History UsefulNotes / Ukraine

* Yulia Tymoshenko, the country's former PM. Considered one of the sexiest female politicians in the world, a fact she uses, she once posed in designer dresses for the local version of ''{{Elle}}'' magazine (during her first premiership) and commented that she'd like to pose for ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}''. You may know her best from her role as TokenEvilTeammate in ''Manga/TheLegendOfKoizumi''.

** Chairman of Parliament: Dmytro Razumkov

\\

[[AC:TV Series:]]
* ''Series/ServantOfThePeople'' is a 2015 WorkCom about an idealistic history teacher becoming the president of the country. Became reality in 2019 with the main actor Volodymyr Zelenskyy becoming the sixth President of Ukraine.
* Episode 2 of ''Series/TheBrave'' is set in 2017 eastern Ukraine as the SOG team searches for a CIA agent who is being hunted by Ukrainian rebels and their Russian handlers.
* ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'', a 2019 miniseries about the lives of the staff and workers of the Chernobyl nuclear plant right up until the disaster in 1986.

* ''ComicBook/{{Cossacks}}'', a French comic book about a young early 17th century Lithuanian Hussar from the UsefulNotes/PolishLithuanianCommonwealth who deserts the Polish army to join a group of Ukrainian Cossacks and [[GoingNative live among them]].

A notable recent event was the 2004 Orange Revolution, where peaceful demonstrations forced the re-run of a questionable election and changed the government from pro-Russian to pro-Western (later elections changed it back, but were more peaceful). Another event of note was Ukraine holding the Euro-2012 football championship, along with Poland, and preparations for the event were painstakingly made. The most notable event in Ukraine of the 2010s so far has been the semi-violent[[note]]By which we mean, there was shooting, but nothing resembling military operations, and the old leadership wasn't gunned down[[/note]] revolution of 2014 which overthrew the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych; this episode is called the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euromaidan Euromaidan]], i.e. "Europe Square" (because the triggering event was Yanukovych rejecting a deal with UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion to take a deal with the Russians, and the first protest gatherings began on the aprly-named European Square in Kyiv) and is also known as "The Revolution of Dignity". In response, Russia annexed Crimea and started stirring up trouble in Eastern Ukraine; Wiki/TheOtherWiki has dubbed this [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Crimean_crisis the Crimean Crisis]]. For its part, Crimea seems indifferent or possibly happy to be part of Russia ([[EverythingExceptMostThings except for the native Crimean Tatars]], who have terrible memories of Russian occupation; [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_of_the_Crimean_Tatars the last time they had to deal with a Russian government]], Stalin sent them all to Central Asia), while most surveys say that Eastern Ukraine is indifferent or possibly happy to remain a (prickly) part of Ukraine (protesters aside). Or rather they ''were''. After protesters took over several regions of Eastern Ukraine, a full-on undeclared war broke out (originally commonly known as the ATO for "Anti-Terrorist Operation" but since officially renamed "Joint Forces Operation") that only seems to have calmed down with the current Minsk treaty. Oh, and "calmed down" here means that the front line didn't move significantly in either direction, but the combat itself never ceased, and there's no end in sight, with reports of losses, shootings, assaults, etc arriving every day. Despite massive amounts of evidence to the contrary (as well as witness reports), Russia has claimed to have no part in the conflict for years, instead pushing the narrative of the conflict being a "civil war" and attempting to position itself as a mediator, only to start gradually dropping all pretense in favor of ''very'' thinly veiled threats of complete military invasion by late 2021.

