Geographical position

Task III. Read the text about Ukraine and fulfill all the tasks that precede or follow the passages.

Introduction

Ukraine is one of the East-Slavonic states. It occupies the South-Western part of the Soviet Union. Ukraine is sovereign state.It has its own territory, government, national emblem and anthem. Governed by the Act of Ukraine’s Independence of August 24, 1991, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on behalf of the Ukrainian people adopted the Constitution - the Fundamental Law on June 28, 1996. The Constitution establishes the country’s political system, assures rights, freedoms and duties of citizens, and is the basis for its laws.It asserts, besides, that Ukraine is a sovereign and independent, democratic, social, legal state. Ukraine is a parliamentary-democratic republic. The people are the only source of power and local self-government. The National symbols of Ukraine were adopted by the Verkhovna Rada in 1992. The Ukrainian flag consists of two horizontal stripes of equal width. The top is blue and the bottom is yellow. The contemporary national coat of arms of Ukraine is a trident. The national Anthem was written by poet Pavlo Chubynsky which was later set to music by Galician composer Mykhaylo Verbytsky.

Task 3.1 Complete the following sentences:

The blue stripe on the Flag of Ukraine means …

The yellow stripe on the Flag of Ukraine symbolizes …

The National Emblem (coat of arms) of Ukraine is …

The National anthem of Ukraine is called …

The articles of the Constitution guarantee the rights to …

Independence of Ukraine

The first president after independence, former Communist Party official Leonid Kravchuk, presided over a period of economic decline and runaway inflation.

Although trade with EU countries now exceeds that with Russia, Russia is the largest individual trading partner. Ukraine depends on Russia for its gas supplies and forms an important part of the pipeline transit route for Russian gas exports to Europe.

Since Viktor Yushchenko became president, Ukraine has made clear its aspiration towards EU membership; 2015 has been mooted as a possible target entry date.

In 2002 Ukraine announced that it intended to seek Nato membership. There were Ukrainian peacekeepers in the stabilisation force in Iraq and the country also sent peacekeeping troops to Kosovo.

Geographical position

Ukraine is situated in the south-eastern part of Central Europe, and it borders on other European countries: Russia, Byelorus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Moldova and Romania. The territory of our country is about 600,000 square kilometres. The population of Ukraine is about 48 million people. Approximately 68% of the population is urban, and 32% is rural. Among the inhabitants of Ukraine are the representatives of many nationalities: the Ukrainians, Russians, Byelorussians, Moldavians, Rumanians, Tatars, Poles, Hungarians, Armenians, Gypsies and some other ethnic minorities. Probably that’s why Ukraine has a very rich and varied culture and history.

The territory of Ukraine is mostly a level treeless plain, called the steppe. Ukraine is not a mountainous country, though there are Crimean Mountains in the Crimean Peninsula and the Carpathians in the west of the country; both not very high. Mountains cover only 5% of the whole area of Ukraine. They are covered with mixed forests of pine, fir, birch and oak trees. Ukraine is washed by the Black sea and the sea of Azov and has very important ports. The largest highland area is the Dnieper Upland, which lies between the middle reaches of the Dnieper and South Buh, rivers in west-central Ukraine. It is broken by many rivers, valleys, ravines and gorges, some of them are more than 1,000 feet deep.

The main river in the country is the Dnieper which is the third longest in Europe. One of the oldest Ukrainian cities, its capital Kyiv is situated on both sides of this wide and powerful river. The Dnieper has many tributaries which unify central Ukraine economically, connecting the Baltic coast countries with the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The mouth of another Ukrainian river, the Danube, provides an outlet for our country’s trade to the Balkans, Austria and Germany. The Danube river connects Ukraine with 7 European countries. Other less important rivers of Ukraine are the Dniester, the Southern Buh, the Desna, the Prypyat and about 70 thousand small rivers.

The flora and fauna of our country of our country are extremely rich. Almost all kinds of animals and birds can be found on its territory.

The biggest cities of Ukraine are Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhiya, Donetsk, Odesa, Mykolaiv and some others. Main industrial enterprises are concentrated in and around them.

Task 3.2 Decide which of these statements are true and which are false:

1. Ukraine is situated in the south-east of Europe.

2. Ukraine borders on 8 countries.

3. More people live in the country than in the city.

4. The main rivers of Ukraine are important trade routes.

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