102 – Ukraine as a European country

Ukraine is a country in eastern Europe. It is Europe’s second largest country in area; only Russia, Ukrainian’s neighbor, has more land. Ukraine area is 233,090 square miles, and population about 46 million. Ukrainian’s capital and largest city is Kiev.
Ukraine was one of the fifth republics of the former Soviet Union. For many decades, the Soviet Union forced Ukrainians to use the Russian language in government, schools, newspapers and television. The Moscow Empire favored the Russian culture over the Ukrainian culture. Many Ukrainians resented this policy and hated the Soviet government. In 1932 and 1933, millions of Ukrainians died of famine.
In 1991, following an upheaval in the Soviet government Ukraine declared its political independence. Moscow still wants to decide about many Ukrainian political problems.