A notable recent event was the 2004 Orange Revolution, where peaceful demonstrations forced the re-run of a questionable election and changed the government from pro-Russian to pro-Western (later elections changed it back, but were more peaceful). Another event of note was Ukraine holding the Euro-2012 football championship, along with Poland, and preparations for the event were painstakingly made. The most notable event in Ukraine of the 2010s so far has been the semi-violent[[note]]By which we mean, there was shooting, but nothing resembling military operations, and the old leadership wasn't gunned down[[/note]] revolution of 2014 which overthrew the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych; this episode is called the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euromaidan Euromaidan]], i.e. "Europe Square" (because the triggering event was Yanukovych rejecting a deal with UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion to take a deal with the Russians, and the first protest gatherings began on the aprly-named European Square in Kyiv) and is also known as "The Revolution of Dignity". In response, Russia annexed Crimea and started stirring up trouble in Eastern Ukraine; Wiki/TheOtherWiki has dubbed this [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Crimean_crisis the Crimean Crisis]]. For its part, Crimea seems indifferent or possibly happy to be part of Russia ([[EverythingExceptMostThings except for the native Crimean Tatars]], who have terrible memories of Russian occupation; [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_of_the_Crimean_Tatars the last time they had to deal with a Russian government]], Stalin sent them all to Central Asia), while most surveys say that Eastern Ukraine is indifferent or possibly happy to remain a (prickly) part of Ukraine (protesters aside). Or rather they ''were''. After protesters took over several regions of Eastern Ukraine, a full-on undeclared war broke out (originally commonly known as the ATO for "Anti-Terrorist Operation" but since officially renamed "Joint Forces Operation") that only seems to have calmed down with the current Minsk treaty. Oh, and "calmed down" here means that the front line didn't move significantly in either direction, but the combat itself never ceased, and there's no end in sight, with reports of losses, shootings, assaults, etc arriving every day. Despite massive amounts of evidence to the contrary (as well as witness reports), Russia has claimed to have no part in the conflict for years, instead pushing the narrative of the conflict being a "civil war" and attempting to position itself as a mediator, only to start gradually dropping all pretense in favor of ''very'' thinly veiled threats of complete military invasion by late 2021; war finally broke out in February 2022. Currently, a half of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, including both titular cities, remain out of the central government's reach.

Ukraine is a developing country and an emerging market. Until recently, the country was known as the "breadbasket of Europe" due to its abundance of fertile farmland. However, the long period of Soviet rule transformed the country into an industrial powerhouse, which remains today. The fall of communism dealt a heavy blow on the overall economic conditions that it never really recovered from (according to the IMF, Ukraine is currently the second-poorest country in Europe, just ahead of UsefulNotes/{{Moldova}} and below the likes of UsefulNotes/{{Albania}} and UsefulNotes/{{Bosnia}}, both experiencing similar downturn related to the fall of communism) and the War in Donbas then the Russian invasion have not made things any brighter.

* Ukraine used to have one of the biggest Jewish populations in Europe, second only to UsefulNotes/{{Poland}}. Before World War II, it's estimated that the country hosted around 2.7 million Jews. The Holocaust wiped out about 70% of that. The combination of Soviet persecution, assimilation, intermarriage, and immigration following UsefulNotes/HoleInFlag caused what remained of the community to plummet to between 71,500 to 400,000 strong depending on population estimates. The country's current president, comedian-turned-politician UsefulNotes/VolodymyrZelenskyy, is Jewish. In the past, Ukraine also had a Jewish prime minister, Volodymyr Grossman (2016-2019), and, for the brief period of time their tenures overlapped, Ukraine was one of the only two nations in the world alongside UsefulNotes/{{Israel}} to have both heads of state and government of Jewish descent.

* The Klitschko brothers, Vitali and Wladimir, some of the greatest heavyweight boxers ever and very well known ones in that sport -- Vitali mainly held the WBC belt, and Wladimir the IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring Magazine ones. They promised their mother they would never fight, hence a single one of them never unified the belts. Vitali became a politician, taking a seat in Parliament, and was a major leader of the Euromaidan, and briefly ran for president in 2014 before withdrawing and endorsing Petro Poroshenko for the post. Vitali is currently the Mayor of Kyiv. Wladimir focused more fully on his boxing career, and broke several records, including the most opponents beaten in title matches and the longest heavyweight champion reign. Wladimir retired from boxing at the end of 2017, following a fantastic (though losing) effort against current unified champion Anthony Joshua at the age of 41, and enlisted in the Ukrainian armed forces during the 2022 Russian invasion of his country.

