Location: |
Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Poland, Romania, and Moldova in the west and Russia in the east |
Geographic coordinates: |
49 00 N, 32 00 E |
Map references: |
Asia, Europe |
Area: |
total: 603,700 sq km
land: 603,700 sq km
water: 0 sq km |
Area - comparative: |
slightly smaller than Texas |
Land boundaries: |
total: 4,663 km
border countries: Belarus 891 km, Hungary 103 km, Moldova 939 km, Poland 526 km, Romania (south) 169 km, Romania (west) 362 km, Russia 1,576 km, Slovakia 97 km |
Coastline: |
2,782 km |
Maritime claims: |
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200-m or to the depth of exploitation |
Climate: |
temperate continental; Mediterranean only on the southern Crimean coast; precipitation disproportionately distributed, highest in west and north, lesser in 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, hot in the south |
Terrain: |
most of Ukraine consists of fertile plains (steppes) and plateaus, mountains being found only in the west (the Carpathians), and in the Crimean Peninsula in the extreme south |
Elevation extremes: |
lowest point: Black Sea 0 m
highest point: Hora Hoverla 2,061 m |
Natural resources: |
iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt, sulfur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, timber, arable land |
Land use: |
arable land: 56.21%
permanent crops: 1.61%
other: 42.18% (2001) |
Irrigated land: |
24,540 sq km (1998 est.) |
Natural hazards: |
NA |
Environment - current issues: |
inadequate supplies of potable water; air and water pollution; deforestation; radiation contamination in the northeast from 1986 accident at Chornobyl' Nuclear Power Plant |
Environment - international agreements: |
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds |
Geography - note: |
strategic position at the crossroads between Europe and Asia; second-largest country in Europe |
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