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 Facts at a Glance
Full country name: Ukraine
Area: 603,700 sq km (233,100 sq mi)
Population: 52 million
Capital city: Kiev (pop 2.6 million)
People: Ukrainian (72%), Russian (22%), Belarusian, Moldovan, Bulgarian, Polish, Hungarian, Romanian
Language: Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian
Religion: Ukrainian Orthodox, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox, Uniate (Ukrainian Catholic)
Government: Republic
President: Leonid D Kuchma
Prime Minister: Valery Pustovoitenko
After Russia, Ukraine is the largest country in Europe, just edging out France. It's bordered by Russia to the east and north; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova to the west; and large stretches of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to the south. Ukraine's topography consists almost entirely of steppe - gently rolling, partially wooded plains. The horizon is broken by a belt of highland running from the north-west to the south-east, but the only serious mountains are a short stretch of the Carpathians in the far west and the Crimeans in the far south. There are forests and some scattered marshlands in the north; in the south the steppe is open and sparsely wooded. Nearly 3000 rivers flow through Ukraine.
Formerly known as 'the breadbasket of the USSR', over half the country is covered in fields of wheat, barley, rye, oats and sugar beets. A central 'black belt' of humus-rich soil - one of the world's most fertile regions - covers nearly two-thirds of Ukraine. Large tracts are set aside as grazing land, and in spring they explode into brilliant, swaying seas of maky (red poppies), sonyashnyky (sunflowers) and golden mustard. Breaking up the flat, heavily cultivated grasslands are a few patches of oak, maple, linden and ash forests. Willow and aspen grow along the rivers. A thin belt of forest runs across the north of the country, consisting mostly of silver fir, beech, oak and spruce.
The creatures you see most often are the white geese and ducks that spot the green and black earth and fill countless ponds all over the countryside. Ukraine's diverse animal life includes wolves, foxes, martens and gazelles (all keeping mostly to mountain woodlands); over 350 species of birds, the secret messengers of many folk songs and fairy tales; and over 200 species of freshwater fish.
Inland Ukraine has a relatively moderate continental climate. The hottest month is July, when the daily high averages 23°C (73°F), while January, the coldest month, averages around freezing. The eastern areas catch a few of the chilling Siberian breezes, while the west gets the tail end of warm Mediterranean winds. On the coast, Yalta and Odessa are generally a few degrees warmer than the inland areas; in winter they rarely dip below freezing during the day. Inland, June and July are the wettest months; the coast experiences most of its limited rainfall during December and January.
Ukrainian history began with the rumble of hooves - Scythians dominated the steppes north of the Black Sea from the 7th to the 4th centuries BC, initiating centuries of outside political and cultural domination. Traces of Scythian culture can be found in Kiev's Caves Monastery, where the tombs contain superb goldwork depicting highly detailed animal and human forms. Following the Scythians, a series of invaders, including Ostrogoths, Huns and the Turko-Iranian Khazars, ruled areas of present-day Ukraine.
The first people to unify and control the area for a long period were Scandinavians known as the Rus. The Rus took Kiev in 882 AD, and by the late 10th century the city was the centre of a unified state known as Kievan Rus, which stretched from the Volga west to the Danube and south to the Baltic. In 988, the Kievan Rus leader Volodymyr accepted Christianity from Constantinople, beginning a long period of Byzantine influence over Ukrainian politics and culture.By 1520 the Ottomans Empire controlled all of coastal Ukraine.
Military devastation and plague had wiped out much of the population of the Ukrainian steppe by the 15th century, when the region became popular with runaway serfs and Orthodox refugees escaping more tightly controlled neighbouring domains. These people came to be known as kazaks (Cossacks), a Turkic word meaning outlaw, adventurer or freebooter. Ukrainian Cossacks eventually formed a state that, although officially under Polish and later Russian rule, was to a significant degree self-ruling, but 20 years later the state was divided between Poland and Russia.
Ukrainian nationalism flourished in the 1840s, prompting Russian authorities to ban the Ukrainian language in schools, journals and books. Following WWI and the collapse of tsarist authority, Ukraine finally had a chance to gain its independence, but none of the bewildering array of factions could win decisive support. Civil war broke out and the country quickly descended into anarchy, with six armies vying for power and Kiev changing hands five times in one year. After prolonged fighting involving Russia, Poland and various Ukrainian political and ethnic factions, Poland retained portions of western Ukraine and the Soviets got the rest. Ukraine officially became part of the USSR in 1922.
