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From beet soup with cabbage to Chernobyl, five Ukraine must-know issues

From beet soup with cabbage to Chernobyl, five Ukraine must-know issues

Ukraine, now surrounded by some 100,000 Russian soldiers, has known revolutions, annexation and war since the fall of the USSR. But it is also the country of beetroot soup with cabbage (borchtch) and Chernobyl.

These are the five things you should know about this country of some 40 million inhabitants bordering the European Union (EU).

common roots

The Russian and Ukrainian peoples are linked by a millennium of history, from Kievan Russia, a medieval Slavic state that had Kiev as its capital and extended from part of present-day Ukraine and European Russia, to the USSR, passing through the Roman Empire. Russian.

Although most of the current territory of Ukraine was integrated into Tsarist Russia, some western regions experienced various dominations.

After the Bolshevik revolution, Ukraine became a Soviet republic, but after independence in 1991, tensions between the two countries intensified until they reached paroxysm in 2014 with a pro-Western revolution.

In the midst of this climate, Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula and has since supported separatist rebels in the east of the country, a conflict that is still ongoing and has cost the lives of 14,000 people.

Now tensions are running high, amid fears of a Russian invasion.

Most Ukrainians understand both languages, Ukrainian and Russian, although today the “Ukrainization” policy requires that the media publish in Ukrainian and that Russian language and literature be removed from school curricula.

For Ukraine it is about counteracting the forced Russification of Ukraine in Soviet times.

economic crash

With the crisis of 2014, the Ukrainian economy sank and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell almost 7%. The following year it sank 10%, while inflation exceeded 40%.

The economy showed signs of recovering in the following years, but the country remains one of the poorest in Europe with an average monthly salary of 550 euros.

Ukraine depends on taxes generated by the transit of Russian gas to Europe and the Ukrainian government worries about new gas pipeline projects that bypass it, such as the Nord Stream 2 that communicates with Germany through the Baltic Sea.

Faced with the new increase in tensions this year, growth forecasts and the currency (the hryvnia) are affected, with capital flight and rising inflation.

endemic corruption

Corruption in Ukraine is endemic: in its 2021 report, Transparency International ranks the country 122 out of 180.

Chernobyl

The worst nuclear accident in history occurred on April 26, 1986 in Ukraine, then a Soviet republic, when a reactor at the Chernobyl power plant exploded, contaminating three-quarters of Europe and the USSR.

Some 350,000 people were evacuated from a 30-kilometre perimeter around the plant, which is still a prohibited zone.

Beetroot soup (Borchitch)

For many, beetroot and cabbage soup, borchtch, sometimes accompanied by fresh cream, is a symbol of Russian cuisine. But connoisseurs consider the dish to be of Ukrainian origin.

The Russian or Ukrainian origin of chicken Kiev, a slice of chicken rolled up and stuffed before being fried, is also debated.

Source: Gestion

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