Orange RevolutionThe Orange Revolution (Помаранчева революція) was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter intimidation and electoral fraud. Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, was the focal point of the movement's campaign of civil resistance, with thousands of protesters demonstrating daily.
Russo-Ukrainian WarThe Russo-Ukrainian War is an ongoing international conflict between Russia, alongside Russian-backed separatists, and Ukraine, which began in February 2014. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and supported pro-Russian separatists fighting the Ukrainian military in the Donbas war. The first eight years of conflict also included naval incidents, cyberwarfare, and heightened political tensions. In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Party of RegionsThe Party of Regions (Partiia rehioniv, ˈpɑrt(j)ijɐ reɦiˈɔn(j)iu̯; Partiya regionov) is a banned pro-Russian political party in Ukraine formed in late 1997 and then grown to be the biggest party in Ukraine between 2006 and 2014. Since the Revolution of Dignity, the party has not competed in elections and members have slowly dispersed; the last election the party participated in was the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election.
President of UkraineThe president of Ukraine (Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties. The president is directly elected by the citizens of Ukraine for a five-year term of office (whether the presidential election is early or scheduled), limited to two terms consecutively. The president's official residence is the Mariinskyi Palace, located in the Pechersk district of the capital Kyiv.
Volodymyr ZelenskyyVolodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (also transliterated as Zelensky or Zelenskiy; born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former comedian and actor who is the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. Born to a Ukrainian Jewish family, Zelenskyy grew up as a native Russian speaker in Kryvyi Rih, a major city of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in central Ukraine. Prior to his acting career, he obtained a degree in law from the Kyiv National Economic University.
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.
Verkhovna RadaThe Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, Ukrainian abbreviation ВРУ), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the unicameral parliament of Ukraine. The Verkhovna Rada is composed of 450 deputies, who are presided over by a (speaker). The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovna Rada building in Ukraine's capital Kyiv. The deputies elected on 21 July 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election were inaugurated on 29 August 2019.
SpetsnazSpetsnaz (Спецназ), are special forces in many post-Soviet states. Historically, this term referred to the Soviet Union's Spetsnaz GRU, special operations units of the GRU, the main military intelligence service. Today it refers to special forces branches and task forces subordinate to ministries including defence, internal affairs, or emergency situations in countries that have inherited their special purpose units from the now-defunct Soviet security agencies.
Communist Party of UkraineThe Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU or KPU) is a banned political party in Ukraine. It was founded in 1993 as the successor to the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine, which had been banned in 1991. The party is a member of the Moscow-based Union of Communist Parties – Communist Party of the Soviet Union, an umbrella organisation for all communist parties of the former Soviet Union. The party has been led by Petro Symonenko since it was founded. Communist parties have a long history in Ukraine.
KharkivKharkiv (Ха́рків, ˈxɑrkiu̯), also known as Kharkov (Харькoв, ˈxarjkəf), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine. Located in the northeast of the country, it is the largest city of the historic region of Sloboda Ukraine. Kharkiv is the administrative centre of Kharkiv Oblast and of the surrounding Kharkiv Raion. It has a population of Kharkiv was founded in 1654 as a fortress, and grew to become a major centre of industry, trade, and Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire.
