Vast country
Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe in terms of land area (603,700 square kilometres)and fifth in Europe in terms of population (46.2 million people). Ukraine is known as “The Breadbasket of Europe” due to its unique treasure – fertile black soil. The most horrible page in the history of Soviet control of Ukraine was the artificial famine of 932–1933, usually referred to in the west as the Great Famine or the Terror Famine; it is known to Ukrainians as the Holodomor. It was a state-organised programme of mass starvation that killed an estimated 7 to 10 million Ukrainians, including up to a third of the nation’s children. In 2008 Ukraine fulfilled its obligations to become a member of the World Trade Organization by creating the necessary domestic economic infrastructure. On May 16, 2008 Ukraine became the 152nd member of the WTO. Ukraine’s religious fabric is represented by 55 religious denominations with a framework of 34,000e axis from the Rakhiv Mountains and the Chornohirskyi Range in Ukraine, west along the Polony religious organisations; the predominant religion in Ukraine is Orthodox. Because of a 20th century international territorial division, some ethnic Ukrainians ended up beyond the border of present-day Ukraine. These Ukrainians are among autonomous national minorities in several European countries: Poland, Slovakia, Belarus, Romania, Moldova’s TransDnistro region and border regions of the Russian Federation. Slovakia and Ukraine share a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Primeval Beech Forests of the arpathian, an outstanding example of undisturbed, complex temperate forests, covers transnational property of 10 separate components along a 185 kilometrnian Ridge to the Bukovské Vrchy and Vihorlat Mountains in Slovakia. Source: Ukrainian Embassy, compiled by Spectator staff
