e Islands continental
shelf boundary outside 200 NM

Illicit drugs: gateway country for Latin American cocaine entering
the European market; major consumer of synthetic drugs, producer of
limited amounts of synthetic drugs and synthetic precursor chemicals;
major consumer of Southwest Asian heroin; money-laundering center

This page was last updated on 1 January 2002

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Ukraine

Introduction

Ukraine

Background: Richly endowed in natural resources, Ukraine has been fought
over and subjugated for centuries; its 20th-century struggle for liberty
is not yet complete. A short-lived independence from Russia (1917-1920)
was followed by brutal Soviet rule that engineered two artificial famines
(1921-22 and 1932-33) in which over 8 million died, and World War II, in
which German and Soviet armies were responsible for some 7 million more
deaths. Although independence was attained in 1991 with the dissolution of
the USSR, true freedom remains elusive as many of the former Soviet elite
remain entrenched, stalling efforts at economic reform, privatization,
and civil liberties.

Geography Ukraine

Location: Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Poland
and Russia

Geographic coordinates: 49 00 N, 32 00 E

Map references: Asia, Europe

Area: total: 603,700 sq km water: 0 sq km land: 603,700 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Texas

Land boundaries: total: 4,663 km border countries: Belarus 891 km,
Hungary 103 km, Moldova 939 km, Poland 526 km, Romania (south) 169 km,
Romania (west) 362 km, Russia 1,576 km, Slovakia 97 km

Coastline: 2,782 km

Maritime claims: continental shelf: 200-m or to the depth of exploitation
exclusive economic zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM

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

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

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Black Sea 0 m highest point: Hora
Hoverla 2,061 m

Natural resources: iron ore, coal, ma