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| Ukraine Україна | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Coat of arms
| |
 Claimed territories controlled by Russia in light green. Claims are recognized by the UN. | |
| Capital and largest city | Kyiv |
| Official languages | Ukrainian |
| Demonym(s) | Ukrainian |
| Dominant mode of production | Capitalism |
| Government | Unitary semi-presidential republic under a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie |
• President | Volodymyr Zelensky |
• Prime Minister | Denys Shmyhal |
• Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada | Ruslan Stefanchuk |
| Legislature | Verkhovna Rada |
| History | |
• Secession from USSR | 1991 August 24 |
| 22 November 2004 | |
| 2014 February 22 | |
| Area | |
• Total | 603,628 km² |
| Population | |
• 2024 estimate | 33,365,000 |
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe, the second largest on the continent in terms of area after Russia. It borders Russia to the east, Belarus to the north, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west and Romania, Moldova, and the partially recognised state of Pridnestrovie to the southwest. It has previously been part of Russian Empire and the USSR as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Ukraine, together with Belarus and the leadership of the then RSFSR played a central role in the dissolution of the USSR. Modern Ukraine is an imperialist state that has been fighting a NATO proxy war against Russia since 2022.
Current socialist and communist political parties in Ukraine include the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Union of Communists of Ukraine.
History
Kievan rus
See main article: Kievan Rus' (880–1240)
Foreign domination
Poland and Lithuania began annexing parts of what is now Ukraine in the 14th century and completed the annexation in 1569. Russia and Poland partitioned the region in 1667. In the late 18th century, Russia conquered most of Poland, including Ukraine, while Austria occupied Western Galicia.[1]
Russian revolution and civil war
In January 1918, Ukraine declared independence, forming the Ukrainian National Republic, and allowed German and Austrian troops to enter and expel the Red Army. In 1919 and 1920, there was a civil war between communists, monarchists, anarchists, nationalists, and invading Polish forces. A peace treaty in 1921 ceded the western third of Ukraine to Poland, but Polish forces were defeated in the east.[1]
Soviet era
See main article: Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1919–1991)
The concept of Ukraine has only come into being since the beginning of the Soviet Union, when the Soviet government decided to unite what had previously been nine separate districts in the Russian Empire. The region was named after the term "Ukraina" (ru.: Украина, meaning "land at the edge", "borderlands"). Much of the western part of Ukraine was part of Poland, annexed for the first time into either Russia or Ukraine during the Second World War. In 1922, the Ukrainian SSR joined the Soviet Union as one of its four original republics.
In 1939, the Soviet Union occupied western Ukraine to prevent it from being invaded by Nazi Germany. The fascist Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists fought against the Soviet Union during the war and continued some armed actions until the early 1950s.[1] Between 10 and 13 million Ukrainians died during the war, and Germany enslaved 2.2–2.5 million more.[2]
Crimea was incorporated into Ukraine for the first time in 1954, after having been in the Russian SFSR since the start of the Soviet Union, and having been part of different districts since before even the Tsardom.
Transition to capitalism
On 24 August 1991, the Ukrainian SSR seceded from the Soviet Union.[3] After seceding, Leonid Kuchma and Leonid Kravchuk began mass privatization programs.[4] Their neoliberal policies decreased life expectancy by three years, which did not recover until 2010,[5] and poverty increased from 2% in the late 1980s to 63% in the mid-1990s.[6]
The Communist Party of Ukraine won elections in 1994 and 1998, but Kuchma and Kravchuk kept them out of power with support from NATO and Boris Yeltsin. Kuchma proposed over 6,000 changes to the constitution and threatened to dissolve parliament if the Communist Party did not agree to the changes. Kuchma rigged the 1999 election to stay in power and convinced factions of the CPU to split.[4]
Orange Revolution
Viktor Yushchenko won the 2002 presidential election as part of the Our Ukraine coalition, which included the far-right Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists. Yushchenko was backed by the United States and wanted Ukraine to join NATO as quickly as possible. Viktor Yanukovych won the 2004 election by a narrow margin. Protests began against Yanukovych, which were supported by oligarchs such as Petro Poroshenko and Yulia Tymoshenko, and the Ukrainian constitutional court ordered a redo of the election. John McCain, Henry Kissinger, and Zbigniew Brzezinski visited Kyiv and supported Yushchenko. Yushchenko won the second round of the election and took power.[4]
2008 financial crisis
During the 2008 financial crisis, Russia cut gas supplies to Ukraine, unemployment tripled, and many bank failed. Yushchenko's popularity rate dropped to only 5%. Yanukovych and his Party of Regions won 48% of the vote in 2010, and Yulia Tymoshenko won 45%.[4]
2014 coup d'état
In 2014, the IMF asked Ukraine to raise taxes and cut social spending. Yanukovych's government refused because the changes could cause hundreds of thousands of people to lose their jobs.[4]
In 2014, the United States of America helped finance and arm the Euromaidan coup d'état to overthrow the government of Ukraine, because of its allegiance to Russia. As a result there has been a subsequent rise of Nazism in Ukraine, especially in the government of Ukraine, two regions (Donetsk and Luhansk) have seceded to form their own governments, and Crimea has voted to rejoin the Russian Federation. After the coup, the Ukrainian government banned communist symbols, and anyone who sings the anthem of the USSR may be sent to prison for up to five years.[7] The coup led to reduced social spending in Ukraine and increase of over 400% in the military budget.[8]
2022 Russo-Ukrainian conflict
See main article: 2022 Russo-Ukrainian conflict
In 2022, Ukraine banned the Communist Party of Ukraine and ordered the seizure of its funds and assets.[9] In September 2022, the Donetsk and Lugansk regions and the Ukrainian oblasts of Kherson and Zaporozhye voted to join Russia.[10]
Despite the massive western propaganda, the defences of Ukraine are starting to crumble.[11] The average age of an Ukrainian soldier is over 40 years old as of November 2023.[12]
Foreign relations
From the genesis of the new Ukrainian state in 1991 to 2014, the government of Ukraine held a relatively neutral status.
