General Information On Ukraine

The country is subdivided into 24 regions (oblasts) and the Crimea - autonomous republic.

The capital is Kyiv ("Kiev" in Russian transliterations).

Average winter temperature:
from -8° to -15° C (between +17.6° F and +5° F)
In Southern regions the winter temperature hovers around freezing.
Falling snow and -10° C (+14° F) is a really rare occurrence, which is usually replaced by a thaw.

Average summer temperature:
from +18° to +25° C (between +64,4° and +77° F), though in daytime can get up over +35° C (+95° F). 

Southern coast of Ukraine is washed by the Black and Azov Sea, coast line is 2,782 km. The majority of Ukrainian rivers flow into the Black Sea, among the biggest are Dnipro, Dnister, Danube, Desna, Pivdenyj (Southern) Booh.

Natural resources: iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt, sulfur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, timber and arable land.

Ukrainian cuisine becomes more and more popular with its traditional Borsch - tomato red and sorrel green; several kinds of Ukrainian Vareniki (dumplings) stuffed with all kinds of meat, cheese, potatoes with mushrooms; Golubtsy (cabbage rolls) - cabbage leaves with mixture of rice, meat, carrot and fried onion inside, these are usually served with sour-cream; jellied meat with horse-radish; suckling pig; delicious stuffed fish and plenty of other Ukrainian specialties. Our cuisine is very rich in natural components grown in the fertile Ukrainian soil under the hot summer sun. Tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet onion, lettuce, peaches, watermelons, apples, grapes - all vegetable and fruits produced in Ukraine taste really delicious.

There are numerous taxi services, orders are taken via phone: you will be asked for a phone number, pick-up address and time. At the assigned time the taxi operator will call to the phone number you have given, and will inform on the taxi arrival confirming the taxi number. Bad thing: taxi operators usually do not speak English. Good thing: you can use help of your hotel receptionist, Russian-speaking friend, colleague or tour agent in ordering the taxi via the phone.

A taxi or a gypsy cab can be also hired right on the street. Services of gypsy cabs cost less, but are not that good choice from the safety point of view. If you still wish to use a gypsy cab, you would need to make sure there is nobody else inside but the driver. Probably everywhere the situation with taxi is like this - if one speaks a foreign language price for a taxi goes up, so it might be wise to confirm/negotiate the price before you get in the car.

Buying a souvenir, a painting, a sculpture or other handcrafts it is a good idea to get a certificate identifying historical value (its absence) of the purchased good. This document might be useful when going through the customs upon departure from Ukraine.

To shed some light on how Sundays become working days or how so many off-business days happen to be in a row, we have put together the general rules for figuring it out.
According to the Ukrianian Law, extra days-off appear if a state holiday occurs on a weekend. The government also issues directives shifting some working days for Saturdays or Sundays in case there are several holidays in a row, to prolong off-business time. This way we have some working Saturdays in December or January, and a long chain of holidays and days-off in the beginning of January, sometimes up to two weeks long. The same happens in the first half of May.
Basing on "good traditions", these governmental directives are issued and announced last minute. We should admit, that private businesses do not or cannot follow them, due to the short notice or willing to keep the businesses going on holidays as well. While all state organizations and offices would be closed, as long as there is a directive.
Banks have their holidays in accordance to the National Bank directive, which issue it basing on the governmental ones.

• January 1 - New Year
• January 7 - Christmas
• March 8 - Women's Day
• April 8 - Easter (for 2007)
• May 1, 2 - Labor Day
• May 27 - Whitsunday (for 2007)
• May 9 - Victory Day
• June 28 - Constitution Day
• August 24 - Independence Day

Executive branch: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the Parliament and approved by the President. Prime Minister: Victor Yanukovich (since Sep 2006).

Legislative branch: unicameral Parliament of 450 seats. Under Ukraine's election law, all of the Parliament seats are allocated on a proportional basis to those parties that gain 3% or more of the national electoral vote.