CherkasyCherkasy (Черка́си, tʃerˈkɑsɪ) is a city in central Ukraine. Cherkasy serves as the administrative center of Cherkasy Oblast as well as Cherkasy Raion within the oblast. The city has a population of Cherkasy is the cultural, educational and industrial center of Cherkasy Oblast and Central Economical Region of Ukraine. Cherkasy has been known since the 13th century and played a great role in the history of Ukraine. The city was the center of the land of the Cossacks; its citizens took part in Khmelnychchyna and Koliyivschyna (cossacks' and peasants' rebellions).
Russian invasion of UkraineOn 24 February 2022, in an escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War which began in 2014. The invasion has killed tens of thousands on both sides. Russian forces have been responsible for mass civilian casualties and for torturing captured Ukrainian soldiers. By June 2022, about 8 million Ukrainians had been internally displaced. More than 8.2 million had fled the country by May 2023, becoming Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. Extensive environmental damage, widely described as ecocide, contributed to food crises worldwide.
Cossack HetmanateThe Cossack Hetmanate (Hetmanshchyna; Hetmanat, Hetmańszczyzna, or Cossack State), officially the Zaporizhian Host or Army of Zaporizhia (Viisko Zaporozke; Exercitus Zaporoviensis), was a Cossack state located in central Ukraine. It existed between 1648 and 1764, although its administrative-judicial system persisted until 1782. The Hetmanate was founded by the Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, during the Khmelnytsky Uprising from 1648 to 1657 in the eastern territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
DnieperThe Dnieper ((də)ˈniːpər), also called Dnipro (dəˈniːprəʊ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and Belarus and the fourth-longest river in Europe, after the Volga, Danube, and Ural rivers. It is approximately long, with a drainage basin of . In antiquity, the river was part of the Amber Road trade routes.
CossacksThe Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Orthodox Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of Ukraine and southern Russia. Historically, they were a semi-nomadic and semi-militarized people, who, while under the nominal suzerainty of various Eastern European states at the time, were allowed a great degree of self-governance in exchange for military service. Although numerous linguistic and religious groups came together to form the Cossacks, most of them coalesced and became East Slavic-speaking Orthodox Christians.