Editing Ukraine (section)

=== Independence ===
{{further|Modern history of Ukraine|Dissolution of the Soviet Union|Orange Revolution|Revolution of Dignity|Russo-Ukrainian War}}
<!-- 1990-2022 -->
[[File:RIAN archive 848095 Signing the Agreement to eliminate the USSR and establish the Commonwealth of Independent States.jpg|thumb|Ukrainian President [[Leonid Kravchuk]] and Russian President [[Boris Yeltsin]] signing the [[Belavezha Accords]], which [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|dissolved the Soviet Union]], on 8 December 1991]]
[[Mikhail Gorbachev]] pursued a policy of limited liberalisation of public life, known as ''[[perestroika]],'' and attempted to reform a [[Era of Stagnation|stagnating economy]]. The latter failed, but the democratisation of the Soviet Union fuelled nationalist and separatist tendencies among the ethnic minorities, including Ukrainians.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Geller |first=Mikhail |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/24243579 |title=Седьмой секретарь: Блеск и нищета Михаила Горбачева |date=1991 |isbn=1-870128-72-9 |edition=1st Russian |location=London |oclc=24243579 |page=352=356}}</ref> As part of 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]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gska2.rada.gov.ua:7777/site/postanova_eng/Declaration_of_State_Sovereignty_of_Ukraine_rev1.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927224650/http://gska2.rada.gov.ua:7777/site/postanova_eng/Declaration_of_State_Sovereignty_of_Ukraine_rev1.htm |archive-date=27 September 2007 |title=Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine |access-date=12 September 2007 |date=16 July 1990 |website=[[Verkhovna Rada]] of Ukraine}}</ref> After a [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|failed coup]] by some Communist leaders in Moscow at deposing Gorbachov, outright independence was proclaimed on 24 August 1991.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gska2.rada.gov.ua:7777/site/postanova_eng/Rres_Declaration_Independence_rev12.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930203430/http://gska2.rada.gov.ua:7777/site/postanova_eng/Rres_Declaration_Independence_rev12.htm |archive-date=30 September 2007 |title=Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Resolution On Declaration of Independence of Ukraine |access-date=12 September 2007 |date=24 August 1991 |website=[[Verkhovna Rada]] of Ukraine}}</ref> It was approved by 92% of the Ukrainian electorate in a [[1991 Ukrainian independence referendum|referendum]] on 1 December.<ref name="Nohlen_Stöver">Nohlen & Stöver, p1985</ref> Ukraine's new [[President of Ukraine|President]], Leonid Kravchuk, went on to sign the [[Belavezha Accords]] and made Ukraine a founding member of the much looser [[Commonwealth of Independent States]] (CIS),<ref>{{cite news |title=Soviet Leaders Recall 'Inevitable' Breakup Of Soviet Union |url=http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1073305.html |work=[[RadioFreeEurope]] |date=8 December 2006 |access-date=12 September 2007}}</ref> though Ukraine never became a full member of the latter as it did not ratify the agreement founding CIS.<ref name=":2">{{cite news |url=https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/ukrayina-dosi-v-snd-chy-ni/30969197.html |title="Україні не потрібно виходити із СНД – вона ніколи не була і не є зараз членом цієї структури" |newspaper=Радіо Свобода |date=26 November 2020 |last1=Лащенко |first1=Олександр}}</ref> These documents sealed the fate of the Soviet Union, which formally voted itself out of existence on 26 December.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Solodkov |first=Artem |date=27 December 2021 |title=Период распада: последний декабрь Союза. 26 декабря 1991 года |url=https://www.rbc.ru/politics/27/12/2021/585bea709a794761ac0b5c55 |access-date=11 March 2023 |website=РБК |language=ru}}</ref>

