LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Ukraine
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Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe and is located between Poland and Russia. It is slightly smaller than the state of Texas. Much of the southeastern part of the country borders the Black Sea. Ukraine has a population of about 47 million people. An estimated 68 % of Ukrainians live in urban areas, with over three million inhabitants in the capital Kiev, the largest city. Ukrainians make up more than three-fourths of the population; there is a significant minority of Russians (around 22%).
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The cheapest way to fly into Ukraine is through Kiev Borispol. The main international hubs for these flights are Frankfurt, Milan, Munich, Prague, London, Rome, Vienna and Warsaw with several flights a day of Austrian AUA, CSA Czech Airlines, LOT, Lufthansa, Alitalia, Air France, British Airways, KLM and MALEV; ... Ukraine International, which code-shares on these routes with the respective carriers, and another Ukrainian carrier, AeroSvit. Special offers on flights come and go, depending on the whim of the carrier. The only low-cost carrier flying into Ukraine, as yet (February 2007), is AirBaltic, with flights routing through either Riga, Latvia, or Vilnius, Lithuania, although AeroSvit could be considered a somewhat low-cost carrier (considering there aren't many others.) There are several airlines which offer direct flights to cities like Dnipropetrovsk (Lufthansa), Donetsk (Lufthansa, Austrian), Odessa (MALEV, LOT, Austrian, CSA Czech Airlines), Kharkiv and Lviv (LOT, Austrian Airlines), but they are more expensive. To fly inside Ukraine, the most common airline is AeroSvit. Although this is the unofficial national airline, and its routes cover all of Ukraine's major destinations, the planes used on some routes are older Soviet aircraft.
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Ukraine has a parliamentary-presidential system of government with separate executive, judicial, and legislative branches. The president nominates the defense and foreign ministers, and the Prosecutor General and Chief of the State Security Service (SBU), each of whom must be confirmed by the parliament. Beginning in 2006, the 450-member unicameral parliament (Supreme Rada) names the prime minister, who in turn nominates other ministers. The Supreme Rada initiates legislation, ratifies international agreements, and approves the budget. Its members are elected to five-year terms. Following free elections held on December 1, 1991, Leonid M. Kravchuk, former chairman of the Ukrainian Rada, was elected to a five-year term, and became Ukraine's first president.
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Although mainly agricultural, W Ukraine has significant petroleum centers at Drohobych and Boryslav, natural gas at Dashava, coal industries at Novovolynsk, and rich salt deposits. Lviv is the cultural center and the main industrial city in W Ukraine. Zhytomyr and Vinnytsya are the main agricultural centers. The republic’s leading industrial products include machinery and transportation equipment, ferrous and nonferrous metals, chemicals, building materials, fertilizers, and consumer goods. Food processing, notably the refining of sugar, is ... a major industry. In spite of its many resources, Ukraine must import large quantities of natural gas and oil.
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KYIV, Ukraine, January 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Within a month of forming her coalition government, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is already delivering on promises made in her "Contract with Investors" by advancing trade opportunities with the WTO and the EU. In what EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson called an "historic day, a very important breakthrough for Ukraine," Tymoshenko's newly-formed government cleared the way for WTO accession and an EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by achieving a mutually satisfactory compromise on export tariffs between the EU and Ukraine. To achieve this breakthrough, Vice Prime Minister for European Integration Hryhoriy Nemyria travelled to London to meet with Commissioner Mandelson. Following the meeting, Commissioner Mandelson said in a statement that he and Vice Prime Minister Nemyria had "sealed the final terms of the agreement" for Ukraine's entry into the WTO and an FTA with the EU. He added, "This is the first step toward greater Ukrainian integration with the global and the European economy." The EU is Ukraine's largest trading partner and its largest market. See www.ibyut.com for the Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko (BYuT) platform, including the "Contract with Investors." Web site: http://www.ibyut.com http://www.tdinternational.com
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Ukraine inherited significant ICBM design and production capabilities from the Soviet Union. These included the Pivdenne (formerly Yuzhnoye) Design Bureau, responsible for the design of the SS-18 and the SS-24 ICBMs, and the Pivdenmash (formerly Yuzhmash) Machine-Building Plant, which produced a wide range of Soviet ICBMs, including the SS-18 and SS-24. Other former Soviet missile-industrial complex facilities in Ukraine include the Pavlohrad Chemical and Mechanical Plants, which were ... involved in ICBM manufacture, and the Khartron Production Association, which produced guidance systems. These enterprises have since become involved in a variety of space projects, including converting SS-18 ICBMs to space launch vehicles (SLVs) in cooperation with Russian firms, participating in the international Sea Launch program, and cooperating with Russian enterprises on new SLV designs. In July of 2003, the Ukrainian National Space Agency sold 30 RS-18 ICBMs to Russia and simultaneously promised to destroy 55 Soviet-era missile silos. In March 2004, Ukraine joined the Hague Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCOC) which has been in effect since November 2002 and signed by over 100 countries.
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