Portal:Ukraine
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The Ukraine Portal - Портал України
Ukraine Україна (Ukrainian) | |
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| ISO 3166 code | UA |
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the north; Poland and Slovakia to the west; Hungary, Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to the south and southeast. Kyiv is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Kharkiv, Odesa, and Dnipro. Ukraine's official language is Ukrainian.
Humans have inhabited Ukraine since 32,000 BC. During the Middle Ages, it was the site of early Slavic expansion and later became a key centre of East Slavic culture under the state of Kievan Rus', which emerged in the 9th century. Kievan Rus' became the largest and most powerful realm in Europe in the 10th and 11th centuries, but gradually disintegrated into rival regional powers before being destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century. For the next 600 years the area was contested, divided, and ruled by a variety of external powers, including the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Kingdom of Poland, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austrian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Tsardom of Russia.
The Cossack Hetmanate emerged in central Ukraine in the 17th century but was partitioned between Russia and Poland before being absorbed by the Russian Empire in the late 19th century. Ukrainian nationalism developed and, following the Russian Revolution in 1917, the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic was formed. The Bolsheviks consolidated control over much of the former empire and established the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922. In the early 1930s, millions of Ukrainians died in the Holodomor, a human-made famine. During World War II, Ukraine was occupied by Germany and endured major battles and atrocities, resulting in 7 million civilians killed, including most Ukrainian Jews.
Ukraine gained independence in 1991 as the Soviet Union dissolved, declaring itself neutral. A new constitution was adopted in 1996 as the country transitioned to a free market liberal democracy amid endemic corruption and a legacy of state control. The Orange Revolution of 2004–2005 ushered electoral and constitutional reforms. Resurgent political crises prompted a series of mass demonstrations in 2014 known as the Euromaidan, leading to a revolution, at the end of which Russia unilaterally occupied and annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, and pro-Russian unrest culminated in a war in Donbas with Russian-backed separatists and Russia. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. (Full article...)
In the news
- 3 August 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- A massive fire is reported at an oil refinery in Sochi, Russia, following a Ukrainian drone attack on the facility. Smoke from the fire prompts Russian authorities to close Sochi International Airport. (BBC News)
- 2 August 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Ukrainian forces launch drone attacks on Penza Oblast, Samara Oblast, and Rostov Oblast in Russia, killing at least three people, according to Russian officials. (AP)
- The Ukrainian military targets the Ryazan Refinery in Ryazan Oblast, Russia, with drones and causes a fire at the facility. (Reuters)
- 1 August 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- United States and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia–United States relations
- U.S. president Donald Trump orders the deployment of two United States Navy nuclear submarines near Russia for potential military action against Russian forces in response to statements made by former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and current deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation regarding Trump's previously-stated deadline for ending the war in Ukraine. (Reuters) (BBC News)
- 31 July 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Kyiv strikes, Attacks on civilians in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russian forces launch drones and cruise missiles on Kyiv, Ukraine, killing at least 31 people and injuring more than 150 others. At least one tower block completely collapses. (Reuters) (BBC News) (AP)
- 30 July 2025 –
- Five people, including four Ukrainian nationals, are killed after a truck collides with a minivan on the A1 motorway near Slovenske Konjice, Slovenia. (Slovenian Press Agency) (Sloboden Pečat)
Recognized content - 
Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.
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Andriy Shevchenko with Ukraine in 2011
Andriy Shevchenko is a Ukrainian former professional footballer who represented the Ukraine national football team as a striker for 17 years from 1995 to 2012. He is the Ukraine national team's all-time top goalscorer with 48 goals in 111 appearances, and the third most-capped Ukrainian international. He has represented the nation in two international tournaments, the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the 2012 UEFA European Championship, and participated in each of his country's qualifying campaigns during his international career.
