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Location: Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between
Poland and Russia
Geographic coordinates: 49 00 N, 32 00 E
Map references: Commonwealth of Independent States
Area:
total: 603,700 sq km
land: 603,700 sq km
water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Texas
Land boundaries:
total: 4,558 km
border countries: Belarus 891 km, Hungary 103 km, Moldova
939 km, Poland 428 km, Romania (south) 169 km, Romania (west) 362
km, Russia 1,576 km, Slovakia 90 km
Coastline: 2,782 km
Maritime claims:
continental shelf: 200-m or to the depth of exploitation
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: temperate continental; Mediterranean only on the
southern Crimean coast; precipitation disproportionately distributed,
highest in west and north, lesser in east and southeast; winters
vary from cool along the Black Sea to cold farther inland; summers
are warm across the greater part of the country, hot in the south
Terrain: most of Ukraine consists of fertile plains (steppes)
and plateaus, mountains being found only in the west (the Carpathians),
and in the Crimean Peninsula in the extreme south
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Black Sea 0 m
highest point: Hora Hoverla 2,061 m
Natural resources: iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas,
oil, salt, sulfur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel,
mercury, timber, arable land
Land use:
arable land: 58%
permanent crops: 2%
permanent pastures: 13%
forests and woodland: 18%
other: 9% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 26,050 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: NA
Environment - current issues: inadequate supplies of potable
water; air and water pollution; deforestation; radiation contamination
in the northeast from 1986 accident at Chornobyl' Nuclear Power
Plant
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change,
Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes,
Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic
Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic
Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol
Geography - note: strategic position at the crossroads between
Europe and Asia; second-largest country in Europe
Background:
Richly endowed in natural resources, Ukraine has been fought over
and subjugated for centuries; its 20th-century struggle for liberty
is not yet complete. A short-lived independence from Russia (1917-1920)
was followed by brutal Soviet rule that engineered two artificial
famines (1921-22 and 1932-33) in which over 8 million died, and
World War II, in which German and Soviet armies were responsible
for some 7 million more deaths.
Although independence was attained in 1991 with the dissolution
of the USSR, true freedom remains elusive as many of the former
Soviet elite remain entrenched, stalling efforts at economic reform,
privatization, and civic liberties.
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