Ukraine is one of the largest countries of Eastern Europe. It occupies an area of 603 700 km2. Its territory stretches for 893 kilometres from north to south and for 1316 kilometres from east to west. It has state borders with Russia, Belarus and Moldova. It also borders on Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.In the south it is washed by the Black and the Azov Seas. The major rivers are the Dnieper, the Dniester, the Donets and others.The major part of Ukraine is flat and only 5% of it is mountainous. The two mountainous areas in Ukraine are the Carpathians and the Crimean Mountains.The geographical position of Ukraine is very favourable because the country lies on the crossroads of the ways from Asia to Europe.Ukraine has deposits of iron, manganese, coal, natural gas, oil and other mineral resources.The main branches of industry are: coal and ore mining, iron and steel engineering, machine and ship building. Besides, Ukraine has always been an agrarian country. Traditionally crop-growing and cattlebreeding are being developed.The population of Ukraine is about 50 million people. The biggest cities are Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Lviv, Mykolaiv and others.Ukraine has an ancient history. It has its own original culture and arts.The country is one of the members of the United Nations Organization (UNO) and participates in the work of many international organizations.
