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Pysanky Eggs
Carpathian Mountains
Underground Former Soviet Submarine Base
St. Michael's Golden Domed
Ukraine
General Information:
Common Name: Ukraine
Capital:
Kyiv (Kiev)
Official Languages: Ukrainian (official) 67%, Russian 24%, other 9% (includes small Romanian-, Polish-, and Hungarian-speaking minorities)
Government: Republic
Independence: 24 August 1991
President:
Viktor Yushchenko
Prime Minister: Yulia Tymoshenko
Religion: Ukrainian Orthodox - Kyiv Patriarchate 50.4%, Ukrainian Orthodox - Moscow Patriarchate 26.1%, Ukrainian Greek Catholic 8%, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox 7.2%, Roman Catholic 2.2%, Protestant 2.2%, Jewish 0.6%, other 3.2%
Population:
45,700,395 (July 2009)
Area: 603,550 sq km (slightly smaller than Texas )
Terrain:
Most of Ukraine consists of fertile plains (steppes) and plateaus, mountains being found only in the west (the Carpathians), and in the Crimean Peninsula in the extreme south
Climate:
Temperate continental; Mediterranean only on the southern Crimean coast; precipitation disproportionately distributed, highest in west and north, lesser in east and southeast; winters vary from cool along the Black Sea to cold farther inland; summers are warm across the greater part of the country, hot in the south
Natural Resources: Iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt, sulfur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, timber, arable land
Visa Required for Americans: No
Public Holidays:
1 Jan New Year's Day
7 Jan Orthodox Christmas Day
8 Mar International Women's Day
2 Apr - 5 Apr Orthodox Easter
1 May - 2 May Labour Days
9 May Victory Day
24 May Orthodox Pentecost
28 Jun Constitution Day
24 Aug Ukrainian Independence Day
Food and beverage:
National specialties:
- Borshch (beetroot soup)
- Varenniki (dough containing cheese, meat or fruit)
- Holubtsi (cabbage rolls)
- Chicken Kiev exists but is better known in the West
National drinks:
- Crimean wines are excellent, especially dessert wines such as Krasny Kamen (‘Red Stone')
- Abrau and Miskhako are excellent brands of cabernet
- Artyomov champagne (bottled in eastern Ukraine)
- Fortified wines from Massandra, particularly one named ‘Black Doctor