Ukraine

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Ukraine
Україна (Ukrainian)

Flag

Coat of arms

Anthem: Державний Гімн України

Derzhavnyi Himn Ukrainy
"State Anthem of Ukraine"

MENU

0:00

 Location of Ukraine (green)
 Disputed territories (light green)
 Capital Kyiv
and largest city 49°N 32°ECoordinates:  4
9°N 32°E

Official languages Ukrainian
Recognised regional languages Belarusian
Bulgarian
Crimean Tatar
Gagauz
Greek
Hebrew
Hungarian
Polish
Romanian
Russian
Slovak
Yiddish[1][2]

Ethnic groups  77.8% Ukrainians
(2001)[3] 17.3% Russians
4.9% Others

Religion  87.3% Christianity
(2018) [4]
11.0% Irreligion
0.8% Others
0.9% Unanswered

Demonym(s) Ukrainian

Government Unitary semi-presidential republ
ic

• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

• Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal
• Chairman of the Ruslan Stefanchuk
Verkhovna Rada

Legislature Verkhovna Rada

Formation
• Kievan Rus' 882
• Kingdom of Ruthenia 1199
• Cossack Hetmanate 18 August 1649
• Ukrainian People's Republic 10 June 1917
• Declaration of independence of 22 January 1918
the Ukrainian People's Republic
• West Ukrainian People's 1 November 1918
Republic
• Act of Unity 22 January 1919
• Withdrawal from the Soviet 24 August 1991
Union
• Referendum 1 December 1991
• Current constitution 28 June 1996
• Revolution of Dignity [5]
18–23 February 2014

Area
• Total 603,628 km2 (233,062 sq mi)
(45th)
• Water (%) 7

Population
• January 2022 estimate  41,167,336[6]
(excluding Crimea) (36th)
• 2001 census 48,457,102[3]
• Density 73.8/km2 (191.1/sq mi) (115th)

GDP (PPP) 2022 estimate
• Total  $622 billion[7] (48th)

• Per capita  $15,124[7] (108th)

GDP (nominal) 2022 estimate
• Total  $204 billion[7] (56th)

• Per capita  $4,958[7] (119th)

Gini (2019)  26.6[8]
low

HDI (2019)  0.779[9]
high · 74th

Currency Hryvnia (₴) (UAH)

Time zone UTC+2[10] (EET)

• Summer (DST) UTC+3 (EEST)

Driving side right

Calling code +380

ISO 3166 code UA

 Internet TLD .ua
.укр

Ukraine (Ukrainian: Україна, romanized: Ukraïna, pronounced [ʊkrɐˈjinɐ] ( listen)) is a country

in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest country by area in Europe after Russia,
which it borders to the east and north-east.[a] Ukraine also shares borders
with Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the
west; Romania and Moldova[b] to the south; and has a coastline along the Sea of
Azov and the Black Sea. It spans an area of 603,628 km2 (233,062 sq mi),[c] with a
population of 43.6 million,[d] and is the eighth-most populous country in Europe. The
nation's capital and largest city is Kyiv.
The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC. During the Middle
Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture, with the loose tribal
federation Kievan Rus' forming the basis of Ukrainian identity. Following its
fragmentation into several principalities in the 13th century and the devastation created
by the Mongol invasion, the territorial unity collapsed and the area was contested,
divided, and ruled by a variety of powers, including the Polish–Lithuanian
Commonwealth, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Tsardom of Russia.
The Cossack Hetmanate emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries,
but its territory was eventually split between Poland and the Russian Empire. In the
aftermath of the Russian Revolution, a Ukrainian national movement for self-
determination emerged, and the internationally recognized Ukrainian People's
Republic was declared on 23 June 1917. The Ukrainian SSR was a founding member of
the Soviet Union in 1922. The country regained its independence in 1991, following
the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Following its independence, Ukraine declared itself a neutral state;[11] it formed a limited
military partnership with Russia and other CIS countries while also establishing
a partnership with NATO in 1994. In 2013, after the government of President Viktor
Yanukovych had decided to suspend the Ukraine–European Union Association
Agreement and seek closer economic ties with Russia, a several-months-long wave of
demonstrations and protests known as the Euromaidan began, which later escalated
into the Revolution of Dignity that led to the overthrow of Yanukovych and the
establishment of a new government. These events formed the background for
the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014 and the War in Donbas, a protracted
conflict with Russian-backed separatists, from April 2014 until the Russian invasion in
February 2022. Ukraine applied for the economic component of the Deep and
Comprehensive Free Trade Area with the European Union in 2016.[12]
Ukraine is a developing country ranking 74th in the Human Development Index. It
suffers from a high poverty rate as well as severe corruption.[13][14] However, because of
its extensive fertile farmlands, Ukraine is one of the largest grain exporters in the world.
[15][16]
 Ukraine is a unitary republic under a semi-presidential system with separation of
powers into legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The country is a member of
the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the GUAM organization,
the Association Trio, and the Lublin Triangle.
 Contents