He made his debut for his country in a 4–0 loss to Croatia in a UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying match in March 1995. He did not score his first goal until May 1996, however, when he scored in a friendly against Turkey. On 9 October 1999, during a crucial UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying match against Russia in Moscow, Shevchenko scored his seventh international goal to level the game at 1–1, securing Ukraine a place in the qualifying play-offs. In the first leg of the play-off against Slovenia, Shevchenko scored the first goal of the game in a 2–1 loss. However, in the second leg, the two teams drew 1–1, meaning that Ukraine lost 3–2 on aggregate. During the UEFA section of the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Shevchenko scored nine goals in the qualifying group and captained the side to a second-place finish behind Poland, which set them in a play-off tie against Germany where he scored in the second leg of a 5–2 aggregate defeat. During 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification, Ukraine topped their qualifying group, automatically qualifying for the main competition in Germany and their first World Cup in history as an independent nation. In the group stage, he scored one goal against Saudi Arabia in a 4–0 victory and another goal against Tunisia in a 1–0 victory, as Ukraine finished second in the group stage behind Spain. Shevchenko captained the side to a penalty shoot-out victory against Switzerland in the Round of 16, but the team lost to eventual champions Italy in the quarter-finals. He scored his final international goal in the 55th minute of a UEFA Euro 2012 group stage match against Sweden, which ended as a 2–1 victory for Ukraine. He decided to retire from international football after the final match in the group stage against England; it ended with a 1–0 loss for Ukraine. (Full article...) -
The Bolokhovians, Bolokhoveni or Bolokhovens (Romanian: Bolohoveni; Old Slavic: Болоховци, Bolokhovtsy) were a 13th-century ethnic group that resided in the vicinity of the principalities of Galicia, Volhynia and Kiev, in the territory known as the "Bolokhovian Land" centered at the city of Bolokhov or Bolokhovo (not identified yet). Their ethnic identity is uncertain. Archeological evidence and the Hypatian Chronicle (which is the only primary source that documents their history) suggest that they were a Slavic people. Romanian scholars, basing on an interpretation of the ethnonym, identify them as Romanians (who were called Vlachs in the Middle Ages). Their princes, or knyazes, were in constant conflict with Daniel, the prince of Galicia–Volhynia, between 1231 and 1257. After the Mongols sacked Kiev in 1240, the Bolokhovians supplied them with troops, but the Bolokhovian princes fled to Poland. The Bolokhovians disappeared after Daniel defeated them in 1257. (Full article...)
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There are 37 populated places in Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine, that have been officially granted city status (Ukrainian: місто, romanized: misto) by the Verkhovna Rada, the country's parliament. Settlements with more than 10,000 people are eligible for city status, although the status is typically also granted to settlements of historical or regional importance. As of 5 December 2001, the date of the first and only official census in the country since independence, the most populous city in the oblast was the regional capital, Luhansk, with a population of 463,097 people, while the least populous city was Almazna, with 5,061 people. Almazna is also the most recent settlement to receive city status, having been granted the status by the Verkhovna Rada in 1977.
From independence in 1991 to 2020, 14 cities in the oblast were designated as cities of regional significance (municipalities), which had self-government under city councils, while the oblast's remaining 23 cities were located in 18 raions (districts) as cities of district significance, which are subordinated to the governments of the raions. On 18 July 2020, an administrative reform abolished and merged the oblast's raions and cities of regional significance into eight new, expanded raions. The eight raions that make up the oblast are Alchevsk, Dovzhansk, Luhansk, Rovenky, Shchastia, Siverskodonetsk, Starobilsk, and Svatove. After the enactment of decommunization laws, nine cities within the oblast were renamed in 2016 for their former names' connection to people, places, events, and organizations associated with the Soviet Union. The renamed cities are Bokovo-Khrustalne, Dovzhansk, Holubivka, Kadiivka, Khrustalnyi, Kypuche, Petrovo-Krasnosillia, Sorokyne, and Voznesenivka, which were previously named Vakhrusheve, Sverdlovsk, Kirovsk, Stakhanov, Krasnyi Luch, Artemivsk, Petrovske, Krasnodon, and Chervonopartyzansk, respectively. In 2024, following the passage of derussification laws, the cities Molodohvardiisk, Pervomaisk, and Sievierodonetsk were de jure renamed Otamanivka, Sokolohirsk, and Siverskodonetsk, respectively. (Full article...) -
Olha Illivna Taratuta (Ukrainian: О́льга Іллівна Тарату́та; 1876–1938) was a Ukrainian Jewish anarchist and a founder of the Anarchist Black Cross (ABC).
Taratuta joined the Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) during its founding in 1898, but within a few years moved towards more radical anarchist positions. She became a leading figure in the Odesa anarchist communist movement, organising a terrorist campaign against Russian imperial officials. After a number of years she was finally caught and imprisoned by the Tsarist authorities. (Full article...) -
The Grand Crimean Central Railway was a military railway built in 1855 during the Crimean War by the United Kingdom. Its purpose was to supply ammunition and provisions to Allied soldiers engaged in the Siege of Sevastopol who were stationed on a plateau between Balaklava and Sevastopol. It also carried the world's first hospital train.