Ukraine was initially viewed as having favourable economic conditions in comparison to the other regions of the Soviet Union,<ref>Shen, p. 41</ref> though it was one of the poorer Soviet republics by the time of the dissolution.<ref name="Notstronk">{{Cite web |last1=Sutela |first1=Pekka |title=The Underachiever: Ukraine's Economy Since 1991 |url=https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2012/03/the-underachiever-ukraines-economy-since-1991?lang=en |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=Carnegie Endowment for International Peace |language=en}}</ref> 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<ref name=IMF>{{cite web |url=http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2007/02/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=1992&ey=2008&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=926&s=PPPGDP&grp=0&a=&pr1.x=41&pr1.y=2 |title=Ukrainian GDP (PPP) |access-date=10 March 2008 |website=World Economic Outlook Database, October 2007 |publisher=[[International Monetary Fund]] (IMF)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.worldbank.org/html/prddr/trans/june1998/ukraine.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000712025953/http://www.worldbank.org/html/prddr/trans/june1998/ukraine.htm |archive-date=12 July 2000 |title=Can Ukraine Avert a Financial Meltdown? |access-date=16 December 2007 |date=June 1998 |website=[[World Bank]]}}</ref> and suffered from [[hyperinflation]] that peaked at 10,000% in 1993.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Figliuoli |first1=Lorenzo |last2=Lissovolik |first2=Bogdan |date=31 August 2002 |title=The IMF and Ukraine: What Really Happened |url=http://www.imf.org/external/np/vc/2002/083102.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021017151905/http://www.imf.org/external/np/vc/2002/083102.htm |archive-date=17 October 2002 |access-date=16 December 2007 |website=[[International Monetary Fund]]}}</ref> The situation only stabilised well after the new currency, the [[hryvnia]], fell sharply in late 1998 partially as a fallout from the [[Russian debt default]] earlier that year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Дефолт 1998 года: 10 лет спустя |url=https://ukraine.segodnya.ua/ukraine/defolt-1998-hoda-10-let-cpuctja-122939.html |access-date=2022-08-04 |website=ukraine.segodnya.ua |date=11 July 2022 |language=ru}}</ref> The legacy of the economic policies of the nineties was the mass privatisation of state property that created a class of extremely powerful and rich individuals known as the [[Ukrainian oligarch|oligarchs]].<ref name="Notstronk"/> The country then fell into a series of sharp recessions as a result of the [[Great Recession]],<ref name="Notstronk"/> the start of the [[Russo-Ukrainian War]] in 2014,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-04-05 |title=The stable crisis. Ukraine's economy three years after the Euromaidan |url=https://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/osw-commentary/2017-04-05/stable-crisis-ukraines-economy-three-years-after-euromaidan |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=OSW Centre for Eastern Studies |language=en}}</ref> and finally, the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|full-scale invasion]] by Russia in starting from 24 February 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=War to cause Ukraine economy to shrink nearly a third this year – EBRD report – Ukraine |url=https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/war-cause-ukraine-economy-shrink-nearly-third-year-ebrd-report |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=ReliefWeb |date=10 May 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Ukraine's economy in general underperformed since the time independence came due to pervasive [[Corruption in Ukraine|corruption]] and mismanagement,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dickinson |first=Peter |date=2021-06-19 |title=Ukraine's choice: corruption or growth |url=https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/ukraines-choice-corruption-or-growth/ |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=Atlantic Council |language=en-US}}</ref> which, particularly in the 1990s, led to protests and organised strikes.