The Southeastern European country consists mainly of fertile black soil steppes. Mountain ranges are the Carpathians in the southwest and the Crimean chain in the south. Ukraine has borders with Belarus, Russia, the Black Sea, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland.
Between the mountain ranges lies the heartland of Ukraine, approximately the size of France. It is a rich flat region stretching for 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles), known as the steppe. Ukraine used to be called the breadbasket of the Soviet Union, and it still has vast grain fields, but it also has huge deposits of coal and iron for its heavy industry.

National name: Ukrayina

Capital: Kyiv (Kiev), 3,296,100 (metropolitan area), 2,618,000 (city proper)
Other large cities: Kharkiv, 1,435,200; Odessa, 1,022,300; Donetsk, 984,900; Lvov, 700,100

Total area: 233,090 sq mi (603,700 sq km)

Population: 47,110,000
Life expectancy: 70.0

Form of Government: Constitutional republic.

Economy

Industry: coal, electric power, ferrous and nonferrous metals, machinery and transport equipment.
Agriculture: grain, sugar beets, sunflower seed; beef.
Exports: ferrous and nonferrous metals, fuel and petroleum products, chemicals, machinery and transport equipment.
Monetary unit: Hryvna
GDP per Capita: USD 4,500

People

Ethnic Groups: Ukrainian 77.8%, Russian 17.3%, Belorussian 0.6%, Moldovan 0.5%, Crimean Tatar 0.5%, Bulgarian 0.4%, Hungarian 0.3%, Romanian 0.3%, Polish 0.3%, Jewish 0.2%, other 1.8% (2001)
Languages: Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian
Religions: Ukrainian Orthodox, Ukrainian Greek Catholic 6%, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox 2%, Protestant, Jewish, none 38%