While the leadership in Moscow sorted itself out, another Ukrainian national revival took off in the 1920s. When Stalin took power in 1927, however, he made a test case out of Ukraine for his ideas about 'harmful' nationalism. In 1932-33 he engineered a famine that killed as many as 7 million Ukrainians. Execution and deportation of intellectuals further depopulated the country. Stalin also went after the country's premier religious symbols, its churches and cathedrals, destroying over 250 buildings. During the purges of 1937-39, millions more Ukrainians were either executed or sent to Soviet labour camps. WWII brought further devastation and death, with 6 million perishing in the fighting between the Red Army and the German forces. It's estimated that during the first half of the 20th century, war, famine and purges cost the lives of over half the male and a quarter of the female population of Ukraine.
The 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine and the appallingly slow official Soviet response provoked widespread discontent, and the Uniate Church emerged from isolation two years later. The Ukrainian People's Movement for Restructuring, an umbrella nationalist movement founded in Kiev by prominent intellectuals and writers, won local seats across the country in 1990. In July of that year, the parliament issued a sovereignty - but not secession - declaration to little effect. Shortly after the failed Soviet coup in August 1991, the Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU) was banned, and in December the population voted overwhelmingly for independence.
Leonid Kravchuk, former chairman of the CPU, was elected as the first president of Ukraine. Factionalism forced the government's resignation in September 1992, and disagreements with Russia over Ukraine's cache of inherited nuclear weapons and control of the Black Sea fleet (harboured in the Crimean port of Sevastopol) strained relations between the two countries. Meanwhile, skyrocketing inflation, fuel shortages and plummeting consumer power plagued the country and exacerbated regional and ethnic differences. Pro-Russian reformer Leonid Kuchma beat Kravchuk in the 1994 presidential election. The CPU benefited from the political and economic turmoil, capturing a substantial majority of parliamentary seats in the 1994 elections. In the late 1990s, new tensions arose between Ukraine and Russia over Ukraine's closer ties with NATO.
GDP: US$175 billion
GDP per head: US$3370
Annual growth: -4%
Inflation: 9%
Major industries: Coal, electric power, metals, machinery, transport equipment, agriculture
Major trading partners: Russia, China, Italy, Switzerland
For decades, the Western world perceived Ukraine as simply a part of Russia. But borscht, painted eggs and many of the famous Cossack song and dance traditions originated in Ukraine. Western Ukrainians consider themselves to be 100% Ukrainian and the vanguard of their culture, speaking their language and trumpeting their nationalism. In the east, where over 10 million ethnic Russians live, nationalism is less intense, and most people speak Russian.
Ukrainian, like Russian and Belarusian, is an Eastern Slavic language. It's arguably the closest of the three to the original 9th century Slavonic used in Kiev before the more formal Church Slavonic from Bulgaria was introduced with Christianity in the 10th century. Despite being watered down by Russian and Polish and being banned by Tsar Alexander II in 1876, the Ukrainian language persevered and is becoming more widespread. It was adopted as the country's official language in 1990, though Russian is understood by almost everyone.
The origins of Ukraine's national literature go back to medieval Slavic chronicles such as the 12th century Slovo o polku Ihrevim (The Tale of Ihor's Armament). The beginnings of modern Ukrainian literature stem from mid-18th century wandering philosopher Hryhorii Skovoroda, the 'Ukrainian Socrates'. Skovoroda wrote poems and philosophical tracts in Ukrainian, aimed at the common person rather than the elite. Taras Shevchenko, an ardent nationalist who was born a serf in 1814 and became a national hero, was the first major writer in Ukrainian. His work launched a golden age of Ukrainian literature. The most talented and prolific writer of the early 20th century was Ivan Franko, whose work spanned fiction, poetry, drama, philosophy and children's stories. Many writers made the Soviet occupation their subject, and many suffered for it. Vasyl Stus' Winter Trees (1968) and Candle in the Mirror (1977) set the agony of dissidence to poetry; Stus eventually was killed in a Soviet labour camp. The Union of Ukrainian Writers in Kiev was instrumental in bringing about independence from the USSR in 1991.
