Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe by area. It has a long history and was once part of the former Soviet Union. Ukraine has several UNESCO World Heritage sites reflecting its rich culture, including Orthodox cathedrals in Kiev and ancient sites. Major cities include Kiev, the capital, as well as Odessa on the Black Sea known for its architecture and beaches, and Lviv which retains influences from Polish and Austrian rule in its buildings. Chernobyl in northern Ukraine is the site of a nuclear disaster and the nearby Pripyat is now an abandoned ghost town within the exclusion zone.

1. Presented by students of Kongresi Manastirit, school, Tirana - Albania
Ukraine

3. Russia excluded, Ukraine is the continent’s
largest county at 603,628 square
kilometres, stretching from Russia in the
east to Poland in the west, and sandwiched
between the Black Sea in the south and
fellow former Soviet state Belarus in the
north. France is next at 551,695 square
kilometres.

4. Within its large borders, Ukraine has seven World Heritage Sites,
including the 11th century Saint-Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, the
ancient city of Chersonesus, and the primeval beech forests of the
Carpathians. Another is the Struve Geodetic Arc, a chain of
survey triangulations linking Hammerfest in Norway to the Black
Sea in Ukraine. It “helped to establish the exact size and shape of
the planet and marked an important step in the development of
earth sciences and topographic mapping,” according to Unesco.
Beyond its World Heritage Sites it has a wealth of majestic
Orthodox cathedrals, including St Michael's in Kiev, pictured
below.

5. No, chicken Kiev does not come from Kiev. It is thought to
be a 19th century French recipe, brought to the east by
Russian aristocracy fascinated by French cuisine.

6. Ukraine has played the stage for much destruction during its history. But
it was also the host of the Yalta Conference in 1945, where Churchill,
Stalin and Roosevelt met to discuss the organisation of post-war Europe.
Livadia Palace, which hosted the meeting, is open today as a museum.
Today, Yalta is part of history once again as it lies on the disputed
Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014. The Crimea is one of four
regions the Foreign Office advises against travel to [Kharkiv, Donetsk and
Lugansk are the others].

7. The Tunnel of Love,
excellent Instagram
fodder, is found in the
forests near the town of
Kleven. The rail road is
for a private train that
provides wood for a
local factory.

22. Odessa is a port city on the Black Sea in southern Ukraine. It’s known for its beaches and 19th-century
architecture, including the Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater. The monumental Potemkin Stairs,
immortalized in "The Battleship Potemkin," lead down to the waterfront with its Vorontsov Lighthouse.
Running parallel to the water, the grand Primorsky Boulevard is a popular promenade lined with mansions
and monuments.
The cafe-lined Deribasovskaya Street and nearby City Garden are popular gathering spots. The Odessa
Archaeological Museum is another late 19th-century landmark, with an exhibit of prehistoric Black Sea
artifacts. Near the museum, a monument to writer Alexander Pushkin stands across from the neoclassical
City Hall. The nearby Shevchenko Park is named for the Ukrainian poet. Beneath the streets is the tunnel
network of the Odessa Catacombs. Within the catacombs northwest of the city is the underground Museum
of Partisan Glory, honoring WWII resistance fighters. The seaside Arcadia district has a beach lined with

23. Lviv is a city in western Ukraine, around 70
kilometers from the border with Poland.
Traces of its Polish and Austro-Hungarian
heritage are evident in its architecture, which
blends Central and Eastern European styles
with those of Italy and Germany. In High
Castle Park, the mountaintop ruins of a 14th-
century castle provide panoramic views of
the city’s green-domed churches and the
surrounding hills.
Renaissance houses surround central Rynok (or
Market) Square, in Lviv’s old town. The Lviv
History Museum, contained within 4 of these, has
exhibits on Ukrainian nationalism, and ancient
and medieval history. The elaborate rococo
Dominican Cathedral dominates Muzeina
Square, to the east. Cobbled Virmenska Street is
home to the 14th-century Armenian Cathedral.
The elaborate Lviv Opera House in Svobody
Square stages productions of Ukrainian operas
and classical ballets. Outside the old town, 18th-
century Lychakiv Cemetery has ornate tombs,
chapels and shrines commemorating Ukrainian
soldiers and eminent local figures.

24. Pripyat is a ghost town in northern Ukraine, near the Ukraine-Belarus border.
Named after the nearby Pripyat River, Pripyat was founded on 4 February,
1970, as the ninth nuclear city in the Soviet Union, to serve the nearby
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It was officially proclaimed a city in 1979, and
had grown to a population of 49,360 by the time it was evacuated, on the
afternoon of 27 April 1986, the day after the Chernobyl disaster. Though
Pripyat is located within the administrative district of Ivankiv Raion, the
abandoned city now has the status of city of oblast significance within the
larger Kiev Oblast, being administered directly from Kiev. Pripyat is also
supervised by Ukraine's Ministry of Emergencies, which manages activities for
the entire Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

25. Dnipro is a city on the Dnieper River in central Ukraine.
Missiles in Rocket Park mark the city's role in the
Soviet-era space and defense industries. The Jewish
Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine Museum is part of
the Menorah Center, a Jewish cultural and business
complex. The Art Museum includes paintings and
sculptures. Nearby, the D.I. Yavornytsky National
History Museum explores archaeology and Cossack
history.

26. THANKS FOR WATCHING