About Ukraine

     Ukraine (Ukrainian: Україна, Ukrayina, /ukraˈjina/) is a country in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the east, Belarus to the north, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The historic city of Kiev (Kyiv) is the country's capital.

     From at least the 9th century, the territory of present-day Ukraine was a centre of medieval East Slavic civilization forming the state of Kievan Rus, and for the following several centuries the territory was divided among a number of regional powers. After a brief period of independence (1917–1921) following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Ukraine became one of the founding Soviet Republics in 1922. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic's territory was enlarged westward after the Second World War, and again in 1954 with the Crimea transfer. In 1945, Ukrainian SSR became one of the co-founder members of the United Nations. It became independent again after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.

     At 603,700 km² (233,074 sq mi) and with a coastline of 2,782 km (1,729 sq mi) [5], Ukraine is the world's 44th-largest country (after the Central African Republic, before Madagascar). It is the second largest country in Europe (after European part of Russia, before metropolitan France).

     According to some, the geographical center of Europe lies in Ukraine, perhaps near the western town of Rakhiv. The question of Europe's geographical center is subject to ongoing debate, however.

     The Ukrainian landscape consists mostly of fertile plains (or steppes) and plateaus, crossed by rivers such as the Dnieper, Seversky Donets, Dniester and the Southern Buh as they flow south into the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. To the southwest, the delta of the Danube forms the border with Romania. The country's only mountains are the Carpathian Mountains in the west, of which the highest is the Hora Hoverla at 2,061 m (6,762 ft), and those on the Crimean peninsula, in the extreme south along the coast.

     Ukraine has a mostly temperate continental climate, although a more mediterranean climate is found on the southern Crimean coast. Precipitation is disproportionately distributed; it is highest in the west and north and lesser in the east and southeast. Winters vary from cool along the Black Sea to cold farther inland. Summers are warm across the greater part of the country, but generally hot in the south.

About Khmelnytsky

     Khmelnytskyi (Ukrainian: Хмельницький, translit.: Khmel'nyts'kyi; Russian: Хмельницкий; Polish: Chmielnicki) is a city in Ukraine in the region of Podillia. It is located on the Southern Buh River and about 340km from the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. The city was founded in 1493 as Proskuriv, later Proskurov, but in 1954 was renamed Khmelnytskyi on the three-hundredth anniversary of a treaty negotiated by Bohdan Khmelnytsky. It is the center of the Khmelnytskyi Oblast in Ukraine. The alternative transliterations of the name include Khmelnitskiy, Khmelnitsky, and Khmelnytskyy. The city is served by Khmelnytskyi Ruzhichnaya Airport. As of 2005, the city's population is 254,000.

     The town was notable for a series of pogroms carried out in the region, the last of which claimed an estimated 1,500 lives on February 15, 1919.

     Khmelnytskyi should not be confused with Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi, a city in Ukraine's Kiev Oblast.

     The football team FC Podillya Khmelnytskyi is based in Khmelnytskyi.