UKRAINE

Ukraine borders Russia to the east, Belarus to the north, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev (Kyiv) is Ukraine's capital. The nation's history began with that of the East Slavs. From at least the 9th century, the territory of Ukraine was a center of the East Slavic civilization forming the state of Kievan Rus'. From the 14th century on, the territory of Ukraine was divided among a number of regional powers and by the 19th century the largest part of Ukraine was integrated into the Russian Empire with the rest under Austro-Hungarian control. In 1922 Ukraine emerged as one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian territory was enlarged westward before and after the Second World War, and again in 1954 with the Crimea transfer. There were two artificial famines engineered by Soviet rule (1921-22 and 1932-33) in which over 8 million died.

Ukraine became independent again after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It is a unitary state composed of 24 oblasts (provinces), one autonomous republic (Crimea).

The dominant religion in Ukraine is Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which is currently split between three Church bodies: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church autonomous church body under the Patriarch of Moscow, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate, and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. A distant second by the number of the followers is the Eastern Rite Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which practices a similar liturgical and spiritual tradition as Eastern Orthodoxy, but recognizes the primacy of the Pope. Additionally, there are 863 Roman Catholic (Latin or Western Rite) communities, and 474 clergy members serving some one million Roman Catholics in Ukraine.

Protestant Christians also form around 2.19% of the population. Protestant numbers have grown greatly since Ukrainian independence. The Evangelical Baptist Union of Ukraine is the largest group, with more than 150,000 members and about 3000 clergy. The second largest Protestant church is the Ukrainian Church of Evangelical faith (Pentecostals) with 110,000 members and over 1500 local churches and over 2000 clergy, but there also exist other Pentecostal groups and unions and together all Pentecostals are over 300,000, with over 3000 local churches. Other groups include Calvinists, Lutherans, Methodists and Seventh-day Adventists.

There are an estimated 500,000 Muslims in Ukraine. About 300,000 Muslims are Crimean Tatars. The Jewish community is a tiny fraction of what it was before World War II. Jews form 0.63% of the population. A 2001 census indicated 103,600 Jews. The Orthodox Judaism has a stronger presence in Ukraine, than a smaller Reform denomination. Additionally, there is a presence of the middle-ground sect, Conservative Judaism (aka Masorti Judaism) as well.