Ukraine is located in Eastern Europe, bordering Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. Kyiv, the capital, was founded in the 10th-11th centuries and was the capital of Kyivan Rus, one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union from which Ukraine gained independence in 1991. The government is headed by a president and prime minister and parliament called the Verkhovna Rada. Ukrainian culture is known for its dances, songs, paintings and poems and has produced famous figures like writer Taras Shevchenko and athletes Andriy Shevchenko, Anna Kournikova and the Klichko brothers.