UKRAINE
Ukraine is situated in the south-west of the former USSR and covers the area of 603,700 square kilometres. The geographical position of Ukraine is very favourable to the development of its relations with countries of Europe, as well as with the countries throughout the world. It borders on Russia, Byelorussia, Moldova, Poland, Czech, Slovakia, Hungary, Rumania. It is washed by the Black Sea and the sea of Azov and has very important ports. The major part of the Ukrainian area is flat and only 5% of it is mountainous. The Ukrainian Carpathians and the Crimean Mountains are the most famous Ukrainian mountains and make up those 5%, The major rivers are the Dnieper, the Dniester, the Bug, the Donets and others.
It is a well developed industrial and agricul-tural country. Ukraine is rich in iron ore, natural gas, coal, oil, salt and other mineral resources. The country has a big metallur-gical, machine-building, fuel and power base; it is the producer of chemical and agricultural raw materials. One of the most im-portant branches of national economy is the power industry. Be-sides, Ukraine produces planes and ocean-liners, tractors and combines, excavators and cars, up-to-date instruments and equi-pment, electronic microscopes and TV sets, computers and syn-thetic diamonds.
Scientists of Ukraine enriched the world science with impor-tant discoveries and inventions. They contributed much to solving the main problems of automation of production processes and electric welding. The Academy of Sciences of Ukraine includes many outstanding scientists and research workers famous for their important research work. Our scientists created new improved machines and mechanisms, they do important research work in biology, medicine, nuclear physics.
Besides different branches of industry, Ukraine has highly developed mechanized agriculture. There are many good arable lands in the country.
The population of Ukraine is over 55 million people. The rep-resentatives of many nationalities live there: the Ukrainians, Russians, Byelorussians, Moldavians, Poles and Bulgarians. It has a very rich and varied culture and history. There are a lot of higher educational establishments in Ukraine, a lot of professional thea-tres and Philharmonic Societies, public libraries and state museurns. Ukrainian books are exported to more than 100 countries of the world. Nowadays people of Ukraine display a keen interest in Ukrainian history and cultural heritage. Many masterpieces of Ukrainian culture have been revived.
Ukraine is a member of the United Nation Organization (UNO) and takes part in the work of many international organ-izations. It is visited by delegations, groups of specialists, art com-panies, sport teams and tourists from different countries of the world and establishes new contacts with these countries.
On the 24th of August, 1991 Ukraine became an independent state. On the 1st of December the everlasting dream of the Ukrainian people came true. 90% of the people voted for the independence of Ukraine and since that time Ukrainian people had became the masters of their own destiny.
The combination of the blue and yellow colours — "Ukrainian colours" — reaches far back into pre-Christian times. These colours predominated on the flags of the medi-eval Kyivan State and were prominent during the Cossack age. 
If I were asked what my favourite city is, I would say without hesitation that it is Kyiv. It is not only because Kyiv is my birthplace, but for its his-toric value and beauty. If only once you have been to Kyiv, you are sure to feel like coming back there again and again. 
Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, stretches on the high hills along the Dnieper, rivalling the oldest and most charming cities of Europe. Every epoch left its mark here. Even the great Tartar in-vasion that shook the civilized world in the 13th century was unable to wipe it off the face of the earth. Beginning in the 17th century, Kyiv once again turned into a leading spiritual and cultural cen-tre. Glorious pages of the past and staggering current realities seem •' to have merged into a single, inimitable whole of this ancient, yet ever so youthful city. 
Very often we look forward to holidays to enjoy ourselves. As you know, the word "holidays" comes from the words "holy day." The point is that all the holidays were first religious festivals, but nowadays many of them have noth-ing to do with religion. Each country has holidays honouring im-portant events in its history. Many historical events are of great importance for all peoples and countries throughout the world. 
Kyiv is one of the oldest cities in Europe. Its monuments of past are perfectly integrated with modem buildings, attractive hotels, cinemas, TV tower, metro stations, banks and administrative buildings. As one takes a bus ride through Kreshchatic or strolls in the shade of trees it is difficult to believe that ages ago this was the sight of a deep valley covered with primeval forests and numer-ous ravines. Actually it was the valley called Kreshchataya, which later became Kreshchatic, the main street of the capital. 
The history of Ukraine goes back to the remote past. The decision of reunification with Russian state was adopted at Zemsky Sobor at the end of 1653, and it was ratified in 1654 at the historical Pereyaslav Rada. The reunification of the western parts of Ukraine took place in 1939. The Ukrainian state existed in 1918-1921 and its first President was the famous Ukrainian scientist Mukhailo Grushevsky. When the revolution won a victory, Ukraine became the socialist republic. 