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Aslund |first1=Anders |date=Autumn 1995 |title=Eurasia Letter: Ukraine's Turnaround |journal=[[Foreign Policy]] |issue=100 |pages=125–143 |doi=10.2307/1149308 |volume=100 |last2=Aslund |first2=Anders |jstor=1149308}}</ref> The war with Russia impeded meaningful economic recovery in the 2010s,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mykhnenko |first=Vlad |date=2020-03-15 |title=Causes and Consequences of the War in Eastern Ukraine: An Economic Geography Perspective |journal=Europe-Asia Studies |volume=72 |issue=3 |pages=528–560 |doi=10.1080/09668136.2019.1684447 |s2cid=214438848 |issn=0966-8136 |doi-access=free}}</ref> while efforts to combat the [[COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine|COVID-19 pandemic]], which arrived in 2020, were made much harder by [[COVID-19 vaccine|low vaccination rates]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ludvigsson |first1=Jonas F. |last2=Loboda |first2=Andrii |date=July 2022 |title=Systematic review of health and disease in Ukrainian children highlights poor child health and challenges for those treating refugees |journal=[[Acta Paediatrica]] |language=en |volume=111 |issue=7 |pages=1341–1353 |doi=10.1111/apa.16370 |issn=0803-5253 |pmc=9324783 |pmid=35466444}}</ref> and, later in the pandemic, by the ongoing invasion.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Impact of war on the dynamics of COVID-19 in Ukraine - Ukraine |url=https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/impact-war-dynamics-covid-19-ukraine |access-date=2022-08-04 |website=reliefweb.int |date=17 April 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Euromaidan Kyiv 1-12-13 by Gnatoush 009.jpg|thumb|[[Euromaidan]] protest in Kyiv, December 2013]]
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 [[Western world|West]] and Russia, and the classical [[Left–right political spectrum|left-right]] divide.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shevel |first=Oxana |date=2015-09-01 |title=The parliamentary elections in Ukraine, October 2014 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261379415000608 |journal=Electoral Studies |language=en |volume=39 |pages=159–163 |doi=10.1016/j.electstud.2015.03.015 |issn=0261-3794}}</ref> The first two presidents, Kravchuk and [[Leonid Kuchma]], tended to balance the competing visions of Ukraine,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kuzio |first=Taras |date=2005-10-01 |title=Neither East Nor West: Ukraine's Security Policy Under Kuchma |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2005.11052215 |journal=[[Problems of Post-Communism]] |volume=52 |issue=5 |pages=59–68 |doi=10.1080/10758216.2005.11052215 |s2cid=157151441 |issn=1075-8216}}</ref> 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 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 recognise the interim pro-Western government, calling it a ''[[Military junta|junta]]'' and denouncing the events as a coup d'état sponsored by the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-04-25 |title="Хунта" и "террористы": война слов Москвы и Киева |url=https://www.bbc.com/russian/blogs/2014/04/140425_blog_krechetnikov_harsh_speech |access-date=2022-08-04 |website=BBC News Русская служба |language=ru}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Putin accuses US of orchestrating 2014 'coup' in Ukraine |date=22 June 2021 |access-date=3 March 2022 |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/6/22/russias-putin-accuses-us-of-orchestrating-2014-coup-in-ukraine |publisher=[[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]]}}</ref><ref name="Partido da imprensa Golpista">{{Cite web |title=The Maidan in 2014 is a coup d'etat: a review of Italian and German pro-Russian media |url=https://voxukraine.org/en/the-maidan-in-2014-is-a-coup-d-etat-a-review-of-italian-and-german-pro-russian-media |access-date=2022-08-04 |language=en-US}}</ref>

Despite the signing of the [[Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances|Budapest memorandum]] in 1994, in which Ukraine agreed to hand over [[Ukraine and weapons of mass destruction|nuclear weapons]] in exchange for guarantees of security and territorial integrity, Russia reacted violently to these developments and [[Russo-Ukrainian War|started a war]] against its western neighbour. In late February and early March 2014, it [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation|annexed Crimea]] using its [[Russian Navy|Navy]] in [[Sevastopol Naval Base|Sevastopol]] as well as the so- called [[Little green men (Russo-Ukrainian War)|little green men]]; after this succeeded, it then launched a [[War in Donbas (2014–2022)|proxy war in the Donbas]] via the breakaway [[Donetsk People's Republic]] and [[Luhansk People's Republic]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kuzio |first=Taras |date=2018-05-04 |title=Euromaidan revolution, Crimea and Russia–Ukraine war: why it is time for a review of Ukrainian–Russian studies |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15387216.2019.1571428 |journal=[[Eurasian Geography and Economics]] |volume=59 |issue=3–4 |pages=529–553 |doi=10.1080/15387216.2019.1571428 |s2cid=159414642 |issn=1538-7216}}</ref> 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 [[Battle of Debaltseve|withdrew from Debaltseve]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hosaka |first=Sanshiro |date=2019-07-03 |title=Putin the 'Peacemaker'?