Ukrainian music has its roots in centuries-old oral traditions of bylyny (epic narrative poems) and dumas, which were long lyrical ballads glorifying the exploits of the Cossacks. The roots of Ukrainian folk music lie in the legendary kozbar, wandering minstrels of the 16th and 17th centuries who accompanied their songs of heroic exploits (mostly of the Cossacks) with the kozba, a lute-like instrument. The bandura, a larger instrument with up to 45 strings, replaced the kozba in the 18th century. Bandura choirs were soon all the rage, and the instrument became the national symbol. Today, the Ukrainian Bandura Chorus from Kiev performs worldwide. Mykola Lysenko is probably the best known Ukrainian classical composer, famous for basing piano works on Ukrainian folk songs. Popular contemporary musicians include the punk band Plach Yeremiyi and the singer-songwriter Nina Matvienko, who draws heavily on Ukrainian folk traditions.
Christianity came to Ukraine late in the 10th century. The Catholic and Orthodox churches split in 1054, and Orthodoxy itself later split into three main branches, each one with a different relationship to Moscow-controlled Russian Orthodoxy and to Roman Catholicism. Church buildings dominate Ukrainian architecture. One unique genre is the wooden church, featuring gables and wooden-shingled onion domes and cupolas - all held together by complex joinery without nails. As part of their campaign to crush Ukrainian identity and nationalism, the Soviets demolished hundreds of sacred buildings in the 1930s, including four 12th century cathedrals. Painting also has its roots in religious themes. Until the 17th century, the key expression was the icon - a small image of Christ, the Virgin, angels or saints, painted on a limewood panel and attributed with healing and spiritual powers. Church murals, mosaics, frescoes and illuminated manuscripts developed at the same time as the icon. The rise of the Cossacks in the 17th century stimulated new schools of secular painting with nationalist themes. After the deadening chill of decades of Soviet Realism, stylistic experimentation and nationalist themes are once again rampant.
Ukrainian cuisine stems from peasant dishes based on grains and staple vegetables like potatoes, cabbage, beets and mushrooms. Meat is typically boiled, fried or stewed. Desserts are usually laden with honey and fruit, mainly cherries and plums, and often baked into sweet breads. While the small dumplings known as varenyky are by far the most popular Ukrainian snack, the sacred dish is salo - pig fat. Salo consumption goes back centuries, and Ukrainians age and prize it as obsessively as the French do wine. Borscht originated in Ukraine and is still the national soup; the beet and mixed-vegetable broth is typically served with cream. Ironically, good Ukrainian food is hard to find in Ukraine, as most top-end restaurants serve trendy Euro cuisine. The best Ukrainian cooking is found in the home; if you get invited to someone's house for a meal, you're in for a treat. Alcohol is plentiful and the drink is usually vodka, a clear distilate of wheat, rye or sometimes potatoes. The word comes from voda (water), and translates roughly as 'a wee drop'.
Ukrainians place gifts under fir trees and sing holiday songs for New Year's Day. The country celebrates Orthodox Christmas Day on 7 January. Paskha (Easter) is the main festival of the Orthodox Church year, beginning with midnight services and continuing with parades around village churches throughout the country. In Lviv, the National Virtuoso fills the month of May with musical and theatrical performances focussing on national themes. The capital celebrates spring during Kiev Days, held the last weekend in May. In August, Crimea fetes itself at Yalta's Crimean Stars. On 28 August, religious pilgrims flock to the monastery in Pochayiv for the Feast of the Assumption. Cities and towns honour Independence Day on 24 August with performances and special events.
Visas: All visitors need visas. 'Emergency' visas good for 72 hours are available at border posts, and a one month visa can be obtained on arrival at Kiev's Boryspil Airport.
Health risks: Cholera, diphtheria, tick-borne encephalitis, Lyme disease
Time: GMT/UTC plus 2 hours (Crimea, GMT/UTC plus 3 hours)
Electricity: 220V, 50Hz
Weights & measures: Metric (see conversion table)
 Money & Costs
Currency: Ukraine grynia (UHA; sometimes spelled 'hryvnia')
Relative costs:
- Budget meal: US$1-3
- Moderate restaurant meal: US$3-8
- Top-end restaurant meal: US$8 and upwards
- Budget room: US$5-15
- Moderate hotel: US$15-25
- Top-end hotel: US$25 and upwards
Food is ridiculously cheap in Ukraine, and accommodation isn't much more, especially outside Kiev. You can travel comfortably for around US$50 a day, though prices are 15-30% higher in the capital. If you stick to mid-range restaurants and hotels, you can expect to spend around US$30 a day. If you self-cater, share accommodation and rely solely on public transport you can reduce your costs even further.
