Portal:Ukraine
The Ukraine Portal - Портал України
Ukraine Україна (Ukrainian) | |
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| ISO 3166 code | UA |
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the north; Poland and Slovakia to the west; Hungary, Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to the south and southeast. Kyiv is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Kharkiv, Dnipro, and Odesa. Ukraine's official language is Ukrainian.
Humans have inhabited Ukraine since 32,000 BC. During the Middle Ages, it was the site of early Slavic expansion and later became a key centre of East Slavic culture under the state of Kievan Rus', which emerged in the 9th century. Kievan Rus' became the largest and most powerful realm in Europe in the 10th and 11th centuries, but gradually disintegrated into rival regional powers before being destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century. For the next 600 years the area was contested, divided, and ruled by a variety of external powers including the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Kingdom of Poland, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austrian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Tsardom of Russia.
The Cossack Hetmanate emerged in central Ukraine in the 17th century but was partitioned between Russia and Poland before being absorbed by the Russian Empire in the late 19th century. Ukrainian nationalism developed and, following the Russian Revolution in 1917, the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic was formed. The Bolsheviks consolidated control over much of the former empire and established the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922. In the early 1930s, millions of Ukrainians died in the Holodomor, a human-made famine. During World War II, Ukraine was occupied by Germany and endured major battles and atrocities, resulting in 7 million civilians killed, including most Ukrainian Jews.
Ukraine gained independence in 1991 as the Soviet Union dissolved and declared itself neutral. A new constitution was adopted in 1996 as the country transitioned to a free market liberal democracy amid endemic corruption and a legacy of state control. The Orange Revolution of 2004–2005 ushered electoral and constitutional reforms. Resurgent political crises prompted a series of mass demonstrations in 2014 known as the Euromaidan, leading to a revolution, at the end of which Russia unilaterally occupied and annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, and pro-Russian unrest culminated in a war in Donbas with Russian-backed separatists and Russia. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. (Full article...)
In the news
- 2 April 2025 – Russo-Ukrainian War
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Kharkiv strikes
- Russian forces target Kharkiv with at least 13 Geran-2 drones, causing fires in industrial and residential areas and injuring eight people, including a child. (Ukrainska Pravda)
- Kryvyi Rih strikes
- A Russian missile strike on an industrial park in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, kills at least four people and injures 14 others. (Reuters)
- 1 April 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Eastern front of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- The Russian ministry of defence says that Russian forces have captured Rozlyv in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. (Al Arabiya)
- 31 March 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Kharkiv strikes
- Six Russian drones hit Kyivskyi district of Kharkiv, Ukraine, damaging several buildings and injuring three people. (Ukrainska Pravda)
- 29 March 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Kharkiv strikes
Recognized content - 
Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.
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The Caspian expeditions of the Rus' were military raids undertaken by the Rus' between the late 9th century and c. 1041 on the Caspian Sea shores, of what are nowadays Iran, Dagestan, and Azerbaijan. Initially, the Rus' appeared in Serkland in the 9th century travelling as merchants along the Volga trade route, selling furs, honey, and slaves. The first small-scale Viking raids took place in the late 9th and early 10th century. The Rus' undertook the first large-scale expedition in 913; having arrived on 500 ships, they pillaged in the Gorgan region, in the territory of present-day Iran, and more to the west, in Gilan and Mazandaran, taking slaves and goods. On their return, the northern raiders were attacked and defeated by the Khazars in the Volga Delta, and those who escaped were killed by the local tribes in the middle Volga.
During their next expedition in 943, the Rus' captured Bardha'a, the capital of Arran, in the modern-day Republic of Azerbaijan. The Rus' stayed there for several months, killing many inhabitants of the city and amassing substantial plunder. It was only an outbreak of dysentery among the Rus' that forced them to depart with their spoils. Sviatoslav, prince of Kiev, commanded the next attack, which destroyed the Khazar state in 965. Sviatoslav's campaign established the Rus's hold on the north-south trade routes, helping to alter the demographics of the region. Raids continued through the time period with the last Scandinavian attempt to reestablish the route to the Caspian Sea taking place in c. 1041 by Ingvar the Far-Travelled. (Full article...) -
Milena Markovna "Mila" Kunis (born August 14, 1983) is an American actress. Born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, and raised in Los Angeles, she was Jackie Burkhart on That '70s Show (1998–2006) and has voiced Meg Griffin on Family Guy since 1999.
