Ukraine Travel Guide: Ukrainian history, Ukrainian people, Ukrainian cities

Famous People of Ukrainian Origin

2009-06-26T14:02:00.000-07:00

Independent Ukraine is a very young country. Actually Ukraine is only about 18 years old. After USSR collapsed Ukrainian people had to build their State from scratch having no own constitution, legislation and even money. Now we have almost everything an independent country needs. I admit that we have a lot of things to do to improve life of Ukrainian people, we must eradicate corruption and make some representatives of Ukrainian government respect their country and people. But the most important task for Ukraine is to establish positive image of the country. We should show the world that Ukraine is NOT a wild uncivilized country, that we worth being a part of European Union. We must renew glory of Ukrainian people.

Ukraine has a very dramatic history. Being dominated by its neighbors, Ukraine remained unknown as a country having its own culture, mentality, traditions and history especially western countries. Ukraine has always been in a shadow of Russia, although Kyiv (capital of Ukraine) is known as the mother of Russian cities. Nevertheless Ukraine and Ukrainian people are mistakenly associated with Russia even today. I guess the reason is that Ukraine had been a part of USSR for decades. The other reason for famous Ukrainians being almost unknown in the world is, firstly, that Ukraine was just one of the USSR’s provinces. And even earlier being a part of Russian Empire, Ukraine was called small Russia and was considered to be one of the provincial parts of the huge Empire. The center was, of course, in Moscow (and in St. Petersburg during Russian Empire) where people had more opportunities to develop their skills in practice and develop, create and invent. Secondly, activity of most Soviet people was under total governmental control and those who tried to be independent or did not want to cooperate with the government or were against communists’ policy risked their freedom or even lives. So many of Ukrainian people were banished from their own country to work abroad to glorify other countries, or raise children and grandchildren whose genius and talents are known all over the world. You never knew that some of very famous people were of Ukrainian origin. And this is the time to remember famous people of Ukrainian origin and what they are famous for.

Actors, Film Directors and Screen Writers Having Ukrainian Roots

Milla Jovovich — Famous American actress and model well known for her roles in "The Fifth Element" and Resident Evil. [Ukrainian mother. Milla was born in Kyiv, Ukraine].

Olga Kurylenko — known as the Bond girl in the 22nd James Bond film [born in Ukraine].

Steven Spielberg — well known American film director and producer (films: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan and others) [grandparents from Ukraine].

Mila Kunis — American actress (voice of Meg Griffin in "Family Guy") [Born in Kiev, Ukraine].

Michael Kenneth Mann — American film director and producer (films: producer of "Aviator", "Hancock" and others) [father from Ukraine].

Vera Ann Farmiga — American actress (films: Running Scared, The Departed and others) [daughter of Ukrainian immigrants].

Jillian Noel "Jill" Hennessy — Canadian actress and musician (roles in Law & Order and Crossing Jordan ) [mother from Ukraine].

Jack Palance — American film actor (films: Sudden Fear, Shane, City Slickers and others) [son of Ukrainian immigrants].

Héctor Eduardo Babenco — Brazilian actor, film director and producer [father from Ukraine].

Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk — writer, author of novel Fight Club which was later made into film [Ukrainian father].

Famous Scientists, Inventors, Engineers of Ukrainian Origin

Igor Sikorsky — famous engineer, inventor of the helicopter [born in Kyiv, studied and worked in Ukraine for a long time before immigrating to the USA. His first concepts of the helicopter were developed in Ukraine].

Ivan Pulyui — he is said to be the first to discover x-rays, even earlier than Roentgen [born in Ukraine].

Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov — famous Ukrainian engineer and designer. Father of practical astronautics. He was first to design and build an effective space rocket [born and studied in Ukraine].

Yuri Kondratyuk — pioneer of astronautics and spaceflight. He was first to make detailed calculations necessary for flight from Earth to Moon and back to Earth [born and studied in Ukraine].

Selman Abraham Waksman — American microbiologist. Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine for the first effective antibiotic against tuberculosis [born and studied in Ukraine].

Nick Holonyak American engineer. Invented the first visible light-emitting diode (LED) used today for DVD players, bar code scanners, cellphones etc. [parents from Ukraine].

Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko — creator of an effective method to treat asthma [born in Ukraine].

Jacques Bogopolsky — inventor of revolutionary model of movie cameras [born in Ukraine].

Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov — famous microbiologist. Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1908 [born, lived and studied in Ukraine].

Ivan Horbachevsky — famous Ukrainian chemist who was first to to synthesize glycine [born in Ukraine].

Georgy Feodosevich Voronoy — famous mathematician, author of Voronoi diagram [born in Ukraine].

George Gamow — theoretical physicist who discovered alpha decay via quantum tunneling [born and studied in Ukraine].

Famous Composers, Musicians, Writer and Poets of Ukrainian origin

Sergei Prokofiev — one of the greatest composers of the 20th century [born in Ukraine].

Bill Evans — one of the most famous American juzz pianist [mother from Ukraine].

Nikolai Gogol — Russian novelist, humorist, and dramatist who had a great influence on Russian literature and even Russian language [born and lived long time in Ukraine].

Anna Akhmatova — Russian/Soviet poet who had a large influence on Russian poetry [born in Ukraine].

Famous Politicians and Statesmen of Ukrainian Origin

Anne of Kiev — queen of France. The first person from the territory of today's Ukrane working abroad :)

Mikhail Gorbachev — last president of Soviet Union. He helped to unite East and West Germany by his decision not to interfere when the Berlin Wall was broken on 9 November 1989 [Ukrainian mother].

Moshe Sharett — second Prime Minister of Israel [born in Ukraine].

Levi Eshkol — the third Prime Minister of Israel [born and studied in Ukraine].

Golda Meir — the fourth prime minister of the State of Israel [born in Ukraine].

Ray Hnatyshyn — served as the Governor General of Canada till 8 February 1995 [Ukrainian father].

Famous People Who Received Education in Ukraine

Gleb Kotelnikov — inventor of the knapsack parachute [born in Russia he received education in Kiev, Ukraine].

This is just a small list of famous people who were born in Ukraine or whose ancestors originate from the territory of today’s Ukraine. I will expand this list from time to time. And for the time being if you want to know more about famous people of Ukrainian origin you can find more information here.

Ukrainian Songs You May Like

2009-06-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

For the time being, unfortunately, I have not a lot of time to create posts for my Ukraine blog. Nevertheless this time I want to share with you some very beautiful Ukrainian songs which I like very much.

Ukrainian language is said to be second beautiful language in the world (Italian being the first one). This language is often called a “nightingale’s language”. This language seems to be created for songs. Ukrainian songs (especially folk songs) are extremely popular also in Russia and other former USSR countries. Unfortunately Ukrainian songs and beautiful Ukrainian language are still undiscovered in the most parts of the world. That’s why I would like to introduce here a few songs in Ukrainian to show you the soul of Ukrainian people. You may not understand a single word in these Ukrainian songs, you should just listen how beautiful and melodic is the language. I will mostly use Youtube video here and this post is likely to be expanded in the future. Hope you will enjoy these beautiful Ukrainian songs. I would recommend you to listen to all these songs, they are very cool and worth listening.

Some merry Ukrainian songs

Sad but extremely beautiful Ukrainian songs

What about some Ukrainian rock?

Funny folk Ukrainian song performed by popular singers

Ukraine: Beginning a New Life

2009-05-31T09:48:00.000-07:00

You may wonder why I should write about such sad things in the Ukraine Travel Guide. Well I just want to show you what Ukraine went through before its independence. I want to make it clear why Ukraine is still legging behind most European countries with respect to economy. In my humble opinion we have chosen a wrong way of development, or it would be better to say that this way of development was imposed on Ukraine. The war and totalitarianism badly affected Ukraine. I must admit that there were a lot of good thing about USSR (discipline, effective mobilization and cooperation of people). But the worst thing that people were deprived of individual freedom and some civic rights and absence of the healthy competition because of total control of economy by the government did not teach people how to run business and establish effective market relations which I believe are the only way for positive economy development. The Iron Curtain being brought down, Ukraine has to begin its life from scratch in new market conditions. Our only hope is new generation of enthusiastic and energetic people who will take over control over the country soon. Hopingly, they will manage to destroy those soviet residues of corruption and sluggishness of business. We hope to develop knowledge about what good services and fair business are. Ukraine has learnt a good lesson and the mistakes are unlikely to be repeated. We need to feel support from other countries; we need to be recognized by the world as a reliable and developed country. We do not want to be associated with Russia as Ukraine is individual country although it has much in common with Russia. So come visit Ukraine, a beautiful country with beautiful people, a land soaked with blood and tears which has survived through enormous grieves and thus highly values piece, kindness, friendship and hospitality. Welcome to Ukraine!

