LYCOS RETRIEVER
Ukraine: Worlds
built 236 days ago
In 1939 the Jewish population of Ukraine was 1.5 million (1,532,776) or 3% of the total population of Ukraine. One half to two thirds of the total Jewish population of Ukraine were evacuated, killed or exiled to Siberia (Reitlinger, page 251). Ukraine lost more population per capita than any other country in the world in WW II.
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Lenins attempts to assuage Ukrainian nationalism through a measure of cultural autonomy were abandoned by Stalin, who ... imposed agricultural collectivization on Ukraine and requisitioned all grain for export. Millions of Ukrainians died in the resulting famine. Mykola Skrypnyk and other Ukrainian Communist leaders who opposed Stalinist measures were purged and executed. During World War II, many Ukrainians at first welcomed the Germans as liberators and collaborated with them against the USSR. However, the Nazis scorn for all Slavs and their harsh occupation (194144) of Ukraine turned many Ukrainians into anti-German guerrilla fighters.
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After the disintegration of the USSR, Ukraine found itself in possession of the world's third largest nuclear arsenal. There were 176 launchers of intercontinental ballistic missiles with some 1,240 warheads on Ukrainian territory. This force consisted of 130 SS-19s, each capable of delivering six nuclear weapons, and 46 SS-24s, each armed with ten nuclear weapons. An additional 14 SS-24 missiles were present in Ukraine, but not operationally deployed with warheads. Several dozen bombers with strategic nuclear capabilities were armed with some 600 air-launched missiles, along with gravity bombs. In addition, as many as 3,000 tactical nuclear weapons rounded out an arsenal totalling approximately 5,000 strategic and tactical weapons.
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After an unsuccessful Euro 2004 qualification campaign, Ukraine appointed Oleg Blokhin as the national team's head coach. Despite initial resentment to his appointment due to his previous poor coaching record and calls for a foreign coach, Ukraine went on to qualify for their first-ever FIFA World Cup on September 3, 2005, by drawing with Georgia, 1:1, in T'bilisi. In their first World Cup (2006 FIFA World Cup), Ukraine reached the quarter-finals before losing 3:0 to eventual champions Italy.
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Ukraine was traditionally home to a large Jewish population. Many Jews left Ukraine under oppressive conditions in the nineteenth century, and thousands more were exterminated by the Nazis in World War II.
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In 1992, Ukraine became a member of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. It is a member of the EBRD but not a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Ukraine applied for membership in the WTO in 1995. Progress on its application had been slow but picked up momentum in 2006. The government has made accession to the WTO a priority in 2007.
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