Ukraine

Ukraine (Ukrainian: Україна) is a country in Eastern Europe. Ukraine borders the Russian Federation to the east and northeast, Belarus to the northwest, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast, respectively. It has an area of 603,628 km² (233,062 sq mi), making it the largest country entirely within the European subcontinent.

A

In carrying out the Declaration on State Sovereignty of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic solemnly proclaims the independence of Ukraine and the creation of an independent Ukrainian state - Ukraine.
The territory of Ukraine is indivisible and inviolable.
From now on in Ukraine only the Constitution and laws of Ukraine are in force.
This act takes effect from the moment of its approval.

Original: здійснюючи Декларацію про державний суверенітет України, Верховна Рада Української Радянської Соціалістичної Республіки урочисто проголошує
незалежність України та створення самостійної Української держави — України.
Територія України є неподільною і недоторканною.
Віднині на території України мають чинність виключно Конституція і закони України.
Цей акт набирає чинності з моменту його схвалення.
Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine (1991). Text of the act.

"The city of Lviv offers a picture of order,
breadth, and beauty! A sight to feast the eye...
In the heart of the city there unfolds a park
where everyone is allowed to walk,
even goats. The land of freedom!
On Saturdays Jews are strolling
along all the streets, and no one
pays attention. And such people
who live in Lviv! Pure gold!"
- Sholem Aleichem, "Lviv" (1906) in "Sholem Aleichem’s Creative Encounters in Lviv (In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of his Departure into Eternity)" Ukrainian Jewish Encounter (2017)

The archival record backs up the testimony of the survivors. Neither crop failure nor bad weather caused the famine in Ukraine. Although the chaos of collectivization helped create the conditions that led to famine, the high numbers of deaths in Ukraine between 1932 and 1934, and especially the spike in the spring of 1933, were not caused directly by collectivization either. Starvation was the result, rather, of the forcible removal of food from people’s homes; the roadblocks that prevented peasants from seeking work or food; the harsh rules of the blacklists imposed on farms and villages; the restrictions on barter and trade; and the vicious propaganda campaign designed to persuade Ukrainians to watch, unmoved, as their neighbours died of hunger.
- Anne Applebaum in Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine (2017) quoted at "Ukraine in the Flames of the 1917 Revolution" (Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, September 13, 2017)

B

Ukraine, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America,

Welcoming the Accession of Ukraine to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as a non-nuclear-weapon state,

Taking into account the commitment of Ukraine to eliminate all nuclear weapons from its territory within a specified period of time,

Noting the changes in the world-wide security situation, including the end of the Cold War, which have brought about conditions for deep reductions in nuclear forces,

Confirm the following:

1. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and The United States of America reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine, in accordance with the principles of the CSCE Final Act, to respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine.

2. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and The United States of America reaffirm their obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, and that none of their weapons will ever be used against Ukraine except in self-defense or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations...

"Budapest Memorandum" signed December 5, 1994]

C

Ще не вмерла України і слава, і воля,
Ще нам, браття молодії, усміхнеться доля.
Згинуть наші воріженьки, як роса на сонці.
Запануєм і ми, браття, у своїй сторонці.
- The glory of Ukraine has not yet perished, nor the will.
  Still upon us, young brothers, fate shall smile.
  Our enemies shall vanish, like dew in the sun.
  We too shall rule, brothers, our country.
  - State Anthem of Ukraine (2003); based upon the lyrics of "Ukraine Has Not Yet Perished" (1862) by Pavlo Chubynsky.
- Variants:

Ukraine's freedom is still alive, and so also is liberty,

And fortune will smile on us, young brothers.

All our enemies will die like dew in sun.

And at last we will be rulers of our homes.

We'll devote our souls and bodies to our free will,

And we will prove that we are all of Cossack origin.

As translated from Ukrainian at Wikisource

D

This ignorance of Ukraine has always been aggravating, but no one regarded it as a national security threat until the start of the Kremlin’s hybrid war against Ukraine. All that changed when “little green men” began appearing in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. It soon became clear that disinformation would play a key role in the Kremlin’s hybrid war, with Russia’s information offensive relying heavily on outside ignorance of Ukraine. Ukrainians watched in horror as the country’s complex relationship with its Tsarist and Soviet past was reduced to the tribal binary of Russian-speakers versus Ukrainian-speakers. Ukraine was depicted as a fascist junta, a Nazi dictatorship, and a failed state. These nightmarish visions gained remarkable levels of traction in the international media, largely because Ukraine was such an unknown quantity.
- Vladislav Davidzon and Peter Dickinson, "Revealing Europe’s Best-Kept Secret" (March 13, 2016)

How many people in Europe or North America know that Kyiv is the largest Russian-speaking city in the world outside of Russia? How many are aware that Ukraine has been one of Europe’s most multicultural communities for centuries?
- Vladislav Davidzon and Peter Dickinson, "Revealing Europe’s Best-Kept Secret" (March 13, 2016)

F

Perhaps the most remarkable case of all is that of the Ukrainians. Indeed, it is not too much to say that the man-made famine caused by collectivization in the Ukraine was Stalin's brutal answer to what he regarded as the 'Ukrainian question'. A backlash against the relative autonomy of the Ukraine had begun as early as the spring of 1930. 'Keep in mind', Stalin had warned darkly in 1932, 'that in the Ukrainian Communist Party . . . there are not a few . . . rotten elements, conscious and subconcious Petlyurites' (supporters of the