 1Etymology and orthography

 2History
o 2.1Early history
o 2.2Golden Age of Kyiv
o 2.3Foreign domination
o 2.4Cossack Hetmanate
o 2.519th century, World War I and revolution
o 2.6Western Ukraine, Carpathian Ruthenia and Bukovina
o 2.7Inter-war Soviet Ukraine
o 2.8World War II
o 2.9Post–World War II
o 2.10Independence
o 2.11Orange Revolution
o 2.12Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity
o 2.132014 Russian armed interventions in Luhansk and Donetsk and invasion of Crimea
o 2.142022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
 3Geography
o 3.1Soil
o 3.2Climate
o 3.3Biodiversity
 4Politics
o 4.1Constitution of Ukraine
o 4.2President, parliament and government
o 4.3Courts and law enforcement
o 4.4Foreign relations
o 4.5Armed forces
o 4.6Administrative divisions
 5Economy
o 5.1Corporations
o 5.2Transport
o 5.3Energy
o 5.4Information Technology
o 5.5Tourism
 6Demographics
o 6.1Language
o 6.2Religion
o 6.3Health
o 6.4Education
o 6.5Regional differences
o 6.6Urbanisation
 7Culture
o 7.1Weaving and embroidery
o 7.2Literature
 o 7.3Architecture
o 7.4Music
o 7.5Cinema
o 7.6Media
o 7.7Sport
o 7.8Cuisine
 8See also
 9Notes
 10References
 11Print sources
o 11.1Reference books
o 11.2Recent (since 1991)
o 11.3History
 12External links

Etymology and orthography

Main article: Name of Ukraine
There are different hypotheses as to the etymological origins of the name of Ukraine.
The most widespread hypothesis theorizes that it comes from the old Slavic term for
"borderland".[17]
During most of the 20th century, Ukraine was referred to in the English-speaking
world as The Ukraine,[18] but since the country's independence in 1991, the use of this
term has become rarer, and style guides advise against its use.[19][20] According to U.S.
ambassador William Taylor, "the Ukraine" now implies disregard for the country's
sovereignty.[21] The official Ukrainian position is that the usage of "the Ukraine" is
incorrect, both grammatically and politically. [22]

History
Main article: History of Ukraine
Early history

A gold Scythian neckpiece, from a royal kurgan in Pokrov (4th century BC), Treasury of the National Museum

of History of Ukraine [uk]
Neanderthal settlement in Ukraine is seen in the Molodova archaeological sites
(43,000–45,000 BC) which includes a dwelling constructed from mammoth bones.[23][24]
Modern human settlement in Ukraine and its vicinity dates back to 32,000 BC, with
evidence of the Gravettian culture in the Crimean Mountains.[25][26] By 4,500 BC,
the Neolithic Cucuteni–Trypillia culture was flourishing in wide areas of modern Ukraine,
including Trypillia and the entire Dnieper-Dniester region. Ukraine is also considered to
be the likely location for the human domestication of the horse.[27][28][29][30] During the Iron
Age, the land was inhabited by Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians.[31] Between
700 BC and 200 BC it was part of the Scythian kingdom.[32]
From the 6th century BC, Greek, Roman, and the Byzantine colonies were established
on the north-eastern shore of the Black Sea, such as at Tyras, Olbia, and Chersonesus.
These thrived into the 6th century AD. The Goths stayed in the area, but came under
the sway of the Huns from the 370s. In the 7th century, the territory that is now eastern
Ukraine was the centre of Old Great Bulgaria. At the end of the century, the majority of
Bulgar tribes migrated in different directions, and the Khazars took over much of the
land.[33]
In the 5th and 6th centuries, the Antes people were located in Ukraine. The Antes were
the ancestors of Ukrainians: White Croats, Severians, Eastern
Polans, Drevlyans, Dulebes, Ulichians, and Tiverians. Migrations from Ukraine
throughout the Balkans established many South Slavic nations. Northern migrations,
reaching almost to Lake Ilmen, led to the emergence of the Ilmen Slavs, Krivichs,
and Radimichs, the groups ancestral to the Russians. Following an Avar raid in 602 and
the collapse of the Antes Union, most of these peoples survived as separate tribes until
the beginning of the second millennium.[34]
Golden Age of Kyiv
Main articles: Kievan Rus' and Kingdom of Ruthenia

