You are standing in the present. Each step down takes you further into the past: first year by year, then decade by decade, century by century, and finally millennium by millennium, down to the first farming villages, about 7,500 years ago.
Independent state
Since 24 August 1991
Parliament declared independence; on 1 December 1991, 90.3% of voters said yes in a referendum.
Capital
Kyiv
The capital and largest city, on the Dnipro River. Kyiv was already the center of Kyivan Rus' over 1,000 years ago.
Size
About 603,628 km²
The area within Ukraine's internationally recognized borders, including Crimea. The state language is Ukrainian.
A country at war
Full-scale invasion since 24 Feb 2022
Russia's war began in 2014 with Crimea and the Donbas. As of late October 2026 the war is still going on.
On the road to the EU
EU candidate since June 2022
Candidate status was granted on 23 June 2022; membership negotiations formally opened on 25 June 2024.
President
Volodymyr Zelensky
Elected in April 2019 with 73.2% of the second-round vote; he has led the country through the full-scale war.
Facts checked on 28 October 2026. No casualty or population figures are shown here, because estimates differ and keep changing.