Population and Map Ethnic Ukrainians comprise more than 75% of the population. Russians are the largest minority, consisting of less than 20% of the population. The majority remaining come from neighboring Eastern European countries, though thousands of African and Black people, mostly students, also call it home.
History Crest of the Holy Russian Empire
The First East Slavic State 9th Century AD- 1236
Foreign Dominance 1236-1921
The first major Eastern Slavonic state, Kievan Rus, was geographically also the largest state in Europe in the 11th Century, including large parts of modern Ukraine, Russia, Poland, and Belarus and with Kyiv being the capital. In 988, Prince Vladimir (Volodymyr in Ukrainian) accepted Orthodox Christianity and began conversion of Kievan Rus, setting the course for Christianity in Eastern Europe.
The invasion of the Mongols (the Golden Horde) from 1236-40 eventually destroyed the Kievan Rus state. This led to a period of foreign domination, with Poland gradually annexing most of what is now western and northern Ukraine. Between 1772-95, most of western Ukraine was absorbed into the Russian Empire through the partitions of Poland.
Communism under the USSR 1921-1991 In 1921 the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was established when Soviet Russia conquered two-thirds of Ukraine. The western third became part of Poland, only to be later annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939. Millions died in 1932 from a man-made famine during Stalin's collectivization campaign. In 1986 a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded.
Independence 1991- Present Ukraine declared independence on August 24, 1991, a few days after a failed Communist coup in the Soviet Union, and four months before the fall of the Soviet Union. In 2010, pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych won the presidency and Parliament voted to abandon NATO membership aspirations. In 2013, thousands of Ukrainians protested Yanukovych’s decision to overrule his parliament and refuse to sign a free trade agreement with the EU (known as the Euromaidan Protests). Russia then annexed Crimea in 2014. Yanukovych fled to Russian in 2014 and opposition took over. Parliamentary elections that year produced a majority for pro-Western parties.
Politics The president is elected by direct popular vote for a five-year term. The current president is Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who assumed office on May 20, 2019. Zelenskyy is the first Jewish leader of the country. He is affiliated with the political party, Servant of the People (Слуга народу). The Ukrainian legislature is the Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council of Ukraine).
Sources for Further Information BBC News. “Ukraine profile - timeline.” BBC, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18010123. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Kievan Rus". Encyclopedia Britannica, www.britannica.com/topic/Kyivan-Rus. NBC News. "Black immigrants chose Ukraine for quality of life, education. War leaves them fearful.". NBC, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/blackimmigrants-chose-ukraine-quality-life-education-warleaves-fearf-rcna18169.
Relations, Council on Foreign. “A Historical Timeline of PostIndependence Ukraine.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/a-historicaltimeline-of-post-independence-ukraine. Zasenko, Oleksa Eliseyovich , Kryzhanivsky, Stepan Andriyovich , Hajda, Lubomyr A. , Stebelsky, Ihor , Yerofeyev, Ivan Alekseyevich and Makuch, Andrij. "Ukraine". Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/place/Ukraine.