, taken under control by Russian army forces in Crimea on March 5, 2014.

Ukraine sent troops to training grounds after alleging that Russian soldiers seized a missile unit at Chornomorskoe in Crimea. Ukraines border service said Russian forces control 13 border bases and the ferry crossing across the Kerch Strait to Russia.

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Ukraine Starts Military Exercises as Russia Warns on East