History of Ukraine

The medieval state of Kievan Rus was established in the 9th century as the first historically recorded East Slavic state. It emerged as a powerful nation in the Middle Ages but disintegrated in the 12th century. By the middle of the 14th century, Ukrainian territories were under the rule of three external powers—the Golden Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Kingdom of Poland. After the Great Northern War (1700–1721), Ukraine was divided among a number of regional powers. By the 19th century, the largest part of Ukraine was integrated into the Russian Empire, with the rest under Austro-Hungarian control.

A period of incessant warfare ensued, with establishment of internationally recognized independent Ukrainian People's Republic in 1917. Then Soviet intervention followed, which resulted in Soviet rule for more than 70 years. After 1939 invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and Soviet Union, the Ukrainian SSR's territory was enlarged westward. In 1954 it expanded to the south with the Crimea transfer. In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the founding members of the United Nations.

Ukraine became independent again when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. This dissolution started a period of transition to a market economy, in which Ukraine suffered an eight-year recession. Since then, however, the economy has benefited by a steady increase in GDP growth. Ukraine was impacted by the worldwide economic crisis in 2008 and the economy plunged. GDP fell 20% from spring 2008 to spring 2009, then leveled off as analysts compared the magnitude of the downturn to the worst years of economic depression during the early 1990s. The country remains a globally important market and, as of 2012, is the world's sixth-largest grain exporter.