Geography
Ukraine is situated in the central part of the Eastern Europe. It has
common borders with Byelorussia in the north, Hungary, Romania and
Moldova in the south and the southwest, Russia in the east, Poland and
Slovakia in the west. The Southern coast of Ukraine is washed by Black
and Azov seas. Ukraine stretches 893 kilometers from the north to the
south, and 1316 kilometers from the west to the east . The country
occupies the area of 603,7 square kilometers.
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The Nature and the Climate of Ukraine
The relief of Ukraine is mainly flat. 95 % of its territory is occupied
by plains and only 5 % by mountains. The Ukrainian Carpathian mountains
(the highest point - mountain Goverla - 2061 meter) are situated near
the western borders of the country, and the Crimean mountains (the
highest point - mountain Roman Kosh - 1545 meters) are situated in the
extreme south of the country.
The greatest river of Ukraine is the Dnipro river, which is 2201 kms
long, and 981 kms of which flow through the territory of Ukraine. In
general Ukraine is a country with a temperate climate and clearly
recognizable change of four seasons. Average temperature of January is
-7° C (19° F) in the northeast of Ukraine and +4°C (39° F) on the
southern coast of Crimea, the average temperature of July is +19°C
(66° F) and +24° C (75° F) respectively.
Ukraine is rich in various minerals such as coal, iron ores, oil and
gas, stone, salt etc. The nature of Ukraine has created a rich
raw-material base for the development of metallurgical, chemical,
porcelain, faience industries, ceramics and building materials
manufacturing. The great value is represented by the mineral waters of
Ukraine the sources of which are located in Myrgorod, Svalyava,
Truskavets and Feodosiya. The curative mud of Eupatoria and Saki is
very useful for health.
Our country is rich in fertile lands 2/3 of which are represented by
chernozems (black soil). According to the estimation of experts, the
territory of Ukraine concentrates the quarter of world's chernozems.
The flora of Ukraine consists of about 30 thousands kinds of plants.
Natural vegetative complexes are widely used as the base for animal
industries, beekeeping, the hunting facilities, preparation of
wild-growing medical grasses.
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The administrative and territorial division
The capital of Ukraine is the city of Kiev (Kyiv). The territory of
Ukraine is divided into Autonomous Republic of Crimea and 24 oblasts:
Vinnitsa, Volynsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zhitomir, Zakarpatye,
Zaporozhye, Ivano-Frankovsk, Kiev, Kirovograd, Lugansk, Lviv,
Nikolaev, Odessa, Poltava, Rovno, Sumy, Ternopol, Kharkov, Kherson,
Khmelnitskiy, Cherkassk, Chernovtsy, and Chernigov. The greatest
cities of Ukraine are Kiev, Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Odessa,
Lviv.