什么是乌克兰

欧洲东南部国家。面积603,700平方公里。人口约48,767,000（2001）。首都︰基辅。乌克兰人占该国总人口的70%以上，其他少数民族有俄罗斯人和犹太人。语言︰乌克兰语（官方语）、俄罗斯语、罗马尼亚语、波兰语和匈牙利语。宗教：基督教、犹太教以及伊斯兰教。货币︰里夫尼亚。全境由平坦的平原和喀尔巴阡山脉构成，喀尔巴阡山脉绵延整个西部240余公里。主要河流为布格河、聂伯河、顿内次河及聂斯特河。中东部的顿内次盆地是欧洲主要重工业和采矿－冶金联合企业的集中地之一，还是铁矿石、煤、天然气、石油、铁和钢的重要产国。为冬小麦和甜菜的主要产国。政府形式为共和国，一院制。国家元首是总统，政府首脑为总理。

其不同地区在西元前1千纪时曾遭辛梅里安人、西徐亚人和萨尔马特人的入侵和占领，西元4世纪斯拉夫人定居此地，基辅为主要城镇。13世纪中叶蒙古人的征服使基辅政权彻底倾覆，之後相继被立陶宛（14世纪）、波兰（16世纪）以及俄罗斯（18世纪）统治。1917年成立乌克兰民族共和国，1918年宣布脱离苏联统治，次年又被苏联征服。1923年成为苏联的加盟共和国之一。1919～1939年波兰控制着乌克兰的西北部。1932～1933年史达林领导的苏联政府在乌克兰实施迅速工业化和农业集体化的政策，造成乌克兰的饥荒，估计有五百万人丧生。第二次世界大战时，轴心国推翻其政府（1941），在1944年苏联重新接手前遭到更进一步的蹂躏。1986年发生车诺比事件，一座苏联修建的核电厂发生一场大火和部分熔毁。1991年宣布独立。近年来一直与政经问题搏斗。

Ukraine

Republic, southeastern Europe. Area: 233,100 sq mi (603,700 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 50,668,000. Capital: Kiev. Ethnic Ukrainians make up 70% of the population; minorities include Russians and Jews. Languages: Ukrainian (official), Russian, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian. Religions: Christianity, Judaism, Islam. Currency: hryvny. Ukraine consists of level plains and the Carpathian Mtns., which extend through the western region for more than 150 mi (240 km). The Bug, Dnieper, Donets, and Dniester are its major rivers. The Donets Basin in the eastern central region is one of the major heavy-industrial and mining-metallurgical complexes of Europe. It mines iron ore and coal, and produces natural gas, petroleum, iron, and steel. It is a major producer of winter wheat and sugar beets. It is a republic with one legislative body; its head of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. Different parts of the area were invaded and occupied in the first millennium BC by the Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians, and in the first millennium AD by the Goths, Huns, Bulgars, Avars, Khazars, and Magyars. Slavic tribes settled there after the 4th century. Kiev was its chief town. The Mongol conquest in the mid-13th century decisively ended Kievan power. Ruled by Lithuania in the 14th century and Poland in the 16th century, it fell to Russian rule in the 18th century. The Ukrainian National Republic, established in 1917, declared its independence from Soviet Russia in 1918 but was reconquered in 1919; it was made the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of the U.S.S.R. in 1923. The northwestern region was held by Poland 1919-39. The Ukraine suffered a severe famine in 1932-33 under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin; over 5 million Ukrainians died of starvation in an unprecedented peacetime catastrophe. Overrun by Axis armies in 1941 in World War II, it was further devastated before being retaken by the Soviets in 1944. In 1986 it was the site of the Chernobyl accident, at a Soviet-built nuclear power plant. It declared independence in 1991. In recent years it has struggled both politically and economically.