The railway was built at cost and without any contract by Peto, Brassey and Betts, a partnership of English railway contractors led by Samuel Morton Peto. Within three weeks of the arrival of the fleet carrying materials and men the railway had started to run and in seven weeks 7 miles (11 km) of track had been completed. The railway was a major factor leading to the success of the siege. After the end of the war the track was sold and removed. (Full article...) -
Oleg (Old East Slavic: Ѡлегъ, romanized: Ōlegǔ, Ольгъ, Olǐgǔ; Old Norse: Helgi; died 912), also known as Oleg the Wise, was a Varangian prince of the Rus' who became prince of Kiev, and laid the foundations of the Kievan Rus' state.
According to the Primary Chronicle, he succeeded his "kinsman" Rurik as ruler of Novgorod, and subdued many of the East Slavic tribes to his rule, extending his control from Novgorod to the south along the Dnieper river. Oleg also launched a successful attack on Constantinople. He died in 912 and was succeeded by Rurik's son, Igor. (Full article...) -
Ukrainian Sheriffs (Ukrainian: «Українські шерифи», romanized: Ukrainski Sherify) is a 2015 Ukrainian documentary film directed by Roman Bondarchuk. The film begins as a portrait of a small town which tries to meet its own policing needs but shifts when the Russo-Ukrainian War begins, depicting the war's effects in microcosm. Bondarchuk's first feature-length film, it was workshopped and developed at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam IDFAcademy and the Dok.incubator program.
The film won the IDFA Special Jury Award and the Docs Against Gravity Mayor of Gdynia Award, and was chosen by the Ukrainian Association of Cinematographers as the best domestic non-fiction film of 2016. It ranked 56th on the Ukraine film archives' list of the best films of Ukrainian cinema, and was Ukraine's official selection for foreign-language film at the US 89th Academy Awards. (Full article...) -
The Battle of Kostiuchnówka was a World War I battle that took place July 4–7, 1916, near the village of Kostiuchnówka (Kostyukhnivka) and the Styr River in the Volhynia region of modern Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire. It was a major clash between the Russian Army and the Polish Legions (part of the Austro-Hungarian Army) during the opening phase of the Brusilov Offensive.
Polish forces, numbering 5,500–7,300, faced Russian forces numbering over half of the 46th Corps of 26,000. The Polish forces were eventually forced to retreat, but delayed the Russians long enough for the other Austro-Hungarian units in the area to retreat in an organized manner. Polish casualties were approximately 2,000 fatalities and wounded. The battle is considered one of the largest and most vicious of those involving the Polish Legions in World War I. (Full article...) -
A national school of opera in Ukraine first emerged during the last third of the 19th century, and was based on the traditions of European theatre and Ukrainian folk music. The first opera by a Ukrainian composer was Maxim Berezovsky's Demofont, based on an Italian libretto, which premiered in 1773. The oldest opera in the Ukrainian musical repertoire, A Zaporozhye Cossack on the Danube by Semen Hulak-Artemovsky, was written in 1863. The composer Mykola Lysenko, the founder of Ukrainian opera, composed a number of works, including Natalka Poltavka, Taras Bulba, Nocturne, and two operas for children, Koza-dereza and Mr Kotsky.
