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Historical profile
Ukraine first came under Russian suzerainty in the 1650s, as an alternative to invasion by the Poles.
Although some parts of Ukraine were initially annexed by the Poles, by the end of the eighteenth century the whole of Ukraine had been taken over by Russia.
1917 The Bolsheviks consolidated control over Ukraine, until the incorporation of the republic into the Soviet Union. The Russians retained direct control of eastern Ukraine from 1918 until the country's independence from Russia in 1991. The city of Lviv (formerly Lvov) near the western border was seized from the collapsing Austro-Hungarian Empire.
1920s Russia lost control of parts of western Ukraine to Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania during the civil war between the Bolsheviks and counter-revolutionary forces supported by Western European armies. Soviet dictator, Josef Stalin, initiated a system of collective agriculture which forced Ukrainian farmers to render fixed quantities of produce to the authorities. These quotas were unrealistic, creating entirely artificial famine conditions during which over five million Ukrainians were estimated to have died.
1945 Following the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union regained control of the lost areas of western Ukraine.
1954 Responsibility for the government of Crimea, an autonomous republic within Ukraine, was transferred from Russia to Ukraine as part of reforms initiated by Nikita Kruschev after Stalin's death.
1986 The Chernobyl nuclear reactor based in Ukraine exploded, causing widespread damage in both Ukraine and neighbouring Belarus.
1991 Under pressure from the opposition parties, in particular Narodniy Rukh Ukrayiny (Rukh) (People's Movement of Ukraine), the government gradually moved towards independence. Political power was transferred from the government of the former Soviet Union to Ukrainian national authorities in Kiev.
A majority voted for independence in a referendum, leading to a declaration of independence and the recognition of Ukraine as an independent state by the international community. Leonid Kravchuk won the presidential elections.
1992 Disagreements over economic policy saw the resignation of Ukraine's first prime minister, Vladimir Fokin, who was replaced by Leonid Kuchma.
1993 Arguments over economic policy and labour strikes led to the resignation of Kuchma and Yukhlym Zvyahilsky assumed the post.
1994 Kuchma returned as the main challenger to Kravchuk in the presidential elections, finally defeating Kravchuk in the run-off. Kuchma's attempts to swing the balance of power from parliament in favour of the presidency, in order to reduce the opposition to his economic programme, achieved mixed success.
1996 A new constitution gave the president the power to appoint a government formed by parliamentary deputies.
1997 Valeriy Pustovoitenko became prime minister.
1998 After elections, the Komunistychna Partiya Ukrainy (KPU) (Communist Party of Ukraine) emerged as the largest single party.
1999 Kuchma was re-elected president. He appointed reformist independent deputy Viktor Yuschenko as prime minister.
2000 Over 80 per cent of voters in a referendum supported President Kuchma's proposals for constitutional reform, designed to increase the powers of the presidency.
2001 Yushchenko's pro-reform government was toppled by the KPU-dominated parliament's vote of no-confidence in April. Anatoly Kinakh was nominated prime minister by the president and approved by parliament.
2002 A party backed by the President, Za Yedinu Ukrainu (ZYU) (For United Ukraine), was declared the winner of the March parliamentary election. Anatoly Kinakh was dismissed by the President and Viktor Yanukovych became prime minister. After a secret vote, President Kuchma and his allies dismissed the last remaining independent figures from positions of power. In September, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus signed an economic union treaty.
2003 Thousands of people demonstrated in Kiev in March, demanding the resignation of President Kuchma. In October, there was a border dispute after Russia embarked on building a causeway across the Kerch Strait between the Russian coast and the Ukrainian island of Tuzla, offshore from Crimea; the strait also separates the Black Sea from the Azov Sea; Ukraine sent troops to Tuzla; President Kuchma and President Putin of Russia signed an agreement on the joint use of the Kerch Strait and the status of the Azov Sea. In December, the constitutional court ruled that President Kuchma could run for a third term in 2004, although he decided against standing in the October 2004 presidential election.
2004 Ukraine said that it would pay its US$1.25 billion natural gas debt to Russia by supplying free Russian gas transits from 2005–09. Opposition supporters gathered in Kiev to protest against fraud in the second round of presidential elections in November, which were won by Viktor Yanukovych, backed by Russia, against pro-West Viktor Yushchenko. In December, parliament dismissed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's government in a no-confidence vote and the the Supreme Court invalidated the results of the presidential elections, calling for a repeat of the run-off between Yanukovych and Viktor Yushchenko. Austrian doctors confirmed that Viktor Yushchenko, the opposition candidate, had been poisoned with dioxin. Yushchenko won the re-run presidential elections on 26 December.
2005 On 5 January, President Leonid Kuchma accepted Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's resignation and appointed First Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Azarov as acting prime minister. The Supreme Court rejected the last challenge to Yushchenko's election by Viktor Yanukovych and Yushchenko was sworn in as president on 23 January. Yuliya Tymoshenko was approved by parliament as prime minister on 4 February.
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