Exchange kiosks have the best rates, while hotels generally have the worst. Hard currency can be changed into grynia anywhere, but travellers cheques credit cards are only accepted at certain banks and exchange offices in a few larger cities. You'll need to bring wads of cash, the most commonly accepted being the US dollar and German Deutschmark. Using hard currency in restaurants and retail shops has been officially banned, but many services aimed at foreign tourists are exempt from this ruling and expect hard currency.
At upscale tourist-oriented eateries, a tip of about 5-10% is expected; many include a 5% service charge in your bill, and you can add a bit more for excellent service. Haggling at the country's many food, art, souvenir and craft markets is expected and sometimes fierce.
 When to Go
The best time to go to Ukraine is in spring (late April to early June), when the trees and flowers are in bloom. During this season attractions are less crowded and rainfall is lighter than in summer. The beaches at Odessa and Crimea are packed in summer (July and August). Winter (December and January) is cold and snowy, so travellers should be prepared to don thick wool sweaters and eat their vegetables pickled.
Founded in the 5th century, Kiev is the mother city of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. All three descended from Kievan Rus, the Slavic super-state that existed from the 9th to the 11th centuries. Since then, Kiev has survived Mongol invasions, devastating fires, communist urban planning and the massive destruction of WWII. The Old Town is concentrated around the north-eastern end of vulitsya Volodymyrska and contains a number of Kiev's historic landmarks. The main attraction is the 11th century St Sophia Cathedral, the city's oldest standing church, which contains some of the country's greatest mosaics and frescoes. A few blocks south of the cathedral is Kiev's main commercial promenade, the vulitsya Khreshchatyk, a bustling thoroughfare lined with shops. At the southern end of Khreshchatyk, the aisles at the Bessarabsky Market are filled with fruit and vegetable vendors. Old Town is within walking distance of central Kiev.
Andriyivsky vzviz, Kiev's most charming street, winds its way north from Old Town to the base of the Podil district, the historic merchants' quarter and river port. Andriyivsky is lined with galleries, shops, restaurants and cafes. The heart of Podil is the Kontraktova ploshcha, a park-like square named for the large, white arcaded Kontraktova Dim (House of Contracts) occupying the centre. Dating from 1817, the building is now filled with restaurants, galleries and businesses. A few blocks to the north-west is the chilling but fascinating Chernobyl Museum, where exhibits document the worst nuclear disaster in history - bringing home the fact that it happened only 100km (62mi) to the north. A few blocks west is the oldest standing structure in Podil, the 1631 Church of Mykola Prytysko. Its whitewashed, green-roofed exterior is a lovely example of early Ukrainian Baroque architecture.
South of Old Town along the river is the Pechersk district, the historic ecclesiastical centre and site of the Caves Monastery, founded in 1051. Spread across wooded slopes above the Dnipro a few kilometres south of the city centre, the monastery is a collection of gold-domed churches, underground labyrinths lined with mummified monks, and elegant monastic buildings turned into museums, one of which is packed with Scythian gold. The Dormition Cathedral, part of the monastery complex, dates from the late 11th century. Despite being partially destroyed by the Red Army during WWII, it's one of the country's greatest Baroque religious buildings. To the north of the cathedral is the Historical Treasures Museum, devoted mainly to artefacts and precious stones and metals from Ukraine. The highlight is the display of Scythian goldwork from the 4th century BC. There's also a 12th century model of Kiev and exhibits of richly ornamented goblets, crosses, chalices and icons by Ukrainian, Russian, Polish and Lithuanian masters. City buses connect the Pechersk district with downtown Kiev.
The Folk Architecture Museum is 12km (7mi) south of the city centre but well worth the trip. Spread out over scenic rolling hills dotted with groves of trees are a large number of 17th to 20th century wooden cottages, churches, farmsteads and windmills, many with beautiful gardens and preserved interior furnishings. The museum is divided into seven small villages representing regional traditions, and there are some good restaurants, a gift shop and special events. You can make the trip from downtown Kiev by city bus.
Lviv, the capital of Western Ukraine, is a cosmopolitan city. Until 1939 it had never been ruled from Moscow, and it was here that Ukrainian nationalism re-emerged in the late 1980s. Having escaped the urban devastation of WWII, Lviv is a living museum of Western architecture from the Gothic to the present. And while there are plenty of Communist-era monstrosities, the old narrow streets and colourful historic core make it one of the best places in the country to visit.
