Top 10 Ukraine facts

Cossacks were deeply Orthodox and formed highly democratic militaristic communities. In 1676, they received a letter from Mehmed IV, who demanded that they submit to Turkish rule. The letter was full of sultan's titles, which the Cossacks parodied in their reply, calling the sultan "Babylonian scullion, Macedonian wheelwright, brewer of Jerusalem, goat-f****r of Alexandria, swineherd of Greater and Lesser Egypt, pig of Armenia, Podolian thief, catamite of Tartary, hangman of Kamyanets, and fool of all the world and underworld".

Radar. Duga was a Soviet over-the-horizon radar system used as part of the Soviet anti-ballistic missile early-warning network. The system operated from July 1976 to December 1989. Two operational Duga radars were deployed, one near Chernobyl in the Ukraine and the other in eastern Siberia.

Ukraine. Chernozem (pictured, literally black earth) is a soil containing a high percentage of humus. It is very fertile and produces a high agricultural yield. Chernozem occurs in many places in the world, but it is the most common and the deepest in Ukraine. Throughout its history, Ukraine has been one of the powerhouses of world agriculture due to its fertile conditions.

Ukraine. The Holodomor was a man-made famine in the Ukrainian SR in 1932-1933. It was caused mostly by bad economic policies. Many believe that the destruction of the Ukrainian peasantry was premeditated on the part of Joseph Stalin and consider Holodomor a genocide comparable to the Holocaust. Between 2 and 5 million people starved to death despite the fact that Ukrainian lands are among the most fertile in the World.

Hoverla. Mount Hoverla is the highest mountain in Ukraine and part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountain is located in the Eastern Beskides, in the Chornohora region.

Hryvnia. It is the hryvnia. Interestingly, the 200 hryvnia banknote won the title of the most beautiful banknote of 2013.

In Ukraine. Optymistychna Cave (Ukrainian meaning "optimistic") is a gypsum cave located near the Ukrainian village of Korolivka. Approximately 230 km of passageways have been mapped within. As a result, it is the longest cave in Eurasia, the fifth-longest cave in the world and the longest gypsum cave in the world.

Wladimir. Vitali Klitschko is a three-time world heavyweight champion and the only world heavyweight champion to have never been knocked down in any fight. With an 87.23% knockout percentage, he holds one of the highest knockout-to-fight ratios in heavyweight boxing history. From 2006 until 2015, he and his brother Wladimir dominated heavyweight boxing, a period typically known as the "Klitschko Era".

Dnieper is the fourth longest river in Europe. The river is one of the symbols of the Ukrainian nation, it splits the country into two regions: Right-Bank Ukraine and Left-Bank Ukraine.

Blue and yellow. Most Ukrainians identify their flag in the verbal language as "yellow and light blue", while the current flag in reality is blue (the top string) and yellow (the bottom string). This is because in the past the flag had been indeed yellow and blue. The flag was rotated later, but this did not affect the spoken language.