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UPDATE: March 1, 2014

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 called for new presidential elections on 25 May 2014, and now Russian troops are in the Crimean Peninsula. Stayed tuned...

EARLY HISTORY:

As varied peoples migrated from Asia into Europe, Ukraine was first settled by the Neolithic people, followed by the Iranians and Goths, and other nomadic peoples who arrived throughout the first millennium BC.

Around 600 B.C., the ancient Greeks founded a series of colonies along the shore of the Black Sea, and Slavic tribes occupied large areas of central and eastern Ukraine.

Near the end of the 10th century, Vladimir Sviatoslavich (Vladimir the Great) converted most of the population to Christianity, and at that same time, Kiev (Kyiv) was growing into an important part of Kievan Rus.

Kievan Rus was an influential medieval polity (or city state) and the largest in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century. It eventually disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 12371240.

In factthe Mongol raiders (from China), all but destroyed Kiev in the 13th century. The Mongols were cruel and took few prisoners, so locals often fled to other countries and Ukrainian settlements soon appeared in Poland and Hungary.

Because Poland and Lithuania fought successful wars against the Mongols, most of the territory of what is now modern Ukraine was annexed by Poland and Lithuania in the 14th century. And following the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (or union) Armenians, Germans, Poles and Jews immigrated to the Ukraine.

After the formation of the Commonwealth, Ukraine became a part of the Kingdom of Poland. Colonization efforts by the Poles were aggressive, social tensions grew, and the era of the Cossacks (peasants in revolt) was about to surface.

The Ukrainian Cossack rebellion and war of independence began in 1648, and it sparked an era known in Polish history as The Deluge, an effort that surely undermined the foundations and stability of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

In the late 1700s Poland's three powerful neighbors, Austria, Prussia and Russia coveted Poland. None wanted war with each other so they just decided to divide the now-weakened Poland in a series of agreements called the Three Partitions of Poland, and much of modern-day Ukraine was integrated into the Russian Empire.

In the 19th century, the western region of Ukraine was under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire elsewhere, and the economy was totally dependent on its agricultural base.

Ukrainians were determined to restore their culture and native language. However, the Russian Government imposed strict limits on attempts to elevate Ukrainian culture, even banning the use and study of the Ukrainian language.

When World War I finally ended, many European powers (such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire) ceased to exist, and because the October Revolution broke apart Russia, the Ukrainians now saw an opportunity and they declared an independent statehood.

Unable to protect their militarily, the Ukraine landmass was soon fought over by many forces, including Russia's Red Army and the Polish Army. In the end (by treaty) Poland would control land in the far west, while the eastern two-thirds became part of the Soviet Union as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

In the 1920s, Ukrainian culture and pride began to flourish once again, but Joseph Stalin (the Soviet leader) was not pleased, and his government created an artificial famine; a deliberate act of genocide that by 1932 caused (an estimated) 3 to 7 million peasant deaths.

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Ukraine Map / Geography of Ukraine / Map of Ukraine - Worldatlas.com

Ukraines modern economy was developed as an integral part of the larger economy of the Soviet Union. While receiving a smaller share (16 percent in the 1980s) of the Soviet Unions investment funds and producing a greater proportion of goods with a lower set price, Ukraine was able to produce a larger share of total output in the industrial (17 percent) and especially the agricultural (21 percent) sectors of the Soviet economy. In effect, a centrally directed transfer of wealth from Ukraine, amounting to one-fifth of its national income, helped to finance economic development in other parts of the Soviet Union, notably Russia and Kazakhstan.

By the late Soviet period, however, the Ukrainian economy was under severe strain, and it contracted sharply early in the independence era. A period of extreme currency inflation in the early 1990s brought great hardship to most of the population. Despite early hopes that Ukrainian economic independencewith the concomitant end to the transfer of funds and resources to other parts of the Soviet Unionwould alleviate the declining economy and standard of living, Ukraine entered a period of severe economic decline. Daily life in Ukraine became a struggle, particularly for those living on fixed incomes, as prices rose sharply. Citizens compensated in a number of ways: more than half grew their own food, workers often held two or three jobs, and many acquired basic necessities through a flourishing barter economy. By 1996 Ukraine had achieved a measure of economic stability. Inflation dropped to manageable levels, and the economys decline slowed considerably.

At the turn of the 21st century the economy finally began to grow, at least partially as a result of increased ties with Russia. In the early 21st century many young Ukrainians, particularly residents of the countrys rural west, sought employment opportunities abroad. Although such migration sometimes led to localized labour shortages within Ukraine, remittances from the Ukrainian diaspora amounted to some 4 percent of the countrys gross domestic product (GDP).

The economy contracted sharply in 2014 as a result of the political crisis that toppled the government of pro-Russian Pres. Viktor Yanukovych. Russia responded to Yanukovychs ouster by illegally annexing Crimea and fomenting an insurgency in southeastern Ukraine. A cease-fire between the Ukrainian government and Russian-backed forces in February 2015 created a state of frozen conflict, and the ongoing violence shattered daily life in what had been Ukraines most productive industrial region.