Just east of the modern downtown is Old Town, centred on the broad ploshcha Rynok, once the hub of Lviv and still the best preserved urban square in Ukraine. At its heart is the 19th century town hall, and around the perimeter are beautiful 16th to 18th century buildings with ornate stone carvings. Opposite the south-western corner of the square is one of the city's best gothic buildings, the Roman Catholic Cathedral, dating from the late 14th century. Inside, the 17th century Boyim Chapel features some of Lviv's most magnificent stone carvings. Opposite the north-eastern corner is Lviv's oldest pharmacy. Founded in 1735, the pharmacy shares a 16th century building with the Apteka Museum, featuring exhibits of historic pharmaceutical equipment.
About 2km (1mi) east of Old Town is Lviv's open-air Museum of Popular Architecture & Life, where 100 old wooden farmsteads, smithies, windmills, churches and schools are spread out over 60ha (150ac). Representing folk traditions from around the country, the buildings are decked out with historical everyday objects and folk art. Buses and trams from the city centre serve the museum.
Perched on the southern coast of Crimea, Yalta passed through many hands over the centuries until Russia took control in the late 18th century. The city became the Black Sea's classiest resort when Tsar Alexander II made nearby Livadia his summer residence. Before the Russian Revolution the coast was peppered with aristocratic estates, and though many of the palaces were briefly workers' sanitoria after the revolution, most reverted to dachas for the Party elite.
The city centre stretches back from the eastern end of Yalta Bay, straddling the Bystra River. Everyone gravitates to the naberezhna Lenia, a vehicle-free waterfront promenade with jetties, palms, pebbly beaches, snack bars and art markets. Some of Yalta's best beaches lie along Yalta Bay west of the mouth of the Bystra. Half way down the bay and just back from the naberezhna is a chair lift that deposits riders at Darsan, a temple-like lookout on the hill above the bay. Just north-west of the lift is the Alexandr Nevsky Cathedral, a beautifully composed piece of neo-Byzantine architecture built at the turn of the century. Fans of Anton Chekov will want to visit the Chekov House-Museum, where the great Russian playwright spent the last five years of his life. The house features numerous editions of Chekov's works, memorabilia like his pens and medical kit, and a garden.
Odessa is a curious mix of enticing seaside holiday retreat and polluted industrial port. Long the shipping centre of the Black Sea region and the major urban centre of southern Ukraine, the city is famous for its role in the 1905 revolution, when the mutinous battleship Potemkin Tavrichesky supported rebellious workers. Today it's best known for its excellent collection of museums. The city centre is a few hundred metres south-west of the waterfront; it's filled with beautiful low-rise buildings and tree-lined streets, and is home to the elaborate and famous Opera & Ballet Theatre. Dating from the 1880s, the theatre was designed by Viennese architects who gave it a Baroque cast with a Renaissance twist. Nearby is the Pasazh, a lavishly ornate shopping mall built in the late 19th century, boasting rows of Baroque sculptures.
The city centre is also the locale of Odessa's famous museums. One of the most interesting is the Archaeology Museum. Dating from 1875, it contains an excellent collection of artefacts from early Black Sea civilisations, including a tempting display of jewellery and coins. Across the road is the Museum of Maritime History, covering the history of shipbuilding and navigation with lots of models and naval paraphernalia. Nearby is the Literature Museum, where you can steep yourself in the lives of Ukrainian masters like Shevchenko and Franko and Russian authors such as Chekov, Pushkin, Tolstoy and Gorky. Don't miss one of Odessa's most famous sights - the massive Potemkin Steps, immortalised in the 1925 Eisenstein film Battleship Potemkin.
The sandstone on which Odessa stands is riddled with about 1000km (620mi) of tunnels, known as the katakombi (catacombs). Quarried out for building in the 19th century, they have since been used by smugglers, revolutionaries and WWII partisans. In Nerubayske village on the north-western edge of Odessa, a network of tunnels that sheltered partisans in WWII has been turned into the Museum of Partisan Glory, where visitors are given guided tours (in Russian or Ukrainian) of relics of the partisan occupation. The catacombs are accessible by city bus.