The baptism of Grand Prince Vladimir in 988 led to the adoption of Christianity in Kievan Rus'.

Kievan Rus' was founded in the territory of the Eastern Polans, who lived among the
rivers Ros, Rosava, and Dnieper. From studying the linguistics of Russian chronicles,
Russian historian Boris Rybakov came to the conclusion that the Polans union of clans
of the mid-Dnieper region called itself by the name of one of its clans, "Ros", that joined
the union and was known at least since the 6th century far beyond the Slavic world. [35]
The origin of the Kyiv princedom is fiercely debated and there exist at least three
versions depending on interpretations of the chronicles. [36] In general it is believed that
Kievan Rus' included the central, western and northern part of modern Ukraine, Belarus,
the far eastern strip of Poland and the western part of present-day Russia. According to
the Primary Chronicle the Rus' elite initially consisted of Varangians from Scandinavia.[37]
During the 10th and 11th centuries, it became the largest and most powerful state in
Europe.[38] It laid the foundation for the national identity of Ukrainians and Russians.
[39]
 Kyiv, the capital of modern Ukraine, became the most important city of the Rus'. In
12th–13th centuries on efforts of Yuri the Long Armed, in area of Zalesye were founded
several cities similar in name as in Kievan Rus' such as Vladimir on the
Klyazma/Vladimir of Zalesye[40] (Volodymyr), Galich of Merya (Halych), Pereslavl of
Zalesye (Pereyaslav of Ruthenian), Pereslavl of Erzya.

The furthest extent of Kievan Rus', 1054–1132

The Varangians later assimilated into the Slavic population and became part of the first
Rus' dynasty, the Rurik dynasty.[39] Kievan Rus' was composed of
several principalities ruled by the interrelated Rurikid kniazes ("princes"), who often
fought each other for possession of Kyiv.[41]
The Golden Age of Kievan Rus' began with the reign of Vladimir the Great (980–1015),
who turned Rus' toward Byzantine Christianity. During the reign of his son, Yaroslav the
Wise (1019–1054), Kievan Rus' reached the zenith of its cultural development and
military power.[39] The state soon fragmented as the relative importance of regional
powers rose again. After a final resurgence under the rule of Vladimir II
Monomakh (1113–1125) and his son Mstislav (1125–1132), Kievan Rus' finally
disintegrated into separate principalities following Mstislav's death. [42]
The 13th-century Mongol invasion devastated Kievan Rus'. Kyiv was totally destroyed in
1240.[43] On today's Ukrainian territory, the principalities of Halych and Volodymyr-
Volynskyi arose, and were merged into the state of Galicia–Volhynia.[44]
Danylo Romanovych (Daniel I of Galicia or Danylo Halytskyi) son of Roman
Mstyslavych, re-united all of south-western Rus', including Volhynia, Galicia and Rus'
ancient capital of Kyiv. Danylo was crowned by
the papal archbishop in Dorohychyn 1253 as the first king of all Rus'. Under Danylo's
reign, the Kingdom of Ruthenia was one of the most powerful states in east central
Europe.[45]
Foreign domination
See also: Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Crimean
Khanate, Ottoman Empire, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Russian Empire

Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Hetman of Ukraine, established an independent Ukrainian Cossack state after

the uprising in 1648 against Poland.

