Our country is situated in the south-eastern part of Central Europe and has its own territory, government, national emblem, flag and anthem. It borders on Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Poland on land and Russia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey on sea.

The territory of Ukraine is mostly a level, treeless plain, calls “steppe”. There are the Crimean Mountains in the Crimean peninsula and the Carpathians in the West. Mixed forests of pine and fir-trees, beeches, limes, oaks and elms cover the mountains, but the thickest woods can still be found in the northern part of the republic, in Volyn. Kiev and Cherkassy lie in the midst of Ukrainian southernmost pine forest. The main Ukrainian river is the Dnieper. It is one of the longest European rivers and one of the country’s main source of hydroelectric power. The Dnieper had been the cradle of the Ukrainian and Russian people in time immemorial.

The climate of the country is moderate. Winter is rather mild, with no severe frosts but with regular snowfalls everywhere except the south. The rivers and lakes freeze in winter. The average winter temperature varies -20 Centigrade in the north to -3-5 in the south. Summer is quite hot and dry, with occasional showers and thunderstorms. The fertile black soil is well watered in spring and autumn and gets plenty of sunshine in summer. Due to favorable climatic conditions, Ukraine is traditionally an agricultural area. It grows wheat, maize, buckwheat and other corn, red and green vegetables, all kinds of fruit, melons and berries.

The country is rich in natural resources, such as iron ore, coal, color metal, oil, gas, mineral salts, clay and potential water power. It has developed a varied industry, concentrated mostly in and around big cities, such as Kiev, Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa, Zaporozhye, Lviv.

Ukraine was the first between the former Soviet republics to repeal criminal responsibility for non-violent male homosexual intercourse between adults. It happened on December 12, 1991 short after the Ukraine has gained state independence from the USSR on December 1, 1991. So this year we anticipate celebrating a full decade since the Repeal of criminal prosecution for consensual homosexual intercourse between adult men in our country.

Today it is quite hard to determine the reasons for such progressive responsiveness by Verkhovna Rada (Parliament of the Ukraine). In any case, the country was on the highest democratic rise, so everything was possible. The recommendations of the European Community seemed persuasive even for conservative deputies and the law was passed without obstacles. Many gay and straight Ukrainians were surprised listening to the radio return about new Parliament decree that evening.

To summarize what happened, on December 12, 1991, Verkhovna Rada passed the Law “On making amendments in Penal and Penal-Procedure Codes of the Ukrainian SSR”. According to this law, Article 122 of the Penal Code of Ukraine was fixed in new wording. Article 122 henceforward provided punishment only for homosexual contacts that involve violence. That opened new period of the gay rights in the Ukraine.

However the hopes of Ukrainian gay men for better life and social acceptance were absolutely vain… More about the history of the gay liberation movement in Ukraine (in English) you may read here.