Environment

After Russia, Ukraine is the largest country in Europe, just edging out France. It's bordered by Russia to the east and north; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova to the west; and large stretches of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to the south.

Ukraine's topography consists almost entirely of steppe - gently rolling, partially wooded plains. The horizon is broken by a belt of highland running from the north-west near Lutsk to the south-east near the central Dnipro River valley. The only serious mountains are a short stretch of the Carpathians in the far west and the Crimeans in the far south. There are forests and some scattered marshlands in the north; in the south the steppe is open and sparsely wooded. Nearly 3000 rivers flow through Ukraine. The four major ones - the Dnipro, the Dnister, the Pivdenny (Southern) Buh and the Siversky Donets - run north-west to south-east. The first three flow into the Black Sea; the last flows into the Don, which empties into the Sea of Azov.

Formerly known as 'the breadbasket of the USSR', over half the country is covered in fields of wheat, barley, rye, oats and sugar beets. A central 'black belt' of humus-rich soil - one of the world's most fertile regions - covers nearly two-thirds of Ukraine. Large tracts are set aside as grazing land, and in spring they explode into brilliant, swaying seas of maky (red poppies), sonyashnyky (sunflowers) and golden mustard. Breaking up the flat, heavily cultivated grasslands are a few patches of oak, maple, linden and ash forests. Willow and aspen grow along the rivers. A thin belt of forest runs across the north of the country, consisting mostly of silver fir, beech, oak and spruce.

The creatures you see most often are the white geese and ducks that spot the green and black earth and fill countless ponds all over the countryside. Ukraine's diverse animal life includes wolves, foxes, martens and gazelles (all keeping mostly to mountain woodlands); over 350 species of birds, the secret messengers of many folk songs and fairy tales; and over 200 species of freshwater fish.

Inland Ukraine has a relatively moderate continental climate. The hottest month is July, when the daily high averages 23°C (73°F), while January, the coldest month, averages around freezing. The eastern areas catch a few of the chilling Siberian breezes, while the west gets the tail end of warm Mediterranean winds. On the coast, Yalta and Odessa are generally a few degrees warmer than the inland areas; in winter they rarely dip below freezing during the day. Inland, June and July are the wettest months; the coast experiences most of its limited rainfall during December and January.