什麼是烏克蘭

歐洲東南部國家。面積603,700平方公里。人口約48,767,000（2001）。首都︰基輔。烏克蘭人佔該國總人口的70%以上，其他少數民族有俄羅斯人和猶太人。語言︰烏克蘭語（官方語）、俄羅斯語、羅馬尼亞語、波蘭語和匈牙利語。宗教：基督教、猶太教以及伊斯蘭教。貨幣︰裡夫尼亞。全境由平坦的平原和喀爾巴阡山脈構成，喀爾巴阡山脈綿延整個西部240餘公里。主要河流為布格河、聶伯河、頓內次河及聶斯特河。中東部的頓內次盆地是歐洲主要重工業和採礦－冶金聯合企業的集中地之一，還是鐵礦石、煤、天然氣、石油、鐵和鋼的重要產國。為冬小麥和甜菜的主要產國。政府形式為共和國，一院制。國家元首是總統，政府首腦為總理。

其不同地區在西元前1千紀時曾遭辛梅里安人、西徐亞人和薩爾馬特人的入侵和佔領，西元4世紀斯拉夫人定居此地，基輔為主要城鎮。13世紀中葉蒙古人的征服使基輔政權徹底傾覆，之後相繼被立陶宛（14世紀）、波蘭（16世紀）以及俄羅斯（18世紀）統治。1917年成立烏克蘭民族共和國，1918年宣佈脫離蘇聯統治，次年又被蘇聯征服。1923年成為蘇聯的加盟共和國之一。1919～1939年波蘭控制著烏克蘭的西北部。1932～1933年史達林領導的蘇聯政府在烏克蘭實施迅速工業化和農業集體化的政策，造成烏克蘭的饑荒，估計有五百萬人喪生。第二次世界大戰時，軸心國推翻其政府（1941），在1944年蘇聯重新接手前遭到更進一步的蹂躪。1986年發生車諾比事件，一座蘇聯修建的核電廠發生一場大火和部分熔燬。1991年宣佈獨立。近年來一直與政經問題搏鬥。

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.