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109-513: The Kyiv Opera group in Ukraine was formally established in the summer of 1867, and is the third oldest opera in Ukraine , after Odesa Opera and Lviv Opera . The Kyiv Opera Company perform Kyiv Opera House , named after Taras Shevchenko . Established in the summer of 1867 by Ferdinand Berger (? – 1875). Berger succeeded in inviting many talented singers, musicians, and conductors, and

218-701: A coup d'état led by Pavlo Skoropadskyi , which yielded the Ukrainian State under the German protectorate, and the attempt to restore the UNR under the Directorate ultimately failed as the Ukrainian army was regularly overrun by other forces. The short-lived West Ukrainian People's Republic and Hutsul Republic also failed to join the rest of Ukraine. The result of the conflict was a partial victory for

327-587: A famine known as the Holodomor or the "Great Famine", which was recognized by some countries as an act of genocide perpetrated by Joseph Stalin and other Soviet notables. Following on the Russian Civil War and collectivisation, the Great Purge , while killing Stalin's perceived political enemies, resulted in a profound loss of a new generation of Ukrainian intelligentsia , known today as

436-547: A European leader in industrial production and an important centre of the Soviet arms industry and high-tech research, though heavy industry still had an outsided influence. The Soviet government invested in hydroelectric and nuclear power projects to cater to the energy demand that the development carried. On 26 April 1986, however, a reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, resulting in

545-521: 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 political theorist Mykhailo Drahomanov (1841–1895) led the growing nationalist movement. While conditions for its development in Austrian Galicia under the Habsburgs were relatively lenient,

654-453: 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, though ownership of Kyiv would still carry great prestige for decades. In the 11th and 12th centuries, the nomadic confederacy of the Turkic -speaking Cumans and Kipchaks was the dominant force in

763-464: A further blow to Moscow's influence in Ukraine. Finally, amid a full-scale war with Russia, Ukraine was granted candidate status to the European Union on 23 June 2022. A broad anti-corruption drive began in early 2023 with the resignations of several deputy ministers and regional heads during a reshuffle of the government. Ukraine is the second-largest European country , after Russia, and

872-563: A leftist revolutionary, trying to rehabilitate himself. Bogrov ran to one of the entries and was subsequently caught. "He [Stolypin] turned toward the Imperial Box, then seeing the Tsar who had entered the box, he made a gesture with both hands to tell the Tsar to go back." The orchestra began to play "God Save the Tsar." The doctors hoped Stolypin would recover, but despite never losing consciousness, his condition deteriorated. The next day,

981-509: A part of the broader Russian Civil War , devastated the whole of the former Russian Empire , including eastern and central Ukraine. The fighting left over 1.5 million people dead and hundreds of thousands homeless in the former Russian Empire's territory. The eastern provinces were additionally impacted by a famine in 1921 . During the inter-war period, in Poland , Marshal Józef Piłsudski sought Ukrainian support by offering local autonomy as

1090-417: A performance Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin was killed. According to Alexander Spiridovich , after the second act "Stolypin was standing in front of the ramp separating the parterre from the orchestra, his back to the stage. On his right were Baron Freedericks and Gen. Suhkomlinov ." His personal bodyguard had gone to smoke. Stolypin was shot twice, once in the arm and once in the chest by Dmitry Bogrov ,

1199-534: A policy of Russification , suppressing the use of the Ukrainian language and curtailing the Ukrainian national identity. The western part of present-day Ukraine was subsequently split between Russia and Habsburg -ruled Austria after the fall of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. The 19th century saw the rise of Ukrainian nationalism. With growing urbanization and modernization and

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1308-552: A presentation of the opera Life for the Tsar by M. Glinka. On 14 September [ O.S. 1 September] 1911, there was a performance of Rimsky-Korsakov 's The Tale of Tsar Saltan at the Kyiv Opera House in the presence of the Tsar and his two oldest daughters, the Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana . The theater was occupied by 90 men posted as interior guards. During the intermission of

1417-516: A sort of frozen state until the early hours of 24 February 2022, when Russia proceeded with an ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops control about 17% of Ukraine's internationally recognized territory, which constitutes 94% of Luhansk Oblast , 73% of Kherson Oblast , 72% of Zaporizhzhia Oblast , 54% of Donetsk Oblast and all of Crimea, though Russia failed with its initial plan, with Ukrainian troops recapturing some territory in counteroffensives. The military conflict with Russia shifted

1526-599: A way to minimise Soviet influence in Poland's eastern Kresy region. However, this approach was abandoned after Piłsudski's death in 1935, due to continued unrest among the Ukrainian population, including assassinations of Polish government officials by the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN); with the Polish government responding by restricting rights of people who declared Ukrainian nationality. In consequence,