Kunis's breakout film role was in the 2008 romantic comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall. She gained critical acclaim for her performance in the psychological thriller Black Swan (2010), receiving nominations for the SAG Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her other major films include the action films Max Payne (2008) and The Book of Eli (2010), the romantic comedy Friends with Benefits (2011), the fantasy film Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)—as the Wicked Witch of the West—and the comedies Ted (2012), Bad Moms (2016) and its sequel, A Bad Moms Christmas (2017). (Full article...) -
Andriivskyi Descent or Andrew's Descent (Ukrainian: Андріївський узвіз, Andriivs′kyi uzviz) is a historic descent connecting Kyiv's Upper Town neighborhood and the historically commercial Podil neighborhood. The street, often advertised by tour guides and operators as the "Montmartre of Kyiv", is a major tourist attraction of the city. It is included in the list of national landmarks by a government resolution. In addition, the street is also part of the Kyiv city historic reserve "Ancient Kyiv", while the St. Andrew's Church belongs to the National historic reserve "Sophia of Kyiv".
The descent, 720 metres (2,360 ft) in length, is constructed of laid cobblestones and connects Old Kyiv (Upper city) with Podil (Lower city). It starts at the end of Volodymyrska Street and winds down steeply around the Zamkova Hora hill, ending near the Kontraktova Square. Andrew's Descent is marked by some historic landmarks, including the Castle of Richard the Lionheart, the 18th century baroque Saint Andrew's Church, famed Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov's house, and numerous other monuments. (Full article...) -
Yaropolk Iziaslavich (died 22 November 1086/1087) was Prince of Turov and Prince of Volhynia from 1078 until his death.
The son of Grand Prince Iziaslav I of Kiev by a Polish princess named Gertruda, he is visible in papal sources by the early 1070s, but largely absent in contemporary domestic sources until his father's death in 1078. During his father's exile in the 1070s, Yaropolk can be found acting on his father's behalf in an attempt to gain the favor of the German emperors and the papal court of Pope Gregory VII. His father returned to Kiev in 1077 and Yaropolk followed. (Full article...) -
The UEFA Euro 2012 final was the final match of Euro 2012, the fourteenth edition of the European Championship, UEFA's competition for national football teams. The match was played at the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 1 July 2012, and was contested between defending champions Spain and Italy.
The sixteen-team tournament began with a group stage, from which eight teams qualified for the knockout stage. En route to the final, Spain finished top of Group C, with a draw against Italy and wins over Croatia and the Republic of Ireland. Spain then defeated France in the quarter-finals, and Portugal in the semi-finals on penalties. Italy were second in Group C, with draws against Spain and Croatia, and a victory over the Republic of Ireland. In the knockout stage, Italy defeated England on penalties in the quarter-finals, and Germany in the semi-finals. This was thus the fourth time that teams who played each other in the group stage faced off again in the Euro final (after 1988, 1996 and 2004). (Full article...) -
Prince Jeremi Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, nicknamed Hammer on the Cossacks (Polish: Młot na Kozaków), was a notable member of the aristocracy of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Prince of Vyshnivets, Lubny and Khorol in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the father of the future King of Poland, Michael I.
A notable magnate and military commander with Ruthenian and Moldavian origin, Wiśniowiecki was heir of one of the biggest fortunes of the state and rose to several notable dignities, including the position of voivode of the Ruthenian Voivodship (today Poland and Ukraine) in 1646. His conversion from Eastern Orthodoxy to Roman Catholicism caused much dissent in Ruthenian lands (part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth). Wiśniowiecki was a successful military leader as well as one of the wealthiest magnates of Poland, ruling over lands inhabited by 230,000 people. (Full article...) -
Elena Nestorovna Mikhnenko (Russian: Елена Несторовна Михненко; 1922–1993) was the daughter of the Ukrainian anarchist revolutionaries Nestor Makhno and Halyna Kuzmenko. Born in exile, she spent her early life in France, where she was living at the outbreak of World War II. Following the occupation of France, Mikhnenko was captured and conscripted into forced labour in Nazi Germany. She was subsequently arrested by Soviet state security, which first imprisoned her for "anti-Soviet agitation" and then exiled her to the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. She lived and worked in Kazakhstan for the rest of her life. (Full article...)
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The Nikopol–Krivoi Rog offensive (Russian: Никопольско-Криворожская наступательная операция) was an offensive by the Red Army's 3rd Ukrainian Front and elements of the 4th Ukrainian Front against the German 6th Army in the area of Nikopol and Krivoi Rog in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in central Ukraine between 30 January and 29 February 1944. It took place on the Eastern Front of World War II and was part of the wider Dnieper–Carpathian offensive, a Soviet attack against Army Group South to retake the rest of Ukraine that fell to Germany in 1941.
