Ukraine

2025-08-12T19:49:40Z

24.105.221.11: modified spelling of kyiv in an image description to be consistent with the rest of the page

{{Infobox country|name=Ukraine|native_name=Україна|image_flag=Flag of Ukraine.svg|image_map=Ukraine map disputed.png|map_width=290|map_caption=Claimed territories controlled by Russia in light green. Claims are recognized by the UN.|official_languages=Ukrainian|demonym=Ukrainian|largest_city=Kyiv|image_coat=Ukrainian coat of arms.svg|capital=Kyiv|government_type=Unitary semi-presidential republic under a [[dictatorship of the bourgeoisie]]|mode_of_production=[[Capitalism]]|leader_title1=President|leader_name1=[[Volodymyr Zelensky]]|leader_title2=Prime Minister|leader_name2=[[Denys Shmyhal]]|leader_title3=Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada|leader_name3=[[Ruslan Stefanchuk]]|area_km2=603,628|population_estimate=33,365,000|population_estimate_year=2024|legislature=Verkhovna Rada|established_event1=Secession from USSR|established_date1=1991 August 24|established_event2=[[Orange Revolution]]|established_date2=22 November 2004|established_event3=[[Euromaidan coup]]|established_date3=2014 February 22}}
'''Ukraine''' is a country in [[Eastern Europe]], the second largest on the continent in terms of area after [[Russian Federation|Russia]]. It borders Russia to the east, [[Republic of Belarus|Belarus]] to the north, [[Republic of Poland|Poland]], [[Slovak Republic|Slovakia]] and [[Hungary]] to the west and [[Romania]], [[Republic of Moldova|Moldova]], and the partially recognised state of [[Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic|Pridnestrovie]] to the southwest. It has previously been part of [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russian Empire]] and the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|USSR]] as the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1919–1991)|Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]]. Ukraine, together with [[Republic of Belarus|Belarus]] and the leadership of the then [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1917–1991)|RSFSR]] played a central role in the dissolution of the USSR. Modern Ukraine is an [[Imperialism|imperialist]] state that has been fighting a [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization|NATO]] proxy [[2022 Russo-Ukrainian conflict|war against Russia]] since 2022.

Current [[Socialism|socialist]] and [[Communism|communist]] political parties in Ukraine include the [[Communist Party of Ukraine]] and the [[Union of Communists of Ukraine]].

== History ==

=== Kievan rus ===
{{Main article|Kievan Rus' (880–1240)}}

=== Foreign domination ===
[[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Poland]] and [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|Lithuania]] began annexing parts of what is now Ukraine in the 14th century and completed the annexation in 1569. [[Russian Tsardom|Russia]] and Poland partitioned the region in 1667. In the late 18th century, Russia conquered most of Poland, including Ukraine, while [[Austrian Empire|Austria]] occupied Western Galicia.<ref name=":02">{{Citation|author=Albert Szymanski|year=1984|title=Human Rights in the Soviet Union|chapter=The European Nationalities in the USSR|page=83–84|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzaceazdmtb2y3qq27fve5ib3gk7uv2unt6ae2xss74xmfpur7k5uhl5m?filename=Albert%20Szymanski%20-%20Human%20Rights%20in%20the%20Soviet%20Union_%20Including%20Comparisons%20with%20the%20U.S.A.-Zed%20Books%20Ltd.%20%281984%29.pdf|city=London|publisher=Zed Books Ltd|isbn=0862320186|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=C597B1232D9EA6B0F3DCB438D7E15A81}}</ref>

=== Russian revolution and civil war ===
In January 1918, Ukraine declared independence, forming the [[Ukrainian National Republic (1917–1920)|Ukrainian National Republic]], and allowed [[German Empire (1871–1918)|German]] and [[Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (1867–1918)|Austrian]] troops to enter and expel the [[Workers' and Peasants' Red Army|Red Army]]. In 1919 and 1920, there was a civil war between communists, [[White Army|monarchists]], [[Ukrainian Free Territory|anarchists]], nationalists, and invading [[Republic of Poland (1918–1939)|Polish]] forces. A peace treaty in 1921 ceded the western third of Ukraine to Poland, but Polish forces were defeated in the east.<ref name=":02" />

