Geographical position

Ukraine is a state in Eastern Europe, bounded on the north by Byelarus, on the north and east by the Russian Federation, on the west by Poland, Slovakia, on the south­west by Hungary, Rumania and Moldova, and on the south by the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

The total area of Ukraine is 603,700 sq. km. Ukraine's state border extends for a total of 7698 km: with Russia – 2484 km; Byelarus – 952 km; Poland – 542 km; Slovakia – 93 km; Hungary – 135 km; R(o)umania – 608 km; Moldo­va – 1194 km. The total length of Ukraine's sea coast is 1758 km (Black Sea – 1533 km; Sea of Azov – 225 km).

The largest river of Ukraine is the Dnipro, which is 2201 km in length, of which 981 km flow through Ukraine. The largest mountain system in Ukraine is the Carpathian Mountains which extend for more than 270 km and are 100–110 km wide. The highest peak is the Hoverla (2061 m). The geographical position of Ukraine is favourable to the development of its relations with the countries of.Europe and of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean Ba­sins. Among the biggest Ukrainian rivers are the Dnipro, the Southern Buh and the Dniester. From the lower Danube one can travel by water to seven European countries. Plains and the excellent chernozem territories occupy the largest part of Ukraine. They are rich wheat fields. The western border lands, however, are mountainous.

The climate in Ukraine is subjected to alterations rang­ing from continental to mild, humid. While summer is dry and hot in the south-east part of the country, it is humid and rainy in the western regions. The fertile soils and ge­nerally good climate are favourable for agriculture.

Ukraine has rich deposits of iron, manganese and rare metals, coal, natural gas, oil, graphite and other mineral resources – a good base for the development of industry. Recently rich deposits of gold have been found. Ukraine operates powerful metallurgy, multibranch ma­chine building, large-scale shipbuilding, a developed chemical industry.

The population of Ukraine numbers over 50 million: three-fourths of them are Ukrainians. The rest is made up of Russians, Jews, Poles, Byelorussians, Moldavians, Hungarians and dozens of other nationalities. Over 55 percent of the population are urban dwellers.

There are 400 towns and cities in Ukraine. Five of them have a population exceeding a million: Kyiv, Kharkiv, Do­netsk, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk.

Notes

border – кордон

to extend – простягати(ся)

to subject – піддавати, впливати

humid – вологий

fertile – родючий

deposits – поклади, родовище

manganese – марганець

metallurgy – металургія

to exceed – перевищувати

Assignments

I. Read and translate the text into Ukrainian.

II. Render the text in English.

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