UKRAINE (Україна)

Ukraine (Ukrainian: Україна, romanized: Ukrayina, Russian: Украи́на, tr. Ukraína,) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the north-east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west; and Romania, Moldova, and the Black Sea to the south. Ukraine is currently in a territorial dispute with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014. Including the Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine has an area of 603,628 km² (233,062 sq mi), making it the second-largest country in Europe after Russia, and the 46th-largest country in the world. Excluding Crimea, Ukraine has a population of about 42 million, making it the eighth or ninth-most populous country in Europe, and the 32nd-most populous country in the world. Its capital and largest city is Kiev. Ukrainian is the official language and its alphabet is Cyrillic. The dominant religion in the country is Eastern Orthodoxy. 

The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC. During the Middle Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture, with the powerful state of Kievan Rus' forming the basis of Ukrainian identity. Following its fragmentation in the 13th century, the territory was contested, ruled and divided by a variety of powers, including the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Russia. A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries, but its territory was eventually split between Poland and the Russian Empire. After World War II the Western part of Ukraine merged into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, and the whole country became a part of the Soviet Union as a single state entity. Ukraine gained its independence in 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. Before its independence, Ukraine was typically referred to in English as "The Ukraine", but most sources have since moved to drop "the" from the name of Ukraine in all uses.

Following its independence, Ukraine declared itself a neutral state;  it formed a limited military partnership with Russia and other CIS countries while also establishing a partnership with NATO in 1994. In 2013, after the government of President Viktor Yanukovych had decided to suspend the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement and seek closer economic ties with Russia, a several-months-long wave of demonstrations and protests known as the Euromaidan began, which later escalated into the 2014 Ukrainian revolution that led to the overthrow of Yanukovych and the establishment of a new government. These events formed the background for the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014, and the War in Donbass in April 2014. On 1 January 2016, Ukraine applied the economic component of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with the European Union.

Ukraine is divided into two main zoological areas. One of these areas, in the west of the country, is made up of the borderlands of Europe, where there are species typical of mixed forests, the other is located in eastern Ukraine, where steppe-dwelling species thrive. In the forested areas of the country it is not uncommon to find lynxes, wolves, wild boar and martens, as well as many other similar species; this is especially true of the Carpathian Mountains, where many predatory mammals make their home, as well as a contingent of brown bears. Around Ukraine's lakes and rivers beavers, otters and mink make their home, whilst in the waters carp, bream and catfish are the most commonly found species of fish. In the central and eastern parts of the country, rodents such as hamsters and gophers are found in large numbers.

Around 800 Russian Zemstvo stamps were issued in Ukraine between 1866 and 1917 at 39 locations. The first stamps were issued at Verkhnodniprovsk, Katerynoslav Guberniya, and in Dniprovsk, Tauridia Gubernia - both of which are now located in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. In 1918 an independent Ukrainian People's Republic was established and a series of five definitive stamps were issued. They were printed imperforate on thin paper and then on thicker paper with perforations. In 1918 Russian stamps were overprinted with a trident for use in Kyiv, Odessa, Yekaterinoslav, Kharkiv, Poltava, Podolia, and Kherson. There are hundreds of different stamps with many varieties of overprint. The stamps have been widely forged. In 1918 and 1919 Eastern Galicia had internal autonomy as the West Ukrainian National Republic. Stamps of Austria were overprinted for use in the region. A Ukrainian Soviet republic was declared on 14 March 1919 and a set of stamps were issued for famine relief in 1923. Ukraine used the stamps of the Soviet Union thereafter until the end of 1991, apart from during World War II. Carpatho-Ukraine was an autonomous region within Czecho-Slovakia from late 1938 to March 15, 1939. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine declared its independence and the first stamps of the new republic were issued on 1 March 1992. In 1992 the Ukrainian Post Office overprinted stamps of the Soviet Union with stylised tridents for use in Kyiv, Lviv and Chernihiv. Other Soviet stamps overprinted with similar designs are not believed to have been postally valid. 

Since 1992, a variety of commemorative and definitive stamps have been issued. In 2014, the Republic of Crimea was declared and subsequently annexed by Russia. Crimea now uses Russian postage stamps. The self-declared unrecognized Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk Peoples’ Republic issued its first stamp in 2015. JSC Ukrainian Postal Service or Ukrposhta (Ukrainian: Укрпошта) is a public company of Ukraine with 100% state ownership due to its strategic importance. In 1999–2015 it was a unitary enterprise of the government of Ukraine. Ukrposhta is a member of Universal Postal Union since 1947 and owner of national stamp issuing enterprise "Ukraine Stamps" (Ukrainian: Марки України).

This registered airmail letter sent by  Denis from Dniprodzerzhynsk on 07.March.2015 and received on 21.March.2015.