In the mid-14th century, upon the death of Bolesław Jerzy II of Mazovia, king Casimir III
of Poland initiated campaigns (1340–1366) to take Galicia-Volhynia. Meanwhile, the
heartland of Rus', including Kyiv, became the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania,
ruled by Gediminas and his successors, after the Battle on the Irpen' River. Following
the 1386 Union of Krewo, a dynastic union between Poland and Lithuania, much of
what became northern Ukraine was ruled by the increasingly Slavicised local Lithuanian
nobles as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. By 1392 the so-called Galicia–Volhynia
Wars ended. Polish colonisers of depopulated lands in northern and central Ukraine
founded or re-founded many towns.
In the Black Sea cities of modern-day Ukraine, the Republic of Genoa founded
numerous colonies, from the mid-13th century to the late 15th century, including the
cities of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi ("Moncastro") and Kiliya ("Licostomo"), the colonies used
to be large commercial centers in the region, and were headed by a consul (a
representative of the Republic).[46]
In 1430 Podolia was incorporated under the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland
as Podolian Voivodeship. In 1441, in the southern Ukraine, especially Crimea and
surrounding steppes, Genghisid prince Haci I Giray founded the Crimean Khanate.[47]

Following the Mongol invasion of Rus', much of Ukraine was controlled by Lithuania and after the Union of
Lublin (1569) by Poland within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, illustrated here in 1619.

In 1569 the Union of Lublin established the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and

much Ukrainian territory was transferred from Lithuania to the Crown of the Kingdom of
Poland, becoming Polish territory de jure. Under the demographic, cultural and political
pressure of Polonisation, which began in the late 14th century, many landed gentry of
Polish Ruthenia (another name for the land of Rus) converted to Catholicism and
became indistinguishable from the Polish nobility.[48] Deprived of native protectors among
Rus nobility, the commoners (peasants and townspeople) began turning for protection
to the emerging Zaporozhian Cossacks, who by the 17th century became
devoutly Orthodox. The Cossacks did not shy from taking up arms against those they
perceived as enemies, including the Polish state and its local representatives. [49]
Formed from Golden Horde territory conquered after the Mongol invasion the Crimean
Khanate was one of the strongest powers in Eastern Europe until the 18th century; in
1571 it even captured and devastated Moscow.[50] The borderlands suffered annual Tatar
invasions. From the beginning of the 16th century until the end of the 17th century,
Crimean Tatar slave raiding bands[51] exported about two million slaves from Russia and
Ukraine.[52]
According to Orest Subtelny, "from 1450 to 1586, eighty-six Tatar raids were recorded,
and from 1600 to 1647, seventy."[53] In 1688, Tatars captured a record number of 60,000
Ukrainians.[54] The Tatar raids took a heavy toll, discouraging settlement in more
southerly regions where the soil was better and the growing season was longer. The
last remnant of the Crimean Khanate was finally conquered by the Russian Empire in
1783.[55]
In the mid-17th century, a Cossack military quasi-state, the Zaporozhian Host, was
formed by Dnieper Cossacks and by Ruthenian peasants who had fled Polish serfdom.
[56]
 Poland exercised little real control over this population, but found the Cossacks to be
a useful opposing force to the Turks and Tatars,[57] and at times the two were allies
in military campaigns.[58] However, the continued harsh enserfment of peasantry by
Polish nobility and especially the suppression of the Orthodox Church alienated the
Cossacks.[57]
The Cossacks sought representation in the Polish Sejm, recognition of Orthodox
traditions, and the gradual expansion of the Cossack Registry. These were rejected by
the Polish nobility, who dominated the Sejm.[59]
Cossack Hetmanate

Russia's victory over Charles XII of Sweden and his ally Ivan Mazepa at the Battle of Poltava (1709)
destroyed Cossack autonomy.