Ukrainian opera flourished and developed after the creation of the first professional opera houses in the 1920s, with Borys Lyatoshynsky's The Golden Ring (1929) being one of the most notable works produced there during the first half of the 20th century. From 1930 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of the 1980s, operatic performances and the creation of new works occurred under the dominance of Soviet socialist realism. During this period, Ukrainian opera was modelled on such works as The Young Guard by Yuliy Meitus, premiered in 1947. Ukrainian opera was able to develop once more during the Khrushchev Thaw from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s. Works by Vitaly Kyreiko (Forest Song (1957)), Vitaliy Hubarenko (Love Letters (1971)), or Yevhen Stankovych's folk opera When the Fern Blooms (1979) adopted more modern themes and musical expressions that were used during the Stalinist period. Of works written during the 21st century, Moses by Myroslav Skoryk is alone in retaining its place in the local repertoire. (Full article...) -
Imperator Nikolai I (Russian: Император Николай I: Emperor Nicholas I) was a Russian dreadnought built during World War I for service in the Black Sea. She was designed to counter multiple prospective Ottoman dreadnoughts which had been placed under order by the Ottoman government, since this raised the possibility that the Russian dreadnoughts being built for the Black Sea Fleet could be outclassed. The ship used the same main armament as the preceding Imperatritsa Mariya class, but was larger and more heavily armored. Imperator Nikolai I was launched in 1916, but construction was suspended on 24 October 1917. The Soviets considered completing her in 1923, but later rejected the idea. She was towed to Sevastopol in 1927 and scrapped. (Full article...) -
The Nikopol–Krivoi Rog offensive (Russian: Никопольско-Криворожская наступательная операция), known on the German side as The winter battles of the 6th Army in the great Dnieper bend in the Nikopol bridgehead and in the area of Nikopol - Apostolovo - Krivoy Rog (German: Die Winterschlachten der 6. Armee im großen Dnjepr-Bogen im Brückenkopf Nikopol und im Raum Nikopol - Apostolowo - Kriwoj-Rog), was an offensive by the Red Army's 3rd Ukrainian Front and elements of the 4th Ukrainian Front against the German 6th Army in the area of Nikopol and Krivoi Rog in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in central Ukraine between 30 January and 29 February 1944. It took place on the Eastern Front of World War II and was part of the wider Dnieper–Carpathian offensive, a Soviet attack against Army Group South to retake the rest of Ukraine that fell to Germany in 1941.
Following the Soviet advance to the Dnieper in the Battle of the Dnieper during late 1943, German forces managed to hold to the Nikopol bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnieper, the area of manganese ore mines of crucial importance to German war production that Adolf Hitler insisted on holding. (Full article...) -
"Prayer for Ukraine" (Ukrainian: Молитва за Україну, romanized: Molytva za Ukrainu) is a patriotic Ukrainian hymn published in 1885, which became a spiritual anthem of Ukraine. The text was written by Oleksandr Konysky, and the music was composed by Mykola Lysenko, first with a children's choir in mind. The song became the regular closing hymn in services of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and other churches. It gained national significance when it was performed by mass choirs during the Ukrainian War of Independence in 1917–1920. The hymn was intended to be an official spiritual anthem of Ukraine. It has closed sessions of oblast councils, and has been performed at major national functions.
"Prayer for Ukraine" was performed in Kyiv in 2001 during a parade celebrating the 10th anniversary of Ukraine's independence. It has been part of church services internationally, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On 26 February 2022, the Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York performed the hymn in the cold open of Saturday Night Live. (Full article...) -
The Bucha massacre (Ukrainian: Бучанська різанина, romanized: Buchanska rizanyna; Russian: Резня в Буче, romanized: Reznya v Buche) was the mass murder of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war by the Russian Armed Forces during the fight for and occupation of the city of Bucha as part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photographic and video evidence of the massacre emerged on 1 April 2022, after Russian forces withdrew from the city. Verbal reports had been emerging since early March.
According to local authorities, 458 bodies have been recovered from the town, including nine children under the age of 18. Among the victims, 419 people were killed with weapons and 39 appeared to have died of natural causes, possibly related to the occupation. A memorial wall was installed in Bucha with 501 names of killed residents. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights documented the unlawful killings, including summary executions, of at least 73 civilians in Bucha. Photos showed corpses of civilians, lined up with their hands bound behind their backs, shot at close range. An inquiry by Radio Free Europe reported the use of a basement beneath a campground as a torture chamber. Many bodies were found mutilated and burnt, and girls as young as fourteen reported being raped by Russian soldiers. In intercepted conversations, Russian soldiers referred to these operations involving hunting down people in lists, filtration, torture, and execution as zachistka ("cleansing"). Ukraine has asked the International Criminal Court to investigate what happened in Bucha as part of its ongoing investigation of the invasion to determine whether a series of Russian war crimes or crimes against humanity were committed. The massacre was described by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as genocide. (Full article...) -
The Vorontsov Palace: the northern entrance façade. The stone was mined locally as part of a conscious effort to blend the building with its mountainous surroundings.
The Vorontsov Palace (Ukrainian: Воронцовський палац, romanized: Vorontsovs'kyi palats; Russian: Воронцовский дворец, romanized: Vorontsovskiy Dvorets) or the Alupka Palace is a historic palace situated at the foot of the Crimean Mountains near the town of Alupka in Crimea. The Vorontsov Palace is one of the oldest and largest palaces in Crimea, and is one of the most popular tourist attractions on Crimea's southern coast.
