More than 700 cities and towns and 28,000 villages were destroyed. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine emerged as one many new independent post-Soviet states in 1991. The country planned to convert the current conscript-based military into a professional volunteer military. [215] The Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union was signed in 2014.[216]. As war drags on, Ukrainians start to ask: could we have prepared better [192][193] On 7 February 2019, the Verkhovna Rada voted to amend the constitution to state Ukraine's strategic objectives as joining the European Union and NATO. [274][275], The internet in the country is robust because it is diverse. [370], Ukrainian architecture includes the motifs and styles that are found in structures built in modern Ukraine, and by Ukrainians worldwide. The years that followed would be even more traumatic: in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Ukraine suffered heavily under the rule of Soviet despot Josef Stalin. [140] These documents sealed the fate of the Soviet Union, which formally voted itself out of existence on 26 December. [332], The Ukrainian higher education system comprises higher educational establishments, scientific and methodological facilities under national, municipal and self-governing bodies in charge of education. Ukraine's legislative branch includes the 450-seat unicameral parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. In the English-speaking world during most of the 20th century, Ukraine (whether independent or not) was referred to as "the Ukraine". 1441 - Crimean Khanate breaks free of the Golden Horde and conquers most of modern southern Ukraine. [44] Kievan Rus' was composed of several principalities ruled by the interrelated Rurikid kniazes ("princes"), who often fought each other for possession of Kyiv. over 300,000 Ukrainians created a human chain in support of freedom, and the so-called Granite Revolution of students sought to prevent the . Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism were the religions of 0.2% of the population each. ", "Ukraine President Submits Bill Extending Martial Law Until Late April", "Ukrainian Parliament Extends Martial Law For 90 Days", "Prosecutors fail to solve biggest criminal cases", , "Kyiv Post. [331] Students in the 12th grade take Government tests, which are also referred to as school-leaving exams. [46] Anti-Normanist historians however argue that the East Slavic tribes along the southern parts of the Dnieper River were already in the process of forming a state independently. 2011 October - A court jails former Yulia Tymoshenko for abuse of power over a gas deal with Russia in 2009.