1635-623: A wealthy family, Freedericksz received home education at an early age. Succeeding Count Vorontsov-Daskov at the Ministry at the age of 60, Freedericksz established a close relationship with Tsar Nicholas II, and Empress Alexandra , calling them 'mes enfants' in private. He was praised in this role by the French ambassador, Maurice Paléologue , who called him 'the very personification of court life'. However, in later life, he became forgetful and ill and often fell asleep during conferences. Freedericksz

1744-804: Is Hoverla at 2,061 metres (6,762 ft), and the Crimean Mountains , in the extreme south along the coast. Ukraine also has a number of highland regions such as the Volyn-Podillia Upland (in the west) and the Near-Dnipro Upland (on the right bank of the Dnieper). To the east there are the south-western spurs of the Central Russian Upland over which runs the border with Russia. Near the Sea of Azov are

1853-411: Is celebrated as one of eleven Ukrainian national holidays. The republic was heavily damaged by the war, and it required significant efforts to recover. More than 700 cities and towns and 28,000 villages were destroyed. The situation was worsened by a famine in 1946–1947, which was caused by a drought and the wartime destruction of infrastructure, killing at least tens of thousands of people. In 1945,

1962-525: The Netherlands ". However, since Ukraine's declaration of independence in 1991, this usage has become politicised and is now rarer, and style guides advise against its use. US ambassador William Taylor said that using "the Ukraine" implies disregard for Ukrainian sovereignty. The official Ukrainian position is that "the Ukraine" is both grammatically and politically incorrect. 1.4 million year old stone tools from Korolevo , western Ukraine, are

2071-505: The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine . 50°26′48″N 30°30′45″E  /  50.44667°N 30.51250°E  / 50.44667; 30.51250 Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe . It is the second-largest European country after Russia , which borders it to the east and northeast. It also borders Belarus to the north; Poland and Slovakia to the west; Hungary , Romania and Moldova to

2180-560: The Belavezha Accords and made Ukraine a founding member of the much looser Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), though Ukraine never became a full member of the latter as it did not ratify the agreement founding CIS. These documents sealed the fate of the Soviet Union, which formally voted itself out of existence on 26 December. Ukraine was initially viewed as having favourable economic conditions in comparison to

2289-583: The COVID-19 pandemic , which arrived in 2020, were made much harder by low vaccination rates and, later in the pandemic, by the ongoing invasion. From the political perspective, one of the defining features of the politics of Ukraine is that for most of the time, it has been divided along two issues: the relation between Ukraine, the West and Russia, and the classical left-right divide. The first two presidents, Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma , tended to balance

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2398-458: The Chernobyl disaster , the worst nuclear reactor accident in history. Mikhail Gorbachev pursued a policy of limited liberalization of public life, known as perestroika , and attempted to reform a stagnating economy . The latter failed, but the democratization of the Soviet Union fuelled nationalist and separatist tendencies among the ethnic minorities, including Ukrainians. As part of

2507-711: The Dnieper ( Dnipro ), Seversky Donets , Dniester and the Southern Bug as they flow south into the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov . To the southwest, the Danube Delta forms the border with Romania. Ukraine's regions have diverse geographic features, ranging from the highlands to the lowlands. The country's only mountains are the Carpathian Mountains in the west, of which the highest

2616-513: The Donbas , and in some larger cities such as Odesa and Kyiv, Ukraine largely remained an agricultural and resource extraction economy. The Austrian part of Ukraine was particularly destitute , which forced hundreds of thousands of peasants into emigration, who created the backbone of an extensive Ukrainian diaspora in countries such as Canada , the United States and Brazil . Some of

2725-608: The Euromaidan to oppose Yanukovych's refusal to sign the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement . By the end of the protests on 21 February 2014, he fled from Ukraine and was removed by the parliament in what is termed the Revolution of Dignity , but Russia refused to recognize the interim pro-Western government, calling it a junta and denouncing the events as a coup d'état sponsored by

2834-705: The Executed Renaissance . Following the Invasion of Poland in September 1939, German and Soviet troops divided the territory of Poland. Thus, Eastern Galicia and Volhynia with their Ukrainian population became part of Ukraine. For the first time in history, the nation was united. Further territorial gains were secured in 1940, when the Ukrainian SSR incorporated the northern and southern districts of Bessarabia , Northern Bukovina , and

2943-759: The Hertsa region from the territories the USSR forced Romania to cede , though it handed over the western part of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to the newly created Moldavian SSR . These territorial gains of the USSR were internationally recognized by the Paris peace treaties of 1947 . German armies invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, initiating nearly four years of total war . The Axis initially advanced against desperate but unsuccessful efforts of

3052-545: The Iron Age , the land was inhabited by Iranian -speaking Cimmerians , Scythians , and Sarmatians . Between 700 BC and 200 BC it was part of the Scythian kingdom. From the 6th century BC, Greek , Roman , and 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

