Ukraine

Sandwiched between Russia and Europe, Ukraine gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Western Ukraine has close historical ties with Europe, particularly Poland. Both Orthodoxy and the Uniate (Greek Catholic) faith have many followers there. Ukrainian nationalist sentiment is traditionally strongest in the westernmost parts of the country which became part of Ukraine only when the Soviet Union expanded after World War II.

A significant minority of the population of Ukraine are Russians or use Russian as their first language. Russian influence is particularly strong in the industrialized east of the country, where the Orthodox religion is predominant, as well as in Crimea, an autonomous republic on the Black Sea which was part of Russia until 1954. The Russian Black Sea Fleet has its base there.
Crimea is also the homeland of the Crimean Tatars whom Stalin accused of collaborating with the Nazis and deported to Central Asia in 1944. Over 250,000 have returned since the late 1980s.

In 1932-1933 Stalin's program of enforced agricultural collectivization brought famine and death to millions in Ukraine, the bread basket of the USSR. Not until the twilight years of the Soviet Union did details of the extent of the suffering begin fully to emerge.

News of another Soviet-era calamity, the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station, rang alarm bells around the world immediately. About 8% of Ukraine's territory was contaminated as were large areas in neighboring Belarus. Millions continue to suffer as a result.

Independence

The country's first president after independence, former Communist Party official Leonid Kravchuk, presided over a period of economic decline and runaway inflation. He was narrowly defeated in the 1994 presidential election by Leonid Kuchma.

The economy at first continued to fare badly under President Kuchma who became embroiled in a series of stand-offs with parliament and failed to push ahead with economic reforms.

Corruption was a major problem and investors were wary. The new millennium brought economic growth for the first time, with rising industrial output, improving exports and falling inflation.

By the end of 2004, Russia was the country's largest trading partner although Ukraine was also building partnership with the West.

In May 2002 it announced the intention to seek Nato membership. It sent peacekeepers to Iraq as part of the stabilization force there, and also contributed troops to peacekeeping operations in Kosovo.

-BBC News