Following the Soviet advance to the Dnieper in the Battle of the Dnieper during late 1943, German forces managed to hold to the Nikopol bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnieper, the area of manganese ore mines of crucial importance to German war production that Adolf Hitler insisted on holding. (Full article...) -
Oleg (Old East Slavic: Ѡлегъ, romanized: Ōlegǔ, Ольгъ, Olǐgǔ; Old Norse: Helgi; died 912), also known as Oleg the Wise, was a Varangian prince of the Rus' who became prince of Kiev, and laid the foundations of the Kievan Rus' state.
According to the Primary Chronicle, he succeeded his "kinsman" Rurik as ruler of Novgorod, and subdued many of the East Slavic tribes to his rule, extending his control from Novgorod to the south along the Dnieper river. Oleg also launched a successful attack on Constantinople. He died in 912 and was succeeded by Rurik's son, Igor. (Full article...) -
House with Chimaeras (Ukrainian: Будинок з химерами, Budynok z khymeramy) or Horodetsky House (named for Władysław Horodecki) is an Art Nouveau building located in the historic Lypky neighborhood of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Situated across the street from the President of Ukraine's office at No. 10, Bankova Street, the building has been used as a presidential residence for official and diplomatic ceremonies since 2005. The street in front of the building is closed off to all automobile traffic, and is now a patrolled pedestrian zone due to its proximity to the Presidential Administration building.
The Polish architect Władysław Horodecki originally constructed the House with Chimaeras for use as his own upmarket apartment building during 1901–02. However, as the years went by, Horodecki eventually had to sell the building due to financial troubles, after which it changed ownership numerous times before finally being occupied by an official Communist Party polyclinic until the early 2000s. When the building was vacated, its interior and exterior decor were fully reconstructed and restored according to Horodecki's original plans. (Full article...) -
The Dvorichna settlement hromada (Ukrainian: Дворічанська селищна громада, romanized: Dvorichanska selyshchna hromada, Russian: Дворичанская поселковая община) is a hromada in the Kupiansk Raion, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. The hromada was created on 12 June 2020, and is centrally administered by the urban-type settlement of Dvorichna, being the local government for 55 settlements. The pre-war population of the hromada was small, and the economy was largely agriculture-based with little industry. As of 2024[update], the hromada remains about half occupied by Russian forces as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and has been severely depopulated because of a mandatory evacuation that has been issued for all civilians in recaptured areas. (Full article...) -
Milica Bogdanovna Jovović (/ˈjoʊvəvɪtʃ/ YOH-və-vitch; born December 17, 1975), known professionally as Milla Jovovich (MEE-lə), is an American actress and former fashion model. Her starring roles in numerous science-fiction and action films led the music channel VH1 to deem her the "reigning queen of kick-butt" in 2006. In 2004, Forbes determined that she was the highest-paid model in the world.
Born in Kiev and raised in Los Angeles, Jovovich began modeling when Herb Ritts photographed her for the cover of the Italian magazine Lei in 1987. Richard Avedon featured her in Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the World" advertisements. In 1988, she made her screen debut in the television film The Night Train to Kathmandu and appeared in her first feature film, Two Moon Junction. (Full article...) -
There are 37 populated places in Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine, that have been officially granted city status (Ukrainian: місто, romanized: misto) by the Verkhovna Rada, the country's parliament. Settlements with more than 10,000 people are eligible for city status, although the status is typically also granted to settlements of historical or regional importance. As of 5 December 2001, the date of the first and only official census in the country since independence, the most populous city in the oblast was the regional capital, Luhansk, with a population of 463,097 people, while the least populous city was Almazna, with 5,061 people. Almazna is also the most recent settlement to receive city status, having been granted the status by the Verkhovna Rada in 1977.