3161-643: The Metropolitanate of Kyiv under the authority of Moscow . An attempt to reverse the decline was undertaken by Cossack Hetman Ivan Mazepa (1639–1709), who ultimately defected to the Swedes in the Great Northern War (1700–1721) in a bid to get rid of Russian dependence, but they were crushed in the Battle of Poltava (1709). The Hetmanate's autonomy was severely restricted since Poltava. In

3270-820: The Pontic steppe north of the Black Sea. The Mongol invasions in the mid-13th century devastated Kievan Rus'; following the Siege of Kyiv in 1240 , the city was destroyed by the Mongols. In the western territories, the principalities of Halych and Volhynia had arisen earlier, and were merged to form the Principality of Galicia–Volhynia . Daniel of Galicia , son of Roman the Great , re-united much of south-western Rus', including Volhynia , Galicia , as well as Kyiv. He

3379-564: The Red , White , Black and Green armies , with the Poles, Hungarians (in Transcarpathia ), and Germans also intervening at various times. An attempt to create an independent state, the left-leaning Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR), was first announced by Mykhailo Hrushevsky , but the period was plagued by an extremely unstable political and military environment. It was first deposed in

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3488-711: The Red Army . In the battle of Kyiv , the city was acclaimed as a " Hero City ", because of its fierce resistance . More than 600,000 Soviet soldiers (or one-quarter of the Soviet Western Front ) were killed or taken captive there, with many suffering severe mistreatment . After its conquest, most of the Ukrainian SSR was organised within the Reichskommissariat Ukraine , with the intention of exploiting its resources and eventual German settlement. Some western Ukrainians, who had only joined

3597-767: The Russian tsar for help. In 1654, Khmelnytsky was subject to the Pereiaslav Agreement , forming a military and political alliance with Russia that acknowledged loyalty to the Russian monarch. After his death, the Hetmanate went through a devastating 30-year war amongst Russia, Poland, the Crimean Khanate , the Ottoman Empire , and Cossacks , known as " The Ruin " (1657–1686), for control of

3706-683: The Second Polish Republic , which annexed the Western Ukrainian provinces, as well as a larger-scale victory for the pro-Soviet forces, which succeeded in dislodging the remaining factions and eventually established the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Soviet Ukraine). Meanwhile, modern-day Bukovina was occupied by Romania and Carpathian Ruthenia was admitted to Czechoslovakia as an autonomous region. The conflict over Ukraine,

3815-470: The Soviet Union when it was formed in 1922. In the early 1930s, millions of Ukrainians died in the Holodomor , a human-made famine . The German occupation during World War II in Ukraine was devastating, with 7 million Ukrainian civilians killed, including most Ukrainian Jews . Ukraine gained independence in 1991 as the Soviet Union dissolved , and declared itself neutral . A new constitution

3924-561: The 10th and 11th centuries, Kievan Rus' became the largest and most powerful state in Europe, a period known as its Golden Age. It began with the reign of Vladimir the Great (980–1015), who introduced Christianity . During the reign of his son, Yaroslav the Wise (1019–1054), Kievan Rus' reached the zenith of its cultural development and military power. The state soon fragmented as the relative importance of regional powers rose again. After

4033-543: The 17th century, but was partitioned between Russia and Poland, and absorbed by the Russian Empire . Ukrainian nationalism developed and, following the Russian Revolution in 1917, the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic was formed. The Bolsheviks consolidated control over much of the former empire and established the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic , which became a constituent republic of

4142-513: The 1930s. However, as a consequence of Stalin's new policy, the Ukrainian peasantry suffered from the programme of collectivization of agricultural crops. Collectivization was part of the first five-year plan and was enforced by regular troops and the secret police known as Cheka . Those who resisted were arrested and deported to gulags and work camps. As members of the collective farms were sometimes not allowed to receive any grain until unrealistic quotas were met, millions starved to death in

4251-595: The 9th century. The state eventually disintegrated into rival regional powers and was destroyed by the Mongol invasions of the 13th century. The area was then contested, divided, and ruled by a variety of external powers for the next 600 years, including the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , the Austrian Empire , the Ottoman Empire , and the Tsardom of Russia . The Cossack Hetmanate emerged in central Ukraine in

4360-623: The Black Sea and transformed these into large commercial centers headed by the consul, a representative of the Republic. In 1430, the region of Podolia was incorporated into Poland, and the lands of modern-day Ukraine became increasingly settled by Poles . In 1441, Genghisid prince Haci I Giray founded the Crimean Khanate on the Crimean Peninsula and the surrounding steppes; the Khanate orchestrated Tatar slave raids . Over

4469-732: The Catholic Church with its local representatives. In 1648, Bohdan Khmelnytsky led the largest of the Cossack uprisings against the Commonwealth and the Polish king , which enjoyed wide support from the local population. Khmelnytsky founded the Cossack Hetmanate , which existed until 1764 (some sources claim until 1782). After Khmelnytsky suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Berestechko in 1651, he turned to