There are a lot more things about Ukraine I am going to tell you in my future Ukraine Travel Guide posts. Please, stay in touch and you will be surprised.

Ukraine in World War II

2009-05-30T09:52:00.000-07:00

Another disaster was around the corner for Ukraine. In eight years after the famine, in 1941, Nazi Germany began occupation of the territory of USSR and Ukraine was one of the first soviet countries on the way to Moscow. It seems that Stalin did not expect aggression towards USSR from Hitler as the former planned to cooperate with the Third Reich. Therefore Soviet Union was unprepared for the war. Ukraine and Byelorussia were buffers between Nazi and Russia. Therefore most of bloodiest battles took place in the territory of Ukraine.

Two evils united for poor Ukrainians: totalitarian communist regime and Nazi ideology. But actions of Germans were really bold and rude. Hitler ordered to apply the most brutal means against partisans even against women and children. It’s clear that the partisan resistance was the only defense method for Ukrainians at the beginning of the war. According to the Nazi ideology people of Ukraine as well as other Slavic people were classified as Untermensch (sub-humans) and Hitler wanted to colonize Ukraine and completely annihilate Ukrainians or turn them into slaves. Thus Ukrainians, Russians, Byelorussians and other people had no choice but had to fight for their lives. Hitler hated Slavic people almost as much as Hebrews. I do not know the reason why. Neither can I figure out how could those Nazi guys burn children and women. They were programmed robots or zombies. So after so much innocent blood being shed without any rhyme or reason, Slavic people had to unite, in spite of mistakes of the totalitarian government of USSR, to kick Hitler's ass as it was an affair of honor.

The main interest of Nazi Germans in Ukraine was the world's best black earth (a highly fertile soil) and slaves. These Nazi guys had no mercy. They separated families, ruined houses, raped and tortured people, let alone millions of Ukrainians being killed. They transported trainloads of fertile Ukrainian soil to Germany, thousands of Ukrainians served as slaves in Hitler's Nazi Germany. Ukraine had been occupied by Germany for three long years and apparently this country was the greatest victim of World War II as it is recognized that Ukraine had suffered the greatest material damage and human losses of any other country in the was. Ukrainian people fought shoulder to shoulder with Russians, Byelorussians, Poles and other people to break the backbone of the fascist regime. I am proud that my ancestors were strong and brave enough to disturb the Hitler’s Blitzkrieg plan. Hitler thought that conquering USSR would be as easy as a pie, but he was wrong...

So Nazis were beaten but losses of Ukraine in World War II were terrible. As I mentioned above Ukraine was the buffer between German Army and Moscow which was target of Hitler. Considerable forces of both armies were concentrated in Ukraine. Ukrainians suffered three years under German occupation. Only a little part of Russia was occupied while Ukraine was completely under control of German Army. Actually Ukraine was a bloody mass and complete ruin. According to statistics population of Ukraine decreased from 41 657 000 (in 1941, beginning of the war) till 27 382 000 (in 1945, end of the war). Edgar Snow, a foreign correspondent from America visited Ukraine in 1943 and at the end of the war in 1945 and was so astonished at the enormous losses it had suffered that he wrote an article for Saturday Evening Post titled "Ukraine Pays the Bill." It could be said that "The Allies won the war but Ukraine paid the bill."

When you travel to Ukraine you can notice monuments to World War II heroes as well as graves of killed solders almost in every big city and small town. There is hardly a family which did not lose someone in Ukraine. Even now people find unexploded ordnance, and these shells kill people even today. Even now people find members of their families which their lost during the war. And so many are not still found. We say “the war is not over until the last solder is buried” and we still find bones in the fields and forests of Ukraine. We are still recovering from that war. Our fields are seeded with bones and poured with blood of the war victims. May their memory live forever!