From independence in 1991 to 2020, 14 cities in the oblast were designated as cities of regional significance (municipalities), which had self-government under city councils, while the oblast's remaining 23 cities were located in 18 raions (districts) as cities of district significance, which are subordinated to the governments of the raions. On 18 July 2020, an administrative reform abolished and merged the oblast's raions and cities of regional significance into eight new, expanded raions. The eight raions that make up the oblast are Alchevsk, Dovzhansk, Luhansk, Rovenky, Shchastia, Siverskodonetsk, Starobilsk, and Svatove. After the enactment of decommunization laws, nine cities within the oblast were renamed in 2016 for their former names' connection to people, places, events, and organizations associated with the Soviet Union. The renamed cities are Bokovo-Khrustalne, Dovzhansk, Holubivka, Kadiivka, Khrustalnyi, Kypuche, Petrovo-Krasnosillia, Sorokyne, and Voznesenivka, which were previously named Vakhrusheve, Sverdlovsk, Kirovsk, Stakhanov, Krasnyi Luch, Artemivsk, Petrovske, Krasnodon, and Chervonopartyzansk, respectively. In 2024, following the passage of derussification laws, the cities Molodohvardiisk, Pervomaisk, and Sievierodonetsk were de jure renamed Otamanivka, Sokolohirsk, and Siverskodonetsk, respectively. (Full article...) -
George Bogdanovich Kistiakowsky (Russian: Георгий Богданович Кистяковский, Ukrainian: Георгій Богданович Кістяківський, romanized: Heorhii Bohdanovych Kistiakivskyi; December 1 [O.S. November 18] 1900 – December 7, 1982) was a Ukrainian-American physical chemistry professor at Harvard who participated in the Manhattan Project and later served as President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Science Advisor.
Born in Boyarka in the old Russian Empire, into "an old Ukrainian Cossack family which was part of the intellectual elite in pre-revolutionary Russia", Kistiakowsky fled his homeland during the Russian Civil War. He made his way to Germany, where he earned his PhD in physical chemistry under the supervision of Max Bodenstein at the University of Berlin. He emigrated to the United States in 1926, where he joined the faculty of Harvard University in 1930, and became a citizen in 1933. (Full article...) -
The Romanian Volunteer Corps in Russia (Romanian: Corpul Voluntarilor români din Rusia), or Volunteer Corps of Transylvanians-Bukovinians (Corpul Voluntarilor ardeleni-bucovineni, Corpul Voluntarilor transilvăneni și bucovineni), was a military formation of World War I, created from ethnic Romanian prisoners of war held by Russia. Officially established in February 1917, it comprised abjurers of the Austro-Hungarian Army, mainly contingents from Transylvania and Bukovina. These had been obliged to fight against Romania, and, once in Russian custody, volunteered for service against the Central Powers. As campaigners for self-determination and union with Romania, they passed political resolutions which, in both tone and scope, announced those adopted on Union Day 1918.
The Corps was effectively an active military reserve of the Romanian Land Forces, and regularly dispatched new units to the Romanian front after June 1917. It helped defend the last stretches of Romania against the Central Powers' unified offensive, and met success in the Battle of Mărășești, but it still lacked a unitary command structure. When the October Revolution in Russia and the Romanian armistice took Romania out of the Entente camp, the Corps was left without backing and purpose. However, it inspired the creation of similar units in Entente countries, most successfully the Romanian Volunteer Legion of Italy. (Full article...)
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Featured pictures
These are Featured pictures that the Wikimedia Commons community has chosen as the highest quality on the site.
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Painting: UnknownThe Adoration of the Shepherds is a common subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art. The scene, based on the Biblical account in Luke 2, depicts shepherds as near witnesses to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, arriving soon after the actual birth. It is often combined in art with the Adoration of the Magi, in which case it is typically just referred to by the latter title. The example here comes from 17th-century Ukraine and is currently held at the Ivan Honchar Museum. -
Photo credit: Peter DuhonUkrainian fashion model Nataliya Gotsiy modeling for Cynthia Rowley, Spring 2007 New York Fashion Week. She was the winner of the Ford Supermodel of the World 2004 search. She has appeared on the cover of French Elle and Italian Marie Claire and modeled for Behnaz Sarafpour, Christian Lacroix, Diane von Furstenberg, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Dries van Noten, Gucci, Oscar de la Renta, Valentino, and Vivienne Westwood, among others. -
Map credit: Nicolas de FerA 1691 French map of Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine, depicting the city's old town neighborhood and castle, surrounded by the winding Smotrych River. It was originally part of Kievan Rus' and annexed into the First Polish Republic, but at the time of the map's creation, the city was part of the Ottoman Empire. It shortly returned to Poland and later became part of the Russian Empire with the Second Partition of Poland in 1793. -