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4578-420: The Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982. However, it was he and his appointee in Ukraine , Volodymyr Shcherbytsky , who presided over the extensive Russification of Ukraine and who were instrumental in repressing a new generation of Ukrainian intellectuals known as the Sixtiers . By 1950, the republic had fully surpassed pre-war levels of industry and production. Soviet Ukraine soon became

4687-430: The Cossack Hetmanate. 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 to Ukraine west of the Dnieper river. In 1686, the Metropolitanate of Kyiv was annexed by the Moscow Patriarchate through a synodal letter of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Dionysius IV , thus placing

4796-430: The Cossacks to be useful against the Turks and Tatars , and at times the two were allies in military campaigns . However, the continued harsh enserfment of Ruthenian peasantry by Polish szlachta (many of whom were Polonized Ruthenian nobles ) and the suppression of the Orthodox Church alienated the Cossacks. The latter did not shy from taking up arms against those they perceived as enemies and occupiers, including

4905-448: The Donets Ridge and the Near Azov Upland. The snow melt from the mountains feeds the rivers and their waterfalls . Significant natural resources in Ukraine include lithium , natural gas, kaolin , timber and an abundance of arable land . Ukraine has many environmental issues. Some regions lack adequate supplies of potable water. Air and water pollution affects the country, as well as deforestation, and radiation contamination in

5014-413: The East Slavic tribes along the southern parts of the Dnieper River were already in the process of forming a state independently. The Varangian elite, including the ruling Rurik dynasty , later assimilated into the Slavic population. Kievan Rus' was composed of several principalities ruled by the interrelated Rurikid kniazes ("princes"), who often fought each other for possession of Kyiv. During

5123-427: The Fiend by A. Serov , as well as translated European operas including The Barber of Seville by Rossini , The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart , Der Freischütz by Weber , Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti , and operas by Giuseppe Verdi , which became the favorite of the Kyivites. On February 4, 1896, after a morning performance of Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky , a fire erupted from an unextinguished candle in

5232-405: The Freedericksz family dominated in the fiefs given to them in what was later to be known as Old Finland . In 1853, Woldemar's father Bernhard was naturalized into the Finnish House of Nobility as the baronial family number 36 under the name Freedricksz . Upon Woldemar Freedericksz's death in 1927 the Finnish baronial family was extinct in the male line, and was completely extinct by the time of

5341-450: The National Opera of Ukraine was headed by Anatoliy Shekera. In addition to classical performances such as Swan Lake and The Nutcracker by Pyotr Tchaikovsky , Raymonda by Alexander Glazunov , and Coppélia by Leo Delibes , he staged many contemporary works, including Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian , Olga by Yevhen Stankovych , and Legends of Love by Arif Melikov . His production of Romeo and Juliet , staged in 1971, has been on

5450-414: The National Theatre named after Ivan Franko ) and even on the arena of the famous Krutikov's Circus. After the fire, the City Council had announced the international competition to design a new building for the Opera Theatre in Kyiv. The winning proposal was by Victor Schröter . The exterior was designed in Neo-Renaissance style and had accounted for the needs of the actors and the spectators. The interior

5559-414: The OUN to create a homogeneous Ukrainian state without a Polish minority living within its borders, and to prevent the post-war Polish state from asserting its sovereignty over areas that had been part of pre-war Poland. After the war, the UPA continued to fight the USSR until the 1950s. At the same time, the Ukrainian Liberation Army , another nationalist movement, fought alongside the Nazis. In total,

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5668-415: The Russian part (historically known as " Little Russia " or "South Russia") faced severe restrictions, going as far as banning virtually all books from being published in Ukrainian in 1876. Ukraine, like the rest of the Russian Empire, joined the Industrial Revolution later than most of Western Europe due to the maintenance of serfdom until 1861. Other than near the newly discovered coal fields of

5777-413: The Soviet Union in 1939, hailed the Germans as liberators, but that did not last long as the Nazis made little attempt to exploit dissatisfaction with Stalinist policies. Instead, the Nazis preserved the collective-farm system, carried out genocidal policies against Jews , deported millions of people to work in Germany , and began a depopulation program to prepare for German colonisation. They blockaded

5886-418: The Ukrainian SSR became one of the founding members of the United Nations (UN), part of a special agreement at the Yalta Conference , and, alongside Belarus, had voting rights in the UN even though they were not independent. Moreover, Ukraine once more expanded its borders as it annexed Zakarpattia , and the population became much more homogenized due to post-war population transfers , most of which, as in

5995-409: The Ukrainians settled in the Far East, too. According to the 1897 census , there were 223,000 ethnic Ukrainians in Siberia and 102,000 in Central Asia . An additional 1.6 million emigrated to the east in the ten years after the opening of the Trans-Siberian Railway in 1906. Far Eastern areas with an ethnic Ukrainian population became known as Green Ukraine . Ukraine plunged into turmoil with

6104-417: The United States, Mexico, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Japan, Australia, Greece, Brazil, Estonia, Poland, China, Hungary, Austria, Holland, Belgium, Portugal, Turkey, Oman, and other countries. In 2017, Ukraine celebrated the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Taras Shevchenko National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater in Kyiv. The opera in 2 acts, Natalka Poltavka , was the last scheduled performance before

6213-413: The United States. Even though Russia had signed the Budapest memorandum in 1994 that said that Ukraine was to hand over nuclear weapons in exchange of security guarantees and those of territorial integrity, it reacted violently to these developments and started a war against its western neighbour . In late February and early March 2014, it annexed Crimea using its Navy in Sevastopol as well as

6322-403: The advancement of Ukrainian science and culture. This period was cut short when Joseph Stalin became the leader of the USSR following Lenin's death. Stalin did away with the NEP in what became known as the Great Break . Starting from the late 1920s and now with a centrally planned economy , Soviet Ukraine took part in an industrialisation scheme which quadrupled its industrial output during

6431-412: 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. In the 5th and 6th centuries, the Antes , an early Slavic people, lived in Ukraine. Migrations from

6540-449: The beginning of World War I , and fighting on Ukrainian soil persisted until late 1921. Initially, the Ukrainians were split between Austria-Hungary, fighting for the Central Powers , though the vast majority served in the Imperial Russian Army , which was part of the Triple Entente , under Russia. As the Russian Empire collapsed, the conflict evolved into the Ukrainian War of Independence , with Ukrainians fighting alongside, or against,

6649-404: The case of Germans and Crimean Tatars , were forced. As of 1 January 1953, Ukrainians were second only to Russians among adult " special deportees ", comprising 20% of the total. Following the death of Stalin in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev became the new leader of the USSR, who began the policies of De-Stalinization and the Khrushchev Thaw . During his term as head of the Soviet Union, Crimea

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6758-470: The circles of the Polish nobility ; others joined the newly created Ruthenian Uniate Church . Deprived of native protectors among the Ruthenian nobility, the peasants and townspeople began turning for protection to the emerging Zaporozhian Cossacks . In the mid-17th century, a Cossack military quasi-state, the Zaporozhian Host , was formed by Dnieper Cossacks and Ruthenian peasants. Poland exercised little real control over this population, but found

6867-426: The city council (duma) had offered the newly created troupe to use the City Theatre (constructed in 1856, architect I. Shtrom) for their performances. Officially, the theatre was named the City Theatre but was most commonly referred to as the Russian Opera. The day of the first performance, November 8 (October 27 old style), 1867 was made a city holiday. The performance of the opera Askold's Tomb by Alexey Verstovsky

6976-410: The competing visions of Ukraine, though Yushchenko and Yanukovych were generally pro-Western and pro-Russian, respectively. There were two major protests against Yanukovych: the Orange Revolution in 2004, when tens of thousands of people went in protest of election rigging in his favour (Yushchenko was eventually elected president), and another one in the winter of 2013/2014, when more gathered on

7085-402: The deaths of Woldemar's daughters Eugenie and Emma. His Russian comital title was never accepted into the Finnish nobility. Woldemar himself married to Hedwig Johanna Alexandrina (Jadwiga Aloizievna) Boguszewska and had two daughters, Baronesses Eugenie Valeria Josefina (Evgenia-Valentina-Zhozefina Vladimirovna) and Emma Helena Sofia (Emma-Elena-Sofia Vladimirovna) Freedericksz. As the part of

7194-435: The distressed Tsar knelt at Stolypin's hospital bedside and kept repeating the words "Forgive me". Stolypin died three days later. In the first decade of the 20th century, the Kyiv Opera Theatre attracted the most outstanding Ukrainian and Russian singers, including O. Petlyash, P. Tsecevich, K. Voronets, M. Medvedev, K. Brun, O. Mosin and O. Kamionsky and famous opera stars from the West often came on tours. Several unusual for

7303-412: The earliest securely dated hominin presence in Europe. Settlement by modern humans in Ukraine and its vicinity dates back to 32,000 BC, with evidence of the Gravettian culture in the Crimean Mountains . 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 considered to be

7412-447: The early 1990s. In 1981 the world premiere of a ballet based on the life of Olga of Kiev was performed to commemorate the 1500th anniversary of the city . In 1991–1999, the National Opera was headed by Anatoliy Mokrenko . At this time, the theatre is gradually beginning to abandon Ukrainian-language translations, which was explained by economic difficulties and the need for touring activities for artists survival. From 1992 to 2000,

7521-417: The fighting in World War II took place on the Eastern Front . The total losses inflicted upon the Ukrainian population during the war are estimated at 6 million, including an estimated one and a half million Jews killed by the Einsatzgruppen , sometimes with the help of local collaborators. Of the estimated 8.6 million Soviet troop losses, 1.4 million were ethnic Ukrainians . The Victory Day

7630-401: The government's policy towards the West. Shortly after Yanukovych fled Ukraine, the country signed the EU association agreement in June 2014, and its citizens were granted visa-free travel to the European Union three years later. In January 2019, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was recognized as independent of Moscow, which reversed the 1686 decision of the patriarch of Constantinople and dealt

7739-417: The history of Petrograd state theaters, which gave foreign culture and citizenship culture…" and stressing that it is necessary to "organize the work of the opera artistically strong, national and cultural". After Ukraine was annexed by Soviet Union the theater was nationalized and named the K. Liebknecht State Opera House. In 1926 it was renamed the Kiev State Academic Ukrainian Opera, and in 1934 , when Kyiv

7848-492: The largest country entirely in Europe. Lying between latitudes 44° and 53° N , and longitudes 22° and 41° E ., it is mostly in the East European Plain . Ukraine covers an area of 603,550 square kilometres (233,030 sq mi), with a coastline of 2,782 kilometres (1,729 mi). The landscape of Ukraine consists mostly of fertile steppes (plains with few trees) and plateaus, crossed by rivers such as

7957-598: The likely location of the first domestication of the horse . The Kurgan hypothesis places the Volga-Dnieper region of Ukraine and southern Russia as the linguistic homeland of the Proto-Indo-Europeans . Early Indo-European migrations from the Pontic steppes in the 3rd millennium BC spread Yamnaya Steppe pastoralist ancestry and Indo-European languages across large parts of Europe. During

8066-502: The major river basins is expected to decrease due to climate change , especially in summer. This poses risks to the agricultural sector. The negative impacts of climate change on agriculture are mostly felt in the south of the country, which has a steppe climate. In the north, some crops may be able to benefit from a longer growing season. The World Bank has stated that Ukraine is highly vulnerable to climate change . Vladimir Freedericksz Adolf Andreas Woldemar Freedericksz

8175-527: The name of Ukraine means "region" or "country." In the English-speaking world during most of the 20th century, Ukraine (whether independent or not) was referred to as "the Ukraine". This is because the word ukraina means 'borderland' so the definite article would be natural in the English language; this is similar to Nederlanden , which means 'low lands' and is rendered in English as "

8284-479: The new currency, the hryvnia , fell sharply in late 1998 partially as a fallout from the Russian debt default earlier that year. The legacy of the economic policies of the nineties was the mass privatization of state property that created a class of extremely powerful and rich individuals known as the oligarchs . The country then fell into a series of sharp recessions as a result of the Great Recession ,

8393-655: The next three centuries, the Crimean slave trade would enslave an estimated two million in the region. In 1569, the Union of Lublin established the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , and most of the Ukrainian lands were transferred from Lithuania to the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland , becoming de jure Polish territory. Under the pressures of Polonisation , many landed gentry of Ruthenia converted to Catholicism and joined

8502-480: The north, to 11–13 °C (51.8–55.4 °F) in the south. Precipitation is highest in the west and north and lowest in the east and southeast. Western Ukraine, particularly in the Carpathian Mountains, receives around 120 centimetres (47.2 in) of precipitation annually, while Crimea and the coastal areas of the Black Sea receive around 40 centimetres (15.7 in). Water availability from

8611-675: The northeast from the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The environmental damage caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been described as an ecocide , the destruction of Kakhovka Dam , severe pollution and millions of tonnes of contaminated debris is estimated to cost over USD 50 billion to repair. Ukraine is in the mid-latitudes, and generally has a continental climate , except for its southern coasts, which have cold semi-arid and humid subtropical climates . Average annual temperatures range from 5.5–7 °C (41.9–44.6 °F) in

8720-619: The number of ethnic Ukrainians who fought in the ranks of the Soviet Army is estimated from 4.5 million to 7 million; half of the Pro-Soviet partisan guerrilla resistance units, which counted up to 500,000 troops in 1944, were also Ukrainian. Generally, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army's figures are unreliable, with figures ranging anywhere from 15,000 to as many as 100,000 fighters. The vast majority of

8829-464: The other regions of the Soviet Union, though it was one of the poorer Soviet republics by the time of the dissolution. However, during its transition to the market economy, the country experienced deeper economic slowdown than almost all of the other former Soviet Republics . During the recession, between 1991 and 1999, Ukraine lost 60% of its GDP and suffered from hyperinflation that peaked at 10,000% in 1993. The situation only stabilized well after

8938-493: The outbreak of war with Russia , Ukraine has continued to seek closer ties with the United States , European Union , and NATO . Ukraine is a unitary state and its system of government is a semi-presidential republic . A developing country , it is the poorest country in Europe by nominal GDP per capita and corruption remains a significant issue. However, due to its extensive fertile land , pre-war Ukraine

9047-439: The post-war Soviet Union that had been devastated by both WWI and later the civil war. The NEP was successful at restoring the formerly war-torn nation to pre-WWI levels of production and agricultural output by the mid-1920s, much of the latter based in Ukraine. These policies attracted many prominent former UNR figures, including former UNR leader Hrushevsky, to return to Soviet Ukraine, where they were accepted, and participated in

9156-685: The so- called little green men ; after this succeeded, it then launched a proxy war in the Donbas via the breakaway Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic . The first months of the conflict with the Russian-backed separatists were fluid, but Russian forces then started an open invasion in Donbas on 24 August 2014. Together they pushed back Ukrainian troops to the frontline established in February 2015, i.e. after Ukrainian troops withdrew from Debaltseve . The conflict remained in

9265-684: The so-called parade of sovereignties , on 16 July 1990, the newly elected Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine . After a failed coup by some Communist leaders in Moscow at deposing Gorbachov, outright independence was proclaimed on 24 August 1991. It was approved by 92% of the Ukrainian electorate in a referendum on 1 December. Ukraine's new President , Leonid Kravchuk, went on to sign

9374-498: The southwest; with a coastline along the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to the south and southeast. Kyiv is the nation's capital and largest city , followed by Kharkiv , Dnipro , and Odesa . Ukraine's official language is Ukrainian . During the Middle Ages , Ukraine was the site of early Slavic expansion and the area later became a key centre of East Slavic culture under the state of Kievan Rus' , which emerged in

9483-583: The stage for over 40 years. The performance was shown in many countries and was awarded the UNESCO Medal as the best interpretation of Prokofiev's work. Since 1999, Petro Chupryna has been the theater's director general (from 2002 to 2011 and since 2018, he has been the theater's artistic director as well). In 2011–2018, the position of artistic director was held by composer Myroslav Skoryk. The theater has toured in Germany, France, Switzerland, Canada,

9592-500: The start of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014, and finally, the full-scale invasion by Russia in starting from 24 February 2022. Ukraine's economy in general underperformed since the time independence came due to pervasive corruption and mismanagement, which, particularly in the 1990s, led to protests and organized strikes. The war with Russia impeded meaningful economic recovery in the 2010s, while efforts to combat

9701-612: The state of Kievan Rus' remains obscure and uncertain. The state included much of present-day Ukraine, Belarus and the western part of European Russia . According to the Primary Chronicle , the Rus' people initially consisted of Varangians from Scandinavia . In 882, the pagan Prince Oleg (Oleh) conquered Kyiv from Askold and Dir and proclaimed it as the new capital of the Rus'. Anti-Normanist historians however argue that

9810-579: The territories of present-day Ukraine throughout the Balkans established many South Slavic nations. Northern migrations, reaching almost to Lake Ilmen , led to the emergence of the Ilmen Slavs and Krivichs . 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. The establishment of

9919-670: The territory with a Ukrainian ethnic majority. Although this brought conflict with Nazi Germany, at times the Melnyk wing of the OUN allied with the Nazi forces. From mid-1943 until the end of the war, the UPA carried out massacres of ethnic Poles in the Volhynia and Eastern Galicia regions, killing around 100,000 Polish civilians, which brought reprisals. These organized massacres were an attempt by

10028-560: The theatre. The fire consumed the whole building within several hours. One of the largest musical libraries in Europe along with numerous costumes and stage props for many performances were lost during the fire. After the fire of the City Theatre, the troupe performed on other stages for several years, including Bergonie's Theatre (now the National Theatre of Russian Drama named after Lesya Ukrainka ), Solovtsov's Theatre (now

10137-553: The time Ukrainian State , the Kyiv Opera was called the Ukrainian Drama and Opera Theater . Operas were staged in Ukrainian , particularly in 1918 were staged: "Faust", "La Traviata", "Bohemia", "Madame Butterfly" and others. It was written in Ukrainian press that Ukrainian State Opera has every reason and potential to become one of the best theaters of its time, while warning that "Ukrainian State Opera should not repeat

10246-699: The time performances took place on the stage: Die Walkure by Wagner , Sadko by Rimsky-Korsakov and Mefistofele by Arrigo Boito . In 1917, the opera house was used not only for art but also for congresses. In particular, in 1917 the Second All-Ukrainian Military Congress was held in the Opera House well known for the First Universal of the Ukrainian Central Council proclamation. At

10355-620: The transport of food on the Dnieper River. Although the majority of Ukrainians fought in or alongside the Red Army and Soviet resistance , in Western Ukraine an independent Ukrainian Insurgent Army movement arose (UPA, 1942). It was created as the armed forces of the underground Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). Both organizations, the OUN and the UPA, supported the goal of an independent Ukrainian state on