—Russian Reflexive Control During the 2014 August Invasion of Ukraine |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13518046.2019.1646950 |journal=The Journal of Slavic Military Studies |language=en |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=324–346 |doi=10.1080/13518046.2019.1646950 |s2cid=210591255 |issn=1351-8046}}</ref> The conflict remained in a sort of [[Frozen conflict|frozen state]] until the early hours of 24 February 2022,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Potočňák |first1=Adam |last2=Mares |first2=Miroslav |date=2022-05-16 |title=Donbas Conflict: How Russia's Trojan Horse Failed and Forced Moscow to Alter Its Strategy |journal=[[Problems of Post-Communism]] |volume=70 |issue=4 |pages=341–351 |doi=10.1080/10758216.2022.2066005 |s2cid=248838806 |issn=1075-8216 |doi-access=free}}</ref> when Russia [[Russian invasion of Ukraine|invaded]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lock |first1=Samantha |last2=Singh |first2=Maanvi |last3=Oladipo |first3=Gloria |last4=Michael |first4=Chris |last5=Jones |first5=Sam |date=24 February 2022 |title=Ukraine-Russia crisis live news: Putin declares operation to 'demilitarise' Ukraine – latest updates |language=en-GB |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/feb/23/ukraine-russia-news-crisis-latest-live-updates-putin-biden-europe-sanctions-russian-invasion-border-troops |access-date=24 February 2022 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> A year later, Russian troops controlled about 17% of Ukraine's internationally recognised territory, which constitutes 94% of [[Luhansk Oblast]], 73% of [[Kherson Oblast]], 72% of [[Zaporizhzhia Oblast]], 54% of [[Donetsk Oblast]] and all of Crimea,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2023/feb/21/a-year-of-war-how-russian-forces-have-been-pushed-back-in-ukraine |title=A year of war: how Russian forces have been pushed back in Ukraine |first1=Pablo |last1=Gutiérrez |first2=Ashley |last2=Kirk |website=the Guardian |date=21 February 2023}}</ref> though Russia failed with its initial plan, with Ukrainian troops recapturing some territory in counteroffensives.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lonas |first=Lexi |date=2022-05-12 |title=5 ways Russia has failed in its invasion |url=https://thehill.com/policy/international/3486213-5-ways-russia-has-failed-in-its-invasion/ |access-date=2022-08-04 |website=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]] |language=en-US}}</ref>
[[File:2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.svg|thumb|[[Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine]] as of {{Date}}]]
The military conflict with Russia shifted 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 recognised as independent of Moscow, which reversed the 1686 decision of the patriarch of Constantinople and dealt a further blow to Moscow's influence in Ukraine.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ukraine Country Report |url=https://www.eu-listco.net/publications/ukraine-country-report |access-date=2022-08-04 |website=EU-LISTCO |date=11 December 2019 |language=en-ZA}}</ref> Finally, amid a full-scale war with Russia, Ukraine was granted [[Potential enlargement of the European Union|candidate status]] to the European Union on 23 June 2022.<ref name="BBC News">{{Cite news |date=2022-06-23 |title=EU awards Ukraine and Moldova candidate status |language=en-GB |work=[[BBC News]] |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61891467 |access-date=2022-08-04}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-01-24 |title=Top Ukrainian officials quit in anti-corruption drive |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64383388 |access-date=2023-01-25}}</ref>