Partly because of rich soils and a favourable climate, Ukraines crop production is highly developed. Its output of grain and potatoes is among the highest in Europe, and it is among the worlds largest producers of sugar beets and sunflower oil. Ukraines livestock sector lags behind the crop sector, but its total output is still considerably larger than that of most other European countries.

A considerable amount of the worlds black soils are found in Ukraines forest-steppe zone. These soils are exceptionally well suited for the cultivation of sugar beets, an important industrial crop, and wheat. Besides wheat (almost all of it fall-sown), Ukraine produces such grains as barley (mostly for animal feed), corn (maize, for feed), leguminous grains (also feed), oats, rye, millet, buckwheat, and rice (irrigated, in Crimea). Potatoes are a major crop in the cooler regions in the north and in the Carpathian foothills. Sunflower seeds, the principal oil crop, are most common in the steppe zone, where castor beans, mustard, rape, flax, hemp, and poppy seeds also are grown for oil. In the southern steppes, especially where irrigation is used, tomatoes, peppers, and melons are grown as well. Truck farming or market gardening is particularly notable on the outskirts of such large cities as Kiev, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, and the conurbation of the Donets Basin. Fruit is grown throughout Ukraine, notably in the forest-steppe, Transcarpathia (in southwestern Ukraine), and especially Crimea. Vineyards are common in the southern part of Ukraine, particularly in Transcarpathia and Crimea.

Cattle and pigs are raised throughout Ukraine. Concentrations of dairy herds occur primarily in the forest-steppe, especially in the vicinity of large cities, while beef cattle are more common in areas of natural pastures and hay fields, as in the Polissya and the Carpathian foothills. Sheep and goats are raised in the Carpathian Mountains and in parts of the southern steppe and Crimea. Chickens, geese, and turkeys are kept throughout Ukraine for meat and egg production, but large-scale broiler and egg-laying operations are concentrated close to the large cities. Bees are kept in all parts of Ukraine for pollination and the production of honey and wax; silkworm raising occurs in Transcarpathia.

Whereas field crop production and large-scale livestock and poultry operations were developed on collective and state farms in the Soviet period, small-scale gardening, fruit growing, and livestock raising traditionally have been carried on by private households. With the agricultural restructuring initiated by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s, the theretofore small private plots were allowed to expand, while collective and state farms were allowed to undergo some reorganization on the basis of group or family contract farming. Since independence, the declared intent of the Ukrainian government has been to bring about a gradual privatization of farming, but the agricultural infrastructure, which developed around collective and state farms, made the conversion difficult and costly. In December 1999 the collective farm system was abolished by presidential decree, and land reform remained a subject of concern for subsequent leaders. One of the most politically divisive aspects of privatization, however, was the proposed sale of agricultural land. The practice, prohibited by law in 1992, was seen by many as a crucial step in the liberalization of the agricultural sector.

The majority of Ukraines woodlands are managed by the State Forest Resources Agency. Although efforts to improve the countrys growing stock were hampered by contamination from the Chernobyl accident of 1986, Ukraines economically productive forested areas expanded dramatically in the years following independence and in the early 21st century. The Black Sea estuaries and the Sea of Azov are Ukraines main fishing grounds. Among the major rivers for fishing are the Dnieper, Danube, Dniester, Southern Buh, and Donets. Fish catches have declined because of heavy pollution.

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Ukraine | History, Geography, People, & Language - Languages ...

Original civil documents (called in general certificates of state registration of the acts of civil status) issued or re-issued on the territory of Ukraine are accepted regardless of the country (USSR, Poland, or Ukraine) or date of issuance.

Re-issuance of a certificate of state registration of the act of civil status is done on the basis of the records of civil status. Re-issuance applies to the cases when the original certificate was stolen, lost, damaged or destroyed or in case of changes to the record of civil status or its renewal. The application must be submitted by the person, for whom the record was made, or parents, adoptive parents, guardians, a representative of health, education or other child care facility where the child permanently resides, or a guardian authority. It is possible for a third party to request the re-issuance if that person has a proper power of attorney. Certificate of state registration of act of civil status is issued to representatives of the education or other child care facility where the child permanently resides, or a guardian authority upon presentation of a proxy issued by the institution and documents proving the persons identity.

Persons 16 years of age may apply for the re-issuance of a certificate upon presentation of a passport (a passport document).

Persons who have applied to the Department of state registration of acts of civil status (at the location of the birth record) personally may receive the re-issued certificates of state registration of acts of civil status the same day upon presentation of their passport or a passport document. If the application for re-issuance of the certificate has been received by mail (by the department at the location of the birth record), the certificate is issued in 15-day period and sent to the department of state registration of acts of civil status at the place of residence of the applicant.

