Global - Technology - Review

Though there had been previous periods of freedom, Ukraine did not achieve independence from Soviet rule until 1991. The landscape consists mainly of fertile steppes, and though there are abundant natural resources, there have been significant environmental problems of pollution and deforestation, not least with the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. A legacy of the Soviet economic policy is a thriving aircraft and space industry. The capital, Kiev, stands on the Dneiper River with its many lakes and tributaries. Tourists visit Saint Sophia cathedral and the National Opera as well as the historic Monastery of the Caves, with its gilded belltower which dominates the city skyline. Sadly the world famous dish Chicken Kiev is probably not of Ukrainian origin. The Peninsula of the Crimea in the south, with its warm climate, contains the Tsarist Livadia Palace and the Tartar Hansaray at Bakhchisaray, famous for its romantic Fountain of Tears, as well as the picturesque Swallow’s Nest Castle on a clifftop near the Black Sea resort of Yalta. Winemaking is an important industry. Famous people from Ukraine include Igor Sikorsky, inventor of the helicopter, film director Sergei Bondarchuk, composer Prokofiev, writers Gogol and Joseph Conrad and the revolutionary Leon Trotsky.