Photograph: Anatoly ShcherbakThe Royal Kurgan is a 4th century BC kurgan (burial barrow) located near present-day Kerch, Crimea. The mound is almost 20 metres high and its base perimeter is about 250 metres. It holds a burial chamber with a square floor plan which gradually merges into the circular shape of a corbelled dome ("false vault"). It is assumed that the Royal Kurgan was the final resting place of a ruler of the Bosporan Kingdom. -
A map showing caesium-137 contamination in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine (in curies per square kilometer) in 1996, ten years after the Chernobyl disaster struck the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The disaster contaminated 162,160 square kilometres (62,610 sq mi) of land and is widely considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history. -
Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin sitting together at the Yalta Conference, which took place February 4–11, 1945. The so-called "Big Three" met to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of Europe following World War II. Although a number of agreements were reached, Stalin broke his promises regarding Poland, and the Soviet Union annexed the regions of Eastern Europe it controlled, or converted them to satellite states. -
Photo: Noodle snacksMushrooms of Armillaria hinnulea, a species of honey fungus (or "pidpenky", from Ukrainian). Honey fungi are parasitic fungi that live on trees and woody shrubs. As a forest pathogen, it can be very destructive because unlike most parasites, it does not need to moderate its growth in order to avoid killing its host, since it will continue to thrive on the dead material. Honey fungi are long lived and form some of the largest living organisms in the world, including one that covers more than 3.4 sq mi (8.8 km2) and is thousands of years old. The mushrooms are edible, but can be easily confused with poisonous Galerina species, which can grow side-by-side with Armillaria. -
Photograph: George ChernilevskyThe ChS8 is an electric mainline passenger locomotive used in Russia and Ukraine. Built between 1983 and 1989, it was developed for pulling long passenger trains (28–32 carriages) at speeds of 100 kilometres per hour (60 mph) or faster. Since 2010 Russia has switched to more energy-efficient designs, such as the EP10 and EP20. -
Artist: William Simpson; Lithographer: Edmond Morin; Restoration: NativeForeignerA tinted lithograph, titled "Embarkation of the sick at Balaklava", shows injured and ill soldiers in the Crimean War boarding boats to take them to hospital facilities. Modern nursing had its roots in the war, as war correspondents for newspapers reported the scandalous treatment of wounded soldiers in the first desperate winter, prompting the pioneering work of women such as Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole, Frances Margaret Taylor and others. -
Photograph: AmakuhaThe burning of the Trade Unions Building—used as the headquarters of the Euromaidan movement—during the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, following a failed attempt by the Ukrainian police to capture the building. After the fire, the damaged building was covered with large canvas screens on two sides with the words "Glory to Ukraine" printed on them in large letters. -
Photograph credit: Max AlpertKombat (Russian for 'battalion commander') is a black-and-white photograph by Soviet photographer Max Alpert. It depicts a Soviet military officer, armed with a TT pistol, raising his unit for an attack during World War II. This work is regarded as one of the most iconic Soviet World War II photographs, yet neither the date nor the subject is known with certainty. According to the most widely accepted version, it depicts junior politruk Aleksei Gordeyevich Yeryomenko, minutes before his death on 12 July 1942, in Voroshilovgrad Oblast, now part of Ukraine. The photograph is in the archives of RIA Novosti, a Russian state-owned news agency. -
Artist: William Simpson; Restoration: NativeForeignerThe 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons and 5th Dragoon Guards engage the Russians in this lithograph of the "Charge of the Heavy Brigade", a short engagement during the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. Russian cavalry had attacked the British camp, but in roughly ten minutes of fighting, they suffered 40 to 50 killed and more than 200 wounded and were forced to retreat.
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Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that when public radio stations aired Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in solidarity with Ukraine on 10 March 2022, the bass voice of Anthony Robin Schneider was heard live from Frankfurt and recorded from Auckland?
- ... that Ukrainian Sheriffs went to summer school after being shot?
- ... that Sofia Halechko's first language was Polish, but she fought in World War One to create a country for Ukrainian-speaking people?
- ... that the Jihadist Burkinabè rebels' ongoing siege of Djibo has been described as a "Ukrainian death"?
- ... that in the history of opera in Ukraine, Mykola Lysenko's historical Taras Bulba was the first grand opera, but not performed during his lifetime because he refused a performance in Russian?
- ... that the first film written and directed by Marysia Nikitiuk has been called one of the "most iconic" works of modern Ukrainian cinema?
More did you know -
- ... that the married Western Ukrainian Clergy became a hereditary caste that dominated western Ukrainian society?
- ... that Vasyl Avramenko is often referred as "The father of the Ukrainian dance"?