The documents intended for use abroad in all countries that are parties to the Hague Convention on the Abolition of Legalization of Documents need to be apostilled. Documents which have been certified by RAGS or a local notary office can be affixed with an apostille by the Ministry of Justice. Documents that bear an apostille need not be authenticated by an American consular officer for use in the United States. Documents issued in Ukraine are apostilled by the Ministry of Justice, located at: 73 Artema St. in Kyiv at these phone numbers: +38-044-486-4216 (civil registry documents, i.e., death, birth, marriage, divorce certificates, etc.) in Room 155; and +38-044-486-4988 (notarized documents) in Room 118. Hours are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:00 am until 12:00 noon. A regular apostille takes one day. However, in certain cases the process may take up to 20 business days if the Ministry does not have a copy of the seal and/or signature on file.

An e-Register of Apostilles was introduced in Ukraine in October 2015. The e-Register of Apostilles is a single database of apostilles put on documents issued by judicial and court agencies, as well as documents executed by notaries of Ukraine and on all other kinds of documents. The e-Register of Apostilles can be accessed here.

Some civil records were destroyed during World War II. Local authorities generally will issue a certificate to that effect; the process may easily take several months. In other cases, records of persons in what used to be Ukraine were transferred to neighboring countries when borders shifted.

Any documents, including vital records certificates, issued by Russian authorities in illegally occupied Crimea as well as documents issued by so-called authorities in Donetsk and Lugansk regions occupied by Russia-backed separatists are not recognized as legal documents. Only official documents issued by the lawful Ukrainian authorities are valid.

Since Ukrainian authorities do not have access to vital records registered in Crimea from before or after the illegal occupation, they cannot issue Ukrainian birth/death/marriage certificates based solely off Russian-issued certificates. Because of the special circumstances, Ukrainian law has been amended to allow those with Russian-issued certificates to initiate proceedings in court on mainland Ukraine to receive a court decree ordering the issuance of a Ukrainian vital record document.

Notarized/certified copies of civil documents are not accepted and therefore not created in Ukraine.

General Issuing Government Authority Information:

Civil documents are generally available in Ukraine through local or oblast (district or regional) departments of state registration of acts of civil status (DRATsS). Diplomatic missions and Consular sections of Ukraine abroad, and also the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine can also accept requests for civil documents.

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Ukraine Country Specific Information - travel.state.gov

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The Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List includes persons determined by OFAC to be operating in sectors of the Russian economy identified by the Secretary of the Treasury pursuant to Executive Order 13662.

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OFAC issues general licenses in order to authorize activities that would otherwise be prohibited with regard to Ukraine. General licenses allow all US persons to engage in the activity described in the general license without needing to apply for a specific license.

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The UkraineRussia-related sanctions program represents the implementation of multiple legal authorities. Some of these authorities are in the form of an executive order issued by the President. Other authorities are public laws (statutes) passed by The Congress. These authorities are further codified by OFAC in its regulations which are published the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

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Ukraine-/Russia-related Sanctions

Big & Diverse

Ukraine is big. In fact it's Europes biggest country (not counting Russia, which isnt entirely in Europe) and packs a lot of diversity into its borders. You can be clambering around the Carpathians in search of Hutsul festivities, sipping Eastern Europes best coffee in sophisticated Lviv and partying on the beach in Odesa all in a few days. Ukrainians are also a diverse crowd: from the wired sophisticates of Kyivs business quarters to the Gogolesque farmers in Poltava, the Hungarian-speaking bus drivers of Uzhhorod to the Crimean Tatar cafe owners just about everywhere, few countries boast such a mixed population.

Despite their often glum reticence and initial distrust of strangers, travellers to the country quickly find out that Ukrainians are, when given the chance, one of Europes most open and hospitable nations. Break down that reserve and youll soon be slurping borshch in someones Soviet-era kitchen, listening to a fellow train passengers life story or being taken on an impromptu tour of a towns sights by the guy you asked for directions. Much social interaction takes place around Ukraines hearty food, always brought out in belt-stretching quantities. Learn a bit of Ukrainian and you double the effect.

A diverse landscape obviously throws up a whole bunch of outdoorsy activities from mountain biking and hill walking in the Carpathians to bird spotting in the Danube Delta, from cycling along the Dnipro in Kyiv to water sports in the Black Sea. But if the idea of burning calories on hill and wave has you fleeing for the sofa, rest assured that most Ukrainians have never tried any of the above, but love nothing more than wandering their countrys vast forests, foraging for berries and mushrooms or picnicking by a meandering river.

As we have now all sadly realised, history didn't end around 1989, and that's doubly true in Ukraine. Having only appeared on the map in 1991, the country has managed two revolutions and a Russian invasion already, and fighting in the Donbas is still ongoing. History ancient and recent is all around you wherever you go in this vast land, whether it be among the Gothic churches of Lviv, the Stalinist facades of Kyiv, the remnants of the once-animated Jewish culture of west Ukraine or the Soviet high-rises just about anywhere.

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Ukraine travel - Lonely Planet