Geography of Ukraine

Kyiv

Chernihiv

Chernivtsi

Dnipro

Donetsk

Kharkiv

Lviv

Odesa

Sevastopol

Uzhhorod

Mt. Hoverla

Simferopol

Ivano‑Frankivsk

Sumy

Sviatohirsk

Vinnytsia

Lutsk

Zaporizhzhia

Kryvyi Rih

Map of Ukraine

Ukraine is located in Eastern Europe: lying on the northern shores of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The country borders Belarus in the north, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary in the west, Moldova and Romania in the south-west, and Russia in the east.[7]

The total geographic area of Ukraine is 603,700 square kilometers (233,100 sq mi). Ukraine has an Exclusive Economic Zone of 147,318 km² (56,880 sq mi) in the Black Sea.[7]

The land border of Ukraine totals 6,993 kilometers (4,345 mi).[8] The border lengths with each country are: Belarus 891 kilometers (554 mi), Hungary 103 kilometers (64 mi), Moldova 939 kilometers (583 mi), Poland 428 kilometers (266 mi), Romania 169 kilometers (105 mi) on the south and 362 kilometers (225 mi) on the west, Russia 1,974 kilometers (1,227 mi), and Slovakia 90 kilometers (56 mi). Ukraine is also bordered by 3,783 kilometers (2,351 mi) of coastline. The border with Russia, part of which runs through the Sea of Azov, is the country's longest border.[9]

The village of Vel'ké Slemence is split between Slovakia and Ukraine.[10]

Relief map of Ukraine

Simplified depiction of the biomes lying north of the Black Sea. The bright green belt girdling the Black Sea's southern coast, extending westwards, denotes a region of subtropics.

Most of its territory lies within the Great European Plain, while parts of western regions and southern regions lay within the Alpine system. In general Ukraine comprises two different biomes: mixed forest towards the middle of the continent, and steppe towards the Black Sea littoral. Major provinces include, Polesian Lowland, Dnieper Lowland, Volhynia-Podolie Plateau, Black Sea-Azov Lowland, Donets-Azov Plateau, Central Russian Upland, Carpathians, and Pannonian Basin.

The western regions feature an alpine-like section of Carpathian Mountains, the Eastern Carpathians that stretches across Poland, Ukraine and Romania. The highest peak is Mount Hoverla, which at 2,061 meters (6,762 ft) above sea level is the highest point in the country. Mountains are limited to the west, the southern tip of Ukraine on the Sea of Azov. The western region has the Carpathian Mountains, and some eroded mountains from the Donets Ridge are in the east near the Sea of Azov.

Most of Ukraine's area is taken up by the steppe-like region just north of the Black Sea. Most of Ukraine consists of fertile plains (or steppes) and plateaus. In terms of land use, 58% of Ukraine is considered arable land; 2% is used for permanent crops, 13% for permanent pastures, 18% is forests and woodland, and 9% is other.

Kinburn sandbar, Ochakiv Raion, Mykolaiv Oblast

From northwest to southeast the soils of Ukraine may be divided into three major aggregations:[11]

Agricultural works in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast

• a zone of sandy podzolized soils
• a central belt consisting of the extremely fertile Ukrainian black earth (chernozems)
• a zone of chestnut and salinized soils

As much as two-thirds of the country's surface land consists of black earth, a resource that has made Ukraine one of the most fertile regions in the world and well known as a "breadbasket".[12] These soils may be divided into three broad groups:

• in the north, a belt of deep chernozems, about 1.5 metres (5 feet) thick and rich in humus
• south and east of the former, a zone of prairie, or ordinary, chernozems, which are equally rich in humus but only about 90 centimetres (3 feet) thick
• the southernmost belt, which is even thinner and has still less humus

Interspersed in various uplands and along the northern and western perimeters of the deep chernozems are mixtures of gray forest soils and podzolized black-earth soils, which together occupy much of Ukraine's remaining area. All these soils are very fertile when sufficient water is available. However, their intensive cultivation, especially on steep slopes, has led to widespread soil erosion and gullying.

The smallest proportion of the soil cover consists of the chestnut soils of the southern and eastern regions. They become increasingly salinized to the south as they approach the Black Sea.[11]

Kalmius river, Donetsk

The territory of Ukraine is bordered by the waters of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. More than 95% of the rivers are part of those two seas' drainage basins. A few rivers are part of the Baltic Sea basin. There are seven major rivers in Ukraine: Desna, Dnipro, Dnister, Danube, Prypiat, Siverian Donets, and Southern Buh.[13]

Ukraine map of Köppen climate classification.

Visualisation of climate change in Kyiv, showing different temperature ranges between different 30-year time periods.

Ukraine has a mostly temperate climate, with the exception of the southern coast of Crimea which has a subtropical climate.[15] The climate is influenced by moderately warm, humid air coming from the Atlantic Ocean.[16] Average annual temperatures range from 5.5–7 °C (41.9–44.6 °F) in the north, to 11–13 °C (51.8–55.4 °F) in the south.[16] Precipitation is disproportionately distributed; it is highest in the west and north and lowest in the east and southeast.[16] Western Ukraine, particularly in the Carpathian Mountains, receives around 1,200 millimetres (47.2 in) of precipitation annually, while Crimea and the coastal areas of the Black Sea receive around 400 millimetres (15.7 in).[16]

Water availability from the major river basins is expected to decrease, especially in summer. This poses risks to the agricultural sector.[17] The negative impacts of climate change on agriculture are mostly felt in the south of the country, which has a steppe climate. In the north, some crops may be able to benefit from a longer growing season.[18] The World Bank has stated that Ukraine is highly vulnerable to climate change.[19]

Significant natural resources in Ukraine include: iron ore, manganese, natural gas,[34] titanium, kaolin, uranium, and arable land.[5][35]

Ukraine has many environmental issues.[36][37] Some regions lack adequate supplies of potable water.[38] Air and water pollution affects the country, as well as deforestation, and radiation contamination in the northeast stemming from the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.[39]

• Extreme points of Ukraine
• Maps of Ukraine

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Geography of Ukraine.

• Zastavnyi, F. D. Physical geography of Ukraine: lowlands and uplands of Ukraine. "Heohrafiya".