- ... that among many historic landmarks at the Andrew's Descent in Kyiv, there is a medieval Gothic style castle that locals call the "Castle of Richard the Lion Heart" due to the legend the 12th century King of England had visited the building?
- ... that at its first years Kiev Zoo had to move its animals into the food storage of the main Kiev railway station for the winter?
- ... that the Privat Group is one of the few Ukrainian companies that own industries in the United States?
- ... that the longest of the Kiev bridges, the 1,543 metres long Paton Bridge over the Dnieper River, constructed in 1953 was the first fully welded steel construction of such length at that time?
Selected article -
Donetsk (UK: /dɒnˈjɛtsk/ don-YETSK, US: /dən-/ dən-; Ukrainian: Донецьк [doˈnɛtsʲk] ⓘ; Russian: Донецк [dɐˈnʲetsk] ⓘ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capital of the Donetsk People's Republic. The population was estimated at 901,645 (2022 estimate)[1] in the city core, with over 2 million in the metropolitan area (2011). According to the 2001 census, Donetsk was the fifth-largest city in Ukraine.
Administratively, Donetsk has been the centre of Donetsk Oblast, while historically, it is the unofficial capital and largest city of the larger economic and cultural Donets Basin (Donbas) region. Donetsk is adjacent to another major city, Makiivka, and along with other surrounding cities forms a major urban sprawl and conurbation in the region. Donetsk has been a major economic, industrial and scientific centre of Ukraine with a high concentration of heavy industries and a skilled workforce. The density of heavy industries (predominantly steel production, chemical industry, and coal mining) determined the city's challenging ecological situation. In 2012, a UN report ranked Donetsk among the world's fastest depopulating cities. (Full article...)
In the news
- 2 April 2025 – Russo-Ukrainian War
- Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Kharkiv strikes
- Russian forces target Kharkiv with at least 13 Geran-2 drones, causing fires in industrial and residential areas and injuring eight people, including a child. (Ukrainska Pravda)
- Kryvyi Rih strikes
- A Russian missile strike on an industrial park in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, kills at least four people and injures 14 others. (Reuters)
- 1 April 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Eastern front of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- The Russian ministry of defence says that Russian forces have captured Rozlyv in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. (Al Arabiya)
- 31 March 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Kharkiv strikes
- Six Russian drones hit Kyivskyi district of Kharkiv, Ukraine, damaging several buildings and injuring three people. (Ukrainska Pravda)
- 29 March 2025 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Kharkiv strikes
Selected anniversaries for April
- April 16, 2000 — Ukraine's national referendum takes place on the issue of reformation the governing system of Ukraine.
- April 22, 2006 — Two homemade bombs exploded in different supermarkets in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
- April 26, 1986 — Reactor No. 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded at 01:23 A.M.
- April 29, 1918 — Constitution of the Ukrainian People's Republic, a constitutional document, was approved by the Central Rada, but never announced.
- April 29, 1918 — The Holiday of Ukrainian Sea. On this day the main parts of Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol hoisted ukrainian flags.
Photo gallery
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A view of Lviv Old Town from the High Castle. -
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An 1691 French map of the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi, located in western Ukraine.
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Interiour view of the Pochayiv Lavra in Ukraine. -
Zbarazh (Ukrainian: Збараж, Polish: Zbaraż, Yiddish: Zbarj) is a small city in the Ternopil Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Zbarazh Raion (district), and is located in the historic region of Galicia. The major attraction of the city is the Zbarazh Castle that played a key role during the Khmelnytsky Uprising, the heroic defense of which eventually led to change of momentum and extinguishing the Cossack revolt. -
View on the lower fortress of the Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle -
A view of Lviv -
Trinity Church and Monastery in Chernihiv, Ukraine -
The square in front of the theater in Chernivtsi. -
St Andrew's Church of Kyiv (1749–1854) -
Potemkin Stairs in Odesa, Ukraine. The higher perspective allows a person to see both the stairs and landings. -
The Swallow's Nest is one of the Neo-Gothic châteaux fantastiques near Yalta; it was built in 1912. -
A wooden bridge leads to the entrance to the Khomutovska Steppe in Donetsk Oblast. -
Streets of Mukacheve in the old part of town -
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Notes
- ^ Чисельність наявного населення України на 1 січня 2022 [Number of Present Population of Ukraine, as of January 1, 2022] (PDF) (in Ukrainian and English). Kyiv: State Statistics Service of Ukraine. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 July 2022.