About Ukraine

Ukraine is the biggest European country. Millions of tourists from different parts of the world come here every year to visit many historical and natural sights, picturesque landscapes and to see rich national traditions.
Southern region of Ukraine – sea gate of the country and here you can find many famous resorts.

Population and Languages
The population of Ukraine is approximately 46,6 millions. 78% of them are Ukrainians, about 17% - Russians. Besides, there are populations of Belarusians, Hungarians, Moldovans, Romanians, Greek, Bulgarians and others (18 nations in generally) who live in Ukraine.

Religion
About 65% of people are religious people: about 85% are Orthodox, 10% Catholics and Greek Catholic Church, 3% are Protestants. There are also community of Muslims (in Crimea mostly where a big population of Crimean Tartans live) and Jewish. Church and religious groups are separated from government, and school is separated from Church.

Cultural peculiars.
The history, geographical and economical peculiars made the influence on process of foundation of Ukrainian culture and its ethnic regions. Each region has its own specific traditions, architecture of buildings, special features of language and national culture, and sometime religion.
 

Special sights.
You can visit churches of different religions and confessions and find out that many of them are not only sacred places but historical and cultural monuments – for example, Sophia Church in Kiev or Pochaev Lavra in Ternopil region. Ruins of ancient cities in Crimea – in Sevastopol and Kerch - which are very popular among tourists. Admirers of architecture will like Vorontsov Castle in Crimea, the castle  “Swallow nest” in Crimea, Potemkin Steps in Odessa and Vishnevetskiy Castle in Ternopol. When you visit middle-age castles you will feel yourself like many centuries ago when knights and kings lived.
Among the most popular natural sights of our country is Marbol Cave in Crimea which is famous with its incredible beauty, Svityaz lakes in Volyn region and others in Carpathians, Jonquil valley and Danube biosphere park in Odessa region.

Cuisine
National cuisine reflects rich traditions of different regions. In generally its specific feature is variety of elements and its complex thermal processing.  Mostly courses here are thick and with high quantity of fats. Ukrainian Borsch is the most famous and popular dish – aromatic soup of few types of vegetables but with beetroot always. Traditionally it’s served with little cookies of baker's dough and garlic topping. Meat (pork, beef, chicken) is usually cooked with vegetables. One of the most specific dishes is – varenyky – this is boiled dumplings of unleavened dough with cheese, meat, fruits or berries. Ukrainian cuisine also includes variety of dairy produce like milk, kefir, sour cream, cheese. Traditionally popular fat or sludge. It’s used in different like lard, butter and oil. We also should notice that Ukrainian bread is very tasty and its variety in different regions of our country is rather wide.