Kamyanets-Podilsky is about 25km (16mi) north of the point where Moldova and Romania meet at the Ukrainian border. This old town has stood since at least the 11th century on a sheer-walled rock island carved out of the steppe by a sharp loop in the Smotrych River. The south-western bridge, for centuries the only link between the town and the mainland, is guarded by a nine-towered stone castle that dates from the 16th century. Most of the towers are open to visitors, and many offer great views of the town and the surrounding countryside. The Ethnographic Museum on the grounds has excellent displays of traditional folk craft and archaeological finds from the castle and vicinity.
Cobbled streets lead from the castle down to the Armenian Quarter. Centred around a 14th century market square, the quarter is home to several 15th century churches. Off the north-western corner of the square is the 1580 Cathedral of SS Peter & Paul, entered through the Triumphal Gate, dating from 1781. The Turks used the cathedral as a mosque in the late 17th century, adding a tall minaret, which the Poles topped with a golden Virgin when they regained the town. The lovely and solemn interior houses a museum. Just north of the square is the Dominican Monastery and Church, with a tall, ornately moulded bell tower. North of the monastery is the 14th century former town hall, the oldest in Ukraine. It now houses a small museum dedicated mostly to WWII.
If a visit to the Caves Monastery in Kiev leaves you thirsting for more in the ecclesiastical vein, the monastery in Pochayiv is the second largest in the country. The site is sacred to all devout Ukrainians and is flooded with pilgrims during religious festivals. The main Uspensky Cathedral (1771-83) is an overwhelming Baroque affair. Its interior, able to hold over 6000 people, is a breathtaking expression of Orthodox iconography - nearly every surface is lavishly and masterfully painted and gilded with saints and patriarchs. The 1597 Mother of God icon is believed to have protective powers.
Built over 100 years earlier, the gold-domed Holy Trinity Cathedral nearby is smaller and darker, with massive pillars and thick vaults beneath a deep cupola creating a quiet atmosphere of weighty spiritualism. Directly west of the Holy Trinity Cathedral is the mid-19th century bell tower, a 65m (215ft) Baroque structure with a fine view and a 11,180kg (11 ton) bell. Pochayiv is in the middle of Western Ukraine, 300km (185mi) west of Kiev. There's a bus depot just west of the monastery grounds where buses arrive from Kremenets (40 minutes), Ternopil (2 hours) and Lviv (6 hours).
A century and a half out of the Russian orbit have been kind to Chernivtsi. It has a graceful, cosmopolitan, Central European air. Its mixed history has bestowed upon it a wide variety of architectural styles, from Byzantine to Baroque, and the elegant streets of its old quarter are lined with grand, vine-covered facades. Tree-lined vulitsya O Kobylyanska, the main pedestrian avenue, is lined with cafes, restaurants and shops. A very different, very Ottoman world opens up in Chernivtsi's courtyards, which have wooden balconies and covered staircases. A block east of O Kobylyanska is the Armenian Cathedral, a mid-19th century building based on ancient Armenian designs. Its interior is meticulously painted, and its organ benefits from excellent acoustics.
Stroll up the avenue to the bustling Tsentralna ploshcha, the old town square, surrounded by beautiful 19th century buildings. One of the most interesting is the main Regional Museum, housed in a turn-of-the-century Art Nouveau building with a unique central staircase. Inside are 20th century paintings and embroidery-rich ethnographic displays. Chernivtsi is about 400km (250mi) south-west of Kiev. The train takes 11-13 hours from Kiev, buses longer. There's also a small airport just outside of town.
Home to some of Ukraine's outstanding 11th and 12th century religious buildings, Chernihiv dates from the 8th century, and was one of the most important principalities in Kievan Rus. Just off the central ploshcha Chervona is the simple yet lovely Pyatnytska Church. It dates from the 12th century, though most of what's visible is a 1960s reconstruction that brought it close to its Kievan Rus appearance. Masonry mavens will marvel at its exterior brickwork.
A few blocks south-east is the Dytynets, where a leafy park surrounds a remarkable group of early religious buildings. The most striking is the 11th century Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral, which has two distinctive missile-like bell towers. The interior is dark and mysterious, housing an 18th century Baroque icon-covered screen and the tombs of several Kievan Rus royals. Immediately north-west is the 12th century Boryso-Hlibsky Cathedral, home to a museum charting the history of the cathedral and the Dytynets area. In the eastern corner is the Chernihiv History Museum, housed in an early 19th century neo-classical building. It has good displays on Kievan Rus, some Cossack weaponry and a copy of the famous 1851 Ostroh Bible, the first printed in the old Slavonic language. The town is just over 100km (62mi) north-east of Kiev, and buses and trains run regularly between the two.