Tears, Blood and Ordeal

2009-05-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

Ukraine had been struggling for independence for centuries. And at last the cherished idea was implemented on August 24, 1991. The USSR was ruining and Ukrainian politicians used the situation to proclaim independence. People confirmed their agreement through the referendum.

A lot of countries wanted to have Ukraine or a part of the country during its history: Poland, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Russia (which never give up trying to regain power over Ukraine). I cannot even imagine how many people perished, were killed, slaughtered or prisoned during time of war and “piece”. I am not a historian and my vision of Ukrainian history may be ridiculous for a professional historian but I can point out some crucial aspects of the country’s history a simple person like me sees them.

Well looking back the revolution of 1917 proved to be a mistake, heart-brake and disappointment. I understand that proletariat hated a lot those who owned something and could manage it to earn. The Russian tsar was about to introduce constitution and we could become one of those nice and neat European kingdoms. But this was not in God's plans for our country. The revolution occurred... The Red Army which consisted mostly of hoi polloi killed most of prosperous peasants, grand people, and the intellectuals. Those who were lucky enough managed to escape abroad and worked overseas to glorify other countries. Ukraine tried to proclaim independence but this led to armed conflict with the Bolshevik government in Petrograd. Thus the Soviet era began. The idea of implementing communism turned into a terrible experiment on millions of people. Almost all important property was expropriated from people to be owned by government. Kolkhozes and Sovkhozes (collective farms) were created. They used to say that the land belonged to every soviet citizen. But who cares about something which belongs to everybody? People living in villages had to work on land for all their lives to give almost the whole harvest to government. They had no passports and could not move to towns or cities. Anyone who made even a little try to show disagreement with the developing totalitarian system were arrested and killed in exile. A lot of wonderful writers, poets, politicians and other prominent people were murdered or died in Solovki prison camp and Gulag.

Ukraine was always a piece of cake for communists as it was the USSR’s “bread-basket”. Ukraine has the best black earth (chernozem soil) in the world and its fields yield enormous harvests. But it seems that Stalin needed this bread for other purposes then feeding people of USSR. He planned quick industrialization and his people took away all bread that they could found, every single wheat grain to sell abroad for money used for industrialization. If someone tried to hide something he/she was likely to be killed, if someone tried to “steal” a few ears of wheat or rye he/she was sure to be executed by shooting with no investigation or trial. This was the period of famine in Ukraine in 1932-1933 (Holodomor). Now imagine that you do not have a single bread crumb to eat. You were forced to give away all your food and cattle and you have small children who are begging you to feed them. It’s heard to realize for a modern person living in Europe or North America what it takes to survive in such situation. People had to eat grass, roots, leaves, dead animals; some people got crazy and ate other people. In institute I read a short story of a writer (whose works were prohibited during Soviet Union) about a mother who got crazy and boiled her child to eat. Oh, my God, it was terrible! More than 10 000 000 people died, 17 people every minute, 1000 every hour, more then 25 thousands daily. But this was only the beginning.

Ukraine – Sleeping Beauty

2009-05-25T11:11:00.000-07:00

Hello world! I am a guy from Ukraine and a patriot of my country. I was frustrated to realize that many of you guys now nothing or quite a little about Ukraine. Many of you think Ukraine is a part of Russia, others believe that Ukraine is a very poor country inhabited by wild, illiterate people who do not know what laundry washer or microwave oven is. That’s not true, believe me. Of course Ukraine is legging behind the most of European countries in economical development, but we are far from being that wild as some of you guys may think.

I want to share some interesting facts about Ukraine. I wish to awake your interest in my country. I want you to have desire to travel to Ukraine and see with your own eyes how beautiful the country is and how nice and welcoming Ukrainian people are.

I am not a big writer but nevertheless I’ll try to reveal some good and some not very good thing about Ukraine. I am going to create a kind of a travel guide. Our country needs tourists very badly as we want to develop a positive image of Ukraine and reveal its beauty to the world. Ukraine is Sleeping Beauty needing a kiss to wake up and shine with her charms.