[yoo-kreyn, -krahyn, yoo-kreyn] 
| a republic in SE Europe: rich agricultural and industrial region. 50,684,635; 223,090 sq. mi. (603,700 sq. km). Capital: Kiev. |
U·kraine (yōō-krān')  (click for larger image in new window) A country of eastern Europe bordering on the Black Sea. Inhabited in early times by Scythians and Sarmatians, it was overrun by a number of conquerors, including Goths and Huns, until the rise of Kiev in the 9th century. The region came under the control of Lithuania in the mid-14th century and later passed to Poland and then to Russia (between 1680 and 1793). After the Russian Revolution an independent republic was proclaimed (1918), but Soviet troops retook control, and in 1922 it became one of the original constituent republics of the USSR, known as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. During World War II the republic suffered severe devastation under German occupation and underwent many territorial changes. Ukraine gained its independence following the collapse of the USSR in 1991. Kiev is the capital and largest city. Population: 46,300,000. |
Republic in southeastern Europe, bordered by Belarus to the north; Russia to the northeast and east; the Black Sea to the south; Moldova, Romania, and Hungary to the southwest; and Slovakia and Poland to the west; includes the peninsula of Crimea. Kiev is the capital and largest city.
Note: Of the former Soviet republics, it is second to Russia in population.
Note: Ukraine came under a succession of invaders and foreign rulers, including central Asian tribes, the Mongols, Lithuania, the Ottoman Empire, Poland, and finally Russia. Under oppressive Polish and Russian rule in the seventeenth century, Ukrainian fugitives, known as Cossacks, organized resistance movements.
Note: A nationalist and cultural revival in the nineteenth century was rewarded after World War I by independence, which was, however, short-lived. Invaded by Russian troops, Ukraine became one of the original Soviet republics in 1922.
Note: Ukraine was traditionally home to a large Jewish population. Many Jews left Ukraine under oppressive conditions in the nineteenth century, and thousands more were exterminated by the Nazis in World War II.
kreɪn