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Assembly Venue

The Ukrainian House (Ukrayinskyj Dim), one of the most notable venues in Kyiv, is located at European Square in the heart of the Ukrainian capital.  It sits at the top of the Khreshchatyk, the main street of Kyiv, and is located several hundred meters from Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti), the setting of the 2004 Orange Revolution.  Most governmental and public offices, including the Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) and the President’s Secretariat, are nearby as well.  The Ukrainian House is located near numerous cafes, restaurants, pubs, metro stations, and bus routes.  

Built in 1982, the Ukrainian House was originally erected as the Lenin Museum despite the fact that Lenin himself never visited Kyiv. However, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the building was renamed and converted into a conference and exhibition hall.  It often serves as a venue for international forums and official functions.  The Ukrainian House also currently houses the Museum of the City of Kyiv.

Kyiv – The Eternal City

Kyiv is the largest Ukrainian city and an important urban center of Eastern Europe. It is an increasingly important industrial, scientific, educational, financial, governmental, and transport center.  Located along the Dnipro River in north-central Ukraine, the capital is home to over 2.7 million people.

Kyiv is sometimes called the “Eternal City” because it has been revived several times during its history after periods of ruin and darkness. The first emergence of Kyiv is connected with the Migration Period of 300–600 AD.  There are many who believe that Kyiv was founded by Goths or other European tribes about 2,000 years ago, but according to the official version of Kievan history,  the city was founded in the fifth century AD by legendary brothers Kyi, Shchek, and Horyv and their sister Lybid’. Kyi, who gave his name to the fortress and then to the city (Kyiv literally means Kyi’s), was likely a prince of a Slavic tribe with close relations to Bulgaria and Byzantium.  After several centuries, a dynasty of Norman origin established itself in Kyiv.  Under this rule, the state called Kievan Rus’ reached its peak between the tenth and twelfth centuries. Although Christianity had made inroads into territory of Ukraine beginning in the fourth century AD, the formal governmental acceptance of Christianity in Kyiv occurred in 988. Kievan Rus’ was a mix of feudal and trade empires and acted as a vital trade route to Greece.

In 1240, after a protracted siege, Kyiv was captured and burned to the ground by Batu Khan troops from Mongolia. Only a few of several hundred stone temples survived this disaster. With time, Kyiv recovered and was revived. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the town slowly progressed as a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Polish Crown. The trade and political importance of Kyiv declined after 1240, but it remained an influential religious and symbolical place, sometimes referred to as “holy Kyiv.”

By the nineteenth century, an economic boom turned Kyiv into one of the financial, and then industrial, centers of the Russian Empire, consisting of mainly Polish, Jewish, and Ukrainian communities.  However, the Russian population steadily grew and became a large presence in the city after 1917.

After World War I and the Russian Revolution, Kyiv became the capital of the Ukrainian National Republic for a short interim until the Bolsheviks, after much violence and bloodshed, incorporated Ukraine into the Soviet Union. At this time, Kharkiv, which is located in eastern Ukraine, became the capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Much of the twentieth century marks an arduous period for Kyiv.  The people suffered greatly under the communist regime and during the Second World War.  The Great Famine (Holodomor), along with Stalinist repression, led to millions of deaths and imprisonments, affecting all levels of Ukrainian society, from peasant to intellectual. The city’s landscape suffered greatly as well.  Under the communist regime, thousand-year-old cathedrals were demolished, and World War II wrought terrible destruction on much of the city.

Despite the tragedies of the first half of the twentieth century, after World War II, Kyiv began a slow recovery, and by the beginning of the twenty-first century, following the fall of the Soviet Union, it experienced a significant economic and building boom.  Today, Kyiv seeks to resuscitate its once strong status as a link between different civilizations and cultures.

• The Ukrainian House (in Ukrainian)
• The Ukrainian House – Wikipedia’s article on the Ukrainian House (in English)
• Kyiv city guide – provides tourist information about hotels, nightlife, restaurants, and entertainment
• Map of Kyiv

Ukraine

Ukraine is located in Eastern Europe, contiguous to Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Russia, and Belarus. The country borders the Black and Azov Seas and has the Carpathian and Crimean mountain ranges in the west and south, respectively. The country is divided by the Dnipro River, while the Danube forms a border with Romania.  Ukraine’s mild climate together with its vast steppes makes for flourishing agricultural activities.

