ly smaller than Texas

Land boundaries: total 4,558 km, Belarus 891 km, Hungary 103 km,
Moldova 939 km, Poland 428 km, Romania (southwest) 169 km, Romania
(west) 362 km, Russia 1,576 km, Slovakia 90 km

Coastline: 2,782 km

Maritime claims:
continental shelf: 200-m or to the depth of exploitation
exclusive economic zone: undefined
territorial sea: 12 nm

International disputes: certain territory of Moldova and Ukraine -
including Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina - are considered by
Bucharest as historically a part of Romania; this territory was
incorporated into the former Soviet Union following the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1940; potential dispute with Russia over
Crimea; has made no territorial claim in Antarctica (but has reserved
the right to do so) and does not recognize the claims of any other
nation

Climate: temperate continental; Mediterranean only on the southern
Crimean coast; precipitation disproportionately distributed, highest
in west and north, lesser in east and southeast; winters vary from
cool along the Black Sea to cold farther inland; summers are warm
across the greater part of the country, hot in the south

Terrain: most of Ukraine consists of fertile plains (steppes) and
plateaux, mountains being found only in the west (the Carpathians),
and in the Crimean Peninsula in the extreme south

Natural resources: iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt,
sulphur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury,
timber

Land use:
arable land: 56%
permanent crops: 2%
meadows and pastures: 12%
forest and woodland: 0%
other: 30%

Irrigated land: 26,000 sq km (1990)

Environment:
current issues: inadequate supplies of potable water; air and water
pollution; deforestation; radiation contamination in the northeast
from 1986 accident at Chornobyl' Nuclear Power Plant
natural hazards: NA
international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air
Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic Treaty,
Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone
Layer Protection, Ship Pollution; signed, but not ratified - Air
Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Law of the Sea

Note: strategic position at the crossroads between Europe and Asia;
second largest country in Europe

@Ukraine:People

Population: 51,867,828 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure: