Ukraine (a country in Eastern Europe) is the focus of the world. What do you know about this country?
Fact 1: Ukraine is the second-largest country in Europe
Ukraine is in Eastern Europe:
- bordering Russia to the east;
- Belarus to the north;
- Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west,
- Romania and Moldova to the southwest.
- In addition, the country is bordered by the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to the south.
The area of Ukraine is 603,628 square kilometers, the population is more than 41 million. It is twice the size of Vietnam, but the population is less than 1/2.
Russia has a total area of about 17.1 million square kilometers, of which nearly 4 million square kilometers are in Europe, the rest is in Asia. Although the area in Europe is much smaller, 77% of Russia’s 146 million people live in this region.
Fact 2: The Ukrainian flag is blue and yellow
The Ukrainian flag has a ratio of 2:3, consisting of two equal horizontal bands, in which the blue stripe is above and the yellow stripe below.
According to Britannica, in 1848, the national flag of Ukraine was designed with yellow on top of blue. The color is based on the golden lion on the blue shield on the coat of arms of the city of Lviv – an ancient symbol.
In late 1918, the design of the flag was reversed from the original flag. The blue above the yellow is intended to reflect the “blue sky over golden wheat fields” meaning.
During the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian flag was red with a hammer and sickle (similar in design to the Soviet Union flag).
The flag with blue color on top of yellow has been used since January 28, 1992, after independence from the Soviet Union until now.
Fact 3: “The breadbasket of Europe” is a nickname for Ukraine
Ukraine possesses fertile land with large wheat fields, high agricultural output. According to the CIA World Factbook, Ukraine produced 25% of the total agricultural output of the former Soviet Union.
Today, the country still has a high agricultural output with products such as grains, vegetables, sugar beets, sunflower seeds, dairy, and meat.
The nickname “The breadbasket of Europe” is due to its huge export of wheat and food to Europe.
Recently, this nickname has been mentioned a lot in the world press, which is related to food security when Russia attacked Ukraine.
Fact 4: Arsenalna Metro Station in Kyiv is “the deepest metro station in the world”
In the 66th edition of Guinness World Records in September 2021, in the column “Artificial structures”, Guinness continued to record Arsenalna Metro Station in Kyiv as “the deepest metro station in the world”.
This station is located at a depth of 105.5 m above the ground.
Arsenalna station is a part of the Svyatoshinsko-Brovarska metro system, located between Khreschatyk and Dnipro stations in the Pechersky district, central Kyiv, officially opened on November 6, 1960, on the occasion of the 43rd anniversary of the Russian October Revolution.
The reason the station is located at such a depth is that the engineers wanted to reduce the water pressure from the Dnieper River.
