Rock for the hosts in 2017, with O.Torvald, a band who will be bending their knees and grinding their teeth in an attempt to positively engage the viewing thousands in "Time". They most likely won't because it's soft rock and it's rubbish. It's here
In 2016 Jamala will be singing.. "1944" a message to those who oppress and show aggression and violenece. No, I have not idea who they are aiming that at. It's a wail that becomes a bit D&B'y. As ever you can rely on the Ukrainians to be different (read "weird). You decide here
The civil war has claimed another victim (albeit a relatively unimportant one) in the form of a Ukrainian Eurosong pull-out in 2015. We hope their production line of capable young songstresses will be back up and running soon
Mariya Yaremchuk is the latest shouty vixen for the partly put-upon Ukraine in 2014. She may need some sympathy votes with her "Tick-Tock", a particularly nasty piece of pop-tat. Learn more here
Spot the chorus and win a prize. Zlata Ognevich continues the venerable recent history of powerhouse females belting out incomprehensible trivia. "Gravity" is another strong example of the type. Find out here
Killing two birds with one stone, Gaitana will be representing Ukraine in 2012 whilst simultaneously promoting the European Football championships. Something tells me that there isn't much crossover between the two events. find out here
Lovely ladies everywhere. Proclaiming itself as a nation of jazzed up maidens, Ukraine have provided us with Mika Newton in 2011 singing an ultimately disappointing "Angel". Maybe their first blip for a while, however they're a resilient bunch so you can work out where on the leaderboard board it'll be here

The Tourist Guide says

"Richly endowed in natural resources, Ukraine has been fought over and subjugated for centuries; its 20th-century struggle for liberty is not yet complete. A short-lived independence from Russia (1917-1920) was followed by brutal Soviet rule that engineered two artificial famines (1921-22 and 1932-33) in which over 8 million died, and World War II, in which German and Soviet armies were responsible for some 7 million more deaths. Although independence was attained in 1991 with the dissolution of the USSR, true freedom remains elusive as many of the former Soviet elite remain entrenched, stalling efforts at economic reform, privatization, and civic liberties."

 

Kiev

"Founded in the 5th century, Kiev is the mother city of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. All three descended from Kievan Rus, the Slavic super-state that existed from the 9th to the 11th centuries. Since then, Kiev has survived Mongol invasions, devastating fires, communist urban planning and the massive destruction of WWII."

G-Force...Kiev style

A drunk Ukrainian who boasted to friends of his amazing strength was left fighting for his life when he picked a fight with a 42 stone grizzly bear.
The 22 year-old man, not named, had been drinking with friends in the town of Cherkask when he decided to show them how strong he was by wrestling with the biggest animal he could find.
They went to the local zoo where he climbed over the railings into the bear cage and started to hit one of them on the leg.
The bear pushed the man away with a swipe of his paw but when the man hit him again the bear pinned him to the ground and began mauling him.
Staff managed to drag the man out of the cage and calm the bears down, local daily Ukrainsky Novini reported.
Doctors at a hospital in the town where he was being treated said his condition was serious.
A spokesman for the zoo said: "The whole thing lasted less than a minute and the other bears were just getting ready to join in and attack him as well. If we hadn't got him out of there he would have been killed."

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A Ukrainian man castrated himself after his bid to be elected city mayor ended in humiliation.
Oleh Perkov, 49, received less than 100 votes in the poll for the position in the city of Zaporizhia.Mr Perkov, the head of a research institute, cut off his testicles because the result was "a humiliating defeat".
Doctors at a city hospital operated on him to repair the damage. He is in a stable condition, says a hospital official.
to come

The Kiev Veterinary Department started struggling with the animals living on people's balconies. There are about 3,000 pigs, 500 cows and 1,000 goats living in the Ukrainian capital Kiev now. The animals are not aggressive but they smell very bad and people constantly complain of being disturbed with the smell and bleating.

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A group of Ukrainian balloonists claim to have set the world record for the lowest ever balloon flight by setting off in an underground mining shaft.
The specially shaped balloon had toughened sides to ensure it did not rip if it snagged on rocky outcrops after setting off 300 metres down the mining shaft at Soledar close to Doneck in Ukraine.
The balloon then flew up the mine shaft from under the earth's surface.

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Ukrainian firemen fled in panic from a blazing building after one of them grabbed a hosepipe that turned out to be a 10ft python. The firefighters had arrived to fight a blaze at a health club in Donetsk.
One of them tripped over what he thought was a hosepipe, only to find it was a snake when he reached to pick it up. The men were eventually talked into going back in to fight the blaze by the owner of the building who said the python, named Yashka, was harmless and he had kept it as a pet in his office. They put out the fire and managed to drag the python out to safety by its tail, local media reported.

Sergei Prokofiev, Golda Meir

Igor Sikorsky, Milla Jovovich
Paul Muni, Edward Dmrtryk

Anton Chekhov, Joseph Conrad

Leon Trotsky, Sergei Bubka

  
 

Life expectancy

 60.86 men 72.06 women
Airports 702
Radios 884 per 1,000 people
Internet Users 39.5 per 10,000 people
Railway Network 14,021 miles
Death Penalty abolished in 2000