* UsefulNotes/VolodymyrZelenskyy, a showman and actor (of the ''Series/ServantOfThePeople'' fame), and the current President of Ukraine since 2019. His show is a notable case of LifeImitatesArt, and he now has the task of leading Ukraine's people in the war against the Russian invasion that started in February 2022.

** President: UsefulNotes/VolodymyrZelenskyy

Another controversy is the spelling of the capital. "Kiev" was the romanization of the ''Russian'' spelling, while "Kyiv" is the romanization of the Ukrainian spelling. Since independence, Ukrainians made it a point that English-speakers should write it as "Kyiv" - even passing legislation to that effect. Accordingly most political organizations, such as the US government and the United Nations, spelled it as "Kyiv" on official documents. "Kiev" remained in widespread colloquial use among English-speakers until the 2014 war in Donbas, when most major western English news sources gradually switched to "Kyiv", seemingly as a gesture of solidarity. This applies to other names as well, such as the river "Dnipro" vs "Dnieper."

* Ukraine used to have one of the biggest Jewish populations in Europe, second only to UsefulNotes/{{Poland}}. Before World War II, it's estimated that the country hosted around 2.7 million Jews. The Holocaust wiped out about 70% of that. The combination of Soviet persecution, assimilation, intermarriage, and immigration following UsefulNotes/HoleInFlag caused what remained of the community to plummet to between 71,500 to 400,000 strong depending on population estimates. The country's current president, comedian-turned-politician Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is Jewish. In the past, Ukraine also had a Jewish prime minister, Volodymyr Grossman (2016-2019), and, for the brief period of time their tenures overlapped, Ukraine was one of the only two nations in the world alongside Israel to have both heads of state and government of Jewish descent.

* '''Lowest point:''' Kuyalnik Estuary (−5 m/−16 ft) (27th)

->The coat of arms was adopted in 1992 and it is the same design used by Volodymyr the Great.

* Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a showman and actor (of the ''Series/ServantOfThePeople'' fame), and the current President of Ukraine since 2019. His show is a notable case of LifeImitatesArt, and he now has the task of leading Ukraine's people in the war against the Russian invasion that started in February 2022.

** President: Volodymyr Zelenskyy

!!Famous Ukrainians include:

* Volodimir Zelenskiy, a showman, an actor (of the ''Series/ServantOfThePeople'' fame), and the current President of Ukraine since 2019.

* The Klitschko brothers, Vitali and Wladimir, some of the greatest heavyweight boxers ever and very well known ones in that sport -- Vitali mainly held the WBC belt, and Wladimir the IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring Magazine ones. They promised their mother they would never fight, hence a single one of them never unified the belts. Vitali became a politician, taking a seat in Parliament, and was a major leader of the Euromaidan, and briefly ran for president in 2014 before withdrawing and endorsing Petro Poroshenko for the post. Vitali is currently the Mayor of Kyiv. Wladimir focused more fully on his boxing career, and broke several records, including the most opponents beaten in title matches and the longest heavyweight champion reign. Wladimir retired from boxing at the end of 2017, following a fantastic (though losing) effort against current unified champion Anthony Joshua at the age of 41.

Before Crimea was annexed by Russia (and before pro-Russian governments were ousted), the Russians used to lease a naval base there in Sevastopol. The Ukrainian parliament used to have one brawl per year ([[BloodOnTheDebateFloor literally]], with fists flying and things being thrown) over whether to let them stay. The Ukrainian parliament usually has additional brawls each year over other issues; it's that kind of government. Now that Russia controls the entire peninsula and has attacked Ukraine, it's a moot point.

Ukraine is a developing country and an emerging market. Until recently, the country was known as the "breadbasket of Europe" due to its abundance of fertile farmland. However, the long period of Soviet rule transformed the country into an industrial powerhouse, which remains today. The fall of communism dealt a heavy blow on the overall economic conditions that it never really recovered from (according to the IMF, Ukraine is currently the second-poorest country in Europe, just ahead of UsefulNotes/{{Moldova}} and below the likes of UsefulNotes/{{Albania}} and UsefulNotes/{{Bosnia}}, both experiencing similar downturn related to the fall of communism) and the War in Donbas has not made anything brighter.