=== Soviet era ===
{{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 [[German Reich (1933–1945)|Nazi Germany]]. The [[Fascism|fascist]] [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists]] fought against the Soviet Union during the war and continued some armed actions until the early 1950s.<ref name=":02" /> Between 10 and 13 million Ukrainians died during the war, and Germany [[Slavery|enslaved]] 2.2–2.5 million more.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Ron Ridenour|newspaper=[[CovertAction Magazine]]|title=Does Iceland Set Benchmark for Peaceful and Politically Engaged People?|date=2022-06-17|url=https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/06/17/does-iceland-set-benchmark-for-peaceful-and-politically-engaged-people/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220702055647/https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/06/17/does-iceland-set-benchmark-for-peaceful-and-politically-engaged-people/|archive-date=2022-07-02|retrieved=2023-01-07}}</ref>

[[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.<ref>{{News citation|date=1991-08-24|title=Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine|newspaper=Verkhnovna Rada of Ukraine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930203430/http://gska2.rada.gov.ua:7777/site/postanova_eng/Rres_Declaration_Independence_rev12.htm|archive-date=2009-09-30}}</ref> After seceding, [[Leonid Kuchma]] and [[Leonid Kravchuk]] began mass privatization programs.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=Evan Reif|newspaper=[[CovertAction Magazine]]|title=What the U.S. Government and The New York Times Have Quietly Agreed Not to Tell You About Ukraine|date=2022-07-29|url=https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/07/29/what-the-u-s-government-and-the-new-york-times-have-quietly-agreed-not-to-tell-you-about-ukraine/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220804035237/https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/07/29/what-the-u-s-government-and-the-new-york-times-have-quietly-agreed-not-to-tell-you-about-ukraine/|archive-date=2022-08-04|retrieved=2022-08-06}}</ref> Their neoliberal policies decreased life expectancy by three years, which did not recover until 2010,<ref>{{Citation|author=United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division|year=2019|title=World Population Prospects 2019, Online Edition|title-url=https://population.un.org/wpp/Download/Files/1_Indicators%20(Standard)/EXCEL_FILES/3_Mortality/WPP2019_MORT_F07_1_LIFE_EXPECTANCY_0_BOTH_SEXES.xlsx|publisher=United Nations}}</ref> and poverty increased from 2% in the late 1980s to 63% in the mid-1990s.<ref>{{Citation|author=Branko Milanovic|year=1998|title=Income, Inequality and Poverty during the Transition from Planned to Market Economy|pdf=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321231809/https://www.gc.cuny.edu/CUNY_GC/media/CUNY-Graduate-Center/PDF/Centers/LIS/Milanovic/papers/Income_ineq_poverty_book.pdf|city=Washington, D.C.|publisher=World Bank}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":0" />

=== 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 of America|United States]] and wanted Ukraine to join NATO as quickly as possible. Viktor Yanukovych won the 2004 election by a narrow margin. [[Orange Revolution|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 Brzeziński|Zbigniew Brzezinski]] visited Kyiv and supported Yushchenko. Yushchenko won the second round of the election and took power.<ref name=":0" />

=== 2008 financial crisis ===
During the [[Great Recession|2008 financial crisis]], Russia cut gas supplies to Ukraine, unemployment tripled, and many banks 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%.<ref name=":0" />

=== 2014 coup d'état ===
[[File:Euromaidan building.png|thumb|Trade union building in Odessa destroyed in the 2014 coup]]
[[File:Ukronazis.png|thumb|[[Neo-Nazism|Neo-Nazis]] in Kyiv]]
In 2014, the [[International Monetary Fund|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.<ref name=":0" />

In 2014, the United States of America helped finance and arm the [[2014 Ukrainian coup d'etat|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 [[Neo-Nazism|Nazism]] in Ukraine, especially in the government of Ukraine, two regions ([[Donetsk People's Republic|Donetsk]] and [[Luhansk People's Republic|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 [[State Anthem of the Soviet Union|anthem of the USSR]] may be sent to prison for up to five years.<ref>{{News citation|journalist=Alec Luhn|date=2015-05-21|title=Ukraine bans Soviet symbols and criminalises sympathy for communism|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/21/ukraine-bans-soviet-symbols-criminalises-sympathy-for-communism|newspaper=The Guardian|archive-url=|archive-date=|retrieved=2012-12-30}}</ref> The coup led to reduced social spending in Ukraine and increase of over 400% in the military budget.<ref>{{Web citation|author=John Ross|newspaper=[[Tricontinental]]|title=The United States Is Waging a New Cold War: A Socialist Perspective|date=2022-09-13|url=https://thetricontinental.org/the-united-states-is-waging-a-new-cold-war-a-socialist-perspective/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104225555/https://thetricontinental.org/the-united-states-is-waging-a-new-cold-war-a-socialist-perspective/|archive-date=2022-11-04|retrieved=2022-11-19}}</ref>

