16. Ukraine:

geographical position, climate, population and political system.

A new state Ukraine appeared on the world political map in 1991. Ukraine occupies an area of 603,700 square kilometers. It is larger than France and Spain, than any Western European country. Ukraine is situated almost in the center of Europe. The territory of Ukraine extends 900 km. from north to south and 1,316 km. from east to west. Ukraine borders on Belarus, Russia, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Poland and Slovakia etc. In the south Ukraine is washed by the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Most of Ukraine is a flat country but 5% of it make up mountains. In the north of Ukraine there are forests, in the west - the Carpathian mountains, in the eastern and central Ukraine - black-soil steppelands, in the south - the Crimean Mountains. There are 73,000 rivers in Ukraine. The major rivers are the Dnieper, the Dniester, the Buh, the Donets and others. Ukraine has over 3,000 lakes - mostly small ones. The population of Ukraine is about 50 mln. Ukraine is inhabited by representatives of 128 nations, nationalities and ethnic groups. The capital of Ukraine is Kyiv. It is situated on both banks of the Dnieper. There are 400 cities and towns in Ukraine. Some of them have population exceeding one million: Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Lviv. There are 24 administrative regions and the Autonomous Crimean Republic in Ukraine. The climate of Ukraine is mild, temperately continental. It is subtropical only on the southern coast of the Crimea. The coldest month is January, the warmest month is July. Ukraine has many industrial raw materials, it is rich in deposits of iron, metals, coal, oil, different ores (lead, zinc, nickel, titanium) and other natural resources. Economy of Ukraine is not stable it is just developing. The main branches are coal-mining, iron and steel production, aviation, electrical engineering, machine-building, radio-electronics, chemical industry and so on. Fertile soils and generally good climate are favourable for developing of agriculture. Ukraine is divided into 6 agricultural zones: the Forest-Steppe Zone, the Northern and Central Steppe Zone, the Southern Steppe Zone, the Polissya Zone, the Carpathian foothills and mountains, the Crimean foothills and mountains. On 24th of August, 1991 Ukraine became an independent state. Nowadays Ukraine is a democratic state, ruled by the law. The Ukrainian political system has a popularly elected President, a 450-person single-chamber national Parliament the Verkhovna Rada. The President is the highest official of the Ukrainian state, vested with supreme executive authority. The Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine is the supreme legislative authority. Judicial power in Ukraine is vested in the courts of law. A Prime Minister is nominated by the President. So we can say that state power in Ukraine is based on the division of authority into legislative, executive and judicial. Ukraine is a country with a parliamentary-presidential form of government. Ukraine lives in peace with other countries and takes an active part in the European and world structures. It is already a member of numerous international political and economic associations and one of the founding members of the United Nations Organization.