Before Crimea was annexed by Russia, the Russians used to lease a naval base there in Sevastopol. The Ukrainian parliament used to have one brawl per year ([[BloodOnTheDebateFloor literally]], with fists flying and things being thrown) over whether to let them stay. The Ukrainian parliament usually has additional brawls each year over other issues; it's that kind of government. Now that Russia controls the entire peninsula, it's a moot point.

* Ukraine used to have one of the biggest Jewish populations in Europe, second only to UsefulNotes/{{Poland}}. Before World War II, it's estimated that the country hosted around 2.7 million Jews. The Holocaust wiped out about 70% of that and the UsefulNotes/HoleInFlag did the rest. The community is now about 71,500 to 400,000 strong depending on population estimates. The country's current president, comedian-turned-politician Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is Jewish. In the past, Ukraine also had a Jewish prime minister, Volodymyr Grossman (2016-2019), and, for the brief period of time their tenures overlapped, Ukraine was one of the only two nations in the world alongside Israel to have both heads of state and government of Jewish descent.

* Ukraine used to have one of the biggest Jewish populations in Europe, second only to UsefulNotes/{{Poland}}. Before World War II, it's estimated that the country hosted around 2.7 million Jews. The Holocaust wiped out about 70% of that and the UsefulNotes/HoleInFlag did the rest. The community is now about 71,500 to 400,000 strong depending on population estimates. The country's current president, comedian-turned-politician Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish. In the past, Ukraine also had a Jewish prime minister, Volodymyr Grossman (2016-2019), and, for the brief period of time their tenures overlapped, Ukraine was one of the only two nations in the world alongside Israel to have both heads of state and government of Jewish descent.

* ''Series/ServantOfThePeople'' is a 2015 WorkCom about an idealistic history teacher becoming the president of the country. Became reality in 2019 with the main actor Volodymyr Zelensky becoming the sixth President of Ukraine.

** President: Volodymyr Zelensky

Emotions can run high when discussing the history between Russia and Ukraine, especially when you do it in front of [[PatrioticFervor nationalists]]. Some Russian nationalists see Ukraine as a part of Russia which is not and never was its own state. Conversely, some Ukrainian nationalists see Ukraine as completely unrelated and culturally superior to Russians. During the [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Nazi German]] occupation, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_of_Ukrainian_Nationalists a particularly radical bunch of Ukrainian nationalists, OUN,]] [[LesCollaborateurs infamously cooperated with the Nazi authorities]] all in the name of breaking away from the Soviet Union, in the process campaigning for ethnic cleansing of both Poles and Russians in their territory (though it should be noted that this was not an unusual event in the Eastern Front; see UsefulNotes/{{Romania}}'s [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Guard Iron Guard]] and UsefulNotes/{{Croatia}}'s [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ustashe Ustaše]], which if anything were even worse. Another important note is that the majority of OUN fought against the Nazis as soon as it became aparent there was no place for independent Ukraine in their genocidal vision).

A notable recent event was the 2004 Orange Revolution, where peaceful demonstrations forced the re-run of a questionable election and changed the government from pro-Russian to pro-Western (later elections changed it back, but were more peaceful). Another event of note was Ukraine holding the Euro-2012 football championship, along with Poland, and preparations for the event were painstakingly made. The most notable event in Ukraine of the 2010s so far has been the semi-violent[[note]]By which we mean, there was shooting, but nothing resembling military operations, and the old leadership wasn't gunned down[[/note]] revolution of 2014 which overthrew the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych; this episode is called the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euromaidan Euromaidan]], i.e. "Europe Square" (because the triggering event was Yanukovych rejecting a deal with UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion to take a deal with the Russians, and the first protest gatherings began on the aprly-named European Square in Kyiv) and is also known as "The Revolution of Dignity". In response, Russia annexed Crimea and started stirring up trouble in Eastern Ukraine; Wiki/TheOtherWiki has dubbed this [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Crimean_crisis the Crimean Crisis]]. For its part, Crimea seems indifferent or possibly happy to be part of Russia ([[EverythingExceptMostThings except for the native Crimean Tatars]], who have terrible memories of Russian occupation; [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_of_the_Crimean_Tatars the last time they had to deal with a Russian government]], Stalin sent them all to Central Asia), while most surveys say that Eastern Ukraine is indifferent or possibly happy to remain a (prickly) part of Ukraine (protesters aside). Or rather they ''were''. After protesters took over several regions of Eastern Ukraine, a full-on undeclared war broke out (originally commonly known as the ATO for "Anti-Terrorist Operation" but since officially renamed "Joint Forces Operation") that only seems to have calmed down with the current Minsk treaty. Oh, and "calmed down" here means that the front line didn't move significantly in either direction, but the combat itself never ceased, and there's no end in sight, with reports of losses, shootings, assaults, etc arriving every day. Despite massive amounts of evidence to the contrary (as well as witness reports), Russia has claimed to have no part in the conflict for years, instead pushing the narrative of the conflict being a "civil war" and attempting to position itself as a mediator, only to start gradually dropping all pretense in favor of ''very'' thinly veiled threats of complete military invasion by late 2021. Currently, a half of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, including both titular cities, remain out of the central government's reach.

