Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. Kyiv is its capital and largest city. It has a total area of 603,550 square km. Ukrainian is its official language. Its official currency is the Ukrainian hryvnia.
Its seven land-skirting countries are Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Russia, and Belarus. Religion plays a solid influential part in shaping Ukrainian music, literature, and architecture. With these 40 exciting pieces of data about Ukraine, let’s learn further about its history, culture, people, food, and more.
10 facts about Ukrainian culture
- According to Ukrainian folk tales, Kyiv boasts up to three sanctioned witch gathering places. They partake in the name, Lysa Hora.
- Weaving with handcrafted looms is still used in some regions of the country, including Krupove, located in Rivne Oblast.
- Unlike numerous societies around the world, Ukrainians wear marriage rings on the right hand, not the left.
- “O Sole Mio” the world-famous song was composed in the country..
- Ukrainian romanticism started developing in the 1830s. Romanticist minstrel-painter Taras Shevchenko played a central part in this regard. He’s extensively regarded as the father of national revival.
- Commemorated on June, 23rd, Ivana Kupala Day is one of Ukraine’s most delightful traditional fests. Boys and girls join hands in dyads and jump over a fire in a sanctification ritual. Locals believe that when a couple skips the fire without losing grip of each other, their love is fated to last a lifetime.
- Vyshyvanka is the Ukrainian national costume. It’s decorated with cosmetic hand-woven embroidery featuring flowery detail. Both women and men wear the costume on colorful occasions.
- Kyiv is extensively regarded as the country’s spiritual capital. Pilgrims regularly travel long distances to visit the Sofia Kyivska church andSt. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery.
- The popular Easter egg tradition began in Ukraine. Firstly, the eggs were patterned using wax and color. The wax was ultimately removed leaving an emotional pattern with dashing colors.
- The world’s longest musical instrument also originates from Ukraine. The pipe piece is aptly named Trembita.
10 facts about Ukraine’s history
- Ukrainian societies date back to 4800 BC. The country is located in an area where Trypillian and Scythian societies thrived.
- Thousands of Jews were offered protection by Ukrainian religious leaders during World War II. One of the leaders, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky was recognized in 2013 by the Anti-Defamation League for his philanthropic part. The Jews planted retreats in cloisters and Ukrainian homes.
- Ukraine is home to several archaeological spots that were preliminarily Barbarous agreements. The agreements feature a mammoth bone lodging and are viewed as a possible position for the domestication of nags. The Molodova sites date back to 43,000–45,000 BC.
- The world’s first constitution was drafted and introduced in 1710 by Ukrainian Hetman Pylyp Orlyk. The document was aimed at introducing the separation of powers. It outlined the liabilities and rights of both citizens and the government.
- Russia and Austria showed veritably little interest in Ukraine in the 19th century. The country was generally pastoral. The situation changed as Ukrainian modernization and urbanization expanded.
- Catherine the Great and some of her successors supported adding German immigration into Ukraine following the Russo-Turkish War in the late 1700s. The primary idea was to adulterate the country’s demographic, which was characterized by a dominant Turk population.
- Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt met at the Yalta Conference in 1945, which was hosted by Ukraine. The meeting was aimed at charting the way forward in relation to the association of post-war Europe. The venue, Livadia Palace is now a gallery.
- In 1986, Ukraine witnessed the world’s worst nuclear power plant disaster. The tragedy passed at the Chornobyl plant located in the northern part of the country. The area has since been declared a rejection zone. The disaster and protestation led to the emergence of several ghost municipalities. The area attracts multitudes of tourists despite the high levels of radiation.
- Kyiv boasts the Hero City status, which was conferred by the Soviet Union in honor of its fierce resistance to the Nazis in 1941. The Germans girdled the megacity in what came known as the Battle of Kyiv.
- The country shares ties with Western Europe that go back in time. Anna, the son of Grand Prince Yaroslav helped pave the way for the strengthening of connections when she came to the Queen Consort of France in 1051. She played a huge part in exposing French people to Eastern culture.
5 facts about Ukrainian food and cuisines
- Borsh and varenyky are some of the most popular traditional Ukrainian dishes.
- Lviv is home to the highest number of cafes per capita in the world. It boasts up to 1,500 establishments.
- McDonald’s in Kyiv is reportedly one of the busiest in the world.
- Ukrainians love drinking horilka, which is an original variant of the famed vodka. Locals frequently flavor this public drink with chili pepper to give it a bit different punch.
- Locals also enjoy drinking stewed fruit( Kompot), which is a non-alcoholic sweet beverage. It’s prepared by cooking different types of fruits, matching as gooseberries, rhubarb, strawberries, apples, and sourberries among others. The drink is constantly seasoned using spices, particularly when it’s served hot in winter.
5 Ukraine facts for kids
- Ukraine has the distinction of being the geographical center of Europe.
- It features the deepest metro station in the world, which was built in 1960.
- Its capital city, Kyiv, also features the shortest main city street with a length of only 1.2 kilometers.
- The average life expectancy is around 71.48 years.
- Ukraine has the fourth-highest literacy rate in the world.
5 facts about Ukrainians
- Native Ukrainians consist of roughly 77.8 percent of the population.
- Although Ukrainians are hospitable, they seldom smile in public.
- Locals boast a distinctive ethnocultural identity, which is expressed through music and folk oral literature.
- Ukrainians are accustomed to energetic, fast-paced folk-stage dancing, which replaced traditional styles.
- Locals designed the world’s heaviest aircraft, the An-225 Mriya.
5 weird facts about Ukraine
- According to Traveler’s Digest, Kyiv is home to the most beautiful women in the country.
- The invention of the first gas lamp took place in Lviv.
- The country is the second-largest in Europe after Russia.
- Ukraine hosts up to seven UNESCO World Heritage sites, including the primeval beech forests of the Carpathians.
- It has one of the largest armies in Europe.