In 1648, Bohdan Khmelnytsky led the largest of the Cossack uprisings against the

Commonwealth and the Polish king.[60] After Khmelnytsky made an entry into Kyiv in
1648, where he was hailed liberator of the people from Polish captivity, he founded
the Cossack Hetmanate, which existed until 1764 (some sources claim until 1782). [61]
Khmelnytsky, deserted by his Tatar allies, suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of
Berestechko in 1651, and turned to the Russian tsar for help. In 1654, Khmelnytsky was
subject to the Pereyaslav Council, forming a military and political alliance with Russia
that acknowledged loyalty to the Russian tsar.
In the period 1657–1686 came "The Ruin", a devastating 30-year war amongst Russia,
Poland, the Crimean Khanate, the Ottoman Empire, and Cossacks for control of
Ukraine, which occurred at about the same time as the Deluge of Poland. The wars
escalated in intensity with hundreds of thousands of deaths. The "Treaty of Perpetual
Peace" between Russia and Poland in 1686 divided the lands of the Cossack
Hetmanate between them, reducing the portion over which Poland had claimed
sovereignty.
In 1686, the Metropolitanate of Kyiv was annexed by the Moscow Patriarchate through
the Synodal Letter of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Dionysius
IV (later anathematized), who made a simony.
In 1709, Cossack Hetman Ivan Mazepa (1639–1709) defected to Sweden against
Russia in the Great Northern War (1700–1721). Eventually Tsar Peter recognized that
to consolidate and modernize Russia's political and economic power it was necessary to
do away with the Cossack Hetmanate and Ukrainian and Cossack aspirations to
autonomy. Mazepa died in exile after fleeing from the Battle of Poltava (1709), in which
the Swedes and their Cossack allies suffered a catastrophic defeat.
The first page of the Pylyp Orlyk Constitution, drafted in 1710

The Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk or Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of

the Zaporizhian Host was a 1710 constitutional document written by Hetman Pylyp
Orlyk, a Cossack of Ukraine, then within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.[62] It
established a standard for the separation of powers in government between the
legislative, executive, and judiciary branches, well before the publication
of Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws. The Constitution limited the executive authority
of the hetman, and established a democratically elected Cossack parliament called the
General Council. The Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk was unique for its period, and was one
of the first state constitutions in Europe.[citation needed]

Kirill Razumovski, the last Hetman of left- and right-bank Ukraine 1750–1764 and the first person to declare
Ukraine to be a sovereign state

Lithuanians and Poles controlled vast estates in Ukraine, and were a law unto
themselves. Judicial rulings from Kraków were routinely flouted, while peasants were
heavily taxed and practically tied to the land as serfs. Occasionally the landowners
battled each other using armies of Ukrainian peasants. The Poles and Lithuanians were
Roman Catholics and tried with some success to convert the Orthodox lesser nobility. In
1596, they set up the "Greek-Catholic" or Uniate Church; it dominates western Ukraine
to this day. Religious differentiation left the Ukrainian Orthodox peasants leaderless, as
they were reluctant to follow the Ukrainian nobles. [63]
Cossacks led an uprising, called Koliivshchyna, starting in the Ukrainian borderlands of
the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1768. Ethnicity was one root cause of this
revolt, which included the Massacre of Uman that killed tens of thousands of Poles and
Jews. Religious warfare also broke out among Ukrainian groups. Increasing conflict
between Uniate and Orthodox parishes along the newly reinforced Polish-Russian
border on the Dnieper in the time of Catherine the Great set the stage for the uprising.
As Uniate religious practices had become more Latinized, Orthodoxy in this region drew
even closer into dependence on the Russian Orthodox Church. Confessional tensions
also reflected opposing Polish and Russian political allegiances. [64]
After the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Empire in 1783, Novorossiya was settled
by Ukrainians and Russians.[65] Despite promises in the Treaty of Pereyaslav, the
Ukrainian elite and the Cossacks never received the freedoms and the autonomy they
had expected. However, within the Empire, Ukrainians rose to the highest Russian state
and church offices.[a] In a later period, tsarists established a policy of Russification,
suppressing the use of the Ukrainian language in print and in public. [66]
19th century, World War I and revolution
Main articles: Southwestern Krai, Kharkov Governorate, and Chernigov Governorate
Further information: Ukraine during World War I, Ukraine after the Russian
Revolution, Ukrainian War of Independence, and Soviet–Ukrainian War
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the territory of today's Ukraine was included
in the governorates of Chernihiv (Chernigov in Russian), Kharkiv (Kharkov), Kyiv 1708–
1764, and Little Russia 1764–1781, Podillia (Podolie), and Volyn (Volhynia)—with all
but the first two informally grouped into the Southwestern Krai.[citation needed]