* Ukraine used to have one of the biggest Jewish populations in Europe, second only to UsefulNotes/{{Poland}}. Before World War II, it's estimated that the country hosted around 2.7 million Jews. The Holocaust wiped out about 70% of that and the UsefulNotes/HoleInFlag did the rest. The community is now about 71,500 to 400,000 strong depending on population estimates. The country's current president, comedian-turned-politician Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish. In the past, Ukraine also had a Jewish prime minister, Volodymyr Grossman (2016-2019), and, for the brief period of time their tenures overlapped, Ukraine was one of the only two nations in the world alongisde Israel to have both heads of state and government of jewish descent.

A notable recent event was the 2004 Orange Revolution, where peaceful demonstrations forced the re-run of a questionable election and changed the government from pro-Russian to pro-Western (later elections changed it back, but were more peaceful). Another event of note was Ukraine holding the Euro-2012 football championship, along with Poland, and preparations for the event were painstakingly made. The most notable event in Ukraine of the 2010s so far has been the semi-violent[[note]]By which we mean, there was shooting, but nothing resembling military operations, and the old leadership wasn't gunned down[[/note]] revolution of 2014 which overthrew the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych; this episode is called the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euromaidan Euromaidan]], i.e. "Europe Square" (because the triggering event was Yanukovych rejecting a deal with UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion to take a deal with the Russians, and the first protest gatehrings began on the aprly-named European Square in Kyiv) and is also known as "The Revolution of Dignity". In response, Russia annexed Crimea and started stirring up trouble in Eastern Ukraine; Wiki/TheOtherWiki has dubbed this [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Crimean_crisis the Crimean Crisis]]. For its part, Crimea seems indifferent or possibly happy to be part of Russia ([[EverythingExceptMostThings except for the native Crimean Tatars]], who have terrible memories of Russian occupation; [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_of_the_Crimean_Tatars the last time they had to deal with a Russian government]], Stalin sent them all to Central Asia), while most surveys say that Eastern Ukraine is indifferent or possibly happy to remain a (prickly) part of Ukraine (protesters aside). Or rather they ''were''. After protesters took over several regions of Eastern Ukraine, a full-on undeclared war broke out (originally commonly known as the ATO for "Anti-Terrorist Operation" but since officially renamed "Joint Forces Operation") that only seems to have calmed down with the current Minsk treaty. Oh, and "calmed down" here means that the front line didn't move significantly in either direction, but the combat itself never ceased, and there's no end in sight, with reports of losses, shootings, assaults, etc arriving every day. Despite massive amounts of evidence to the contrary (as well as witness reports), Russia has claimed to have no part in the conflict for years, instead pushing the narrative of the conflict being a "civil war" and attempting to position itself as a mediator, only to start gradually dropping all pretense in favor of ''very'' thinly veiled threats of complete military invasion by late 2021. Currently, a half of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, including both titular cities, remain out of the central government's reach.

Things get really ugly in 2022 when Russia recognizes the whole Donbas as an "independent country".