Ukraine has a rich and original culture. Over the centuries, Ukraine donated its best minds to Russian, Polish, Hungarian, and Austrian cultures. It has produced many significant cultural achievements that include styles of Ukrainian architecture, twentieth-century Ukrainian poetry, a profound tradition of folk and professional music, and experimental and art-house cinema.

Land

Total Area: 603,628 km²
Cities: Kyiv (the capital, 2.7 million), Kharkiv (1.5 million), Donetsk (1.1 million), Dnipropetrovsk (1 million), Odessa (1 million), Lviv (0.8 million)

People

Population: 46,490,400
Ethnic Groups: Ukrainians (77.8%), Russians (17.3%), Belarusians (0.6%), Moldovans (0.5%), Crimean Tatars (0.5%), Bulgarians (0.4%)
Religions: Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism, Protestant Christianity, Judaism, Islam
Languages: Ukrainian (67.5%), Russian (29.6%), Crimean Tatar (12% of Crimean population)

Government

System of Government: semi-presidential
Independence Day: August 24, 1991
Constitution Day: June 28, 1996
Branches of Goverment: Executive – President, Prime Minister and Cabinet of Ministers; Legislative – Parliament (Verkhovna Rada, 450 members); Judicial – Constitutional Court, Supreme Court and other courts
Currency: Hryvna (1 US equals approxiamately 5.05 hryvnas)
Political Parties: More than 100 parties.  Main ones include: the Block of Yuliya Tymoshenko (BYuT), the Party of Regions, Our Ukraine (Nasha Ukrayina), the Socialist Party, and the Communist Party.
Flag:

Coat of Arms:

Brief History

The first developed civilization in Ukraine was the Neolithic Trypillian civilization.  The Trypillians flourished from 4500 to 3000 BC.  Many artifacts remain from this period including remnants of cities where as many as 10,000 people lived.  In antiquity, Ukraine was actively colonized by various nomadic tribes from Asia, including the Kimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians, who co-existed with native tribes of farmers and Greek colonies on the Black Sea shore. In the second and third centuries AD, the southern part of Ukraine was controlled by the Roman Empire until Rome fell to the Goths and then the Huns.

The powerful medieval state of Kievan Rus’ existed between the ninth and thirteenth centuries with a mixture of Slavic, Norman, Greek, Bulgarian, and Khazarian elements. In 988 AD, Kievan Rus' was officially Christianized. This state became one of the greatest powers of the time with Kyiv’s princes entering into dynastic marriages to sovereigns of France, Norway, Germany, Byzantium, and Hungary. The Mongol invasion destroyed this empire in 1240 and detached its northern frontier. This northern area is now part of contemporary Russia and Belarus; the lands in the heart of former Kievan Rus’ compose modern Ukraine.

Ukraine was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the mid-fourteenth century into the sixteenth century.  Under Commonwealth rule, the Ukrainian culture and economy experienced a kind of rebirth, but the Ukrainians were later suppressed and forced into serfdom. The unbearable living conditions under the Polish king together with the repetitive devastating raids of Crimean Tatars compelled many Ukrainians to leave their homes and flee to southeastern Ukraine. These individuals united into armed groups, which became known as the Cossacks. By the seventeenth century, the Cossacks played an important role throughout the region, often defeating Tatar, Turkish, Muscovite, and Polish armies.

Between 1648 and 1654, the Cossack army, under the command of hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, began a massive uprising against the Polish Crown and managed to separate Ukraine as an independent state. However, a military union with Russia led to the incorporation of eastern Ukraine into the Russian Empire after the death of Khmelnytsky.  Ukrainian autonomy consequently declined gradually over the next century.  By the late seventeenth century, serfdom was implemented, and Ukrainian autonomy vanished.

Despite, or perhaps because of, Ukraine’s loss of autonomy, the Ukrainian national movement gained momentum throughout the nineteenth century, especially in western Ukraine which was then part of the Habsburg Empire.  During World War I, Ukrainians were caught between Austria-Hungary and Russia, and Ukrainian villages were regularly destroyed in the crossfire. Ukrainians primarily supported the Austro-Hungarians in the hopes that their victory would allow for the creation of an independent Ukrainian state. With the end of the war, and amidst the chaos of post-Revolutionary Russia, two independent Ukrainian states were formed with capitals in Lviv and Kyiv. Both states were short-lived and were recaptured by the Poles and the Russians by 1920.  In 1922, Ukraine was incorporated as a republic into the Soviet Union.

