From at least the ninth century, the territory of present-day Ukraine was a center of the medieval East Slavic civilization forming the state of Kievan Rus' that disintegrated in the twelfth century. From the 14th century on, the territory of Ukraine was divided among a number of regional powers and by the nineteenth century the largest part of Ukraine was integrated into the Russian Empire with the rest being under the Austro-Hungarian control. After a chaotic period of incessant warfare and several attempts at independence (1917–1921) following the Russian Revolution and the Great War, Ukraine emerged in 1922 as one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic's territory was enlarged westward shortly before and after the Second World War, and again in 1954 with the Crimea transfer. In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the co-founding members of the United Nations.^[3] Ukraine became independent again after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. This began a transition period to a market economy, in which Ukraine was initially stricken with eight straight years of economic decline.^[4] But since approximately the turn of the century, the economy has been experiencing a stable increase, with a real GDP growth averaging approximately 7% annually.^[4]

Ukraine is a unitary state composed of 24 oblasts (provinces), one autonomous republic (Crimea), and two cities with special status (Kiev, its capital, and Sevastopol, which houses the Russian Black Sea Fleet under a leasing agreement^[5]). Ukraine is a republic under a semi-presidential system with separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches. At the end of 2004, the country underwent an extensive constitutional reform that has changed the balance of power between the Parliament, Prime Minister, the Cabinet and their relationship vis-a-vis the president.