The palace was built between 1828 and 1848 for the Russian Prince Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov for use as his personal summer residence at a cost of 9 million roubles. It was designed in a loose interpretation of the English Renaissance revival style by English architect Edward Blore and his assistant William Hunt. The building is a hybrid of several architectural styles, but faithful to none. Among those styles are elements of Scottish Baronial, Indo-Saracenic Revival Architecture, and Gothic Revival architecture. Blore had designed many buildings in the United Kingdom, and was later particularly well known there for completing the design of Buckingham Palace in London. (Full article...) -
Andrew II (Hungarian: II. András, Croatian: Andrija II., Slovak: Ondrej II., Ukrainian: Андрій II; c. 1177 – 21 September 1235), also known as Andrew of Jerusalem, was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1205 and 1235. He ruled the Principality of Halych from 1188 until 1189/1190, and again between 1208/1209 and 1210. He was the younger son of Béla III of Hungary, who entrusted him with the administration of the newly conquered Principality of Halych in 1188. Andrew's rule was unpopular, and the boyars (or noblemen) expelled him. Béla III willed property and money to Andrew, obliging him to lead a crusade to the Holy Land. Instead, Andrew forced his elder brother, King Emeric of Hungary, to cede Croatia and Dalmatia as an appanage to him in 1197. The following year, Andrew occupied Hum.
Although Andrew did not stop conspiring against Emeric, the dying king made Andrew guardian of his son, Ladislaus III, in 1204. After the premature death of Ladislaus, Andrew ascended the throne in 1205. According to historian László Kontler, "[i]t was amidst the socio-political turmoil during [Andrew's] reign that the relations, arrangements, institutional framework and social categories that arose under Stephen I, started to disintegrate in the higher echelons of society" in Hungary. Andrew introduced a new grants policy, the so-called "new institutions", giving away money and royal estates to his partisans despite the loss of royal revenues. He was the first Hungarian monarch to adopt the title of "King of Halych and Lodomeria". He waged at least a dozen wars to seize the two Rus' principalities, but was repelled by the local boyars and neighboring princes. He participated in the Fifth Crusade to the Holy Land in 1217–1218, but the crusade was a failure. (Full article...)
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Featured pictures
These are Featured pictures that the Wikimedia Commons community has chosen as the highest quality on the site.
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Artist: William Simpson; Restoration: NativeForeignerThe 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons and 5th Dragoon Guards engage the Russians in this lithograph of the "Charge of the Heavy Brigade", a short engagement during the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. Russian cavalry had attacked the British camp, but in roughly ten minutes of fighting, they suffered 40 to 50 killed and more than 200 wounded and were forced to retreat. -
Photograph: AmakuhaThe burning of the Trade Unions Building—used as the headquarters of the Euromaidan movement—during the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, following a failed attempt by the Ukrainian police to capture the building. After the fire, the damaged building was covered with large canvas screens on two sides with the words "Glory to Ukraine" printed on them in large letters. -
A map showing caesium-137 contamination in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine (in curies per square kilometer) in 1996, ten years after the Chernobyl disaster struck the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The disaster contaminated 162,160 square kilometres (62,610 sq mi) of land and is widely considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history. -
Photo: Noodle snacksMushrooms of Armillaria hinnulea, a species of honey fungus (or "pidpenky", from Ukrainian). Honey fungi are parasitic fungi that live on trees and woody shrubs. As a forest pathogen, it can be very destructive because unlike most parasites, it does not need to moderate its growth in order to avoid killing its host, since it will continue to thrive on the dead material. Honey fungi are long lived and form some of the largest living organisms in the world, including one that covers more than 3.4 sq mi (8.8 km2) and is thousands of years old. The mushrooms are edible, but can be easily confused with poisonous Galerina species, which can grow side-by-side with Armillaria. -
Photo credit: Peter DuhonUkrainian fashion model Nataliya Gotsiy modeling for Cynthia Rowley, Spring 2007 New York Fashion Week. She was the winner of the Ford Supermodel of the World 2004 search. She has appeared on the cover of French Elle and Italian Marie Claire and modeled for Behnaz Sarafpour, Christian Lacroix, Diane von Furstenberg, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Dries van Noten, Gucci, Oscar de la Renta, Valentino, and Vivienne Westwood, among others. -
Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin sitting together at the Yalta Conference, which took place February 4–11, 1945. The so-called "Big Three" met to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of Europe following World War II. Although a number of agreements were reached, Stalin broke his promises regarding Poland, and the Soviet Union annexed the regions of Eastern Europe it controlled, or converted them to satellite states. -
Painting: UnknownThe Adoration of the Shepherds is a common subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art. The scene, based on the Biblical account in Luke 2, depicts shepherds as near witnesses to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, arriving soon after the actual birth. It is often combined in art with the Adoration of the Magi, in which case it is typically just referred to by the latter title. The example here comes from 17th-century Ukraine and is currently held at the Ivan Honchar Museum. -
Photograph credit: Max AlpertKombat (Russian for 'battalion commander') is a black-and-white photograph by Soviet photographer Max Alpert. It depicts a Soviet military officer, armed with a TT pistol, raising his unit for an attack during World War II. This work is regarded as one of the most iconic Soviet World War II photographs, yet neither the date nor the subject is known with certainty. According to the most widely accepted version, it depicts junior politruk Aleksei Gordeyevich Yeryomenko, minutes before his death on 12 July 1942, in Voroshilovgrad Oblast, now part of Ukraine. The photograph is in the archives of RIA Novosti, a Russian state-owned news agency. -
Artist: William Simpson; Lithographer: Edmond Morin; Restoration: NativeForeignerA tinted lithograph, titled "Embarkation of the sick at Balaklava", shows injured and ill soldiers in the Crimean War boarding boats to take them to hospital facilities. Modern nursing had its roots in the war, as war correspondents for newspapers reported the scandalous treatment of wounded soldiers in the first desperate winter, prompting the pioneering work of women such as Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole, Frances Margaret Taylor and others. -
Photograph: George ChernilevskyThe ChS8 is an electric mainline passenger locomotive used in Russia and Ukraine. Built between 1983 and 1989, it was developed for pulling long passenger trains (28–32 carriages) at speeds of 100 kilometres per hour (60 mph) or faster. Since 2010 Russia has switched to more energy-efficient designs, such as the EP10 and EP20. -
Photograph: Anatoly ShcherbakThe Royal Kurgan is a 4th century BC kurgan (burial barrow) located near present-day Kerch, Crimea. The mound is almost 20 metres high and its base perimeter is about 250 metres. It holds a burial chamber with a square floor plan which gradually merges into the circular shape of a corbelled dome ("false vault"). It is assumed that the Royal Kurgan was the final resting place of a ruler of the Bosporan Kingdom. -
Map credit: Nicolas de FerA 1691 French map of Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine, depicting the city's old town neighborhood and castle, surrounded by the winding Smotrych River. It was originally part of Kievan Rus' and annexed into the First Polish Republic, but at the time of the map's creation, the city was part of the Ottoman Empire. It shortly returned to Poland and later became part of the Russian Empire with the Second Partition of Poland in 1793.
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Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that Ivan Petrovtsii's vulgar poems were condemned by senior Ukrainian officials in spite of their popularity?
- ... that Volodymyr Kozhukhar, the chief conductor of the National Opera of Ukraine in Kyiv, led Lysenko's opera Taras Bulba and Shchedrin's ballet Carmen Suite?
- ... that the Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1925, gave a solidarity concert with Ukraine soon after the Russian invasion?
- ... that 1920s belles-lettres books published by the State Publishing House of Ukraine sold out more rapidly than similar books published elsewhere in the Soviet Union, despite the higher average price?
- ... that Major-General Andriy Kovalchuk, commander of the 2022 Ukrainian southern counteroffensive, met his wife, a fellow officer, when she chastised him for wearing an unpolished belt buckle?
- ... that the United Ukrainian Ballet Company, consisting of exiled dancers based in The Hague, has toured the UK, Singapore, Australia and the US?
More did you know -
- ... that Vasyl Avramenko is often referred as "The father of the Ukrainian dance"?
- ... that the Kryvbas economic region in Ukraine is one of the largest iron ore and steel industry centers in Europe?
- ... that Ukrainian naturalist, lecturer, artist and author John Lhotsky was credited as the first discoverer of gold in New South Wales?
- ... that at its first years Kiev Zoo had to move its animals into the food storage of the main Kiev railway station for the winter?