In the 1920s, the Leninist policy of nativization (korenizatsiia) was instituted throughout Eurasia.  The aim of the policy was ostensibly to harmonize the relationship between the Soviet regime and local populations by promoting local language and culture.  In Ukraine, therefore, the Soviet government initiated a program of Ukrainization (promoting Ukrainian language in all realms of life); contrary to Soviet intentions, this led to a great revival of Ukrainian culture, but unfortunately, the period has come to be known as the “Shot Renaissance,“ because almost all of the writers, painters, actors, filmmakers, and composers who were active in the 1920s were executed during the next decade, while as many as eight million peasants starved to death in the politically motivated  and Soviet organized Great Famine (Holodomor) of 1933–1934.  National awareness was thus repressed by the Stalinist government for nearly 70 years.

In World War II, Ukrainians fought in all armies under all banners. The Ukrainian territory itself served as a main battlefield between Nazis and Soviets and was devastated. Over a million Ukrainian Jews were massacred by the Nazis and in some cases, by their Ukrainian collaborators. In an effort to use the war to gain independence, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army was formed and fought against both German and Soviet occupation.  The resistance of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army lasted beyond the end of the war until the mid 1950s; however, the nation failed to establish for itself an independent state.

From 1950 to 1985, Ukraine was rebuilt and experienced some economic success within the USSR.  However, policies of national oppression and the persecution of dissidents made thousands of people (mostly poets, artists, and thinkers) prisoners of the Gulag system.

It was not until 1991 that Ukraine declared independence during the prolonged process of the dissolution of the Soviet Union.  During the 1990s, despite attempts at reforms, Ukraine was sinking into an abyss of economic depression and soft authoritarianism. Several million people, both intellectuals and manual workers, left for Western countries.

Despite the grim outlook that accompanied Ukraine's independence, the more recent and significant development of civil society has established a solid foundation for the country’s new democracy. The number of civil society organizations rapidly increased in Ukraine following its independece. In 1996, there were some 5,500 registered non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and today there are over 28,000. Many of these organizations played an important role in providing civic education, informing the public about political issues and processes, and preparing for break-through elections in November 2004.

Between November 2004 and January 2005, the country experienced a series of political upheavals termed the Orange Revolution. Ukraine had been in the midst of a presidential election, in which neither of the two leading candidates, Viktor Yanukovych and Viktor Yushchenko, had received 50 percent of the vote to win the election in the first round. Therefore, a run-off election was scheduled for November 21, 2004.  The run-off election results where considered, by both international observers and the majority of Ukrainian citizens, to be illegitimate and rigged to favor Mr. Yanukovych.  Protests flared throughout the country, with Kyiv as the focal point of the movement. The Supreme Court resolved the situation by ordering a re-run of the election.

The third round of presidential elections was thus held on December 26, 2004, and was declared “free and fair” by international observers and Ukrainians. The final results showed a clear victory for Mr. Yushchenko, who received 52 percent of the vote, compared to Mr. Yanukovych's 44 percent.  Mr. Yushchenko was declared the winner and was inaugurated as President on January 23, 2005 in Kyiv.

Currently, although still in the midst of political and national struggle and crises, Ukraine is set on the path to democracy and liberty and is enjoying high economic growth.  The most recent parliamentary elections were held on September 30, 2007, and the coalition of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc gained the majority of votes. The opening meeting of the parliament of sixth convocation took place on November 23. On November 29, a coalition was signed between the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc.

More information about Ukraine

• Library of Congress' A Country Study: Former Soviet Union - contains general information on the histories and societies of the nations of the Former Soviet Union, including Ukrainian history and society
• Ukraine - Wikipedia's informative entry on Ukraine
• Ukraine.org – provides information, maps, press, and an art gallery for Ukraine

Tourist Info

• Lonely Planet: Ukraine - a history of Ukraine as well as travel information.
• Ukraine.com - provides a comprehensive travel guide to Ukraine