=== 2022 Russo-Ukrainian conflict ===
{{Main article|2022 Russo-Ukrainian conflict}}
In 2022, Ukraine banned the Communist Party of Ukraine and ordered the seizure of its funds and assets.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=[[In Defense of Communism]]|title=Ukraine court confirms ban on the Communist Party, orders its property's seizure|date=2022-07-06|url=http://www.idcommunism.com/2022/07/ukraine-court-confirms-ban-on-communist-party-orders-its-property-seizure.html|retrieved=2022-07-06}}</ref> In September 2022, the Donetsk and Lugansk regions and the Ukrainian oblasts of Kherson and Zaporozhye voted to join [[Russian Federation|Russia]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=Wayne Cristaudo|newspaper=The Postil Magazine|title=The Narrative of Sham Elections|date=2022-11-01|url=https://www.thepostil.com/the-narrative-of-sham-elections/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221117121827/https://www.thepostil.com/the-narrative-of-sham-elections/|archive-date=2022-11-17|retrieved=2022-12-01}}</ref>

Despite the massive western propaganda, the defences of Ukraine are starting to crumble.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Joshua Keating|newspaper=Vox|title=Are Ukraine’s defenses starting to crumble?|date=2024-02-22|url=https://www.vox.com/2024/2/22/24079595/avdiivka-ukraine-russia-war-artillery|retrieved=2024-03-16}}</ref> The average age of an Ukrainian soldier is over 40 years old as of November 2023.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Erin Snodgrass|newspaper=Business Insider|title=The average age of Ukrainian soldier is older than 40 as the country grapples with personnel problems|date=2023-11-07|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/average-age-ukrainian-soldier-43-amid-personnel-problems-2023-11|retrieved=2024-03-24}}</ref>

== 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 [[United States Department of Defense|USA Department of Defense]] to control various biological research facilities in Ukraine.<ref>{{News citation|title=AGREEMENT between the DoD and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine|url=https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/05-829-Ukraine-Weapons.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303132406/https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/05-829-Ukraine-Weapons.pdf}}</ref> Since then the USA's military has opened 26 biological research facilities in Ukraine.<ref>{{News citation|date=08-Mar-2022|title=China urges U.S. to disclose more details about biolabs in Ukraine|url=https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-03-08/China-urges-U-S-to-disclose-details-about-biolabs-in-Ukraine-18eA7VpwQRG/index.html|newspaper=CGTN}}</ref><ref>{{News citation|author=[[Regis Tremblay]] and [[Vladimir Kozin]]|newspaper=[[Regis Tremblay]]|title=Russia Demands Answers on US Biolabs in Ukraine - The Narrative is Crumbling|date=2022-06-14|url=https://youtu.be/p1mbjqoVkTA}}</ref>

The Security Service of Ukraine denied the existence of such research facilities in 2020<ref>{{News citation|date=May 8, 2020|title=SBU: No US biological laboratories in Ukraine|url=https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/sbu-no-us-biological-laboratories-in-ukraine.html}}</ref>, before their existence being later confirmed by USA Under Secretary [[Victoria Nuland]].<ref>{{News citation|date=09-Mar-2022|title=U.S. acknowledges existence of bio research facilities in Ukraine|url=https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-03-09/U-S-acknowledges-existence-of-bio-research-facilities-in-Ukraine-18gyZt3PWww/index.html|newspaper=CGTN}}</ref>

== Soviet nostalgia ==
{{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.<ref>{{News citation|journalist=Neli Esipova, Julie Ray|date=2013-12-19|title=Former Soviet Countries See More Harm From Breakup|url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/166538/former-soviet-countries-harm-breakup.aspx|newspaper=Gallup|archive-url=|archive-date=|retrieved=2021-12-30}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=|year=2009|title=End of Communism Cheered but Now with More Reservations|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=|title-url=https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2009/11/02/end-of-communism-cheered-but-now-with-more-reservations/|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> Ukrainian communist leaders have been arrested and are likely to be executed by the anti-communist Kiev regime.<ref>{{News citation|journalist=C. J. Atkins|date=2022-03-07|title=Ukrainian Communist youth leaders arrested by government, reportedly targeted for death|url=https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/ukrainian-communist-youth-leaders-reportedly-arrested-by-government-targeted-for-death/|newspaper=[[People's World]]}}</ref>

== History ==
[[Category:Countries]]
[[Category:Imperialist countries]]
[[Category:European countries]]
<references />
[[Category:Countries targeted by CIA coups]]

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