- ... that the longest of the Kiev bridges, the 1,543 metres long Paton Bridge over the Dnieper River, constructed in 1953 was the first fully welded steel construction of such length at that time?
- ... that among many historic landmarks at the Andrew's Descent in Kyiv, there is a medieval Gothic style castle that locals call the "Castle of Richard the Lion Heart" due to the legend the 12th century King of England had visited the building?
Selected article -
The history of Christianity in Ukraine dates back to the earliest centuries of the history of Christianity, to the Apostolic Age, with mission trips along the Black Sea and a legend of Andrew the Apostle even ascending the hills of Kiev. The first Christian community on territory of modern Ukraine is documented as early as the 4th century with the establishment of the Metropolitanate of Gothia, which was centered in the Crimean peninsula. However, on territory of the Old Rus in Kiev, Christianity became the dominant religion since its official acceptance in 989 by Vladimir the Great (Volodymyr the Great), who brought it from Byzantine Crimea and installed it as the state religion of medieval Kievan Rus (Ruthenia), with the metropolitan see in Kiev.
Although separated into various Christian denominations, most Ukrainian Christians share a common faith based on Eastern Christianity. This tradition is represented in Ukraine by the Byzantine Rite, the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches, which have been at various historic times closely aligned with Ukrainian national self-identity and Byzantine culture. (Full article...)
In the news
- 3 August 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- A massive fire is reported at an oil refinery in Sochi, Russia, following a Ukrainian drone attack on the facility. Smoke from the fire prompts Russian authorities to close Sochi International Airport. (BBC News)
- 2 August 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Ukrainian forces launch drone attacks on Penza Oblast, Samara Oblast, and Rostov Oblast in Russia, killing at least three people, according to Russian officials. (AP)
- The Ukrainian military targets the Ryazan Refinery in Ryazan Oblast, Russia, with drones and causes a fire at the facility. (Reuters)
- 1 August 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- United States and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia–United States relations
- U.S. president Donald Trump orders the deployment of two United States Navy nuclear submarines near Russia for potential military action against Russian forces in response to statements made by former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and current deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation regarding Trump's previously-stated deadline for ending the war in Ukraine. (Reuters) (BBC News)
- 31 July 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Kyiv strikes, Attacks on civilians in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russian forces launch drones and cruise missiles on Kyiv, Ukraine, killing at least 31 people and injuring more than 150 others. At least one tower block completely collapses. (Reuters) (BBC News) (AP)
- 30 July 2025 –
- Five people, including four Ukrainian nationals, are killed after a truck collides with a minivan on the A1 motorway near Slovenske Konjice, Slovenia. (Slovenian Press Agency) (Sloboden Pečat)
Selected anniversaries for August
- August 2, 2025 — Airborne forces day
- August 17, 1649 — Treaty of Zboriv was signed after the Polish army was defeated in the Battle of Zboriv by the Cossacks, led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky.
- August 22, 2006 — An aircraft crashed near the Russian border over eastern Ukraine while en route from Vityazevo Airport (Anapa) to Pulkovo Airport (St. Petersburg)
- August 24, 1991 — Ukraine declares independence from the Soviet Union
Photo gallery
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A view of Lviv -
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A view of Lviv Old Town from the High Castle. -
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An 1691 French map of the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi, located in western Ukraine.
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Trinity Church and Monastery in Chernihiv, Ukraine -
Streets of Mukacheve in the old part of town -
View on the lower fortress of the Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle -
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Interiour view of the Pochayiv Lavra in Ukraine. -
Potemkin Stairs in Odesa, Ukraine. The higher perspective allows a person to see both the stairs and landings. -
The Swallow's Nest is one of the Neo-Gothic châteaux fantastiques near Yalta; it was built in 1912. -
St Andrew's Church of Kyiv (1749–1854) -
A wooden bridge leads to the entrance to the Khomutovska Steppe in Donetsk Oblast. -
The square in front of the theater in Chernivtsi. -
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Zbarazh (Ukrainian: Збараж, Polish: Zbaraż, Yiddish: Zbarj) is a small city in the Ternopil Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Zbarazh Raion (district), and is located in the historic region of Galicia. The major attraction of the city is the Zbarazh Castle that played a key role during the Khmelnytsky Uprising, the heroic defense of which eventually led to change of momentum and extinguishing the Cossack revolt.
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