The best prospects for hiking, trekking and camping are in Crimea and the Carpathians in the south-west, along with a few scattered national parks. In south-west Crimea, easy hikes lead to the cave cities of Chuft-Kale and Manhup-Kale. Other Crimean trekking highlights include the 300m (985ft) Bolshoy Kanyon and the Dzhur-Dzhur and Uchansu waterfalls. With a good map you can walk anywhere in the Carpathians, where most of the territory is uninhabited and very scenic. A good place to start is the Carpathian State National Park, about 55km (35mi) south-west of Kolomyya and 500km (310mi) south-west of Kiev. Boat trips down the Dnipro from Kiev to Odessa are a fun and relaxing way to see the country.
Kiev is linked with most major European cities and a few in North America. Most international flights go to the puny Boryspil International Airport in Kiev, about 40km (25mi) south-east of the centre. The airport at Lviv, about 8km (5mi) west of its centre, has connections with Warsaw, Prague, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London and Chicago. Odessa's airport is about 12km (7mi) south-west of downtown, and has flights to and from Vienna and Moscow.
International trains enter Ukraine from seven countries at more than 10 locations. As long as you've got a visa, border crossings are pretty straightforward. Most major Ukrainian cities have daily services from Moscow; it's 15 hours to Kiev and 28 hours to Lviv. You can go between Kiev and Berlin (26 hours) via Warsaw (16 hours from Kiev) and Brest (10 hours from Kiev). The station is on the western fringe of downtown Kiev. Lviv has rail connections with most major Eastern European and Russian cities; the station is 3km (2mi) west of the centre. A few buses a day head into Russia from Kharkiv; it takes 20 hours to reach Moscow from Kharkiv by bus.
You can travel by ship between Odessa or Yalta and various cities on the Black Sea and Mediterranean. The main year-round destinations are Haifa (Israel), Limassol (Cyprus), Piraeus (Greece) and Port Said (Egypt). The most frequent and reliable is the Odessa to Istanbul route. It's also possible to sail down the Danube River between Odessa and a number of Eastern European river ports. There's a car ferry running between Kerch, at the eastern tip of Crimea, and the Russian ports of Temryuk, Anapa and Novorossiysk.
All official land border crossings into Ukraine are unrestricted, though they'll always go more smoothly if you have a visa ahead of time rather than relying on getting an emergency visa at the border, especially when entering from Russia.
Getting between major Ukrainian cities is best done by train. They're frequent, cheap and often a convenient night's journey. If you want to save a few grynia and don't mind the extra time, buses serve almost every city and small town; they're best for short trips outside main cities not served by trains. Buses are always dirty and overcrowded, but there's no better way to mingle with the locals than on a bumpy, overheated ride through the countryside.
With fuel hard to come by, spare parts rare, road conditions rugged and getting lost inevitable, driving in Ukraine is not recommended for the faint of heart. Cars can be rented at a few major hotels in Kiev and at a handful of agencies in the major cities. You'll need an International Driving Permit; driving is on the right.
- Taras Shevchenko's first collection of poems, Kobzar (The Bard), helped make Ukrainian the national tongue.
- An outstanding example of Ukraine's long tradition of social realist literature is Panas Myrnyi's Khiba revut voly? (Do Oxen Roar?).
- Among the works Anton Chekov wrote during his sojurn in Yalta are The Cherry Orchard and The Three Sisters.
- Among the best known works of early 20th century writer and philosopher Ivan Franko are The Turnip Farmer and During Work.
- An infamous anti-Semitic episode that foreshadowed the Holocaust in Ukraine is detailed in The Beilis Transcripts: The Anti-Semitic Trial That Shook the World.
- The engineered famine of the early 1930s is described firsthand in Miron Dolot's Execution by Hunger: The Hidden Holocaust, and is detailed in prose and images in Harvard University's catalogue of Famine in the Soviet Ukraine 1932-1933: A Memorial Exhibition.
- Scandalous winner of two major Australian literary awards, The Hand That Signed the Paper by Helen Demidenko is a fictionalised account of the Ukrainian holocaust during WWII. The author claimed that she was the daughter of illiterate Ukrainian emigres; she was later found to be the daughter of Mr & Mrs Darville from Scunthorpe, England, and to have plagiarised significant portions of her novel.
- Get the academic perspective on the political scene in Ukraine in Democratic Changes and Authoritarian Reactions in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.
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