From the coup in 2014 to the present, the government in Ukraine has been within NATO's sphere of influence.
Biological weapons research
In 2005, Ukraine signed an agreement for the USA Department of Defense to control various biological research facilities in Ukraine.[13] Since then the USA's military has opened 26 biological research facilities in Ukraine.[14][15]
The Security Service of Ukraine denied the existence of such research facilities in 2020[16], before their existence being later confirmed by USA Under Secretary Victoria Nuland.[17]
Soviet nostalgia
See main article: Communist nostalgia
Despite the anti-communist laws, many people say life was better under socialism. Only 30% of Ukrainian's supported the change to a multiparty system and less than a quarter believe that the dissolution of the Soviet Union was good for Ukraine.[18][19] Ukrainian communist leaders have been arrested and are likely to be executed by the anti-communist Kiev regime.[20]
History
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Albert Szymanski (1984). Human Rights in the Soviet Union: 'The European Nationalities in the USSR' (pp. 83–84). [PDF] London: Zed Books Ltd. ISBN 0862320186 [LG]
- ↑ Ron Ridenour (2022-06-17). "Does Iceland Set Benchmark for Peaceful and Politically Engaged People?" CovertAction Magazine. Archived from the original on 2022-07-02. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
- ↑ Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine (1991-08-24). Verkhnovna Rada of Ukraine. Archived from the original on 2009-09-30.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Evan Reif (2022-07-29). "What the U.S. Government and The New York Times Have Quietly Agreed Not to Tell You About Ukraine" CovertAction Magazine. Archived from the original on 2022-08-04. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
- ↑ United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2019). World Population Prospects 2019, Online Edition. United Nations.
- ↑ Branko Milanovic (1998). Income, Inequality and Poverty during the Transition from Planned to Market Economy. [PDF] Washington, D.C.: World Bank.
- ↑ Alec Luhn (2015-05-21). "Ukraine bans Soviet symbols and criminalises sympathy for communism" The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-12-30.
- ↑ John Ross (2022-09-13). "The United States Is Waging a New Cold War: A Socialist Perspective" Tricontinental. Archived from the original on 2022-11-04. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
- ↑ "Ukraine court confirms ban on the Communist Party, orders its property's seizure" (2022-07-06). In Defense of Communism. Retrieved 2022-07-06.
- ↑ Wayne Cristaudo (2022-11-01). "The Narrative of Sham Elections" The Postil Magazine. Archived from the original on 2022-11-17. Retrieved 2022-12-01.
- ↑ Joshua Keating (2024-02-22). "Are Ukraine’s defenses starting to crumble?" Vox. Retrieved 2024-03-16.
- ↑ Erin Snodgrass (2023-11-07). "The average age of Ukrainian soldier is older than 40 as the country grapples with personnel problems" Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
- ↑ "AGREEMENT between the DoD and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine". Archived from the original.
- ↑ "China urges U.S. to disclose more details about biolabs in Ukraine" (08-Mar-2022). CGTN.
- ↑ Regis Tremblay and Vladimir Kozin (2022-06-14). "Russia Demands Answers on US Biolabs in Ukraine - The Narrative is Crumbling" Regis Tremblay.
- ↑ "SBU: No US biological laboratories in Ukraine" (May 8, 2020).
- ↑ "U.S. acknowledges existence of bio research facilities in Ukraine" (09-Mar-2022). CGTN.
- ↑ Neli Esipova, Julie Ray (2013-12-19). "Former Soviet Countries See More Harm From Breakup" Gallup. Retrieved 2021-12-30.
- ↑ End of Communism Cheered but Now with More Reservations (2009).
- ↑ C. J. Atkins (2022-03-07). "Ukrainian Communist youth leaders arrested by government, reportedly targeted for death" People's World.