Ukraine at the crossroads of history
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879 AD KIEVAN RUS
988: Grand Prince Vladimir the Great accepts Orthodox Christianity
Pinsk Marshes
RUS
Kiev
CRIMEAN KHANATE
GOLDEN HORDE Mongol Empire
Tatar invasions
1441: Secedes from Golden Horde
Carpathian Mountains
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1648 INDEPENDENCE
POLISH- LITHUANIAN COMMONWEALTH
Kiev
Moscow
RUSSIA
1648: Tatar Cossacks rebel against Polish rule to form independent Hetmanate
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1650   DIVISION

1772-95: Poland partitioned
Moscow
RUSSIAN EMPIRE
1654: Hetmanate becomes Russian vassal
1686: Divided along Dnieper River
AUSTRIA- HUNGARY
1783: Russia
annexes Crimean Khanate
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1917 WAR AND REVOLUTION
USSR Moscow Bolshevik Revolution Collapse of Russian Empire
GERMANY
Kiev
Lviv
Territory ceded to Central Powers
AUSTRIA- HUNGARY
1918: WWI ends, Ukraine declares independence
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1921 SOVIET BEGINNINGS

1921: Red Army captures eastern Ukraine, west returns to Poland
USSR
Moscow
POLAND
Lviv
Kiev
UKRAINE
1922: Ukraine joins USSR
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1945     WWII
USSR
Moscow
1939: Over 5 million Ukrainians die fighting Nazis. Majority of 1.5m Jews perish
Kiev
Ukraine SSR
1954: Khrushchev cedes Crimea to Ukraine
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1991   INDEPENDENCE
Break up of Soviet Union – Ukraine declares independence
Warsaw
POLAND
Lviv
Dnieper River
Kiev
UKRAINE
stria
U K R A I N E
Tiraspol
Sevastopol
2014: Donbas
RUSSIA
Transnistria Russian-backed breakaway region of Moldova
Tiraspol
ROMANIA
MOLDOVIA
2014: Donbas Territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists
RUSSIA
Bucharest
Sevastopol
BLACK SEA
2014: Crimea   Annexed by Russia

200km 125 miles
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Sources: Old Maps Online, BBC, Washington Post     © GRAPHIC NEWS
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