A map from 1904 showing administrative units of Little Russia, South Russia and West Russia within
the Russian Empire prior to Ukrainian independence

After the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774), Catherine the Great and her immediate

successors encouraged German immigration into Ukraine and especially into Crimea, to
thin the previously dominant Turk population and encourage agriculture. [67] Numerous
Ukrainians, Russians, Germans, Bulgarians, Serbs and Greeks moved into the
northern Black Sea steppe formerly known as the "Wild Fields".[68][69]
With growing urbanization and modernization, and a cultural trend toward romantic
nationalism, a Ukrainian intelligentsia committed to national rebirth and social justice
emerged. The serf-turned-national-poet Taras Shevchenko (1814–1861) and the
political theorist Mykhailo Drahomanov (1841–1895) led the growing nationalist
movement.[70][71]
Beginning in the 19th century, there was migration from Ukraine to distant areas of the
Russian Empire. According to the 1897 census, there were 223,000 ethnic Ukrainians
in Siberia and 102,000 in Central Asia.[72] An additional 1.6 million emigrated to the east
in the ten years after the opening of the Trans-Siberian Railway in 1906.[73] Far
Eastern areas with an ethnic Ukrainian population became known as Green Ukraine.[74]
Nationalist and socialist parties developed in the late 19th century. Austrian Galicia,
under the relatively lenient rule of the Habsburgs, became the centre of the nationalist
movement.[75]
Ukrainians entered World War I on the side of both the Central Powers, under Austria,
and the Triple Entente, under Russia. Three-and-a-half million Ukrainians fought with
the Imperial Russian Army, while 250,000 fought for the Austro-Hungarian Army.
[76]
 Austro-Hungarian authorities established the Ukrainian Legion to fight against the
Russian Empire. This became the Ukrainian Galician Army that fought against the
Bolsheviks and Poles in the post-World War I period (1919–23). Those suspected of
Russophile sentiments in Austria were treated harshly. [77]

Polish troops enter Kyiv in May 1920 during the Polish–Soviet War in which Ukrainians sided with Poland
against the Bolsheviks. Following the Peace of Riga signed on 18 March 1921, Poland took control of modern-
day western Ukraine while Soviet forces took control of eastern Ukraine.

World War I destroyed both empires. The Russian Revolution of 1917 led to the

founding of the Soviet Union under the Bolsheviks, and subsequent civil war in Russia.
A Ukrainian national movement for self-determination emerged, with heavy Communist
and Socialist influence. Several Ukrainian states briefly emerged. The internationally
recognized Ukrainian People's Republic, the predecessor of modern Ukraine, was
declared on 23 June 1917 by the First Universal of the Ukrainian Central Council,
proclaimed at first as a part of the Russian Republic. After the October Revolution, the
independence of the Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed on 22 January 1918
by the Fourth Universal of the Ukrainian Central Council. The Hetmanate,
the Directorate and the Bolshevik Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (or Soviet
Ukraine) successively established territories in the former Russian Empire; while
the West Ukrainian People's Republic and the Hutsul Republic emerged briefly in the
Ukrainian lands of former Austro-Hungarian territory. [78]
The short-lived Unification Act was an agreement signed on 22 January 1919 by
the Ukrainian People's Republic and the West Ukrainian People's Republic on the St.
Sophia Square in Kyiv.[79] This led to civil war, and an anarchist movement called
the Black Army (later renamed to the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine)
developed in Southern Ukraine under the command of the anarchist Nestor
Makhno during the Russian Civil War.[80] They protected the operation of "free soviets"
and libertarian communes in the Free Territory, an attempt to form
a stateless anarchist society from 1918 to 1921 during the Ukrainian Revolution, fighting
both the tsarist White Army under Denikin and later the Red Army under Trotsky, before
being defeated by the latter in August 1921.
Poland defeated Western Ukraine in the Polish–Ukrainian War, but failed against the
Bolsheviks in an offensive against Kyiv. According to the Peace of Riga, western
Ukraine was incorporated into Poland, which in turn recognised the Ukrainian Soviet
Socialist Republic in March 1919. With establishment of the Soviet power, Ukraine lost
half of its territory, while Moldavian autonomy was established on the left bank of
the Dniester River. Ukraine became a founding member of the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics in December 1922.[81]