10464-517: The underground Ukrainian nationalist and militant movement, which arose in the 1920s gained wider support. Meanwhile, the recently constituted Soviet Ukraine became one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union . During the 1920s, under the Ukrainisation policy pursued by the national Communist leadership of Mykola Skrypnyk , Soviet leadership at first encouraged a national renaissance in Ukrainian culture and language . Ukrainisation

10573-698: The world. It is a founding member of the United Nations , as well as a member of the Council of Europe , the World Trade Organization , and the OSCE . It is in the process of joining the European Union and has applied to join NATO. The name of Ukraine is frequently interpreted as coming from the old Slavic term for 'borderland' as is the word krajina . Another interpretation is that

10682-598: The years 1764–1781, Catherine the Great incorporated much of Central Ukraine into the Russian Empire , abolishing the Cossack Hetmanate and the Zaporozhian Sich , and was one of the people responsible for the suppression of the last major Cossack uprising, the Koliivshchyna . After the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 1783, the newly acquired lands, now called Novorossiya , were opened up to settlement by Russians. The tsarist autocracy established

10791-486: Was one of the largest grain exporters in the world . Ukraine is considered a middle power in global affairs, and the Ukrainian Armed Force is the fifth largest armed force in the world in terms of both active personnel as well as total number of personnel with the eighth largest defence budget in the world. The Ukrainian Armed Forces also operates one of the largest and most diverse drone fleets in

10900-618: Was transferred from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR , formally as a friendship gift to Ukraine and for economic reasons. This represented the final extension of Ukrainian territory and formed the basis for the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine to this day. Ukraine was one of the most important republics of the Soviet Union, which resulted in many top positions in the Soviet Union being occupied by Ukrainians, including notably Leonid Brezhnev , General Secretary of

11009-409: Was a Dutch merchant, was the first ever recorded ancestor of the family, and the family was recordedly formed by his son, Johan (Ivan Yuryevich) Freedericksz. The baronial title of the family was granted by Catherine the Great in 1773. The second version was that the family was formed by the son of Jöran Fredriksson, a Swedish soldier captured during The Great Northern War . In the late 18th century,

11118-515: Was a strong conservative who described the deputies of the First Duma as: "The Deputies, they give one the impression of a gang of criminals who are only waiting for the signal to throw themselves upon the ministers and cut their throats. I will never again set foot among those people." His private mansion in St. Petersburg was pillaged and set on fire on the first day of February Revolution . After

11227-425: Was adopted in 1996. A series of mass demonstrations, known as the Euromaidan , led to the establishment of a new government in 2014 after a revolution . Russia then unilaterally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula , and pro-Russian unrest culminated in a war in the Donbas between Russian-backed separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Since

11336-471: Was born on 28 November [ O.S. 16] 1838 to Finnish Baron Bernhard (Boris Andreyevich) Freedericksz and Baltic German noblewoman Emma Matilda Helene (Emma Adolfovna) von Wulff and the family traditionally believed in Lutheran faith. There had been several stories dedicated to the family's origin. The first was that the family probably originated from Arkhangelsk . Jürgen Freedericksz, who

11445-605: Was part of the Soviet-wide policy of Korenisation (literally indigenisation ), which was intended to promote the advancement of native peoples, their language and culture into the governance of their respective republics. Around the same time, Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin instituted the New Economic Policy (NEP), which introduced a form of market socialism , allowing some private ownership of small and medium-sized productive enterprises, hoping to reconstruct

11554-414: Was redesigned in a classical style and called Viennese Modern . However, his greatest achievement is considered to be the stage – one of the largest in Europe designed to the latest engineering standards. On September 29 [ O.S. September 16] 1901, the solemn opening of the new premise of the theatre took place with a performance of cantata Kyiv by composer Wilhelm Hartweld (1859–1927) and

11663-629: Was returned the capital status, the Academic Opera and Ballet Theater of the USSR. In 1936 the theater was awarded Order of Lenin , and in 1939 was named after Taras Shevchenko . According to the Decree of the People's Commissar of 1926 all the operas were performed in Ukrainian language. This inspired the establishment of the full value of Ukrainian culture and language. The tradition of performing opera in Ukrainian translations succeeded until

11772-644: Was subsequently crowned by a papal envoy as the first king of Galicia–Volhynia (also known as the Kingdom of Ruthenia ) in 1253. In 1349, in the aftermath of the Galicia–Volhynia Wars , the region was partitioned between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . From the mid-13th century to the late 1400s, the Republic of Genoa founded numerous colonies on the northern coast of

11881-498: Was the troupe's debut. The cast included contralto Nataliya Oleksandrivna Mykhaylovska . The initial success is attributed to the vocal talents of that time of O. Satagano-Gorchakova, F. L'vov, M. Agramov but also the captivating plot taken from some principal pages of the ancient history of the city. Early performances were mostly Russian operas, including Ruslan and Ludmila by Mikhail Glinka , Rusalka by Alexander Dargomyzhsky , Maccabees by Anton Rubinstein and The Power of

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